About François…

I’ve been in the graphics business for over 35 years now (predating Macs… Yikes!), starting off as an assistant/apprentice to my father, who was a freelance illustrator based in Montreal, Canada, and active from ca. 1968 to 2010. Since those formative days, I’ve worked at both graphics companies/agencies and freelance, managing to support myself and family with my art… not an easy trick!

My specialty became screenprinting art, something I fell into in 1991, when I was hired on at Nutmeg Mills in Tampa, FL-an extremely large shop that hired an army of artists to create art for a burgeoning sports merchandise market. I was part of the first wave of computer artists they hired, having spent the previous year learning how to run a Mac-I wound up learning so much at Nutmeg (mostly by trial and error) that over time I was called upon to teach to others what I had learned, and to write “cheat sheets” to help the other artists.

This cheat sheet writing eventually developed into a relationship with Against The Clock, a training program and company that sold textbooks to the printing industry. I wound up contributing to a number of their textbooks (mostly Illustrator and Photoshop, with some Quark XPress and Pagemaker thrown in) and was principal technique writer for the book Adobe Illustrator-Creative Techniques (Hayden Books, 1995).

The car illustrations came about from slow times at my job-what should I do to fill the time? We always created more designs to sell, but I wanted something more challenging than a slogan on a shirt, so I pitched the idea of a car illustration to the owners-they were receptive, and it eventually developed into the Route 66 line of cars seen on these pages. Since then I have done 20 cars (as of this writing) all having been very well received.

Since 1996, I’ve worked almost exclusively in the screenprinting industry, creating numerous best-selling designs for New World Graphics, and later, Dowling Graphics, as well as creating their advertising and marketing materials. I’m now branching back out into the freelance world, with an emphasis on illustration, especially automotive and hot-rod illustration.

To get a quote, ask a question, or just shoot the breeze, use the contact form below…