I know these types of images take hold in a 13-year-old boy’s mind and make him a lifelong fan, and for anyone who lived through that particular time and place, I understand the appeal. But for most everyone else, this is some cheesy artwork. I say that as someone who read more than my share of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
The article author himself realizes that the image he is copying has no narrative. Many of the images lack much in the way of composition. The bodies are nicely rendered as oiled-up perfected sex objects, but that’s about it.
Compare Vallejo to Frank Frazetta and it's immediately obvious why the latter is considered a master of fantastic art while the former is drifting towards obscurity.
Frazetta's art is full of tension [1] and energy [2] whilst Vallejo is simply drawing his circle of bodybuilders in various poses. The environments he paints have absolutely no effect on his posed subjects and the end-result is disconnected and comes across as "fake" in its intended setting as it evokes memories of bodybuilding gyms.
You might as well be comparing Slayer and Cannibal Corpse. Both styles have their place and they can be enjoyed in their own right.
I prefer Frazetta too, but Vallejo is rightly recognised as one of the greats. He does his own thing. Not everyone can, or should try to, be Frazetta. That'd be pretty boring.
Or, like I once told a friend: you gotta stop comparing everyone to Bugs (Bunny).
All art is cheesy. If you briefly find any of it profound it's only because in some aspect you are briefly a 13 year old boy full of awe and excitement.
That's what "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is diplomatically trying to say.
This is a forum hosted by venture capitalist investors and frequented primarily by IT professionals ("hackers"), unwittingly opening some NSFW material probably won't fly well in that kind of environment.
This does in fact count as NSFW in every workplace I've ever been in. Perhaps stop trying to argue with the poster who was merely trying to give people a friendly warning just so they know they might get in trouble if someone sees them looking at this art at work.
Whether the standards of workplaces should allow artistic nudity is completely beside the point. Neither you, nor I, nor Dalewyn control such things. All we can do is work around them.
I can actually imagine “venture capitalist investors” participating in some oiled spanking ritual, Vallejo style, because someone opened an “NSFW” link, and “corporate culture” dictates that kind of punishment must be performed.
Hi there, I'm the writer of the article. Apologies for the inconvenience. I have now replaced the image with the most naked women with a less naked one. Furthermore, I have added an NSFW badge to the top of the article (next to the date).
Sorry again. It was thoughtless of me not to add some sort of label. I hope this remediates it now.
It is also interesting that when I ask ChatGPT to create an image inspired by Vallejo or Frank Frazetta, I get hit by content policy violation. I don’t see anything indecent about heroic fantasy. Oh well c'est la vie.
The article author himself realizes that the image he is copying has no narrative. Many of the images lack much in the way of composition. The bodies are nicely rendered as oiled-up perfected sex objects, but that’s about it.