To my readers......

SITE UPDATE NOTICE

Thanks for visiting mitchmen, home of Mitchell's Gay Art

For Artwork by Mitchell click on the 'Mitchell's Gallery Hub' tab just below
The Caps and Collars/ Flat Cap Gang story at Google Groups is presently paused. (see Group News for link)

The Royale and Hussar Studio Archive:

Click on the tab just below for information, there's also a direct link in the right sidebar

Message updated 5th July 2026

Wednesday, 8 July 2026

'Royale Studio Revisited' by DaveAlan01

 

Royal Marine Stevens - by DaveAlan01

 This video is a sample of the AI Art produced by DaveAlan01. He's trying to visualise how Royale Studio images might have looked if they were produced now. This example has the right ingredients - British military uniforms contrasted with underwear in a disciplinary situation. I think Basil Clavering would have enjoyed the double underwear joke in this videoette. In his day it would have ridiculed the restrictions on depicting nudity rather incisively. In the modern context, it makes fun of our obsession with it.

Subscribers to the blog feed can view this video by visiting mitchmen
or by using this direct link:Royale Marine Stevens - double underwear 

I'm not sure this video would have passed muster in the 60s, but there's an even funnier and sexier variant at the artist's site which definitely wouldn't! 

View Royale Marine Stevens - lubed underwear

 

Paratrooper in shorts punished by trainers
Para Tom Taken To The Corrective Training Centre
by DaveAlan01

 Basil Clavering seemed to favour shorts rather than underwear as punishment kit. I don't know if that was simply because of his personal taste or the taboo on visible underwear in society as a whole, which was more aggressively conservative back them. 
 
He attempted to make sexy, tight shorts out of the baggy, non-elasticated products which were the only thing available at the time. His efforts generally resulted in something like the image above, with an impression of bulk at the front, but a much tighter fit at the rear. He used clever lighting to hint at frontal shapes, but they had to be very subtle to escape censure. 
 
Unfortunately modern AI seems to be incapable of producing anything sexier than this and thinks military = medals. It has no understanding of British uniforms. Nevertheless, the shortness of the escorts' shorts in the image above is a good simulation of Royale Studios' take on 'dress' kit, perhaps seen to best advantage in the Soldier-Sailor storyette.
 
Clavering did have a para on his roster - Ron Wiltshire, but he never photographed the model in his own uniform, only as a Horse Guard in breeches. I don't think there's a single example of a beret in his output, but exposure to modern day Royal Marines might have changed his mind!
 
 
Soldier in shorts punished by Military Police - by DaveAlan01
Bad Lads Army,1961 - by DaveAlan01 

This disciplinary scenario (snipped from a video) fits the Royale style too, apart perhaps for the Guards wearing underwear. I think Clavering would have kept them in a uniform of some sorts. 
 
see the full videoette at Bad Lads Army,1961 by DaveAlan01.
 

 
Man stripped to underwear by Police - by Dave Alan01
Para Tom is handed over - by Dave Alan01

DaveAlan01 has also produced some police custody scenes. This is a scenario Clavering never covered, probably because it would have invited reprisals from the real force. In any case, the Police were so disliked by gay men in that era, because of the heavy-handed repression, that it was a perverse individual indeed that would find them sexually attractive. Clavering did do a storyette with Military Police which involved Tibor Urgay undressing in public.
 
I'm certain Clavering would have loathed jogging bottoms too, but the common association (in the UK) with the so-called underclass and thuggery would have certainly interested him. That connection makes this 'put in his place' image delicious indeed. 
 
 
Great stuff! These video scenes make you wonder how Royale's work would have looked if they had used this medium. Would it have just looked like all the other modern porn? His amateur models would have struggled, I suspect. Especially if they had to speak! AI would have got him off that hook, but AI speech is very primitive currently, with caricatured American accents. Let's hope Brits get a look-in soon, but I'm not counting on it.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing a naval scenario in this vein, sailors were Claverings' inspiration and his bread and butter, after all.
 
For more visit DaveAlan01 
 
 
For related articles, click on the labels at the foot of the post 


Monday, 6 July 2026

Etienne/Stephen - Index to articles (updated)

Etienne is one of the all-time greats, an inspiration to me. 
He's rather neglected these days, so I feature him regularly here at mitchmen blog.
This article lists all the mitchmen articles about his work.
 
For simplicity, I nearly always label his images using the name Etienne, although many were published under the name Stephen. 
 
Etienne - Time For Your Injection, Sir.
Left, Right or Up The Middle? 


Click on the label at the foot of this post for medical-themed images by other artists. 
 
A-Z of Fetish Artists - Etienne: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Just scratches the surface of his vast body of work, 
but there are lots of supplements:- 
 
 
Etienne - Sailor Beware (complete, 2 versions)
with linkage to Royale Studio's 'Shanghai'd Sailor'
 
 
There's also a series about his other Fishing/Angling pictures 
 
There's interesting AI makeovers of Sailors Beware in 2024, Car Wash (aka Slave Wash) in 2025, also Services Auction in 2026 
 
Plus more sailor images by him in:

He's honourably represented by dedicated entries in the 
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There's also 2 examples of his jail pictures in  

He's also included in the 'Strip Poker' series

A Truckstop image headlines the 2020 Most Popular Post series

~

His influence on Ulf is illustrated in Ulf Retrospective 2003 
and on Felix Falkon in A-Z of Fetish Artists - Falkon
For the Royale Studio connection, see Sailor Beware, above
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There's an illustrated note on his style in 

There are numerous other references to his work in other articles, which you can find using the blogger search function in the banner and also one in the sidebar top right. For simplicity, I nearly always label his images using the name Etienne, but his other, less unique name, Stephen may bring up other references. 


Saturday, 4 July 2026

Targeted


Holiday Tip 

Don't assume dress codes in foreign parts are as relaxed as in your home town.

Kyle knew he looked great and liked to show it off wherever he went. The invitation to join a yacht cruise in the Mediterranean with his girlfriend's rich parents was a great opportunity to wear his cute sailor outfit. He didn't know that the route would take them close to an island with a fearsome reputation for mobsters. Some of them reputedly involved in human trafficking of the sort that would land any handsome lad in the slave market, pronto.  

 


 For more Targets and Holiday Tips, click on the labels below

Wednesday, 1 July 2026

Another Etienne, AI makeover

Etienne - Services Auction

 There's been quite a fashion, recently, for AI-artists doing makeovers of familiar, Etienne pictures. This is the latest that I have run across, and it's a little different. 
 
Stonecrooze - Services Auction makeover #1 (after Etienne)

 As expected, it breathes fresh life into the imagery, building on the military connection which is of more general interest these days than the (implied) leather club of Etienne's original. Stonecrooze has made the characters more mature and hunkier (I love the hairy legs). This is all great.
 
The jockstrap detail, which is the focus of the image, also benefits greatly from the increased realism. However, the fickle finger of the instructor(?) is no longer pointing at 'it' directly, instead, he seems to simply be delivering a more general reprimand. 
 
Of course there's a reason why Etienne drew him standing and pointing the way he did. It's ambiguous, a sort of not very well 'hidden eroticism'. That ambiguity puts the soldier's look of consternation into an entirely different light. He's not just facing a lot of pain at the hands of a succession of men. Now the auctioneer seems to be pointing out a very different threat, calling for a different brand of bravery. However, in the makeover, instead of looking bewildered, the soldier now looks stoic and resigned.
 
This adjustment of the pointing pose does correct some of the awkwardness in Etienne's original - have you noticed how his biker is hunching his soldiers to squeeze himself into the frame? Running out of space is a common problem for artists who draw with the heart (or crotch) more than the head, from left to right before thinking it out, overall. It irritated Falkon (Etienne's contemporary), but fans might find it charming.
 
The makeover is still a great image, if not entirely faithful to Etienne's original. However, Stonecrooze takes his makeover further, playing with the balance of the original composition by moving the auctioneer/instructor character around. 
 
 
Stonecrooze - Services Auction makeover #2 (after Etienne)

This variant creates addresses the imbalance caused by the isolated paddle post and creates a more natural relationship between the characters. 
The faces of the two characters are better as well, grittier.
 
 It ends up catering more for bottom fans than spankers, but I have to say that the revised jock is splendid, so no wonder Stonecrooze has brought it to the front.  The rearrangement has also circumvented the AI mistake in drawing the signage posts. 

There's also a variant of this image which shows the aftermath of the affair, but it's a bit too raw for me. You can see all 5 variants at Stonecrooze's Deviant Art site

~
 
More by Stonecrooze at mitchmen
 
~
 
 
Click on the labels below for other related posts 

Tuesday, 30 June 2026

Recent posts at the Royale Gallery

 

Cliff Smith by Hussar

 This picture of Cliff Smith, by Hussar in 1963 (from a set of 3), is the latest addition to the mitchmen Royale Gallery. Cliff was one of the ever-present Royale boys, appearing in the 1958 'Stolen Motorcycle' set and the 1961 set 'Leather Merchants', that marked the breakaway of Dolphin Studio (later named Hussar). 

He wore that studded leather belt in all 3 sets, suggesting it was his own. That subtle fetish ingredient positively erupted in 'Leather Merchants', seemingly paving the way for the sometimes bizarre fetish imagery of 'Guys In Uniform', notably 'Willing To Learn'. 

The Cliff post follows a group related to the career of Ron Fenn - 'Tough Schoolmaster', 'Thief' and 'Black Leather', view all three at the Royale Gallery

The next projects are a full posting of 'Leather Merchants' and the completion of the Ron Fenn portfolio with 'The Wallet'.

Monday, 29 June 2026

Milism - An appeal to CP enthusiasts

 

 I recently posted a 're-print' of Squaddie John's article about Royale Studio, which was previously published at the now-defunct 'milism' website. It prompted a reader to ask me about another article on that site, an RMP's account of actual corporal punishment in the armed services in the modern era. We're asking if anyone has a copy of that article that they might share. 

If you can help please contact me via my blogger profile.

Saturday, 27 June 2026

More AI-Art by Club 323

See previous post about Club323 

Show Me Your Wood by Club323

 This character is ridiculously handsome and over-muscled, but I love his dinky, denim cut-offs. He doesn't need the braces to keep them up, but they do add a certain 'je ne sais quoi'. Tom of Finland's woodsmen were nothing like this!

I've snapshotted this image from the artist's videoette

 

Please Officer, I'll do Anything by Club323

Another appearance by the cheeky, hunky, TOF-style sailor featured in Part 1 of this post. His face has a great look of "will he or won't he?" Hope and doubt in equal measure. There are a number of other images and sexy videoettes in this sailor series at the artist's site. His audio is very amusing (website link at foot of post).
 
One Way by Club323
 
There's a bit of a craze for animating the old masters with AI at the moment. I'm all for that if it introduces it to new fans. This mini-video brings to life a well-known, but rather humdrum example of Tom of Finland's leather art, showing how imaginative manipulation of AI can add something worthwhile to old classics.
 
Sorry, but subscribers to the mitchmen feed 
will have to visit the site to view the video
 
Indecent proposal by Club 323

I guess the fascination with trains in AI reflects many people's daily routine, commuting to work. There's no doubt that city, underground trains are rich with teasing specimens of manhood which the journey gives an opportunity to study and fantasise about, while the object is mesmerised by his phone. 
 
This image homes in on a different aspect, the privacy of an empty, late night carriage. There's something very sexy about this encounter between a trio of very attractive men. The title seems to imply that they intend to enact a 'Brief Encounter' on the spot. 
A videoette explains all.
 
Back Home - by Club323

The redhead in the previous image seems a natural, shoe-in for a kilt (if I'm not mixing my metaphors). The presence of a fellow skirt-wearer, equally hunky and very straight-looking, suggests all sorts of naughtiness.
 
 
Jay Off Duty by Club323

There's something Royale-esque about this image. 
It's the shorts and if you like them, you'll love this artist's site

 Club 323 at DeviantArt