At Kylee, we believe the best art comes from real people with real stories — and the creators behind the work deserve to be seen just as much as the work itself.
That's why we launched Creator Spotlight — an ongoing series where we sit down with the artists shaping the world of hentai and 3DX art. From their creative process to the characters they've built from scratch, we're pulling back the curtain and letting creators speak for themselves.
For this spotlight, we caught up with Dahl Headlands — a Canadian 2D artist whose time-traveling harem of original characters is equal parts campy, sexy, and surprisingly deep. If bold linework, rich character lore, and a whole lot of fun are your thing, you're in the right place.
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Tell us who you are. What do you go by, and where are you creating from?
I’m Dahl Headlands from Canada! I make 2D adult art and animations largely focused on my own time travelling harem of original characters.
How did you first get into hentai (3D, 2D, etc.) art? Was there a specific moment, artist, or piece that pulled you in?
I’ve always been a fan of 2D art in porn. In a weird way it feels like an honest expression of a creative mind feeling a bit frisky with intrusive sexy thoughts and just following through on those ideas.
During the Covid pandemic I went out on a limb to get back into drawing, bought a drawing tablet and just took a crack at drawing digital for the first time. I started doing various fan art pieces, imitating styles of more experienced artists, and eventually I started receiving DMs on Discord asking for commissions.
I think specifically the artwork of Julius Zimmerman (rest in peace) really made me want to explore drawing pornography - he had a style that was fun and sexy at the same time while conveying a lot of personality. It’s a tone and charm to adult art that I really enjoy and try to emulate in my own work today.
How would you describe your style to someone who's never seen your work?
An ever-growing harem of time-traveling babes featuring toned, busty proportions, campy sex appeal, bold adult cartoon and comic art styles, as well as a subtle character shift as they’re claimed, trained, and dominated — drawn deeper into their roles.
Walk us through your creative process. What does making a piece actually look like for you, start to finish?
I make all of my art in Photoshop while listening to my record collection to get into that artsy flow state. Starting with a posed picture reference I draw my sketch on top of it and adjust the proportions and details as needed to make things sexy and fit the scene I’m trying to create. From there I do line art followed by my clipping masks (colouring in sections as a boundary to shade separately later.) I do the shading and then add some finishing touches like lighting effects, lens flares, little details — just all the extra things that make the picture have some life to it. On top of everything I add a film grain layer just to give the piece some texture and natural blending.
Where do you find inspiration? What gets you excited to create?
Seeing other artists and what they come up with tends to spark my imagination. Usually I’ll see a pose from a 3D artist or even just a model on Instagram and I’ll dream up a new context for it featuring one of my characters. I also take a lot of ideas from my followers on Patreon and Discord. Slowly but surely I am establishing my own characters and world for them so it’s a lot of fun hearing what people come up with for scenarios.
More specifically, I have taken a lot of inspiration from the game series Time Splitters for the PS2. The zany cast of characters and hypersexualization featured in that series strikes such a fun tone that has always stuck with me and it’s something that I try to emulate with my own work.
What's the hardest part of your creative process — and how do you push through it?
The most difficult thing to deal with as an artist of any medium is pouring your efforts into something only for no one to really see it. It’s hard to deal with at times as a fairly underground artist. You crave the gratification of people seeing what you make and it can be pretty disheartening to have your labour of love be lost in the ocean of the internet. Add AI slop accounts to the mix generating more reactions and followings than any art you’ve spent years cultivating and mentally it can be a rough ride at times.
There is also the constant battle between an artist’s hand and eye; what I mean by that is that your skill to draw or create art progresses separately than your skill to see and recognize good art technique.
Oftentimes you can go through a cycle of hating your own work because you can see all the things you could do better but your hand can’t make it materialize for you. That’s a tough slump to be in. On the opposite side of that you have moments when you can draw so well that your eye can’t see the mistakes or potential improvements you’re blissfully oblivious to, and because of that you feel on top of the world!
Pushing through these things are a reality for pretty much every artist and the advice I can give is to always come back to your centre. The moments when no one seems to care about your work are the times when you have to be your own fan or lean on the people close to you who do love what you make. The times when you feel like you can’t draw anything good are the times to reflect on the progress you have already made.
Lastly, remember that it’s a wave you’re riding, a journey that isn’t defined by tangible metrics. Art is art, and at the end of the day you just have to make what you can be proud of. Every piece helps you learn and grow, and it’s important to know that there isn’t a wrong way to do it. For me, I know I have an audience out there, we just need to find each other.
Is there a piece you've made that you're especially proud of? Tell us about it.
The pieces I’m the most proud of change constantly as I get better and better at what I do! Lately I have been really proud of my Poolside comic with Monica and Felicity - my OCs. I feel like I cracked the code to make my style really pop and all it took was some more obvious highlighting on their bodies covered in sun tan oil. I’m also proud of that piece because it symbolizes a push towards more narratively driven work with my characters which is something I’ve been planning for quite a while, so it’s gratifying to see it finally come together.
What does your relationship with your audience mean to you? How does fan support shape what you create?
About a year ago I finally launched a Discord server after getting over the fear of no one joining - sad but true haha - and it’s been amazing. It motivates me a lot just having people waiting with anticipation for what I make next. Engaging with people who like my art and support me developing it is just such a big part of what keeps me going. I get better at it every year and it’s been really special having people come on the journey with me.
If you like what I do I highly recommend joining my server (found through my Patreon and other socials) — tons of what I make is influenced by the discussions there and it’s all just a lot of fun! I love incorporating fan ideas into my work and it’s incredibly rewarding to write some character lore and see people discussing it, pitching their own ideas for my characters.
What are you working on or exploring right now? What's exciting you creatively?
The past year or so I have dabbled in animating and to my surprise it’s gone quite well. Right now I am testing the boundaries of what I can make both in animation and in comics with narrative driven content. I spent a lot of time behind the scenes plotting out characters and settings, and now I get to enjoy the ride of bringing that content to life!
The dream, however — the long term goal — would be to partner with a programmer to make an Adult Visual Novel game. I am a big fan of the genre so I’m itching at the chance to see what I could make in an interactive medium. Seeing what Akabur has achieved as a 2D artist making AVNs like Princess Trainer and Star Channel 34 really gets my creative brain working on the possibilities for my own art, so I’d love a chance to partner with someone who is a bit more knowledgeable on the coding side of things than my own limited experience, I think it would result in something truly unique.
What would you want a first-time viewer of your work to feel?
Obviously I hope my art gets the blood pumping in all the right ways, but beyond sexual excitement I hope people pick up on the fun tone and the colourful characters enough to get invested in what they do next. I put a lot of thought into creating characters, writing their backgrounds, plotting their personalities, and I hope that effort shines through in my art enough for people to stick around and see what happens next.
I want people to say, “this is sexy and a lot of fun, I’m in!”
Any advice for artists just starting out in this space?
Your art style will come naturally as you play and imitate the styles of the artists who influence you. There isn’t a need to force things, style grows like a house plant — all you have to do is nurture it.
Focus on different influences to grow different things, for example: one artist who does anatomy in a way you like, one artist whose lineart is a style you admire, one who just captures a tone and mood you enjoy. Bottle all of those influences into your own work and in time it will grow into its own distinct style combination that is uniquely yours.
Where can the Kylee community find you and support your work?
You can get access to everything on my Patreon
Follow public updates on Twitter/X, DeviantArt, and Bluesky
Catch my art streams on Picarto
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Thank you to Dahl Headlands for sharing his story and giving us a glimpse into the world he's been building one panel at a time — we're thrilled to have him as part of the Kylee community.
If you haven't explored his work yet, head over to his profile on Kylee and see what the journey looks like for yourself.
Browse Dahl Headlands' profile on Kylee
Creator Spotlight is all about celebrating the people who make this community worth showing up for — fans and artists alike. If you're a creator and want to be featured in an upcoming spotlight, we'd love to hear from you at social@kylee.io.