Tag Archives: documentary drawing

The first ever Torture Garden Berlin!

The Pain Proof Priestess at Torture Garden Berlin Feb 29 2020 by Suzanne ForbesHoly heck, the first Torture Garden in Berlin was amazing!

It was held at the breathtaking, legendary, just re-opened Art Deco palais The Metropol. The performers were fantastic. Above, Bertoulle Beaurebec, The Pain Proof Priestess. She is incredible. More drawings of her to come! Ms. Beaurebec is wearing a headpiece created by my friend Sylva Hattington of Bubbles and Frown. Sylva did simply unbelievable costumery for the performance. I wore one of her creations too and I have never gotten so many compliments!

Marie Devilreux at Torture Garden Berlin Feb 29 2020 by Suzanne ForbesI got to draw fantastic multi-talented Marie Devilreux!

I have been wanting to draw her for absolutely ages! Her Instagram handle is Dressed to Kill You, which never fails to delight my 80s De Palma heart.

Marie Devilreux in Moon at Torture Garden Berlin by Suzanne Forbes Oct 26 2021Another drawing of Marie Devilreux, in her flying moon hoop!

I have to admit that this is only a rough approximation of the costume she was wearing, but I tried to capture the sense of what a sparkling lovely being she is and I think that comes through!

Gina Harrison at Torture Garden Berlin Feb 29 2020 by Suzanne ForbesAn elegiac exorcism and rebirth by Gina Harrison.

The stage was covered with earth and she emerged from – well, actually I’m not gonna spoil it, in case she performs it somewhere else! You can follow Ms. Harrison here, I highly recommend it! Louis Fleischauer is the performer with her.

Martini at Torture Garden Berlin 2020 by Suzanne Forbes Oct 26 2021Berlin’s radiant queen Martini Cherry was a featured performer too!

Love to see her light up a stage.

Devinity performing in AMF corset at Torture Garden Berlin Suzanne Forbes Sept 14 2022Devinity Berlin performed with fire wearing AMF Corsets.

It took me several years to finish this one!

I had such a thrilling time. Thanks so much to Torture Garden Berlin for the press pass and access, to my Patrons on Patreon, and to my dear friend Sadie Lune for moral support!

As usual these drawings are licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) for all to share and enjoy!

In addition, I release the copyright on each drawing to the performer shown and they may use the drawings for their own profit and pleeeasssure in any way they choose.

The horror of the Pencil Cleanse continues! A visit to the Australian Embassy, and one to Impala Coffee.

Australian Embassy Comics Event Feb 17 2020 by Suzanne ForbesI was invited to the Australian Embassy this month.

It was for an Australian comics event, and I had never been to an embassy, so I went! Of course I ran into someone I knew, because English-speaking Berlin is small 🙂 Since I was drawing civilians rather than performers, I decided to take a chance and start my Pencil Cleanse that night. Above, the Australian Ambassador to Berlin introduces the panel.

Impala Coffee Pencil Cleanse Leap Year Drawing Feb 29 2020 by Suzanne ForbesI was at the Schöneberg branch of Impala Coffee, the excellent indie Berlin chain, today.

For a long time! Because my foggy anxious brain (I am in the high-risk group for COVID-19 vulnerability) got me there two hours early to meet my friend. So I made this Pencil Cleanse drawing.

It’s so hard, and takes so long, to go back to pencil only!

Pencil cleanse WIP second state Suzanne ForbesI also worked on the pencil unterwegs, for a whole nother bus ride, though you’d never know it!

Can you even tell the difference after another forty minutes of work? (Today is on the right, previous on the left!)

Pencil Cleanse Unterwegs WIP Suzanne Forbes Feb 2020It is more accurate, with more precisely judged perspective and scale, than anything I’ve done in ages, and I feel like I’m forced to observe so carefully, yet I can’t record with the same authority I can with ink. I know I keep correcting the angles, keep checking the perspective, and that it is good for my draftsmanship to draw this way. But dangit, it’s HARD!