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

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Recent figures!

Mostly 20-30 minute drawings, except the second image which is a 5 minute gesture. I've also been goofing with implementing sanguine into the drawings. Sanguine is kinda the best thing ever. Expect to see more of it!!

In addition, I've been starting my days with anatomy/form copies. Up to this point I've never legitimately studied anatomy and the human form in depth. I've relied on instinct and observation, but from now on I want to understand what these figures are doing so I really can own the pose.  If you click on the last picture above, you can take a look at a Flickr set of the aforementioned studies. Many diagrams are copied from Michael Hampton's figure drawing book, Harold Speed's texts, and various online resources. I have another pile of anatomy books on deck to devour!!

Lastly, I've been tinkering with my online presence. My website (a bit of new work up) and this blog have been re-designed along with everything being centrally located at the links up top. Not all links are working, and there are some obvious place holders, but things are moving along smoothly! I really recommend taking a look at the Inspiration tab. I'm going to focus on weekly updates of amazing and inspiring pictures, with a focus on draftsmanship.

Finally, finally, check out the bio photo on my site. Shouts out to my mom - she hooked it up so amazing!

thanks for the continued support,
nothing but love!
-francis