Yaoi Bases Makes BL Poses Easier to Draw - Interview

Boys Love Universe (BLU)
52 minutes ago
4 min read

We had the pleasure of chatting with Yaoi Bases, a one-person project creating hand-drawn SFW and NSFW pose references made with BL artists in mind. Their simple goal is to help artists in the BL space!

In this interview, Yaoi Bases breaks down how creators can use the poses, what’s strictly off-limits, and what they’re aiming for next as they keep studying anatomy and improving each new set.

1. Tell us about Yaoi bases

Like the name suggests, on Yaoi bases you can find SFW and NSFW hand drawn references for BL artists; no matter whether they’re beginners or experts, they draw for hobby or for a living! It’s a one-man team, so I take care of both the drawing part and the social media management part.

I have a very vivid imagination when it comes to world building, story creation or even just imagining my ships having sex (laughs). Despite this, I can barely draw anything properly without a reference, and Pinterest isn’t always helpful… Have you ever had a clear idea of what you wanna draw, then opened Pinterest in hopes to find the “perfect” reference, only to end up endlessly scrolling like you’d do on Twitter or TikTok, and in fact not draw at all? It happened to me a bunch of times, and realized it’s detrimental to one’s attention span other than a waste of time. Also, it’s been polluted with AI, which is upsetting.

“Yaoi bases” was born with the above premise in mind: it had to be an easily accessible space for BL artists who need to find references quickly. When I decided on the terms of service of my bases, I thought especially of manga, comic and webtoon artists who are constantly on tight schedules: hence the decision to allow anyone to trace above the references I provide, if they need or wish so; something that I would never allow happening to my actual illustrations that I post on other channels.

2. If a creator wants to use your poses what should they do?

It’s quicker to say what they MUST NOT do: remove the watermarks, repost and/or redistribute the poses and feed them into AI: social media are already doing that job themselves…

For anything else, everyone is free to use the poses however they like: inspiration, copy, study,… like said above I allow outright tracing as well. As long as it helps an artist’s workflow, any usage is fine! When I went viral recently some people even asked if these poses can be used for M/F or F/F ships and I said yes! Go all out!!

3. What inspired you to create Yaoi bases?

I was inspired by two drawn bases accounts in particular. I don’t know if I can name them but they’re pretty popular and have been active for a lot of time already. However, none of them draw poses specifically for BL, so that’s where I jumped in! Most of what I draw is whatever gay ship I’m obsessed with at that moment, and the struggle to find references is real, especially when it comes to sexual poses. Once I read a comment from another famous references account which said something like “we make suggestive poses for the people who don’t want to search actual porn” and I kind of took on the quest as well, haha!

In general I’ve always wanted to be helpful to other artists the same way those I look up to have inspired me and improved my art. I don’t feel like I am at a point where I can teach anything, so I found another way to support and help, especially now that for every human made piece of art there’s ten AI generated, and using AI for reference isn’t good.

4. Goals for Yaoi bases?

As cheesy as this is going to sound, the goal was to simplify artists’ life, and given the feedback I’m receiving I already achieved it! I do have a few things in mind to implement on my page, but for now I wanna focus on improving the quality of references I deliver (read as: study a loooot of anatomy!)

5. What advice would you give new artists?

Oh, there’s a few. I’ll start with saying, pick a handful of artists you really love and study their work. “What do you like in particular? How can you implement their way of seeing reality into your own workflow?” are examples of questions to ask yourself when you analyse an artist’s craft.

Following right after: make focused studies. I mean, if you currently want to improve your character art, draw a lot of bodies, leave environments to the side for now.

Draw on paper a lot, even better if you use a ballpoint pen or anything else you can’t erase: CTRL-Z has spoiled us into too much comfort. Also it’s good to take your eyes off the screen for a while!

In the learning stage, quantity over quality: you learn anatomy better if you sketch a body 100 times, than meticulously refine the tiniest muscles one time. (Not saying you can’t do the latter, I’m saying that’s for another type of work)

Lastly, learn to observe and also REST. Many will say you have to draw everyday to improve and while it’s not entirely wrong it’s not super right either. You can’t draw if you don’t know how to observe reality. Also, drawing all day everyday will lead you to wrist and back pain and eye strain. I’ve been there so I know what I’m talking about. It’s okay to take some time off, be it a day, a week or a month; you won’t fall back! If anything, your body will thank you!!

6. Where can folks support your work?

Twitter is my main social, but you can find me pretty much anywhere mainstream! The handle is yaoibases everywhere except TikTok which has a dot in the middle.

For those who feel generous enough to pledge, there is Patreon and Ko-Fi! Patreon is where I post many of the NSFW bases I wouldn’t be able to share on social media. Most of them are behind paywall, but even free members have perks like the access to a friendly group chat where I give updates and occasional tips. Ko-Fi exists for donations and SFW archive gallery instead!