A magazine editor in Viet Nam asked me to illustrate an article about "bike sex". Apparently, in Saigon there's a new trend in getting fresh with your date:
Guys get their girlfriends on a scooter in motion, then try to feel'em up while the girls are unable to escape.
This is the second of three versions, and was rejected. In the first two versions of the illustration, the man was more eager, and the woman was a happy, willing (but shy) participant. In the third version, which was accepted, the woman was unhappy and the man was trying to act nonchalant.
This would all sound pretty sinister, almost-but-not-quite daterape, but apparently it's limited to some tame petting of the woman's lower leg, fully clothed. Snnnnnoooore. Calling that "sex" is like calling a newt "Godzilla".
Like all my illustrations, the magazine bought one-time publication rights with regional exclusivity during the next 6 months. The price was, as always, 2,000 Thai baht (roughly US$70) per illustration, which would be a bit lame if I were living in New York or Tokyo, but affords me a decent living in cheaper locales.