| Friday, July 09, 2010 |
| TAD/CA.org Inking Technique Download! |
I've mentioned this in a few venues, but I wanted to archive this announcement officially on the blog - my demo video with Conceptart.org/TAD is now available!!
102 minutes / $20
While I was in Kansas City the past month working at the Academy and TAD I had the amazing opportunity to shoot a demo video. The turn around time was pretty tight, so instead of getting into an involved piece, I decided to shoot a video describing my ink techniques, and the various tools you can use to achieve different results. In the end I worked on three images - one in nib, another in brush, and another in nib and wash - over 102 minutes. I speak on working from reference, spotting blacks, line variety, gesture, and past inkers and influences; among other topics.
I'm pleased with how it turned out, and hopefully it is helpful to those that give it a watch!! Feel free to post your own ink work in this thread and I am happy to critique and offer suggestions :)
A trailer and imagery from the video:
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I'd also like to thank Jason Manley and John English for having me help out with the workshops in Kansas City. It's been the greatest honor of my career to work with all my heroes and those people that have had such a significant influence in my journey so far. Also a giant thanks to the students to being incredible and open to my suggestions and talks/demos. I admittedly was wildly nervous to give presentations but the group was so great, I relaxed pretty quickly. I look forward to continue to share and pay whatever knowledge I have forward! Everyone from KC stay in touch!
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Lastly, I'm mostly moved into Austin! I'm sharing a place with my good buddy and artist Orlando Sanchez and have my new studio space mostly set up at the Austin TAD POD! It's such a fresh space to work! The students are beginning to arrive for the beginning of classes next week and the energy is very high. After I finish this post I'll begin the first block of work in the new space. Speaking of work, I'm rocking out on some super exciting projects that I can't wait to share - but can't at the moment. But once classes get cranking here I'll have demos, figure drawings, and all that good stuff to share on a regular basis!
incredibly excited and thankful, -francis |
posted by Francis Vallejo @ 10:19 AM  |
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| Friday, June 04, 2010 |
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Yo! These sketches I did a while back for a cover gig. It was anticipated to be for 5 issues so I had the idea of having one image slowly reveal itself across the bottom of all 5 issues with the top image changing depending on the issue. The "X" on the cooler is a placeholder for the title. I was asked to make revisions to the bottom image at the last second, so I dropped in 3d models which ended up getting the job done nicely. The 2nd image shows other concepts for what the top section could look like.
Unfortunately the series never made it off the ground, so this is as far as these drawings will go.
In other news, I'm about to hop on a plane to Austin, TX to begin setting up the TAD POD location. Soon after, from June 14th-30th I'll be in Kansas City helping out at the Illustration Academy. Busy month!! Hope to meet folks!
take care, -francis |
| posted by Francis Vallejo @ 9:11 AM |
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| Tuesday, May 11, 2010 |
| The O Show / Miami |
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 ^painting by Orlando SanchezThis Saturday the 15th, Orlando Sanchez and Oliver Dominguez are having a terrific 2 man exhibition opening in Miami, Florida. Named "The O Show," (with sponsors Monster Energy and Nestle Coffee) it features Orlando's interpretation of the history of music, and Oliver's interpretation of the history of Miami. May 15th, 2010 Octopus Art Gallery: Doors open at 7PM 169 NW 36th St. Miami, FL 33127 I've had the privilege of previewing much of the work and it is top notch! Hope everyone in the area can check it out!
best,
-francis
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| posted by Francis Vallejo @ 3:42 PM |
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| Monday, May 03, 2010 |
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Some more warm-ups between 1 minute and a half hour. If you look real close, I have a male figure in there!? I've been looking at these drawings.
Also, over this past weekend, my father graduated with his Associate degree in the applied biomedical field. When the Detroit auto industry collapsed he made up his mind to enroll in a local college. His last time spent in school was 40 years prior as a high school student. After 3 intense years of study he graduated with top honors in his class. The field requires regular computer use, and he had never turned on a computer before his classes. He also was given the highest grade his internship instructor has ever given. This internship requires 20 hours a week - he gives 40. Anything I've accomplished is a result of the inspiration I get from watching my dad give 110% to everything he does. You know those people that scream and yell at graduations? Yeah, that was my mom and I the whole ceremony. Congrats dad!!!
take care, -fv
PS. It's about that time of the year. The summer Illustration Academy program begins May 31st and ends June 25. For the first time, it is being split into 2 locations: Kansas City, MO and Richmond, VA. I'm honored and excited to be helping out this year! I will be in Kansas City for the last half of the program, offering any knowledge I can. Again, it's a terrific program and one of the best investments you can make towards your development as an artist. Hope to see some folks there!
Also, TAD recently held an online course " The Art of the Feminine Form" this past weekend. The whole presentation has been recorded and is now available to purchase for a very reasonable price "on demand". It's a great course, with some killer conversations and artwork. Now that classes are over for many students, it's a great way to keep the juices flowing over the summer! |
| posted by Francis Vallejo @ 1:44 PM |
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| Sunday, April 25, 2010 |
| Sorolla! |
A real treat this post! Recently came across great photos of Sorolla's murals at the Hispanic Society of America in New York City. Sorolla was commissioned by Archer M. Huntington in 1911 to paint 14 large scale (twelve to fourteen feet tall) paintings to be installed at the Society. It took Sorolla 8 exhausting years to complete the monumental project.
The last image is a nice detail shot to show the brushwork Sorolla was working with. That's a very small detail from the painting above it. Wow! Here are a few more links to galleries containing hi resolution shots of these paintings: 1 2 3 4
Other top notch inspirational galleries and websites:
take care, -francis
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| posted by Francis Vallejo @ 10:37 AM |
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| Tuesday, April 06, 2010 |
| Gestures! |
After getting back into figure drawing while in Austin a while ago, and seeing how helpful gestures are, I realized I needed to step my figure game up. My solution was saving a folder of "artistic nudes" off of DeviantArt (there's literally thousands of great photos, although you'll have to sift through some odd ones) and playing them in timed increments through my computer's slideshow function. I love it! It's not quite drawing from life, but I am able to draw from poses that a live model would not be able to hold.
The top row is 4 minutes gestures, with the next row 3 minutes, the next 2, etc. I've been looking a lot at Mucha's drawings lately. Speaking of Mucha, his popular "design-based watercolor" pieces are cool and all, but his drawings and oil paintings are where it's at!
take care, -fv |
| posted by Francis Vallejo @ 10:46 PM |
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| Monday, March 29, 2010 |
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Man what a good time this piece was! It was originally began for a comic pitch. Unfortunately halfway through drawing it out, the project was cancelled. So on my free time I wrapped it up.
I hope to throw some color on it in the future. Speaking of that...would folks be interested in a limited run screen-print release of this piece? I've always wanted to release a print like that and work with a printer. Let me know in the comments.
cheers! -fv
ps. The text near the asterix is a little tough to read. It says:
*In 2012, a catastrophic solar flare decimated earth's atmosphere. The sun's rays are now lethal to all living creatures.....except Mathew. |
| posted by Francis Vallejo @ 5:45 PM |
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| Friday, March 19, 2010 |
| ILYA REPIN!!! |
Katia Wish is awesome. She just sent me a link to a very complete gallery of Ilya Repin's work. Especially cool to check out all the studies he did for his major pieces. The man was thorough.
Anyways enjoy!!! Follow the link here!!!!
stoked,
-fv
ps. This is the art nerd in me talking....but Rockwell and Repin were working at the same time roughly (1920s)...I wonder if they knew of each other. Can you image a collab piece between those two masters? An "Ilya Rockwell" or a "Norman Repin" if you will. But what if they really did create that painting but it's been lost!? But I digress.....haha
pps. Also check out the Zorn and Serov sections from the same site!: http://gallerix.ru/ |
| posted by Francis Vallejo @ 7:14 PM |
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| Thursday, March 18, 2010 |
| Austin, TX |
Pretty busy around here lately, which is a good thing! To keep the pencil moving outside my comics, I've been doing a lot of girl drawings.
The top 2 images are from a continuing series of pastel on paper pieces drawn for the figure drawing section on the VLP. The next ink page was done from life, 1-2 minutes. The next image was a morning warm up, and the final bunch of images were drawn from life at SXSW in Austin Texas where I was working with the Art Department promoting the program. 1-2 minute poses. I was amped to draw alongside Trey, Jane, and Dustin the whole weekend...make sure to check the drawings they did from the same sessions..great work!!! Friday night was a dope event at Austin's Mohawk bar. Was able to knock out some drawings of wild models with the insanely talented Massive Black crew of Whit, Kemp, Andrew, Jason, Carl, and Brad. Mark English even stopped by and wowed with his drawings and paintings. I can cross off a life goal since I was able to score one of his drawings!!!!!
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Lastly I'm excited to announce I will be moving to Austin, Texas to begin my role as studio leader of one of the the physical studio locations (aka pods) of The Art Department. I really believe in the program and am happy to be involved at the ground floor. I will be working directly under Jason Manley and moving my studio into the studio space with all the students to hopefully set the pace and offer any wisdom I can. Trey Bryan will be the studio leader at the Kansas City location working with the Englishes, and Josh George will be the leader at the Richmond location working with Sterling Hundley. The final location in San Francisco will continue to be handled by Carl Dobsky and Coro.
A few folks have asked how this will affect my Russian studies... well, I haven't given up on that. I still really want to make that happen. And I am confident they will. But for the foreseeable future I am very excited about Austin and my comics that I'm working on behind the scenes!!
take care, -fv |
| posted by Francis Vallejo @ 4:38 PM |
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| Saturday, March 06, 2010 |
| Russians and Cornwell pt.2 |
Nikolai Fechin ^^^
Abram Arkhipov ^^^
Dean "The Machine" Cornwell
More discoveries from my online adventures. Some mind numbing Fechin's up top! Now I know the high key painting of the women in the red dresses is by Arkhipov. The other 2... I'm not sure. The images were not labeled. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know. Finally, bringing us home is Cornwell, with another gem.
stay inspired, -francis |
| posted by Francis Vallejo @ 9:34 AM |
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