Insta_Sketcher: Where Queerness and Flamboyance Meet

Linton Stephens, also known as Insta_Sketcher, is an orchestral bassoonist, broadcaster, equality advocate, and illustrator from the United Kingdom who spends his free time creating drag magic by recreating iconic scenes from our favorite queer pass-time, RuPaul’s Drag Race. He uses art as a form of mediation and embraces femininity by blurring the lines of gender. 

 When was Insta_Sketcher born, and how did you become an illustrator?

I’ve always drawn from when I was a kid. I did art at school right up to A-levels, but then I went to music college and didn’t really make time for it. When I graduated, I was working as a freelance orchestral musician (which is what I do professionally today) and drawing was, and still is, a kind of meditation for me—a way of being creative without the pressure of doing it full-time. When I’m drawing, I don’t think of anything else. But back in my 20s, I wanted to get better at it, so I took a few classes, online courses, life drawing, and books—anything that would help me improve. Then I saw loads of artists sharing their work, and I initially thought it might just be a good platform to have all of my work in one place.

What inspires you creatively to draw? 

Well it’s no secret that I love Drag Race, but mostly things I find beautiful, that I want to express through my particular form of creativity or when I want to tell a story. I went through a phase of capturing the lyrics to my favorite songs in sometimes quite abstract illustrations. Anything that speaks to my soul.

How has drag influenced your creations?

In two ways, I think: It’s a realm where queerness meets femininity meets flamboyance meets down right absurdity. It’s about the boundaries of aesthetics and fantasy, so it ticks all the boxes as a catalyst for a good illustration. But also the propulsion of drag into the mainstream via RPDR has afforded me an opportunity to explore and accept my natural feminine side which I’ve always been taught to suppress. I’ve done that a lot through finding it in my artwork.

Who was the first drag queen to inspire your fan art?

Following on from what I said about getting in touch with my feminine self, I remember trying to watch RPDR with a lot of internalized homophobia, which made it difficult, and I didn’t love it at first. But I have a very good friend who does drag, Cheddar Gorgeous, and her characters are always so ornate and beautiful. And he himself is a bit of a gym bunny. He always said that drag for him was about blurring the lines of gender, the hyperfeminine on his hypermasculine body. Anyway, that was a long way to go to say that he was my first drag-inspired illustration. 

Why do you believe queer representation is important to showcase?

I grew up suppressing so much of myself that I often wonder how I might have been had I not been taught to hide my queerness. Representation encourages us to embrace every part of ourselves and not to be ashamed, meaning we don’t struggle with those dissonances as we progress into adulthood. But also seeing queerness showcased proudly is important for people who don’t have proximity to our community.

This quote from Bell Hooks sums it up: “Queer not as being about who you’re having sex with (though that can be a part of it), but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.” 

How does it feel to advocate for the LGBTQ community? 

Advocacy for any marginalized community is so important to me. I know how it feels to be treated as lesser than because of both my skin color and my queerness. Injustice makes me angry, so I get a lot of satisfaction when I can contribute in whatever way to leveling the playing field. 

How would you describe and categorize your own artistic style?

Whimsical but dynamic I think. I wondered for so long how I would develop a ‘style,’ but I think, in the end, style is just a method of creating that feels comfortable and consequently has some kind of recognisable homogeny through each work. 

How does it feel to create art that so many queer people resonate with?

It’s that thing again, isn’t it, about representation. As queer people, we restrict ourselves to fit in. When I was in my 20s, if someone called me “straight-acting,” I wore that as a badge of honor. Now, in my life and in my art, I’m pushing against the boundaries of heteronormativity even if it is through illustrated caricatures, in a fun way. The further we push those boundaries, the wider the parameters of what is considered “normal,” and so less people feel excluded in their everyday life, and that’s amazing.

Where do you see yourself artistically in the next year?

I’m very much a “see what’s happening in the week when I turn onto the page of my diary,” and not cuz I’m zen or anything; I just don’t have the capacity to focus on more than one thing, ha! Artistically, I always just want to get better, and always for myself. That’ll never stop, I don’t think. There is no destination with proficiency. 

Anything else you would like to share?

Hmmm, I was gonna do a shameless self promotion, but something has been on my mind recently. As I’ve been digging into the histories of African Americans for a documentary on radio three which airs on February 27 (there’s that shameless plug), I’ve noticed a scary amount of parallels of what pre-unsegregated Black communities went through, to what our transgender spectrum have to endure today, and that worries me. 

In my art and my work more generally, I’m under no illusion that anything I do will change people’s minds. Conditioning is a tough nut to crack. However, if I can convince anyone of anything it’s to look beyond their proximity and into the humanity of the stories you hear. And hopefully that’s the place to start changing hearts and minds.

To keep up with Linton Stephens, find him on Instagram @insta_sketcher.