Wave, After Tom of Finland SOTT, 1974
Tom of Finland stands at the center of gay art history, but he’s just one star in a constellation of talented artists. Growing up, I was captivated by gay art and comics, finding them more engaging than live-action films. Artists like John Blackburn, Patrick Fillion, and Harry Bush have all made significant contributions to this rich field.
Meatmen, an anthology of gay male comics published from 1986 to 2004, was a cornerstone of this art form. I once owned all 26 issues, now highly sought-after collectibles. These publications, along with other printed matter, provided vital representation for the LGBT community when mainstream media lacked such content.
Inspired by this artistic tradition, I recently created my own project. Using an image from one of Tom’s books as a base, I employed AI technology to reimagine the scene with rugby players and farmhands in a country setting. This not only pays homage to classic gay art but also showcases how new technologies can reinterpret and evolve this important cultural legacy.
Thank you, Tom, aka Touko Valio Laaksonen (1920 - 1991)
Wave, After Tom of Finland, 1974
Images
Tech
- Engine: Stable Diffusion
- UI: Fooocus v2.402
- Render Res: 1024 x 1024
- Guidance: 3
- Sharpness: 2
- ADM: 1.5, 0.8, 0.3
- Model: Juggernaut XI Rundiffusion
- Refiner: SDXL Base Refiner at 0.8
- CLIP Skip: 2
- Sampler: DPM++ 2M SDE
- Scheduler: Karras
- Workflow: Fooocus Image Prompt
- Stop: 0.4
- Weight: 1
- PyraCanny
- Post-Processing: Adobe Lightroom
- Post-Upscale: Topaz Gigapixel AI
- Final Resolution: 4096 x 4096
After Series
- 5The Fall of Man, after Titian, c.1550
- 6Modern Day Myth and Mythology, after Ben Fink, 2023
- 7Wave (SOTT), after Tom of Finland, 1974
- 10The Fall of Man, after Titian, c.1550