Burton calls it a "therapeutic exercise."īurton's affinity for sketching gay porn thumbnails doesn't lie exclusively in its therapeutic value. Part of the exhilaration and catharsis of the change helped Burton overcome anxiety about his sexuality. " just got to be miserable by myself and have this huge plight of 'I can't be gay, I can't do it!' and realize years later that I only distanced myself from other people because I didn't want to face the facts."īurton began sketching porn thumbnails after moving out of his family home at 19, but didn't sketch gay porn thumbnails until he arrived in Chicago. It felt like I got to slide in under the radar." Discussing his coming out experience, Burton said he didn't "quite understand the rules that came before, and all of the trials and tribulations." He added, "I never got bullied for being gay.
Part of the allure of sketching the thumbnails lies in Burton's late coming out.
Specifically, he sketches ( and occasionally fully illustrates ) gay pornographic thumbnail images. All the while, he worked at bettering himself as an artist.īurton's primary medium is drawing. He didn't cook, so he lived off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while working a minimum wage restaurant job. He sold most of his belongings before leaving Ohio and slept on air mattresses after arriving. When he first moved here, Burton struggled quite a bit. "Chicago changed my life completely," he told Windy City Times in a recent interview. He moved here on the cusp of coming outsomething that also heavily influences his work. While most artwork has a deeper meaning, Mike Burton's work offers a unique voice distinct in the Chicago LGBTQ community.Ī transplant from Wadsworth, Ohio, the 28-year-old Burton moved to Chicago two years ago to fully devote his time and energy to art. This article shared 3612 times since Wed Oct 30, 2019