We have been aware of the abundant cuteness of internet cat sensation Lil Bub for a while, so when Ken Harman the curator of Spoke Art decided to have a Lil Bub tribute show to help raise money for the SPCA we were all in. We decided to take a different path than many of our fellow artists and instead of going for “cute,” we decided to go as far in the other direction as possible. We opted to develop a series of NSFW images with our friend, the international alt fetish model Ulorin Vex. We called the series “Rule 34,” of course. (You can look that up on your own.)
Our concept was to have Ulorin wear a very pretty mask that depicted the upper half of Lil Bub’s face, the rest would be courtesy of Ulorin. The mask was made primarily from chipboard with the eyes being two sides of a photo loop. For more info on working with chipboard, please visit my post on making faux gilded birds. Jason suggested using a photo loop since it would refract the painted iris below much like a real eye would do.
Beginnings of the Lil Bub mask
Once again, I have turned to Ralph Lauren Metallic Paints because they are fantastic. One coat gives a lustrous finish that has many of the same reflective qualities of matt metal.
Painting the mask gold
The final mask was finished with glazes of pigment mixed into metallic acrylics. I like the cheapo student grade Blick acrylics and fancy schmancy Jacquard pigments. Note how great the eyes look! Jason was 100% right (natch).
Final painted Lil Bub mask
Next was the on-set shoot, which is always loads of fun with Ulorin!!
Jason doesn’t always photo bomb, but when he does, it’s behind neked models wearing nothing but animal masks. nbd.
It wasn’t possible to post uncensored images on social media because they were so very NSFW, fortunately I had fun making censorship ribbons.
Lil Bub mask, plus censored Lil Bub images posted on my instagram @hld4ransom
The next two images are from the opening night. Fair warning – at the bottom of this email you will find the NSFW images. Tell your boss, “I’m totally on it,” and send them on their way.
Spoke art gallery owner Ken Harman, Lil Bub and her owner Mike Bridavsky charming the crowd during the Lil Bub Art Show opening.
Lil Bub & Mike Bridavsky in front of our mask.
The final images….
plz can i haz?
oh hai iz dat 4 me 2?
u sed i cud haz
Would you like the lovely Ulorin Vex and her Sphynx pals to come to your house for some more “intimate quality time?” Well, you are in luck, all of the uncensored prints are available through Spoke Art. Meowzers.