The Art of Tentakun

My recent post of a Chris Redfield image with a mistaken attribution introduced me to the Art of Tentakun who was the true originator of the image. It turned out his original was not intended as an image of Redfield at all but I have found this different picture by him which does show Redfield, including the crucial identifying vestiges of uniform that were missing in the pirate adaptation.

The striking feature of this artist's style is the use of voluptuous muscularity embellished with gleaming highlights, notably on the nipples. This particularly effective erotic device can be traced back to the work of Tom of Finland (whose 100th anniversary we have just celebrated).

Redfield here is all very bulked up and exaggerated and there's a touch of Picasso in the way that a frontal view of the torso is combined with a side view of buttock and thigh. The change in angle gives the viewer a mild sense of  the captive turning as the eyes track downwards.

The two Tentakun images discussed above feature a 'double-ended' attack which produces nice torso tension, but limits what can happening next - other than a gruesome Christmas Cracker moment! So I was pleased to discover this picture which focusses on the bottom-half scenario. It's quite understated, there are no menacing tentacles at all, but the title leaves no doubt that this man is still in serious danger. There's just a hint of panic perspiration on his upper body but further down it looks like he's coated with slime of some sort, which can also be seen on the upper surface of the entity that is swallowing him (which could be plant or animal, but the pink colour suggests sea anemone genes).

The captive appears to be trying to lever himself out of his predicament using his arms but his face tells you he's not being very successful. The artist has 'cut-off' his torso at groin level, which sidesteps Japanese censorship, but what you can see is still teasingly erotic. He's also toying with the possibilities of what's going on behind as well, but as far as I know there isn't a rear view counterpart.

Tentakun's bulked up men provide an ideal vehicle for ripped clothing imagery and this one features a sort of Incredible Hulk moment of explosive growth, happily it's a better looking 'hulk' than is customary. The groin harness is a another interesting element of Tentakun's images, it's erotic in it's own right of course, here shaping a promising bulge, but it's also more widely suggestive of  manly stuff - like seriously dangerous aerial work or military hiking with heavy burdens of equipment. Tentakun tends to use it in fantasy warrior imagery.

Ripped clothing moments are more commonly provided by exploring tentacles in Tentakun's art. One looks imminent in this image showing a man falling into the clutches of a nest of them (if that's the correct collective term). For me Tentakun (like many of his Japanese compatriots) has the knack of making skimpy underwear look highly erotic and he seems to borrow ideas from female erotica which for some reason is much more tuned to what is visually tantalising than gay stuff usually is. The glimpse of nether regions he's drawn here is a masterpiece of pixilation avoidance.

This man's pose looks rigid and fairly improbable at first sight, I think he's trying to show the reluctant victim pressing his hands and feet outwards against the wall of the pit to hold himself up, beyond the reach of the tentacles. That would be a deliciously vulnerable predicament, as the pants pulling activity illustrates, but the image doesn't quite make the connection with the walls look clear and solid. If you miss it you see a different (but equally effective) image where he's being tossed around.

Tentakun doesn't restrict himself to depicting the pure mechanics of tentacle-alia. In this scene he seems to be visualising the creatures being baited in beach challenges, where the contestants stand to lose more than their skimpy pants (much like Bull-fighters). The excitement of these beach activities seems to be stirring more carnal thoughts amongst these spectators. There's an intriguing challenge of a different sort going on in the bushes.

While we're on the beach, it's no surprise that a Japanese artist would explore the erotica of 'Speedos'. There's a delightful irony in the anxious backwards glance of this young man, who seems to have suddenly realised that his unusually skimpy trunks and provocative pose might be attracting attention from an unintended and unwelcome quarter.

We've all had our eye caught by sexy bottoms in bars and cafes but and I'm not averse to broad beams but Tentakun's interest in rear ends goes way beyond the norm and he flirts with gender ambiguity in some images. You can also see this inclination manifesting in the broad hips of the captive in the pink tentacle image that prompted this review, also in his exaggeration of pectorals and nipples like the image just below. 

  The translation of this title defeated Google and me apart from the word 'Cafe,' so I've improvised.

Interestingly, the gender ambiguity in 'Admiring' is more apparent from the very heterosexual style of groping that's going on, rather than the pecs themselves which might otherwise pass unremarked. Most of us home in on the prominent (and evidently functioning) male organ which apparently needs no censorship when it's cloaked in skin-tight fabric - another one of life's mysteries.

It's nice to see a straightforward gay encounter although there's an element of doubt about the muscleboy's reaction. Is he alarmed about being touched or disconcerted by his own enthusiastic response? His revealing swimwear makes this image for me particularly the narrow band of cloth disappearing between the buttocks.

Talking of courage, this is the only conventional fetish image I've been able to find in this artist's site. The open legged pose reflects the background of tentacle art, but the bondage ropes make logical sense of it and the cane marks and just visible gag give a degree of fetish authenticity. The word 'Knight' relates to the Samurai in Japan and as such has a much greater cultural significance there than it has for us, but even we can appreciate that this sort of treatment would be humiliating for an aristocratic warrior-leader of yesteryear. I'm not a fan of historical/fantasy scenarios but it provides an opportunity for the deployment of body straps on body enhancing armour.

I've included this image of 'Big Brother' about to embark on his own knightly quest just because I like it. At least, I assume that's a wrapped up weapon on his shoulder and not a brolly to be shared with the Speedo hunk on the beach! This face has a maturity and capability about it, that is reflected also in the gloves and chunky belt. The tight, cropped top and low waisted trousers show off his natural assets in a very sexy manner but are firmly rooted in modern dress.

This is the humiliating ending of many a knightly quest in Tentakun's universe. Their clothes are ripped off as they are upended for intimate examination etc, etc. This artist credits his tentacle creature with an ability to manipulate it's 'prey' and seek out what it wants in a purposeful manner. This contrasts with many other depictions where the captured man simply has his limbs spread-eagled, sometimes sitting, sometimes suspended in space, while the feelers explore all quarters, indiscriminately it seems. This one doesn't even bother with his wrists, it just takes a firm grip on his waist, finds his pants and rips the back open. This pleasing image, finished with a dash of gloopy slime, owes something to Japanese censorship, a totally naked variant would be much less interesting!

Perhaps I should revise that comment. This equally uncomplicated image is as good a depiction of tentacle invasion as you are likely to see. Again the artist has given the attacking creature human-like thought processes, using it's tentacles to hold the captive down with arms pulled sharply back behind and clamping his buns with side brackets to control movement. The physiology of where these arms come from is a bit vague, but it doesn't seem to matter. The beauty of replacing a human with tentacles is that we can view the action unobstructed by inconvenient bodies.

This isn't the artist's most convincing rendering of human anatomy (it's that double viewpoint again) but it's certainly the most powerful image I have discovered by him, thanks largely to the scary 'alien' creatures borrowed from Sci-Fi horror movies. To show a tentacle creature complete is a bold strategy, horror monsters rarely match their unseen threat when seen in the flesh, as it were. It pays off here, partly because of the groundwork done in those films and also because the compact size seems credible.

The movies don't show these creatures being unleashed on a naked captive with erotic intent. The attack zone between the legs is familiar territory and oral probing equally 'normal' but this face clamping action transforms the image into something much more horrific and life threatening. So much so that the interesting, glutinous restraints and the side-play of nipple encirclement and squeezing can be easily overlooked. There's enough inventiveness here for more than one picture.

This is a Japanese Artist working in the Yaoi style so there's often a tricky ambiguity of age in his characters. This one's borderline facially but with an inflated bosom that couldn't possibly belong to a callow youth. The G-string substitutes for the traditional fundoshi, also loaded with significance in Japan. There's a nice animation of this picture here (you'll need a pixiv account to view it).

I was tickled by this youthful superhero pausing to cheekily pose for the camera before rescuing the hunk whose clothes are being shredded in the background. This pose, with braced, outstretched leg, is classic body-builder stuff, but Tentakun exploits it's erotic potential with curvaceous buns and root-revealing, diving waistline. (This 90% coverage was also used by Stefan to pep up his muscle-morphs and it's widely used in Asia as an erotic device, which is where I think he got it from).

The best open source of this artist's work I have found is Tentakun on Pixiv, some images are unfortunately afflicted by pixilation but there's a linked 'FanBox', paid feature if you want to see more.

There's also a Tentakun Twitter account