Today we’d like to introduce you to Pachu Torres.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My career as an artist began in 2009, when I started publishing illustrations in a national newspaper in Spain: ABC (the country’s second best-selling paper). In 2012, thanks to social media, I was able to dedicate myself exclusively to erotic art as a freelance artist. Since then, I’ve worked with magazines such as Playboy (USA), the luxury sextoy company Lelo (Sweden), and collaborated with Showtime on the series Twin Peaks, as well as holding several exhibitions (in Italy and Spain so far).
My presence on social media (despite censorship) has helped me build a large following—around 450,000 on Instagram, for example. They’re a wonderful community: people who collect my posters, get tattoos of my work, and engage in thoughtful, positive interactions on my posts.
I’m currently working on an illustration book with the publisher Pulse Editions (France), which will be distributed worldwide.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been an easy path; one of the main challenges has been censorship. Since 2012, I’ve lost a total of 12 Instagram accounts (and my current one has been blocked several times). It’s something that creates me a great deal of frustration and a sense of helplessness, while also raising social and moral questions about freedom of expression, the limits of minors’ use of social media (why are minors in spaces where adults are behaving like adults? Shouldn’t they be elsewhere—for their own protection—while allowing adults to express themselves freely?), and the normalization of eroticism as a natural part of human nature rather than a taboo.
On the other hand, due to the nature of my work, there have been occasions (rare, but they have happened) when I’ve had to step in and moderate comments on my posts when some users crossed the line, whether through sexist or racist remarks.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My specialty is erotic art. Although I’ve collaborated on all kinds of publications (political newspapers, literary magazines, superhero commissions and more) my main work, and what people know me for, is eroticism. As I mentioned, I’ve been dedicated to this genre since 2012. One of the things I’m most proud of is having developed a distinctive and recognizable style.
What sets my work apart is the use of clean linework combined with digital neon colors. My style also brings together the handcrafted and the digital: I still draw on paper using pencil and ink brushes, while I color my pieces digitally using Photoshop, which gives the final result a unique feel.
I also tend to explore themes of fetishism or BDSM, but always in a suggestive way. I’m not explicit in my work; I like to leave room for the viewer’s imagination, allowing them to interpret what’s happening in my drawings without showing everything.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
My childhood was shaped by Batman, the film by Tim Burton. I went to see it in the cinema when I was four years old, and it completely blew me away. From that moment on, I obsessively drew Batman, the Joker, and other comic book characters, fantasizing about becoming an artist when I grew up.
As a teenager, my passion for drawing kept growing, but it started to mix with other interests—like the music of Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, and David Bowie, as well as the films of David Lynch. Those sounds and dreamlike dark worlds had a big impact on me and helped shape new interests that, over time, have led me to where I am today.
I’ve always been a very sociable and outgoing person (and I still am!), which has allowed me to meet incredible people wherever I go. I think in my case, since I spend so much time drawing and working alone—I draw around 8–10 hours a day in my studio—when I step away from my desk, I really need to socialize, enjoy being around people (and get inspired for new drawings, haha).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pachutorresart.com
- Instagram: pachutorresart
- Facebook: pachutorresart
- Twitter: @pachumtorres
- Youtube: @pachutorresart
