Interview with BustArtist, a Breast Expansion Artist active since the 1990s!

BustArtist has been creating breast expansion and giantess content for many years. I first encountered his drawings on the Acotto FTP site in the mid-1990s. Those were the black and white sketches which made up the “Wishful Thinking” comic strip. Wishful Thinking featured a young man who finds a genie on a beach and receives unlimited wishes! Those wishes were promptly used to enhance the figures of several bathing beauties. Since then BustArtist has produced a wide array of color pin-ups and created the grOw/cinema, grOw/cOmic, and grOw/stOries series. Due to their longstanding presence in the size community, BustArtist and his wife JulieKat were interviewed by Katharine Gates for her “Deviant Desires” book. Deviant Desires explores a multitude of sexual fetishes and includes artwork from BustArtist. Furthermore, BustArtist also appeared at the first SizeCon in 2016 and has supported those conventions ever since. Fans can purchase comics from his web site, support him on Patreon, and follow his blog, DeviantArt page, Instagram, and Twitter feed for the latest updates.

#1) Can you tell the readers a little about yourself?

I’ve drawn since I was three, so I’ve been told. I always loved drawing comics and checking out independent or non-mainstream comics ( I never got into the superhero genre). I attended School of Visual Arts in NYC, where I decided to major in graphic design instead of illustration at the last minute for better job security. But, drawing always pulled me back into its arms, so I also minored in illustration.

I’ve been working in the graphic design field since 1990. (Yes, I’ve been using Photoshop for 30 years.) In 2000, I decided to make a comic book based on breast expansion (none existed to my knowledge at the time), which eventually became the 51-page grOw/cOmic#1: “Milk Farm”. It took 5 years to complete, working on it in the evenings after work as well as on the train commute to NYC (coloring digitally on a laptop with a mouse on a train moving at 70mph is not easy). 

I launched my website in 2005 with this comic. Later, I purchased the rights from E.L Publications for their “Tremendous Tit Tales” illustrated B.E.-focused text stories. (E.L. decided to retire and leave the business.) As luck would have it, we happened to live with 25 miles of each other and made the deal in person. These short stories were made into the grOw/stOry series, many of which were either edited, enhanced, or even totally rewritten to bring their quality up. I also created all brand-new illustrations for them.

#2) How did you first become interested in breast expansion (B.E.)? Is it accurate to say that B.E. is your favorite size-fetish, as opposed to other themes like giantess growth?

B.E. is definitely my favorite, albeit giantess is a close second. I had always enjoyed big boobs, and certain sequences on TV stirred those desires (boob-growth jokes on the old Benny Hill Show, etc). I realize I could create my “own” boob-related material since I could draw, and thus the many pencil comics and pin-ups I created for myself began. I would draw women with big boobs, and during the initial sketch phase, would erase the breasts and redraw them bigger. Then, erase and redraw them a bit bigger. Again and again. I didn’t realize it at first, but the “growth” aspect of my fetish was solidifying in my mind with these exercises.

“Wishful Thinking” mentioned in the intro is one of these pieces. That, and one called “Busting Out” still exist, tucked away in my files. Three others had been subsequently destroyed (to prevent discovery). This was all before the internet (or, at least, as we know it). I had released high-res scans of the existing comics on my Patreon page back during the first half of 2020 as a quarantine-perk.

Always looking to draw bigger and bigger boobs, my comics introduced the idea of having a woman grow into a giantess, and thus, her boobs would be so much bigger to the protagonist (this is before I really started exploring the “wow” size on regular height characters). This is where my giantess size-fetish began. I prefer gentle or sensual giantesses to the overbearing and destructive kind (although, a strong-willed one is enticing as well). 

While creating these early works for my own enjoyment, if you had told me that one day I would be showing these drawing to other people sometime in the future, let alone “the world”, I wouldn’t have believed you.  🙂

#3) How many of your everyday acquaintances are aware of your interest?

One — my wife. And we met online “within the community” in an old IIRC chat room called “The B.E. Loft”. It made it so much easier to enjoy my fetish when my partner ALSO enjoys it.

#4) How would you describe your art?

I would say somewhere between comic book style and fully painted illustration. As the years progressed, the look has moved more towards the latter. However, I still maintain the ink-line style of a comic book, although never using the heavy black shadow areas known to be employed to cut down on detail and speed the process. I try to keep it just on this side of fully painted, to retain its style and to try to stay way from the “uncanny valley”. Plus, it gets really difficult the closer you get to realism.

My work also runs from the gamut from a few PG-13s, a number of R, and a lot of explicit imagery.

#5) What are a few of your favorite size fantasies from other creators? I know this is a difficult question and your answer may change over time. Nonetheless, I shamelessly include this question because it’s great feedback when creators learn that other artists like their work.

I enjoy a lot of good size-fetish writers out there, some of which I have reached out to and commissioned to rewrite some of the grOw/stories for publication. Some of these include Mr. B (known for “Volunteers”) and Tristan Langley (a.k.a. Longbow9) (known for “Medicine Show”, in the LPSG.org forum). Mr. B helped me edit/enhance some grOw/stOries and also completely rewrote “The B.E. InsTITute”, “Beaver Lake Summer Camp”, and “Voluntary Response” grOw/stOries.  Tristan Langley wrote “Succubus” and “OutgrOwing Denise” grOw/stOries. I also really enjoyed the early works of Dr. Enlarge, especially when I first got into the “community” in 1996 — in fact, his were some of the first B.E. stories I ever read.

While I don’t look for a LOT of online art (when working on this stuff full-time, all day, all week, you need a break), there are many artists I follow on DeviantArt and Twitter. I seem to follow them more for studying new techniques and styles rather than the content (although, that IS, at least, part of the enjoyment). A small list of these include: ReadyArt (love his clothing tearing); MooseTracks8008 (great inflative volume on his characters and very enjoyable sense of humor. I had the opportunity to have met him online in video chat); Doc Swell (always enjoyed his coloring, and had the pleasure to have met him for a long visit in person); biggals on DeviantArt (fantastic realism!); boobsgames; and Sykosan (while not an inflation fetishist, his art style and technique have majorly influenced my work since the beginning of grOw/cinema in 2016). There are many more that I’ve forgotten right now.

#6) Given that you’ve been producing size art for a few decades, how do you feel about the community today compared to the early days?

It has definitely changed — good and bad. The good includes MUCH greater outreach and connectivity for like-minded fans of the genre. There are also so many more outlets for artists to show or sell their work. (Remember to SUPPORT your artists!) This has also allowed the community to grow and support each other (including forums, interactive communications, and meet-ups such as “SizeCon”). The bad seems to be that some of the tight-knit forums, where you could see a lot of repeat members (who could communicate even on a non-fetish related topics) have lost a lot of steam, and have reverted to simply sharing, or, heinously worse, stealing. (Seriously, SUPPORT your artists and they can continue to do the work you want to see!) Piracy is a SERIOUS detriment to my work — taking time away from creating to follow up with DMCA notices, emails, time to research, and lost income that hits me personally (this is my FULL-time, main job).

#7) What are the perks available to your Patreon supporters?

I created Patreon so that I could field a lot of requests I would receive from fans as well as give an opportunity for them to have a “commission” made my me. I could never do a “commission” the normal way, between the going rates and time it took to produce them (on top of creating all of my website’s releases). But, this crowd-funded, crowd-chosen approach solves that. For just a few dollars, you can enter your idea for a single-character commission in one of three “commissions” offered monthly. The winner is determined by patron votes. In addition, other rewards can include: a monthly full-color illustration (most ideas for these come from patrons); rougher color sketches/watercolor images (most ideas for these come also from patrons); old pencil drawings from my archive; speed process videos on the creation of 3 of the major artworks per month; and even the actual Photoshop files for these same 3 items. High-res images hit up to 7000 x 5000px and low-res around 1600 x 950. In my Patreon movie trailer, I say “You help control the expansion narrative!” (which can be seen here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwWaK7Im3Dk  )

Also, will grOw/cinema 2, issue 1 be released soon?

Yes! In a few weeks! This new series comes after a huge, nearly 4-year run for grOw/cinema 1, “The Ever-Expanding Universe”. Fans of this first series don’t need to worry, as it was created in the style of an old serial movie. So, the story never ends. I will return to it.

But the new series is a completely new story, with new characters, a definite storyline, and proper ending. It has more in-depth characters and has the most in-depth world building of any of my grOw series. This is getting back to the nutrient-rich meal of my works after a longtime spent creating the succulent dessert of “The Ever-Expanding Universe”. But, then again, who doesn’t like dessert?

Thank you very much for this interview!

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