Laaksonen's work had predominantly been segmented to private collectors and collections seen only by consumers who sought out the underground gay pornography industry. Nearly all of his characters were versatile and obviously enjoyed the bottom as well as the top role in sexual intercourse.
His drawings frequently feature two or more men either immediately preceding or during explicit sexual activity. Tight or partially removed clothing showed off these traits, with the penis often visible as a bulge in tight trousers or prominently displayed for the viewer.
Slade.Over the course of four decades he produced some 3500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits: heavily muscled torsos, limbs, and buttocks, and large penises. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W. Touko Laaksonen, best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland ( – 7 November 1991) was a Finnish artist notable for his stylized homoerotic and fetish art and his influence on late twentieth century gay culture. So I couldn't not to feature him, but one reason more is that I have just read a little book, Nothing Pink by Mark Hardy, where the main character, a teenager in the '70, discovers sex through a "forbidden" book illustrated by Tom of Finland.
Elisa_rolle I showcased a lot of artists and many of them said in their biographies that they were inspired by Tom of Finland.