Art by FranklynIE

FranklynIE - Coach Lost it at Practice

The accidental turned into something more intentional. This amazing picture shows just how much AI can do in the hands of an accomplished technician. The athlete's rosy cheeks and some tweaking of the tackler's age complete the transformation of a normal on-field tackle. The athlete's physique is amazing.

 

FranklynIE - Game On

This is another, cleverly ambiguous image in much the same vein. AI tends to have a mind of its own and doesn't yet understand how important eyes are in establishing what's going on. The artist here has got it just right, but we have to decide for ourselves whether the naughty Coach is walking into receptive arms - or a trap. 

FranklynIE - Unexpected House Call

A man in the hands of a Doctor is regular homoerotic scenario, when they are usually keen to get to the bottom of the problem. This is part of a series of 'bed' images, mainly about a man who is a malingerer, hence the title. Various efforts to persuade him to reform seem to centre on that same, particular area of the body. It's another startlingly bold image. The other variations are at the artist's website (link at foot of post).

FranklynIE - More Than One Way To Unmask A Superhero

I'm not a fan of masks, but I do enjoy a superhero takedown. Have you noticed how video captors nearly always have to resort to scissors to finish the job when they're supposed to be ripping the clothes off their prey? It spoils the macho imagery somewhat. There's a sequel to this image at the artist's website (see below) which is too close to the knuckle to post here.

 

 

FranklynIE - Punished At Work

I like the idea of this scenario, but the nature of the employee's offence seems to be a key, missing ingredient for this image. Has he been stealing the stock of lingerie and been caught red cheeked? Is exposure the sum total of his penance, or something more stinging? We need to know!

 

FranklynIE - Mr Caruso's Very Good Day

The tailor's inside-leg measurement is a hoary, old joke for gays, it turns up in my posts regularly, in art dating back to the 1960s. But I wonder, do young people, who've probably never had the pleasure, really understand it? (Answers in comments, please!). The retro briefs here recapture beautifully that sense of exposure when the pants were down. As I recall, the professional technique was to use strong hands. Oh, how our legs quivered!

 

FranklynIE - A Proper Apology

It's a nice image, but Franklyn flirts with some tricky, age-related scenarios in order to find a reason to expose this young miscreant. I think I prefer something like the straightforward, underwear shoplifter scenario. They're not yours, so take 'em off lad! 

 

FranklynIE - Another Helpless Victim of Aggressive Policing

He's on safer ground with this one. Gays have an interesting love-hate relationship with cops, something like Stockholm Syndrome. The artist leaves it up to us to imagine what this guy's offence was, but the open flies suggest he was involved in a bit of a scrap or else was caught exposing himself. 

 

FranklynIE - Good Ol' Country Boy In The City

I confess I haven't a clue what the title of this means, but the image is irresistible, not least because of the subject's maturity. Teasing callow youths is best left to their peers, imo, but grown-up men are fair game and much more interesting! 

 

FranklynIE majors on embarrassment, but I think anyone who gets in a wrestling ring must be beyond that emotion, otherwise they wouldn't be able to ham it up so badly. I take my hat off to their athleticism though.

 

FranklynIE - New Roomie Ritual

Well, OK. In an all-male household it's a rare creature that would be embarrassed as easily as this, so it doesn't quite work for me, but nevertheless I like the imagery. Psycho was never like this!

 

 

FranklynIE - 'Rough Night, Old Chap?'

This hunk has experienced gay sex the night before his wedding. The artist doesn't explain whether it was by seduction of his natural impulses or a rather cruel, stag night prank. Either way he's obviously got some thinking to do. He's going to feel a bit awkward walking down the aisle with the tingling aftereffects. All those people looking at him from behind. Possibly including the perpetrator.

 

Original

FranklynIE - The Need

This is rather powerful and meaningful articulation of inner gay feelings, even if we might not choose to express ourselves in quite this way in real life.

 

FranklynIE - Speechless

I just like this one. The zip is genius. 

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FranklynIE posts at Deviant Art 

'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

 

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!

 

 

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.

 

 

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. 

 

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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 

 

See also Royale Studio Revival 

 

For related articles, click on the labels at the foot of the post 

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 - Night Patrol (complete)

 

Etienne - Sailor Beware (complete, 2 versions)

with linkage to Royale Studio's 'Shanghai'd Sailor'

 

Etienne - Golden Pasha (2025)

 

Etienne - Fishing is a Dangerous Sport (2025)

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:

 In Praise of Sailors - Part 15  (also in Part 20)

He's honourably represented by dedicated entries in the 

'Riding The Wedge' series

and in 'Depictions of short men'

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There's also 2 examples of his jail pictures in  

'You're Going Down - Part 1' and 'You're Going Down - Part 5'

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

A Truckstop image headlines the 2020 Most Popular Post series

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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 

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tagame

and in A-Z of Fetish Artists - Sean  

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. 

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

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

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More by Stonecrooze at mitchmen

Spanking Art, Featured Artist

Mitchell's 'Working Late' makeover 

 

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See also Index of Etienne's art at mitchmen 

 

Click on the labels below for other related posts 

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'. 

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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. 

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

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.