Guy Thomas is going to be celebrating 10 years of really incredible Bear artwork. A French artist and I have to say he's one of the top painters on this world when it comes to Bear work. And good news, Guy Thomas has several exhibitions coming up in the next several weeks in Paris, France (ah... to be in Paris in Spring... sigh). Flyer - but I suggest you visit his website and fall in love with the artist and his artwork.

Since the beginning, one of the goals at TubeBear has been to promote all you guys who do Bearish art work. There has been some incredibly talented guys who've done some 'TubeBear Art' - take a look at some of their excellent work here. The most recent drawing has been sent in by XBeart (website - drawing - article). Send in your drawings and get your stuff seen on TubeBear.

There was this great site called Bear-Buddies (articles) and it consisted of adding fun drawings to photos that guys would send him. The artist's name is Dido (profile - photo) and he had sent me some really excellent work with some pics of my partner Roger (galleries - profile) and my good friend (and my godpop) PandaMontreal (galleries - profile). I wrote to Dido and he said that he's not sure of the fate of Bear-Buddies yet he's hoping to bring it back. We hope so too.

It's been a long hard Christmas and Santa needs his rest, so 'shh...' and try not to make too much noise because I've heard that Santa can be a real Brute if he doesn't get a full night's rest.

Actually, this drawing is done by Spanish artist Simon and you can see a lot more of his fantastic work over at his website. Now this isn't the first time that I mention Simon's work; I did so back in Dec '06 (article), however he has since created a new site and has added a ton more of his incredible drawings. And what I said 2 years ago still stands today ~ it's as if Simon has been able to enter into my mind and pull out the type of men that I find good looking, then went ahead and put them to drawing with incredible detail as well as rich with colour. Not only that but Simon has his 'brutes' in uniforms sometimes, or in leather, or he draws a dreamy coach in the locker room. Simply exhilarating.

I get an instant message from Louis aka Gedfaucon (profile) on TubeBear. He wanted to let me know that ~ thru PlanetBears ~ he discovered the BearKink webpage (website - articles); a site which is maintained by 2 big and good looking Amsterdam Bears ~ Master Vaan and Slave J. Gedfaucon then went on to tell me that he became good online friends with this couple, so much so that he drew them a drawing.

Click here to see the drawing (you can see others from Gedfaucon's profile). He said that it took him 4 weeks to finish and 8 weeks by boat to get it from Canada to Amsterdam, but the drawing made it safe and sound. He also hopes that he just might be able to meet up with them so as to draw them in real life, so here's hoping that wish comes true for him in '09.

Artist Christophe Jannin (website - articles - profile), has been dwelling quite a bit in the Heaven's as well in the Hell's with his latest sets of exquisitely drawn Bear pieces. The last time we mentioned Christophe's work, he had finished his ArchAngel triptych; a set of heroic and mightiest angels who look over the meek while eating the powerful... yet now he has gone to the dark side with his latest drawings of Faust (drawing) and Mephisto (drawing).

The following is from Christophe. It's all about Faust, yet to read about Mephisto, check out his blog (in French): "Here comes 'Faust' ~ this doctor who wanted to have his youth back and a sexual life which he really missed during all his life, made an agreement with Mephisto, the Devil in person. He has been damned for that! In this drawing, which is strongly darker than the 3 others I did before (the ArchAngels), the decorative frame is important because it enhances the symbolism. Faust is standing up on a profile view, wearing black leather and a long red cloak. The leather clothes (chaps, jock strap, braces, vest) are a reminder of the exaggerated sexuality, the red of the cloak evokes the flames in hell, and you can see some crowns of stars embroidered saying that the damnation is not coming from the human kind. In the back, toads with red eyes are crawling from the bottom, Hell. They are the symbol of absolute evil. In the decorative frame they are present too, as a crown, with their tadpoles. There are also apple tree branches, 'malus' in Latin, 'evil' in English. On the top, some pohutukawa flowers reminding with their red colour the symbol of Hell and a hint about the country where I am living: New Zealand".

Welcome to the wonderful world of Sazuk8 (Flickr page). He's an Italian who has, like me, an admiration for the Bearish man. However, unlike me, he has an incredible talent when it comes to drawing these Bearish men he admires. And from what I can tell from his Flickr page, he also has a flair and a gift for sculpture. Altho there isn't any bio about Sazuk8 on his Flickr page, I do know he's very busy at this time, working diligently at his craft.

TorontoCub's work is kinda like... 'Bear Apocalypse'... it's the end of the world and Bears are the last remaining species left alive as they dwell on a barren world. He has an incredible eye for taking sceneries what most people find ugly and making it incredibly beautiful. Then he superimposes a Bearish man on it, and it's then end of the world... with Bears. All I want to do is listen to some old NIN real loud when I look at his work.

Check out his stuff on his Flickr page - Hip & Swagger Photography. He's a freelance photographer that is into urban exploration of buildings, cities and historical sites... as well as Erotic Bear Imagery. And when he puts them all together, it's poetry on print. He's got an incredible talent and I keep finding myself lost within the detail of his work. Who is this incredible artist? He's right here.

Charlie Hunter (website - LiveJournal) works with such confidence when he makes a piece of art. You can see it in the exquisite detail of his brushwork. Here at PlanetBears, I have spoken of his great drawings in the past (articles), yet today holds a very special meaning to me. Charlie sent in an excellent sketch of my partner, Roger (galleries - profile). All I can say is 'wow...'. Actually, I can write a hundred praise words, yet I will resort to the old saying - 'a painting is worth a thousand words' (this is the original drawing that Charlie used). When I showed the drawing to Roger, he said 'that's me... he really captured the essence of me'. And that's what a great artist can do; he captures almost a piece of the subject's soul and places it onto the canvass, making it come alive. So a huge thanks goes to Charlie for putting so much time and effort into a piece that Roger 'n I will cherish for the rest of our lives.

Fur Ball is tonight - November 8th at 8PM at The Gay Center in New York City (map). The magazine Pinups (website - articles - profile) is doing the visuals.

From their site: "DJ Quentin Harris will bring the Bears out of their caves with his mixing magic. Be warned... fur ahead! Join Dance 208 as we celebrate everything furry. Fur Ball is back! Enjoy the fur attack. There are two floors of dancing, (SPIT Lounge with DJ Mike Grimes and Paul Short), go-go Bears, cheap beer, Bear art, and warm, warm fur... and over 700 furry friends. So leave the caves and shake it out! Let the fur fly!".

Just a little while back, I put up an article about this great magazine called Pinups (website - article), a mag which has "no words - just an exaggeration of the classic centerfold. The magazine exists in book form but can be taken apart and then tiled together to reveal a life-size image".

Now I already mentioned that in the last article, but what I want to point out is that Pinups went ahead and made a great TubeBear profile. It's close to perfect. They chose a great main photo, added several photos to their galleries, their description is neat, and they added a 720x90 banner which shows up in rotation on both TubeBear and PlanetBears.

Also... Pinups is a magazine, so it's not a personal profile, it's a Mag profile as well as a website profile. So this is a reminder to all those who have a Bear website, to those who are Bear musicians, artists, painters, to those who run Bear companies and bars and even to those who run a Bear group - create a profile on TubeBear, added description, a few photos, and promote it by creating a banner.

Just do like Pinups... who is truly a poster boy for TubeBear.

It wasn't too long ago when I mentioned in the news about the wonderful drawings found in Charlie's Sketch Book (website - blog - article). Since that article, I have gotten to chat with Charlie via email and what a great bloke he's turned out to be. He told me that he's planning a trip to Canada with a chance of us meeting up, and if we do meet up, he just might do a live sketching of Roger (galleries - profile) if he has the time.

Here's a new drawing from the Spanish Bear Yotto Bano (article). You can see more of his 'Graffiti & Urban Bear Art' over at one of the coolest Bear blog names yet - it's called UrsaLaLaLa. Yotto even sent in a 'TubeBear drawing' awhile back, and so can you. Check out this article which will explain on how you can have your artwork displayed on TubeBear as well. You don't even need a profile nor a website... just the art.

His name is Charlie Hunter and he enjoys sketching... and his sketches are really out of this world - see for yourself at Flux Art. He has a knack for catching the essence of what a Bear is on paper. He pencils them in with such a fine detail that they are almost lifelike, and there's a few of his sketching that make it to paint, adding a whole other dimension with colour and depth.

There's not much about Charlie himself on either his site or on his blog, but you do find out what kind of man he is by the work he does, and he does some truly fine and excellent work. Go discover Charlie's sketching for yourself.

You may have notice... on TubeBear - the main page - there's a drawing in the bottom left hand corner. If you refresh the page, the drawing changes. Over the past while, TubeBear has been asking artists to make a TubeBear art piece. Take a look at all the great entries right here.

Calling all artists: if you are a Bear artist - or if you're an artist who makes Bearish art - may it be paintings, drawings, cartoons or photography - send it in (either by email or by the contact form). Here is the TubeBear ball for you to download (it's a zip file with the PSD and the PNG as well the font). What we do over at TubeBear is that we will display it in rotation. Also, if you create a profile and add a link back to your website (either for yourself or for your work), we can also add a banner (720x90 pixels) which will also show up in rotation on the main page.

First off, that is not a picture of Brent D. Marr. It's a picture and a drawing of Shane, aka WelshCub... but 1st about Brent. Brent is an artist from Portland, OR (website - profile - articles). His drawings are seriously excellent, and he also has a great website, a revamped one to boot. He is going to be putting up a couple of new pieces for sell, one called WelshCub and the other A Hard Place.

What's great is that Shane had sent me photos way back when I was running BearPress in '99. You can see his profile here, and click here to see those images he sent me almost a decade ago.

London based Mike Thorn - bear-art.com - will be showing his work at the Blackhorse Lane Open Studio from September 12th thru the 14th. More info about that here.

Here's a bit about Mike from his site: "I am inspired to show images of gay men which challenge the stereotypical ideal. Ordinary men who look at other men, natural guys caught in everyday life. No labels. The contrast of reality and fantasy.

I draw on my personal experience of having lived in the metropolis and explore the darker side of the gay subculture with an awareness and sensitivity of the age touched by pride and the celebration of life. A world where the young die from Aids and people struggle to be happy with HIV awareness. With the growing reality of a society caught in the dilemma of prejudice for things they struggle to understand".

My buddy Teddy of ButchBear and BEAR Mag told me to check out this artist named Steven Miller (website) because ~ well ~ since Teddy knows I like Bears in bondage, he said that there's a cool little set called 'Bound' (set - photo) that Steven made. It's very interesting indeed as well as all his other sets.

There's very little about who Steve is (just a resume, no bio, no photos) which has the observer wanting to know more about whom this artist is. He does, however, have little write-ups about his sets, and here's a snippet about what he has to say about his 'Bound' set: "Bound, rope symbolizes the mental, physical and spiritual ties that bind. Materially, the subjects are bound to self, others, and inseparably the unknown. The tied ropes are constricting or loose, a representation of the various connections and disconnections between friends, lovers and strangers. Ropes around the subjects' heads act as a metaphor for how we're wrapped up inside our perceptions and simultaneously, by emphasizing yet obscuring the face, the viewer is encouraged to consider other aspects of the body". Very, very interesting.

Head on over to his site. I'm not sure why he has 555 in his domain name ~ smiller555.com ~ but it makes me think of this song by Slipknot (if you're 555 then I'm 666)... and Bears? They are Jackpot honey Heaven 777.

Parisian artist Guy Thomas (website - profile) is going to be showcasing his excellent material in Madrid for the very first time. It will be at the Hot Bar from July 4th thru September 15th. The exhibition is called 'Bearroco' (flyer). Guy states that this is going to give him the opportunity to pay a tribute to the Golden Age Masters of Portrait as well to his favourite subject of painting Bears which he has been doing for 10 years professionally.

In other news ~ Guy, after many years drawing mostly in monochromatic, states that he is rediscovering the joy in doing oil painted portraits; "I enjoy the strength of oil colours, sometimes on a golden background - like the Middle Age icons, of course to represent Bear-Icon... in my way".