The Austin POD studio leader is Francis Vallejo

[Jason Manley]

I am very happy to announce that the very talented and driven Francis Vallejo is joining the Austin POD as it's studio leader. Francis will be working with me to insure that the important behind the scenes matters related to running the POD will be handled to perfection. He will also be an on site studio artist here to help the students in the Austin POD by setting a great example and providing his considerable talents to better the on site real world program.

We are very fortunate to have him joining us. Please take the time to get to know him. He will be a leader in Illustration for a long time to come.










Francis, I am very much looking forward to having you with us.


Best,


Jason Manley
President
The Art Department

[drd]

Francis, I thought you were off to study at the Repin Academy?

At any rate, the Austin POD students will be very lucky to have you. Congratulations on everything you've accomplished.

[Sterling Hundley]

Francis- It's an honor to have you on board! Talk to you soon.

Sterling

[Thyname]

Francis + Dorian,

If all goes well, seeya soon. This looks friggin fantastic.

-Evan

[Zirngibism]

A great asset indeed.

I was able to watch you work back at the Illustration Academy this past summer, and especially looked forward to seeing your thumbnails up on the projector. You have an awesome sense of composition and, well, picture making. And oil painting. And figure drawing! And not to mention you have a darn good book collection...

I wish I would've gotten to know you better while I was there.

[Cacodaemonia]

This is such amazing news!

[J Love]

Congratulations, Francis! I know you'll do a great job.

[RafaelSarmento]

Way to go Francis, you shall shine brighter every day in your career!

[Ted E.]

Awesome work Francis! Congratulations!

[julianV]

i just rifled through your portfolio and you sir are behdass

[TheVirginian]

Truly awesome artist, big fan of your work. Your blog is very informative as well, love all the info on the Russian artist. Congratulations!!

[John English]

I just spent the week with Francis in Austin Texas promoting TAD at the South by Southwest event. Over the weekend I was reminded of what a great young artist Francis is! I watched him draw and paint the models and keep up with some of the best (George Pratt, Mark English, Andrew Jones, Kemp Remillard, Whit Brachna and others).

Francis has a great work ethic and I know Francis will help establish the same work ethic in the Austin Pod. He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to art history and has great studio skills.

Francis is a great choice!

John

[Fvallejo]

Thank you everyone for the kind words and to John and Jason for trusting me with this role!

When I took the Illustration Academy the first time I remember telling my friends that one of my career goals was to be asked to return to the Academy in the future. The fact that this is happening with the TAD is one of the greatest honors of my life. I'm going to do all I can to help Jason run the pod as smoothly as possible, and hopefully inspire those around.

I'm a big fan of art history, so you can look forward to scooping a TON of art. And draw draw draw draw!

looking forward to it guys,
-fv