Tickle Artists #39: Interview with Paranormal Nerdom

1) Do you want to tell us something about yourself and your art?

HI, I’m Paranormal Nerdom. I’m basically just a big nerd who can’t afford real therapy so I default to geeky tickle art instead. I’ve always been a science guy ultimately, but I still feel the need for a creative outlet. Be that filmmaking, photography, or art.

I draw what I want to see and that usually ends up being comic girls getting tickled half to death but I’ve been meaning to branch out more to other types of fandoms, though I won’t stray too far from what people seem to find value in from my page. Sometimes, I get to do commissions that are things I’d never usually draw and that can be really fun. As somebody with a very specific fetish, I’m more than happy to indulge others in theirs.

2) What techniques do you use to draw? Do you have a favorite artist that inspires you?

Well, my art and style, as well as my technique evolves a little with every piece. I love to experiment (And by that I mean that I can’t help myself). However, If I had to break it down, I’d say it’s definitely a comic book style, in as much as I can manage. I’ve done painting but I always seem to come back to comics. My favored brushes are inking brushes like the kind used in comics (specifically, I tend to use a slightly modified “syrup” brush), at least for the linework. I just love the stroke you get from a nice inking brush. All of my published art is digital but I keep a sketchbook in my office. My main setup is a 2022 IPad Pro with Procreate. As for influences, I think if you know, you know. My absolute number 1 influence is Mark Bagley. No matter how hard I try, there will always be visible Bagley-isms in my art. I grew up with his 114 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man and his Spidey was absolutely everywhere when I was a kid. In the “community” my art hero was always TK-Geek!, even back before he deleted his original account. I’m proud to say that my personal archive is why much of his older art is still available today and I was more than glad to be able to help him retrieve his work. I have been able to build something of a dynamic with many of the artists in the community who I looked up to back in the day, which has been surreal.

3) How was the passion for drawing born in you? And the one for tickling?

Hard to say when it started. I don’t really have an origin story as far as art goes; it was just always there. I think a lot of that was because I couldn’t afford more expensive hobbies as a kid. It was always used in games, drawing, and whatever comics I could get my hands on. I very much fell off for some time but I got back into it after highschool to varying degrees.

When it comes to tickling, I’m not exactly sure. It’s very much a question in the field of psychology that is ongoing so I don’t expect to settle the matter here. I’ll say that I realized I had a thing for tickling when I was about 13. For whatever reason, girls I knew would always tickle me (some of them quite extensively) and this would persist into adulthood. I was usually too shy to tickle them back but It made me realize how much I enjoy the act of tickling/being tickled. When I would decide to retaliate, I would do so with great enthusiasm and leave my victims in quite the state. They must have been alright with it because they kept picking tickle fights.

A funny story is when I was about 15, I decided to try and draw some tickling art (My first tickling art). Anyway, I drew a few pictures, most of which were MJ, as I recall but I certainly didn’t want to keep physical copies around to be found because I’ve always been very shy about this part of my life. So what did I do? I put them in the bathroom sink and grinded it into a pulp with water and whatever cocimany, makeshift pulveriser I could manage and dispensed the mush into a small lego box which I buried in the woods near my home (Like I said: Very shy).

4) What are the tickling scenarios that you prefer to draw?

I’m have varied tastes but my ol’ reliable is a good belly tickle. My favorite characters to draw are usually from comics, being my main fandom. A classic damsel in distress tickled by sinister forces or a very much consensual, sensual tickling torture are my usual cup.

5) What are the aspects of tickling that you intend to represent with your art? Example: the laughing, the wriggling, the relationship between tickler and ticklee?

I love to capture the intensity, the agony of a tickle victim’s torture. That’s why sometimes my victims are screaming rather than traditional laughter. Sometimes, they aren’t even being tickled but rather, we find them in between torments where they are broken and begging for relief. I love the blurry line between torment and pleasure too. Not in a stabby, skinhook, Hellraiser kinda way but more in a sensual way.

6) Online there are countless photos and videos of tickling sessions. In your opinion, what do illustrations offer more than images of real scenes?

I think it’s different flavors for different occasions. Sometimes I prefer a video and sometimes I prefer a drawing, or comic, or even an audio. I think all are equally valuable but illustration is such a limitless format. You don’t need a budget or a model or a costume team to make any dream into a reality. You can do anything at all with a drawing, whereas film is limited by economic factors. Ultimately nothing compares to tying someone up and tickling the holy hell out of them or being subject to said tickling but the artistic expression and community is SO valuable.

7) In your opinion, what makes tickling so interesting for fans of this phenomenon?

It certainly varies and I’m not audacious enough to speak for anyone else but I love the laughter, the screaming, the sensation itself and all of the wildly diverse forms it takes and the contradictory and wonderful things it does to people who experience it. I’ve heard people say it’s the power exchange, but power has never much been my thing. For me, it’s less describable. Less knowable. I’ve never quite been able to express it. It’s wonderful and horrible and pleasure, and torture all at once.

8) What are your works of which you are most proud?

Well, like a lot of artists, it’s usually whatever I’ve drawn most recently. I try not to look back because I see all of the things I’d change. I’m pretty happy with my Atom Eve piece. I don’t think I can really pick a favorite though.

9) Do you have any particular artistic goals for the future?

I’d like to make something of a side career out of it. I’ve been very humbled thus far by how many people have been willing to buy art from me. I think I’ll always be a STEM guy in terms of my normal job but if I could make a career for myself as an artist too, that would be a dream come true.

10) Do you think AI will end up enriching or impoverishing the art of tickling representations?

I’ve seen some terrific AI tickling pictures. Particularly those improved manually with Photoshop and I hope it provides an outlet for people who don’t have the time or resources for hand drawn digital art but I don’t think we ought to treat it as something to be sold or profited from due to the fact that, by its nature, it’s sampling from other peoples art and there’s always a degree of authorial intent that’s lost in the product too, it seems. I’m not inherently anti-AI art but, at the same time, we should conduct ourselves responsibly with it.

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