What's happening in this image? (bikini warning)

What's going on?

  • Most likely something sexual

    Votes: 10 38.5%
  • I think nothing sexual

    Votes: 13 50.0%
  • Not sure what's happening

    Votes: 4 15.4%
  • He's being naughty, she isn't

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • She's being naughty, he isn't

    Votes: 1 3.8%

  • Total voters
    26
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Ravioli

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I sparked a microcosm controversy which caused me to delete an image - something I do once in a decade. Last time were Mohammed cartoons (because I just felt like a jerk, no threats). So I'd like to poll how people tend to interpret it.

Not asking for crits on the art itself by the way, just interpretation of content :)

I drew this and uploaded it as my Facebook cover. I'm not telling you who the characters are, because I need a neutral assessment. What do you all think I drew here, other than a tremendous bit of awesome?
I have been getting reactions ever since the upload, like so:
-"I can tell by your cover pic that you're a sexually open-minded person"
-"Your cover pic suggests it's okay if I come over?" (yes, this was said)
-"Your cover pic, I gotta say, uh, wow."
-"OMFG YOU FILTHY PAEDO!"
-"That pic is unfit for Facebook."
-"With that cover pic, you're surprised people are hitting on you?"
-"That dude's hand, the placement, there's just no room for interpretation..."
And of course repeated "What's going on in there?".

So what are they doing?
aren_t_you_cold__by_annagiladi-d93mevy_400x319.jpg


Here's a link to a bigger version: http://666kb.com/i/d0wysoof4gip521k6.jpg

If you've seen this elsewhere with the answer, please no spoilers!
 
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morngnstar

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He looks sick. Could be just sad. She looks concerned.
 

Chris P

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My first reaction is that he is very ill and she is concerned about him. If this were a graphic novel I'd assume that's what's going on in the scene.

I do get a little squicked out that she seems quite a bit younger than him, and based on how they are dressed I assume that their relationship is sexual, even if the scene is not. If that's part of the story than so be it.

The word "immature" on the poster is interesting. Intentional?
 

ShaunHorton

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I would have to agree he looks sick and she's worried about him, although the placement of his hand at the waistband of his clothes is a distraction, as is the way she's dressed and how young she looks in relation to him. I wouldn't assume she is really young though, as it's a hard thing to tell based on appearances these days, and as for the way they're dressed, he could have just popped over unannounced and caught her off guard.

But I would say it's obvious they are a couple from the picture that's on the wall as well.

I would raise an eyebrow, but then I'd just shrug and walk away. That's my general reaction.
 

RedRajah

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Theme of the pic aside, the girl just looks awkwardly off in that position.
 

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His legs wide open, his hand where it is, her lack of clothes - it feels sexualized, to me. Yes, I think he's probably ill and she's trying to nurse him, but, honestly, she's about the same size as one of his thighs, it's pretty hard to effectively nurse someone while lying prone, she's wearing skimpy underwear or maybe a bikini...
 

amergina

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He looks sick. She looks like she came in from the beach. She looks like she's comforting him.

She looks like an adult to me, but he's either really really really tall or she's really really tiny, because his leg from crotch to knee is almost the same length as her body from head to butt, so I get why people might think her a child.
 

Robert Dawson

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The woman could be anywhere from 16 to 30. But she seems to be drawn to about 0.75 the scale that he is (caliper her head, femur, or tibia and compare with his) which could make people think "juvenile." She also looks as if she's about to fall off that mattress.

And for somebody who knows him well enough to be snuggling in her undies, she seems to be keeping contact very minimal. I mention this because I think it's the root of the other problems. I think you drew her small to fit her in, without getting in front of him (very mediaeval!) Try drawing it again, and make her bigger - and fit her onto the bed by, say, having her right leg on top of his. I'm fairly certain (because of the lack of perspective in the pattern on her panties) that you drew this on a computer; and (for reasons stated above) that you drew him first. So if you have made backups properly, you _do_ have a version of this with him alone on the bed, right?

A couple other points - once you notice it, the flat pattern fill on the fabric looks awkward. If you can hand-draw a fabric pattern that helps sculpt the curve of her butt, etc, that's fine, otherwise maybe go with a single color? And the flush on her cheeks suggests (at least as a cartoon trope) a level of sexual arousal that is incompatible with their rather melancholy facial expressions (and hardly-touching poses.)

[ETA: Do you have a couple (and I mean couple) of average-sized friends who would model for you?]
 
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lianna williamson

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My first thought, without looking at anyone else's:

They're a couple. He's upset about something. She was probably in the process of getting dressed or undressed when he said something concerning enough to make her join him on the bed. She's trying to talk him down from whatever bad place he's in. In this context, the hand on his waistband just looks like he's scratching his belly or something.

This scene looks intimate to me, but not sexual. In my experience, many people are unable to tell the difference.
 

BarII

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I was going to joke by saying it depicts a woman's failed attempt to reset her boyfriend's shoulder in which she accidently breaks his neck. But the thing I see first is the weird shoulder. And she looks a little small in comparison to him, which is probably why people think she's young.

Edit:...and the word "immature" is on the poster, so I'm thinking she's too young for him too.
 
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sgcassidy

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He loves her. He hurt her. He's wants to be sorry but no longer knows how to be sorry. He's an addict and can't find it in himself to stop using. He wants to lay in bed and wallow in his drug fueled haze but she is there. She loves him and does not understand his addiction. She wants to give herself to him but his body is useless. His hand is on his skin, he wants to reach down and feel his own erection but he knows it its not going to be there and he wants to feel something. His brain knows he loves her but his body is betraying him. His body doesn't feel anymore. It's left him numb and senseless. He wants to care but he can't anymore, he doesn't care anymore, he's forgotten how . One more drink, one more hit off a joint, that's all he wants, that's all that's left for him and she doesn't understand.
She wants him to feel again. She wants to feel him again. She wants him inside her but he is no longer capable. He has given up hope and she desperately wants him to care again but he doesn't and he can't. He needs another drink and it is coming to him that he will never have the strength or will power to recover.
She wants to leave him and knows that it is all that is left for her to do but she tries one more time, she makes herself available sexually to him but he can only put his hand on his skin, on the top of his pubis bone and try to remember and forget at the same time what she meant to him. Try to remember and forget what it felt like to make love to her. He knows it is over, he has chosen booze and drugs over her and she is a frightened and hurt child hoping that if she shows her body to him he will make love to her but he can't, and doesn't.
She knows she will never see him again, be with him again, make love to him again, have him inside her again, be intimate again and he is past caring for the one person in the world that can save him. If she is to live, to have a life she must let him die. He will die and she knows it and he simply, sadly, agonizingly accepts it. He gives her a blank stare from those beautiful brown eyes.
 
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Ravioli

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Wow, I need to stop listening to Facebook. You all got it mostly right. I appreciate all the input! Here's the points I wanna pick up:

1. The Immature poster. Click for different perspective; prelude to the scene discussed, though totally different because, artistic liberty. Meanwhile, I decided to make him look more neglected, hair running riot, etc. He looks way too healthy in the linked one anyway.
I wanted to put some movie poster in his room, but was too lazy to draw one, and not lazy enough to copy-paste one off Google, so I used an old drawing of mine, of an original character who is, like most of them - including our guy - horribly immature. It would've had a better title, but I failed to remember: Dirty Little Thing, as written on the top edge of the poster. Because both these people and the character on the poster, are dirty little things.

2. He is kind of ill. It's actually a scene from my manuscript, in which she was wearing shorts and a top though, I just thought, hey, let's get some eyes on this one. He's just woken up from an overdose, still flimsy and miserable. She is taking care of him, jealously competing with his wife. The cut on his cheek is from her horrid shaving skills.

3. He's really just scratching his belly; she's his sister, hence no shame or decorum. People on Facebook thought he was choking the chicken with a little girl in his bed. The ambiguity is semi-deliberate for attention, but I still hoped it leaned towards scratching himself.

4. They're siblings. She's 16 (legal in her country in the real world), he's 25, and she really is supposed to be tiny. He likes to toss her about and otherwise bully her in ways you need a tiny person for. And I thought it was funny to have a tiny, skinny thing with a loud mouth and a horrid temper.

5. She is coming on to him. She's got issues. I failed to draw her as skinny as I'd meant to, because she's all about getting male attention and thinks skinny is the thing (in a starving ghetto... nope girl), so she hardly eats. And she decided there's no safer love than a big brother's. He's in a state where he's weaker than her, and she knows it.
The only reasons she's not draped across him, are my laziness (I referenced the poses from a guy lazing with his son, though I doubled her in size), and also because, she's trying to ease him into this. In the MS, she starts off engaging him over his insults on her poor performance in school, then segways to sex ed. As seen in his mockery of her trouble pronouncing the letter P in the pic I linked above.
I considered writing the entire thing into a place where he ends up consenting to an incestual relationship because she's cute, she's willing, she loves him, but decided to save his soul in the end. As long as he's barking at her to get out of his room, he's not doing anything unethical. But dating your sister when you know she's sick, nah, that's just not him. I've thought about asking for input on whether or not he's still redeemable previously, for other things, let's not make it a clear No...


As for the shoulder... I struggled with that for hours until I gave up. Thing is, I'm double-jointed and I can comfortably hold my arms in weird ways, and so is he... but let's just pretend the sleeve is very wide and lifted up around there from movement....

@sgcassidy I loved reading your interpretation. Actually, while it's totally off the relationship between these two, it's very close to why his wife ends up leaving him. He never sunk deep enough into drugs and booze to be a major thing in the manuscript, but he does mess himself up in many ways he then numbs with booze (and before he kills him, his best friend's stash of prescription drugs). At some point, he's such a crappy husband he spends more time with his johns so he can conveniently be too miserable as to nurture false hopes or make efforts to save himself that might end in failure, and she has enough. Which is a good thing in the end, because her bad influence put him in a situation where he felt like numbing himself in the first place.
 

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I'm not really sure what Facebook got wrong - the scenario you describe IS sexual, it IS in conflict with the sexual mores of modern society, etc. I mean, the clown who interpreted it as some sort of personal invitation is coming from left field, but the rest of it seems to match pretty well with the scenario. What parts do you think they got wrong?
 

Latina Bunny

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Ok, I'm going to comment without reading your explanations first. I hope I'm not offending, so please let me know if I am.

1. Something's off with their poses (or maybe perspective?), particularly the guy's shoulder and the way the girl is posed on the bed. The girl's upper body looks like she's floating if she's not supported by the guy's arm or her own elbow. I'm trying to replicate that pose in real life, and I keep falling over or feel strained trying to hold it. Is she supported by the arm of the guy? Because it doesn't look like it to me.

But it might be a perspective thing, though. It could be how I see the body/pose. It looks like her lower body is lying flat down on her side, but then her upper is twisting up to reach him. When I try to copy the pose in real life, my body is angled differently, and I needed to support my upper body with my elbow. I couldn't reach both arms up the way the girl has them in the picture without falling over, lol.

I think it's the way I interpret the pose from the way it's drawn or maybe the shadows? (Or your female model is more flexible and stronger than me, lol. I'm a young woman, btw.)

I'm looking at the picture again, and I feel she has to be stepping/leaning/pressing on his arm with her upper body or shoulder to be able to get upright enough to reach his hair/face while her lower body is prone flat against the bed. I don't know how to articulate it, but the pose looks awkward and maybe a little painful. There's some shading to show she's a bit bent, but I think there would be more creases, I guess?

(ETA: Looking back on it, it could be the weird perspective...
ETA2: I tried replicating this pose in real life again, and I could sort of do it if my legs were not lined up together, but one stretched out a bit more than the other. Her legs curled up in that pose and her back curled forward is probably what's also making it feel awkward. Is her upper torso leaning against something like his arm or the bed? I think it's a conflicting perspective thing or something. Something's off. Though it's ok to be a little distorted in a cartoon/illustration.)

I think the choice of pose may have been a difficult one to draw, especially the perspective. I just keep thinking of her spine and ribs/sides hurting a little bit, lol.

And the guy's shoulder looks a bit dislocated or maybe too big in size or too twisted.

2. At first, I wasn't sure what his hand was doing at his waistband when I first glanced at the picture. I thought he was going down his pants because there's a half-naked girl in his bed and he was staring at her with his legs open. It took me some time to see that he was scratching his tummy, and he was in a casual pose.

3. They're intimate with each other (really, really close) because she's on the bed, half-naked, and the way she was posed. I thought she was in her underwear at first, but she seems to be wearing a bikini. Either way, they're close--lovers or overly casual friends (or friends with benefits?).

4. Poor guy seems ill.

4. She's comforting him.

5. Now, I don't know if she's just touching him to comfort him (as a lover? Or super close friend/sibling, which feels weird to me), or she's using this moment to get sensual with him for the first time. Or, she's starting to become sensual to lead him into comfort sex.

So, it's sensual scene (with awkward posing), with a sick man being comforted, that may or may not lead to sexual activity. Or maybe it's the morning/next day after a love making night, and she noticed her lover was getting a cold, a fever, or something. Or maybe he's actually depressed and she's comforting him, and maybe offering some intimate company.

I see it as comforting scene with some sensuality--that could lead to sexual things. But I don't know the context, so it could be a really, really close friends or super-close (a little too close) siblings situation. Or she got of a pool and she's comforting him, and they're both super-super close.
 
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Ravioli

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I'm not really sure what Facebook got wrong - the scenario you describe IS sexual, it IS in conflict with the sexual mores of modern society, etc. I mean, the clown who interpreted it as some sort of personal invitation is coming from left field, but the rest of it seems to match pretty well with the scenario. What parts do you think they got wrong?
Facebook deemed it sexual by deciding he's choking his chicken, when he's just scratching his belly. She's coming on to him, but it's entirely one-sided. The chicken seems so obvious to some, I didn't even reveal that she's into him but merely said "He's scratching his belly, she's his sister" - they insisted that only made it worse, by completely ignoring the belly scratch part of my sentence.

bunny-gypsy said:
5. Now, I don't know if she's just touching him to comfort him (as a lover? Or super close friend/sibling, which feels weird to me), or she's using this moment to get sensual with him for the first time. Or, she's starting to become sensual to lead him into comfort sex.
This is pretty much correct. She's his little sister who would need a shrink if their ghetto had any, because by her logic no relationship is safer than one with a sibling. And he just woke up from a suicide attempt and is too drowsy to do much about her "lunantics".

But yeah, I got such super-close friends myself where we can just cuddle in whatever undignified clothes and stuff - and no tensions or shenanigans :hooray:
 

Amadan

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But you just said you deliberately drew it that way to be suggestive, so how is Facebook wrong to think it is suggestive?

"He's not really wanking in front of his sister, I just wanted you to think maybe he is "?
 

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But you said "The ambiguity is semi-deliberate for attention, but I still hoped it leaned towards scratching himself." - If you're making things ambiguous but hoping they lean in one direction, I don't think you can be totally surprised when they lean in the other direction for some viewers.

ETA: Unless you mean it was actually deemed inappropriate by Facebook? Like, did they ask you to remove this image b/c it was sexual? If that's the case, I can see why you'd be surprised... suggestive is not the same as graphic. But is that what we're talking about?
 
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Ravioli

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But you just said you deliberately drew it that way to be suggestive, so how is Facebook wrong to think it is suggestive?

"He's not really wanking in front of his sister, I just wanted you to think maybe he is "?
No, the hand really was supposed to put him in a vulgar, but not necessarily sexual position. You just don't scratch your happy trail like that with a half-naked girl next do you who isn't your girlfriend. My main source of suggestiveness was supposed to be her rear in the viewer's face, but I guess that one failed.

But you said "The ambiguity is semi-deliberate for attention, but I still hoped it leaned towards scratching himself." - If you're making things ambiguous but hoping they lean in one direction, I don't think you can be totally surprised when they lean in the other direction for some viewers.

ETA: Unless you mean it was actually deemed inappropriate by Facebook? Like, did they ask you to remove this image b/c it was sexual? If that's the case, I can see why you'd be surprised... suggestive is not the same as graphic. But is that what we're talking about?
It was a bit of both - comments on being suggestive, and downright inappropriate. Let's say I didn't deem it quite AS suggestive as did Facebook. I knew it was a bit, as was my intention, but not to the degree or for the elements I thought.
 

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It appears to me as if his fingertips might be slipping under the waistband of his jeans? It might be less sexual if there's a gap, even a small one, between his hand and the waistband of his jeans.
 

Chris P

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I considered writing the entire thing into a place where he ends up consenting to an incestual relationship because she's cute, she's willing, she loves him, but decided to save his soul in the end. As long as he's barking at her to get out of his room, he's not doing anything unethical. But dating your sister when you know she's sick, nah, that's just not him. I've thought about asking for input on whether or not he's still redeemable previously, for other things, let's not make it a clear No...

If you do go the direction of him considering (or even actually) fooling around with his sister, as a reader I would find it more believable if his reasoning was along the lines of giving her "safe" experiences so she's less naive and vulnerable when she gets a boyfriend. She could even use that to try to convince him. It's kind of like parents hosting booze or pot parties for their kids to give them a safe place to experiment and, yeah, it happens.
 

sgcassidy

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Oh boy, yuk. There is absolutely nothing safe about incest.(My wife is a victim of incest so my viewpoint is black and white) I have a problem with her putting a qualifier on her sex with the brother as "safe". Maybe find another way to explain her feeling of wanting more intimacy with him. YES she LOVES him BUT she realizes her feelings for him are not sex but the intimacy found between siblings, a very deep and emotional bond they share BECAUSE of the shared tragedies of their lives. She needs him for his strength as a male figure but he has his own demons to cope with and she feels the burden for both of them.
 

Ravioli

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If you do go the direction of him considering (or even actually) fooling around with his sister, as a reader I would find it more believable if his reasoning was along the lines of giving her "safe" experiences so she's less naive and vulnerable when she gets a boyfriend. She could even use that to try to convince him. It's kind of like parents hosting booze or pot parties for their kids to give them a safe place to experiment and, yeah, it happens.
Actually, that is exactly HER reasoning, but while he's morally not far from doing that on top of everything else he's been doing and is going to do, he still believes she's the one good, redeemable thing in this world worth preserving. Though her reasoning makes perfect sense, though maybe that's just twisted me talking.
And she does use that to try to convince him. In the end she gets her way, but only because he's too disoriented to fight her off unless he were to use force he can't control in his state.

I'm tempted to derail their relationship, but it'd require rewriting everything from that chapter... Although it'd make the wife's departure a lot more deserved than just her compassion not covering his temprary chute.

I have a problem with her putting a qualifier on her sex with the brother as "safe". Maybe find another way to explain her feeling of wanting more intimacy with him. YES she LOVES him BUT she realizes her feelings for him are not sex but the intimacy found between siblings, a very deep and emotional bond they share BECAUSE of the shared tragedies of their lives. She needs him for his strength as a male figure but he has his own demons to cope with and she feels the burden for both of them.
That's assuming she's rational, but she isn't. Beyond being clinically disturbed, blessed with a low IQ, and has cousins for parents, she is a lonely, miserable little girl who has no friends, an eating disorder, cooped up in an empoverished place worse than the Gaza Strip where they may run out of running water at any given time and people die from the common cold for lack of medical facilities; the only person who'd love her enough to die for her, is her brother who she discovers can be rented and used for a can of pickles by just about anyone, and who dunks her face in how her family is going to sh.. and she can't do anything to stop it. Her parents shove Jesus down her throat where her brother yanks him back out, boys ignore her, and every day she's reminded that her people will never be free and able to live meaningful lives, so chances are she's gonna starve before anyone's ever even kissed her.

As for sharing his demons, he's always been her third parent and she emotionally depends on his devotion, repaying him only with what you can expect her to comprehend. Dressing wounds, less-than-intelligent pep talk, throwing stuff at his wife for scolding him. That kind of support.
Arguments like "I'm your brother, I'll hurt you, also, cyclops babies" are no match for her reasoning: "You can do it with that fat Jewish b... (they're Christians)/with the butcher/what if anyone else dumps/uses/hurts me".
 
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Orianna2000

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(. . . ) cooped up in an empoverished place worse than the Gaza Strip where they may run out of running water at any given time and people die from the common cold for lack of medical facilities;
Wait, what?

Okay, so I tend to take things literally, and I do realize you're exaggerating for effect here, but still. People rarely, if ever, die from the common cold. The average person gets a cold several times a year, and according to my research, less than 1% of people with colds end up with complications, and those would be things like ear infections or sinus infections. Not very life-threatening! And as far as "medical facilities," there isn't much a doctor can do for a cold. Antibiotics are useless against colds, because colds are caused by a virus. Doctors would only be useful in treating secondary infections, which, as stated above, happen less than 1% of the time. So, I'm not sure what sort of help medical facilities would be able to provide these mythical people who are dying from colds.

You may need to rethink things and pick another illustrative example. :)
 

Ravioli

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And yet, there are tens of thousands of death worldwide every year.

The flu is usually self-limited. However, each year in the United States, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized due to complications of the flu. An estimated 36,000 people die each year of influenza-related complications. People at highest risk for serious complications are those over 65 years old and those with chronic medical conditions. Influenza A is the most severe strain. Influenza B tends to be milder.
New York Times, among other sources. Doctors are needed for complication management.
 
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