fitted's and Juxtapoz

So a lot of posting lately. I'll see how long I can keep this up..haha. But here is a sketchbook I just finished up. It's hard to tell but I tried to get a Charley Harper feel to this page. In other news Juxtapoz online ( http://www.juxtapoz.com/ ) featured my blog on its home page which was awfully cool to see. It's a great mag with some real cool artists. Dennis Brown ( http://bagsbrown.blogspot.com/ ), a grad of Ringling as of 2 years ago made it into the mag not too long ago. Ringling represent!!
take care, -francis

portrait 7 and 8 (sort of)

So I was kind of goofing around with technique on these. They started off as oil rubs (do a decent pencil drawings, spray fix, rub thin layer of oil paint over image, goof around...) but I strayed a little from that concept. On the top one are you digging the black and white version (before oil) or the colored one? I didn't do these as portrait-a-day pictures but I'm going to call them that so I keep that idea going...haha. take care-francis

thanks for the kind comments!!!!

I've been drawn.ca 'ed

I just want to thanks the fine folks over at http://drawn.ca/ for including me in their distiguished list of great artists! Good timing too since I'm getting blasted with projects from school and otherwise...I can use the kick in the pants! Thanks guys! Make sure you visit their site regularly since you can always find some cool artists and links.

2 completely different figures

5 hour figure painting + 1.5 hr goofing around self portrait. Happy Thanksgiving!!! take care,

-francis

portrait 6 etc...

Hey guys! Thanks for the kind comments lately. It definitely helps me stay motivated! But I haven't been on my portrait game this week since I was spending a lot of time with the sagging pants piece along with the regular school work. But today I managed to do my 6th portrait. It was fun; I messed around with graphic shapes again. Now once it dries I plan on drawing some Klimt-esque patterns on the white with some markers (yes markers, I just learned that you can put marker over dry oil!!!....that was wild). I was excited to drop the painting flat onto my carpet face first right after the picture, so I had to repaint areas....fun...haha. But I put up a detail of a small area of the sagging piece. It's going slow since I am painting monochromatically, letting it dry, glazing color, letting that dry, and then going over it more opaquely with final color. I plan to finish it this weekend though, so I'll post the final. The last images are an 8 hour pose from a live figure. I included a detail to show how I caked on the paint on this one. I've been looking at a lot of Nikolai Fechin lately so that has been inspiring aspects of my painting. Take care,
-francis

*edit* added a sketch up top...just experimenting

painting away...

This is a corner of my room. I got to admit it is pretty cool being surrounded by paintings! Even though I probably inhale a nice chunk of toxins when I sleep 3 feet away....haha. The big guy is about 50% of the "sagging pants" piece. I'm going the Flemish route and am going to add color through subsequent glazes. I also have some figure paintings I have to scan in. They're almost dry. ...take care,
-francis

new illo and Spectrum

Hey everybody! So no portraits for a couple of days as I am working on an illustration that I think could be a big piece for me. Recently there has been stories in the news regarding states trying to pass laws against sagging pants. Some legislation has the fines up to $500 or 6 months in jail. Here's some links: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403683/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4963512/
http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=15346
So I've decided to do a piece on this controversy as if it it would run as the cover to the Saturday Evening Post. The drawing up top is the final drawing before I transfer it to board (3x4 ft). I hope to apply what I've learned from the studies that I've painted and create a solid illustration. To tell the truth this is the first time I've done a painting of a full on clothed figure, let alone 2 characters, so it will be a challenge. I'm real excited though!!
In other news the nice folks at Spectrum sent me a copy (hardcover!!) of the newest volume. It was fortunate enough to have my artwork featured among some great artists. Make sure to check it out, it's an awesome book!
take care,
-francis

portrait 5

mafia thug: 3 hours

take care,

-francis

*threw up a detail since I was pretty happy with it

portrait 4

John Goodman! - a little over an hr.

take care,

-francis

portraits 2 and 3

left portrait: 45 minutes

right portrait: 2 hr

take care,

-francis

*edit* was unhappy with the lips and jaw on the black and white painting so I made some small changes....new image above

portrait extravaganza

Hello. I am going to be doing a portrait every day (or at least every other day) to raise money as my funds are strained from me attending the CA.org workshop in Seattle. Thank you.
-francis

*this means if you see a portrait I do and would like to purchase it or mail me some Old Holland paint...shoot me an email!!!

**Travis took 3 hrs**