Tickle Artists #2: Interview with Kalamos

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

Hello and thank you for having me over your site. I’m Kalamos.

There isn’t really much to say.

I posted my first tickling-related picture on the Tickle Theater forum, a few ages ago – decades, now.

Then I kept going and some people liked it.

Been on national and local TVs, worked in underground clubs; I guess I got around, met people, did things.

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

I’m basically a seasoned dilettante, clinging onto old way of drawing, out of habit, stubborness and a lethal case of chronic laziness.

Pencil on paper, scanner, then colors in digital, using an outdated, discontinued program that sometimes crashes on me “when it’s more fun”.

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

Some things just happen; some things just… are.

As a young kid I was scrabbling around before I could speak or walk; kept at it.

I wasn’t initially aware tickling was a kink or anything; few of us were, I guess.

Again, it simply came to me; probably watching that “infamous” tickling torture scene on TV, with the well endowed thieving redhead, helped.

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

Currently, I mostly do surreal crossovers – as if characters were actually actors playing their character in a shared universe.

I seldom do non-con stuff; I’m more into finding convoluted reason for the ticklee to secretly crave it.

And the tickler unwittingly giving it, while trying to interrogate something out of the “damsel in distress”.

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?

Being a “pencil for hire”, I mostly do what people ask me to draw, or what I feel is popular with watchers.

I am hopelessly behind the curve, though; younger artists draw stuff I’ve never seen.

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

General public is still wrapping their collective heads around much more harmless foot fetishism – calling even those “pervs”.

Tickling is barely a blip on their collective radars, and some had awful times with tickling as kids.

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

The crux is: tickling is probably just tickling, that is playful foreplay, for vanilla couples.

It doesn’t belong to BDSM alone, but some BDSM circles certainly tried to tie tickling in – pun… – as a teachable discipline.

For some people, tickling is just a kink, without the powerplay part.

8) I know you participate in events that involve tickling.

Do you usually work with models who are really ticklish or not? What are the pros and cons of each condition?

That’s part of a performer’s and videomaker’s trade secrets.

You wouldn’t want to ruin the fun for our followers, telling them the naked truth.

For some adult models it’s just another job, some actually like tickling.

Ultimately, depends on the individual model; I don’t usually work with people who are not aware of what is what, or actively dislike it.

As with more vanilla adult flicks, there is a part of smoke and mirrors – because actual candid stuff isn’t always fit for vids.

9) In the world of fetish enthusiasts, does tickling constitute a substantial part of interest or is it a relatively small niche?

Well, I ran by some statistics a while ago, and one in ten people have a fetish, apparently.

Tickling fetish is a niche within a niche.

Small enough to be conflated by some with foot fetishism, but large enough for forums and actual people communities to exist.

10) In a world in which AIs are beginning to compete with traditional designs, what more can a true tickler represent than an artificial intelligence?

I actually tried feeding an AI prompts for generating a tickling scene; it refused to comply – probably they programmed it against doing adult stuff.

At some point even AIs will be able to create passable fetish art – if fed the right samples.

It boils down to what people want to watch.

A sufficiently well-trained AI can “fool” many watchers, and in the end, it’s about what people want to watch.

Some people cherish AI-generated art; share it over groups.

I can’t say if AI will run out of artists to copy from, eventually.

Or maybe people will react against it, and go back to analog drawing.

I’m just a pencil wielding hermit; it’s all over my head.

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Tickle Artists #1: Interview with Solletickle Tickle Artists #3: Interview with Toermentor Tickle Artists #4: Interview with WooouTK Tickle Artists #5: Interview with TheBandito Tickle Artists #6: Interview with Dr. Random Tickle Artists #7: Interview with Restif Tickle Artistis #8: Interview with Jynthewise Tickle Artists #9: Interview with CToon Video producers #1: Interview with Gisy Scerman Video producers #2: Interview with Solletico Tickling Tickling Models #1: Interview with PetraFeet