What do we think of Dorian Cleavenger?

[dashinvaine]

Wondering what people think about the art of Dorian Cleavenger... http://www.dorianart.com/

[Cepro]

personally I don't like him. It's like his work tries to be so many things at once but doesn't succed at any.
To me, his work is neither erotic, nor disgusting, nor shocking, nor beautiful.
Also his works suffers from what almost all fantasy art with nude girls suffers from: beeing somewhat kitschy.

[dashinvaine]

I sort of see where you're coming from with that. How do you think he compares to Royo?

[mambo]

Wondering what people think about the art of Dorian Cleavenger... http://www.dorianart.com/

I find most of his poses look like they came straight from softcore and porn mags. Not very inspired at all. Very stiff.

Good stuff if you're a 13 year old boy in hormonal overdrive.:nohope:

[Elwell]

Say what you will, but if he were posting here people would be all over him.

[JoeB]

I haven't heard of him until this thread. Looking at his website, I'd say:

Sturgeon's Law.

[Justin.]

I don't know about his work, but does his site annoy the testicles off anyone else?

[Flake]

How do you think he compares to Royo?
Poorly. I'm not really a fan of Royo but on occasion he hits a 40 yarder into the top corner and the guy can really draw. (see crumpled paper splattery sketches, to me they are pretty awesome)

Say what you will, but if he were posting here people would be all over him.
Very true, he's miles beyond most posters on CA and I respect that, it's just not to my particular tastes.
He's making cash as a working artist doing what he's into and he's found a paying audience so fair play to him but it seems to me that his technical skills are far outstripping his taste right now.

He's no McGinnis or Waterhouse but then not many people are..

/2p worth

[Qitsune]

Some of it is rather generic and the website designs sucks bad (the images don't even display on Opera, I have to hack around to see them) but I'm quite fond of the Rapunzel image: http://www.dorianart.com/george/big/R09.jpg and of this snow creature http://www.dorianart.com/george/big/Q15.jpg

[Jason Rainville]

I don't know about his work, but does his site annoy the testicles off anyone else?

*raises hand

I also didn't know that medieval type girls had the technology available for breast implants.... I mean jesus, if you're using porn ref, fine, but at least TRY to make it look like less of what it is...

[CouchPotato]

lol, obviously, I have no tastes, because I kinda like some of them actually. Reminds me a bit of the kind of illustration you'd find with Conan the Barbarian or something.

Edit:
One feeling I DID get from some of his stuff (the ones I don't quite like) is that he's skirting on the borderline of those fetish subjects, like he's doing the genre, but doesn't dare take the plunge and REALLY do the genre, if you get my meaning lol. And his text gets a bit pompous, haha.

[Cepro]

I sort of see where you're coming from with that. How do you think he compares to Royo?

Personaly I don't like Royo very much either. But I used to like him when I was younger. I had already seen Cleavenger's work back then, but I remember not liking it at all.
I've met more people who like Royo than people who like Cleavenger. Also I think Royo is (way) more reknown.
If I am not mistaken, Royo is well known amongst airbrush artists for his sketchy style. He is even said to be the inventor of the "airbrush-sketch".
If you compare Royo to Cleavenger, I think that Cleavenger has less flaws concerning technique, but his paintings are way overdone. It's as if the viewer was smashed by them rather than incorporated.
Also there's the problem that fantasy/sci-fi art with nude girls in most cases is (or tries to be) somewhere inbetween traditional art and concept art/illustration, but isn't really either. Royo manages to overcome this problem more elegantly, while Cleavenger seems to be really stuck.

Concerning Cleavengers website, If I remember correctly, it allready looked like that years ago. Also there don't seem to be any new additons.

[Amazing Action Ape]

Did anybody read the bio/about section?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh man, priceless.

[Meli Hitchcock]

I don't know about his work, but does his site annoy the testicles off anyone else?

If you think his sites bad, try viewing Royos. Half the time the links don't even work and thats if the site even loads.

Death to all flash websites. >:{


About the art, I think Cepro summed it up nicely for me. :p

[tomwaits4noman]

lord of rings meets hellraiser... is not quite fantasy and not quite horror and definately not erotica. I like the comic covers but the pages seemed too showly impossible to follow what was going on. looks it a bunch of cool images....

he is missing atmosphere in his pieces. going for the cool factor.

If i was was 15 yrs younger I'd be well impressed.

[Ullr]

Amazing Action Ape is right, you really all should read his bio. Really. It sums up his whole character in some kind of narcissistic third person history of his rise to greatness. I can't imagine what the students in his class get to hear each week.

--Colin Adams

[kev ferrara]

I may hate his work, but to be fair, the guy can make realistic looking and believable stuff. Its phenomenally redundant, boring, stiff and mentally stunted, but its realistic.

Art always tells the truth about the artist, whether the artist realizes it or not. What this guy has to say about himself is sorta sad.

kev

[Flake]

I may hate his work, but to be fair, the guy can make realistic looking and believable stuff. Its phenomenally redundant, boring, stiff and mentally stunted, but its realistic.

Art always tells the truth about the artist, whether the artist realizes it or not. What this guy has to say about himself is sorta sad.

kev

Don't hold back Kev, tell us what you really think...:D

[The Whistler]

Did anybody read the bio/about section?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh man, priceless.


I couldn't force myself to read it all the way to the end.

He can draw great but I don't like chainmail bikini art. Oh, wait, they're not wearing any...

At least finding reference is not a problem for him ;)

[Molly]

Ergh, kinda boring, same ole, same ole
At least his women have 'real' breasts instead of fake ones...(tho, I only looked at a handfull of his work)

Elwell - your right, if he did post here, his leg would be humped so bad it would break...

Mx

[HunterKiller_]

Did anybody read the bio/about section?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh man, priceless.

Yeah, and I stopped here:
he admitted to his family that he just drew it by gut feeling and didn’t bother with the theory of measurement of angles, vanishing points, etc. He also said it took away from the creativity of drawing and made it into an exact science

What a coincidence that I'm also reading the start of 'Dynamic Anatomy' by Hogarth, the chapter about the dualism of art and science. :rendered:

[sve]

I liked Catch with cornered mermaid, girl looking at the window and some others. He didn't post any other kind of art so I supposed he enjoys drawing those, thats his personal art which happened to be commercial as well. I think there are some lovely images among not so lovely ones.
If he posted just his best work,,, he would have looked better in people's eyes. :).

[dashinvaine]

He has the occasional good idea, for example 'The Curse' about the vampire who cannot admire her reflection (although it poses questions about why vampires' clothes are not supposed to show up in mirrors either...) I used to really like his stuff but I'm not sure now. I still find bits that I admire. He's quite clever at melding forms, for example the woman turning to salt, or candle wax. Not so keen on the human/beast hybrids.