Shy Guy, 11x14 inches crayon and watercolor on cotton paper by Kenney Mencher
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago. I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This drawing is called Shy Guy. It’s 11x14 inches, done in a mix of watercolor and crayon on thick cotton paper. I made it in 2025 during one of my usual evening sketching sessions—those hours when I unwind with music or an audiobook and just let the drawing flow.
The subject here is a young man in a fitted t-shirt, caught in a pose that’s both guarded and open. He’s turned slightly to the side, arms wrapped around himself, looking out with a direct but unsure expression. There’s something vulnerable in the way his body language contrasts with the sharpness of his gaze. I wanted to capture that tension with as few marks as possible, so I stuck with a grayscale palette and kept the forms simplified.
Stylistically, this piece combines naturalism and stylization. The anatomy is proportionally accurate, but I used big, flat washes and geometric shapes—triangles and trapezoids, especially in the face and torso—to break things down. The shading is minimal, and I intentionally left out fine detail in favor of broader tonal contrast. The crayon lines help lock in the gesture and add definition to areas like the face, hands, and folds in the shirt.
The composition is asymmetrical, guided by the rule of thirds. The figure is centered but slightly tilted, with his gaze drawing your eye diagonally across the page. That off-center posture adds drama and keeps the whole thing feeling alive and immediate.
There’s no heavy symbolism here, but like a lot of my work, it’s still political in a quiet way. I’ve been making homoerotic and queer-themed work for decades, I see pieces like this as part of a bigger story. Shy Guy is about more than just figure drawing—it’s about showing gentleness, introspection, and queer identity without apology. Especially in a moment when queer people are still being erased or attacked in some parts of the world, having artwork like this in your space is a way of saying, “This matters. We exist. We feel.” That’s a kind of resistance too.
Details
Title: Shy Guy
Medium: Watercolor and black crayon on Rives BFK cotton paper
Size: 11 x 14 inches
Year: 2025
Unframed
Signed and dated lower right
Ships flat in archival sleeve and backing
Original artwork—not a print
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago. I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This drawing is called Shy Guy. It’s 11x14 inches, done in a mix of watercolor and crayon on thick cotton paper. I made it in 2025 during one of my usual evening sketching sessions—those hours when I unwind with music or an audiobook and just let the drawing flow.
The subject here is a young man in a fitted t-shirt, caught in a pose that’s both guarded and open. He’s turned slightly to the side, arms wrapped around himself, looking out with a direct but unsure expression. There’s something vulnerable in the way his body language contrasts with the sharpness of his gaze. I wanted to capture that tension with as few marks as possible, so I stuck with a grayscale palette and kept the forms simplified.
Stylistically, this piece combines naturalism and stylization. The anatomy is proportionally accurate, but I used big, flat washes and geometric shapes—triangles and trapezoids, especially in the face and torso—to break things down. The shading is minimal, and I intentionally left out fine detail in favor of broader tonal contrast. The crayon lines help lock in the gesture and add definition to areas like the face, hands, and folds in the shirt.
The composition is asymmetrical, guided by the rule of thirds. The figure is centered but slightly tilted, with his gaze drawing your eye diagonally across the page. That off-center posture adds drama and keeps the whole thing feeling alive and immediate.
There’s no heavy symbolism here, but like a lot of my work, it’s still political in a quiet way. I’ve been making homoerotic and queer-themed work for decades, I see pieces like this as part of a bigger story. Shy Guy is about more than just figure drawing—it’s about showing gentleness, introspection, and queer identity without apology. Especially in a moment when queer people are still being erased or attacked in some parts of the world, having artwork like this in your space is a way of saying, “This matters. We exist. We feel.” That’s a kind of resistance too.
Details
Title: Shy Guy
Medium: Watercolor and black crayon on Rives BFK cotton paper
Size: 11 x 14 inches
Year: 2025
Unframed
Signed and dated lower right
Ships flat in archival sleeve and backing
Original artwork—not a print
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago. I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This drawing is called Shy Guy. It’s 11x14 inches, done in a mix of watercolor and crayon on thick cotton paper. I made it in 2025 during one of my usual evening sketching sessions—those hours when I unwind with music or an audiobook and just let the drawing flow.
The subject here is a young man in a fitted t-shirt, caught in a pose that’s both guarded and open. He’s turned slightly to the side, arms wrapped around himself, looking out with a direct but unsure expression. There’s something vulnerable in the way his body language contrasts with the sharpness of his gaze. I wanted to capture that tension with as few marks as possible, so I stuck with a grayscale palette and kept the forms simplified.
Stylistically, this piece combines naturalism and stylization. The anatomy is proportionally accurate, but I used big, flat washes and geometric shapes—triangles and trapezoids, especially in the face and torso—to break things down. The shading is minimal, and I intentionally left out fine detail in favor of broader tonal contrast. The crayon lines help lock in the gesture and add definition to areas like the face, hands, and folds in the shirt.
The composition is asymmetrical, guided by the rule of thirds. The figure is centered but slightly tilted, with his gaze drawing your eye diagonally across the page. That off-center posture adds drama and keeps the whole thing feeling alive and immediate.
There’s no heavy symbolism here, but like a lot of my work, it’s still political in a quiet way. I’ve been making homoerotic and queer-themed work for decades, I see pieces like this as part of a bigger story. Shy Guy is about more than just figure drawing—it’s about showing gentleness, introspection, and queer identity without apology. Especially in a moment when queer people are still being erased or attacked in some parts of the world, having artwork like this in your space is a way of saying, “This matters. We exist. We feel.” That’s a kind of resistance too.
Details
Title: Shy Guy
Medium: Watercolor and black crayon on Rives BFK cotton paper
Size: 11 x 14 inches
Year: 2025
Unframed
Signed and dated lower right
Ships flat in archival sleeve and backing
Original artwork—not a print
