Bill Schmeling (April 30, 1938 – September 12, 2019), better known by his pen name The Hun, was an American artist active in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, known for his explicit, homoerotic fetish illustrations and comics.[1][2][3]
Recurring characters in his comics include Big Sig (a naïve but sexually adventurous, semi-literate young man) and Gohr (a barbarian living in a brutal, post-apocalyptic world).[4] His art is characterized by hyper-masculine characters with exaggerated muscles, nipples, and genitalia.[4] Sex scenes routinely involve BDSM with an emphasis on body fluids, including urolagnia and scatophilia.[4][1]Prison rape, fisting, leather and uniform fetishes, and police and military settings are also commonplace.[3]
Schmeling developed a close friendship with Tom of Finland during the 1980s when they lived in Los Angeles; the two men set up artist salons in their homes and shared their practices.[5]
In 1988, Schmeling collaborated with Jack Fritscher to produce two feature-length films for Palm Drive Video that highlighted hundreds of his drawings: The Hun Video Gallery 1: Rainy Night in Georgia and The Hun Video Gallery 2: Chain Gang Bang.[9]
In a 2023 online exhibit, the Tom of Finland Foundation wrote:
"His artist name (The Hun) personifies the intense subject matter of his work [...] The Hun’s works occupy a unique place among gay erotic artists. He has spearheaded a more intense style of artwork that captures scenes and fantasies often avoided by other artists as well as emphasizes a uniquely grotesque style involving oversized body parts, excess body fluids, and other features on a hyper-sexual scale."[3]
During the 1980s, Schmeling frequently donated art to charity auctions for AIDS patients across the country.[9]
In July 2019, Schmeling donated all of his remaining artwork, notes, and other materials to the Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M) in Chicago.[11] The LA&M periodically sells comic reprints and merchandise featuring his art.[12]
Honors & Awards
In 1993, Schmeling received the Business of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.[13]
In 2002, Schmeling was inducted into the Tom of Finland Foundation's Artist Hall of Fame.[5] He was the third person to be inducted following Tom himself (Touko Laaksonen) and H.R. Giger.[15]
In 2004, Schmeling received the Northwest Regional Award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.[16]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Bill_Schmeling, and is written by contributors.
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