Heres a photo of some work in progress portraits I've been working on. The plan is to now rework them as a whole image now that they are connected. These will probably be almost unrecognizable in the final piece.

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In other news I will be drawing portraits and giving a demo tomorrow night (Saturday) at Ringling College at the Hammond Commons to benefit this year's Illest of Ill show. The portraits begin at 11pm and I'll begin the demo at midnight (that's early in college time to those wondering why so late).

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Bernie Fuchs

1932-2009.

I recently was informed that Bernie Fuchs passed away. By far and away one of the most influential illustrators to have held a brush. Artists made careers with styles he discarded. I am constantly looking at his work and in awe of his accomplishments. We lost a legend.

David Apatoff wrote a very sincere tribute to Bernie on his blog. Drawing 'till the last.

-fv

This post has been a long time coming. I began this project in November of last year in George Pratt's senior illustration class. It is my adaptation of Roald Dahl's great short story "In the Ruins." Yes the same fellow that brought us the giant peach wrote adult stories too..haha. I then was given the opportunity to include it in Image Comic's Popgun anthology.

Obviously that didn't happen. This is the "kinda-not-really" finished inks for some of the first pages (out of a proposed 12). Unfortunately I'm calling the project quits since I'm leaving the States so soon, and have too many commitments. Bummer!!!! I really enjoyed this process, but I'll get another shot. I love comics and hope to work on more projects in the future!

The blank boxes were supposed to have drawings in them, but I never got around to working them out. The pages still need a lot of work, but I thought I'd give them a post anyways.

take care!

-fv

**I'm going to put these pages up in my Store soon, but if anyone is interested in the purchase of a page(s) please feel free to email me and we can work something out. Thanks!**

Many people have probably heard me raving one way or another about the Illustration Academy. I've attended it twice, and I'm fortunate to have stayed in contact with many of the instructors and students year round. It's a big family. A family that has helped make me the artist I am today. So when John English told me about the online Visual Literacy Program I was pretty stoked. He described it as the Academy year round. And for the most part it is! I mean nothing can replace the face to face time of the summer workshops, but this gets darn near close!

I've been a member of the VLP (what the cool kids call it), since it began a month and a half or so ago. In that time it has really exploded. The members range from artists very early in their studies looking for guidance... to Sterling Hundley. It's a wild range. Most of the Academy instructors are active on the forums giving upper level crits and advice. It's so cool to put up a piece and have Doug Chayka, Brent Watkinson, Sterling, George Pratt, and John English give you spot on advice later that night.

But the most valuable thing it offers is the simple inspiration. Like many other artists, sometimes I have a real hard time grinding through long nights and maintaining the motivation to keep pushing through a project. Sometimes I'm in my studio/apartment for days at a time, and can feel my mojo really falling off. I can sincerely say that the forums keep me going, especially lately with my crazy schedule preparing to move. I can check out a post by one of my buddies or teachers and see what they are working on at that moment. That kick in the pants is invaluable. Not to mention hours long instructional videos by all the world class instructors!

I'll admit that I receive a number of emails from folks asking about the Academy. Now I can forward them to the VLP. The cost is very do-able; especially the one month option. I know times are tough (believe me I really know), but the investment is worth it's weight in gold. If you are serious about illustration, really think about it. You will grow so much!

take care,

-francis

**Here is a video they put together taking you through the site/forums and giving you the visuals to what I am speaking about!**

A few sketchbook pages. Getting a little silly with the ink. Sorry about the warping. Water and moleskines don't mix.

By the way, days are good when Jay-Z and Raekwon got new albums out. Especially when one of them is "Only Built for Cuban Linx 2."

cheers!

-fv

This is gouache on paper finished in the good ol' Photoshop. I want to do a few more things to it so I'll update the image with the final very soon.

**EDIT: updated with the final image, cropped and full size.**

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I'll also be attending my teacher and friend Sterling Hundley's opening this Friday in Richmond, Virgina. If you see a dazed looking dude gawking at the amazing artwork...that'll be me after driving up. But if you're attending, make sure to say what up! I've seen a number of the paintings and they are amazing. The man's concepts are on another level.

take care,

-francis

Here are photos of some things that have went through the studio lately... The paintings are all works in progress.

Also, I received an email compromising the Step by Step Mondays, so I unfortunately have to suspend future installments for the time being. I also took down the old links. I am trying to resolve the issue and continue the posts, so keep an eye out. I'll make an announcement.

take care!

-fv

Repin Institute

Hey folks. I've mentioned it a few times, but I never made a formal post concerning my future studies. I will be attending the Repin Institute for painting, a department of the Imperial Academy of Arts, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Classes begin this coming October 15th, so I'm hustling like crazy to get a few projects wrapped up. I'm real stoked! I've never been out of the United States before, so it should be a wild experience. English is not spoken over there, so I'm trying to learn Russian. Luckily I have language classes every night. But I'm sure the language barrier is going to make things interesting.

The program is for 6-7 years. The ultimate goal is a master's although the U.S. does not recognize it..haha. That's ok, I'm not going for the paper. But for me, I will be attending the prepatory program. It is for one year and is not technically a "real" year. It is designed to prepare you for admittance into the school. In July of next year, I will be given an intense 36 hours to complete a figure painting, drawing, and composition. That will then be judged by the school's faculty and I will find out if I am accepted into the real school. I have 6 hours in front of the model 6 days a week, with lecture classes (given in Russian...o boy) strewn through out the week. At night I have language classes. It's year round, so in the summer time we travel around the Russian country side landscape painting! I have no idea if I will decide to go through the whole program. If I do I'll be over 30 when I get out...that's kinda scary.

I'll admit I was really looking into various ateliers. Although the work I seen coming out of those programs was technically cool, it lacks life much of the time. The Repin school is so great because it is based around the concept of bringing life and intensity into all of your work. The teachers enforce the responsibility you have as as artist. They teach that if you are painting a cube, make it "your" cube and let the audience know what you were feeling when you painted that cube. That and Whistler, Zorn, Repin (of course), and Fechin went there!!

So it's going to be a wild experience. I'll do my best to document it on the blog.

take care,

-francis