Francis Vallejo

Illustrator and comic artist Francis Vallejo submits this mysterious portrait. Born in 1985 in Farmington, New Mexico, Francis moved to Detroit, Michigan when he was three. Growing up on the infamous "8 Mile Road" had a profound impact on his interests and outlook. In high school the only thing that excited him was drawing, so upon graduation he enrolled at Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida. Originally a computer animation major, after 3 years Francis then switched to illustration and got back to drawing while supplimenting his education with classes at the The Illustration Academy. As an illustrator some of Francis' clients have included Vibe, Moloko+ and 2dArtist; while his artwork has been included in the Totoro Forest Project, Spectrum 14, 15 and 16, Society of Illustrators 51 and Society of Illustrators Los Angles 47, as well as exhibited in galleries and shows across the United States. Only a year out of school, Francis is looking forward to life’s many adventures and soon announcing his many developing projects!

For more of Francis' artwork please visit his blog.

Homer Flynn

Enigmatic “Mr. Pickle Searching for a Gnome” is the work of the enigmatic Homer Flynn. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1945, Flynn spent the first 24 years of his life submerged in the repressed, but charming naivete of The South. Seduced by the fantasy of easy living and loud music, he was unwilling to commit to the life of a concrete truck dispatcher attached to an unloved girlfriend and fled to San Francisco in 1969. Guilty, but free, he drank deeply from the cup of youth culture, ingesting, imbibing and experiencing any and all. Over the next 40 years, he was married twice, was proud to be a partner in the propagation of two lovely daughters, Jana and Isabelle, and became involved with the murky aesthetics of San Francisco's music, performance and video group, The Residents. As their chief visual designer and co-owner of The Cryptic Corporation, The Residents' business and public relations interface, Flynn has been involved in nearly all of the group's improbable projects since the early 1970's. Currently, he lives in San Francisco with his charming wife, Leigh Barbier. Flynn also claims himself to be the inventor of the shower-bath.

To learn more about The Residents you can visit their blog.

Colin Fix

Colin Fix's illustration captures the boundless joy felt by the students when their letters finally finished the exhausting journey from Africa to America (and vice versa). After graduating from San Jose State University’s Illustration and Animation Program, Colin began his career as a traditional animator for The Learning Company and as an assistant concept artist for Industrial Light and Magic’s Art Department. Since then, his work has spanned videogames, film and even the card game Hecatomb with clients that include Wizards of the Coast, Electronic Arts, Planet Moon Studios, Shabba Games and Konami, to name a few. Colin's art has appeared in the fantasy art annuals Spectrum and Aphrodisia and, most recently, he's lent his talents to the smash hit 2K Games' Bioshock 2 and has worked on Beowolf and A Christmas Carol, legendary director Robert Zemeckis' most recent forays into animation.

For more of Colin's art and illustrations please visit his blog.

J. Courtney Granner

This very endearing illustration is the work of skilled illustrator J. Courtney Granner, admired Professor of Animation and Illustration at San Jose State University. After receiving his BFA from Western Kentucky University, Courtney studied two years at The Art Institute of Boston and received his MFA from Syracuse University in New York. As an award winning illustrator his long list of clients includes The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reader’s Digest, and The New Yorker, to name only a few. His illustrations have garnered recognition from the Communications Arts Illustration Annual, the Print Regional Design Annual, the New York Society of Illustrators, the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators, and the San Francisco Society of Illustrators. Represented in shows around the country, Courtney's art has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of American Illustration in New York, The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge Massachusetts, and the Delaware Museum of Art.

To see more of Professor Granner's art please go to his webpage.