Phidias Gold x Francis Vallejo

I designed a shirt for apparel brand Phidias Gold's Winter 2011 line.

*purchase*

Recently the homie Wesley hit me up to do a shirt for a fresh new clothing line he was premiering. I had freedom to do anything I wanted as long as it fit the brand's mantra. I've been fascinated how artists draw the opposite sex in relation to their personal tastes i.e. the Gibson girl, Jeff Jones' girls, Adam Hughes girls, etc. So I brought in a model and shot her in a grip of different scenarios and wardrobes. What resulted is my best attempt at the Vallejo girl. Say hi, she'll be showing up again.

The original drawing had to be tweaked a bit to fit the final print as you can see, but for a look at the original crop check above. In addition, I provided an optional back design that wasn't able to make it into the final - you can check that out here.

I'm pumped with how it turned out! The Phidias Gold crew did a fantastic job. Make sure to check out the other pieces they have in their collection! Lastly, you can check the shirt out in the real world below.

take care,
-francis

**bonus commentary**
The highlight of this process was the struggle to create this image which ended up being composited into the final piece. I originally became aware of this sort of shape 3 years ago while working on some monotypes. When you press two plates together with watered-down paint in between, air leaks into said paint and creates these incredibly organic and fascinating vein-esque leaf patterns. Since then, I've intermittently attempted to create a clean usable copy of this shape, but have had no luck...until now.
I knew I wanted abstract, organic shapes for the background of this picture to balance the planned, representational qualities of the figure. This led me to getting my Jackson Pollock on and throwing globs of paint down onto all sorts of paper, looking for appealing marks. I scanned all that in, but wasn't completely satisfied. Something was missing. It happened to be raining that day, and I remembered a piece of plexiglass sitting in front of the studio door that I had to push aside to get in. Then the light bulb went off. I ran outside, and luckily, the piece of plexi was still sitting there. I pulled out the random screws, and broke the piece in half. I quickly dobbed some watered down acrylic house paint on one piece, and pressed the other piece on top. I could watch the air pockets snake their way through the paint. Now the moment of truth: I pulled the pieces of plexi apart and the shapes, after 3 years of failures, maintained their shapes perfectly!!! I was so amped I didn't make any prints for fear of smudging them into oblivion. I let them dry on the glass, and scanned the glass in itself. I cleaned up the shapes digitally, comped them in, and now you can see them on the shirt. That was the exact mood I wanted for the abstracts, and I was pumped to have finally found the method to make it!**

A month or so I was contacted by the good folks at Playboy to work on a few spots! This is the result. Super fast turn around, and a bit of visual play, since it began as a comic aesthetic, but was directed into a more painted look near the end. The bottom sex toy piece was inspired by the paintings of Edouard Dantan and scribbles in my sixth grade notebooks..haha.

It's a great feeling to have my work in such a legendary magazine which featured the work of a number of terrific artists!!!!

take care,
-francis

SDCC was great!!! Thanks to everyone for putting up with my outrageous fan boy geek-ism. It was dope to chat with so many of my heroes! Speaking of Comic Con, I drew the top portrait of the lovely Faith for a demo at the TAD booth.

The other two images were done back in the studio. The middle female nude was interesting in that I stacked my easel on top of a few desks to get that angle...ha.

stay inspired!
-fv

I recently drew this picture from life during an impromptu portrait marathon in Kansas City. I was in town to work the 2011 Illustration Academy and TAD workshop. A great time!! The highlight was listening to Mark English talk about his pals Bob Heindel, Bernie Fuchs, Alan Cober, Bob Peak and others over a home cooked dinner. Dang!!

Also, I'll be in San Diego for Comic Con next week. Booth 5561 with George Pratt and Jon Foster in association with Studio 2nd Street and The Art Department. Stop by and say yo!

take care,
francis