THE FRANBLOG

A little short of ideas at the moment.

2012-01-23T23:42:00.000+01:00

Show me the Munny

2011-12-31T22:50:00.002+01:00

I bought a Munny model called a Foomi in forbidden planet the other day. He has crazy hair and at first I thought I'd do a yu gi oh type character but then I thought some of the hair could be horns so turned him into a little devil...with a toothbrush. The black marker I used applied fine but the red marker you got with it was a bit crap. Still it ended up leaving a kind of melted texture which I thought looked pretty cool given the demonish character. Was fun and must try another soon.

Owl

2011-12-14T00:11:00.000+01:00

I like Owls.

Fire and Flatulence

2011-10-31T23:07:00.002+01:00

So. Happy Halloween! This doesn't really have anything to do with halloween. Just a farting dragon I did up from a doodle in my sketchbook. Don't ask me where it came from. My mind is a strange place sometimes. First finished piece I've done in a good while. Pretty happy with it. All the best!

The trials and tribulations of Fran

2011-08-06T19:29:00.002+01:00

Okay so nearly been a year since I posted anything and not gonna apologise its just that sometimes life gets in the way and you can't do anything about it. Anyway I always thought the best thing about my job was that I was surrounded by really talented and inspirational people and recently we've had a whole new batch of said people come work with us and I think they're enthusiasm has restarted my arty engine again so hopefully there will be more posts and although I'm starting off again here with a pretty simply toned sketch I'll hopefully get some more finished stuff up again too. Particularly like to link you to Rebecca and Niamh's blogs which I was looking at this morning and whose sketches made me want to do my own. check em out. more soon. Rafter.

Anxiety

2010-08-09T10:05:00.003+01:00

Trying to do more topical pictures so here's one I've had in the sketchbook for a while. Tried a few different ways of finishing it off but sometimes the simplest style suits.

Catching some Zzzz

2010-08-02T18:55:00.001+01:00

Fell asleep on the train for the first time in ages last week. Luckily enough though my internal alarm clock woke me up just before the stop.

Ladies Day

2010-07-24T19:40:00.002+01:00

The Galway Races are on the bank holiday weekend and I'm expecting to see lots of hats like this on the front of the Metro and the Herald so thought I'd do one up myself for the blog.

Seasick Fran

2010-07-18T23:39:00.001+01:00

Was just thinking the other day how great it would be to be able to play the banjo.

Park Girl

2010-07-14T23:26:00.002+01:00

Well the world cup is over so back to the drawing board. I've been making note of everyday scenes that I see that I wish I had a camera for. I'm a crap photographer though so I'm doing pictures of them instead. This was a girl I saw walking her dog in fairview park on the bus into town one day. Hopefully this is the first of many.

Bongo Man

2010-06-12T11:31:00.002+01:00

OK so this is another t-shirt design I did up but cant decide which colour scheme to go with. The warm colours or the cool blue shades? I'm leaning towards the blue at the moment seeing as how he's supposed to be a "cool" dude but I like the other colours too coz he looks like a hippy sitting out in the sun. Help me out here please!

Monkey King

2010-06-07T10:48:00.002+01:00

So the hulk picture went down pretty well and I enjoyed doing it so I decided to do something else up using the same method. Don't ask me why I drew a monkey with a crown on his head. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Bloop

2010-05-26T20:34:00.004+01:00

This is a t-shirt design I've done up. You're pretty limited in that with the printer I use,for one off tees, you can only use flat vectors or else have your raster images printed along with a big square framing the image. I must see can I find a place that will do raster images where you can supply a clipping mask or something so it crops the image edges. If anyone knows of anywhere let me know.

Hulk Smash

2010-05-08T16:26:00.003+01:00

Getting into comics again so good ol characters like Hulk are popping into my head a lot even though he looks like a bit like a cucumber here too!

How to train your dragon

2010-04-19T16:33:00.001+01:00

Went to see How To Train Your Dragon last week and you really know when I like a film when I do a picture related to it. I recommend everyone goes and sees it as it was fantastic!

Knee Deep

2010-04-16T14:06:00.002+01:00

My first pic produced from manga studio(and finished off in photoshop).Went for a 100 bullets cover style image. Messing around with a comic book style still. Really enjoying it. Reminds me of the good ol days when I was crazy into comics and couldn't stop drawing the x-men.

Bandita

2010-04-11T16:06:00.003+01:00

Doing things more traditionally lately. This one I did up pretty quickly on one of those mini canvas boards which took the marker and brush pen ink really well. I've being trying to get back to my roots and develop a comic book style so this is the first finished piece I've done like that although it could develop more so watch this space as they say.

MushWomb

2010-04-11T16:00:00.003+01:00

So I've wanted to try out doing something with collage as I figured how I do my pics on the computer is basically a digital form of collage so this is my first attempt. Probably not 100% happy with the final piece but I'm glad I got it done and it didn't turn into a complete mess as it could have easily done along the way. The fact that half the pieces didn't end up glued to my face is a miracle and I've definitly picked up on things you shouldn't do for the next time.

Marker Madness.

2010-03-26T13:13:00.002+01:00

Bought some lovely markers from my friend Christian's art shop on thomas St.( The store is called A4 and I highly recommend it for your stationary needs) only bought six hence the limited colour scheme but these two picks are the results. The scanner brightened them up a lot so you can't see all the tones but I'm still happy enough with them and will probably buy a few more markers.

Jibberish 26/03/10

2010-03-26T13:08:00.002+01:00

Another Jibberish strip for yiz. Went to the Dublin comics jam last night for the first time and have to say it was great fun. Time flew and there was some funny results. Will splash out on a taxi next time rather than leggin it for the bus!
P.s.- Apologies for my crap handwriting. I'll try better next time.

Jibberish

2010-03-23T18:56:00.002+01:00

Sorry for lack of posts lately for people who follow this blog but have had a lot going on recently. Back on the bloggy bandwagon now though and should have some new pieces up sooner rather than later. This is a comic strip I did which I made up as I went along so it didn't end up making much sense hence the name. There may be more as I enjoyed it but we'll see. Take care.

The Fabulous Bum Bum Brothers

2010-02-15T12:04:00.001+01:00

Idea for a show? I think so! Packed with fart jokes a plenty!

Attack of the boogermen

2010-02-08T14:55:00.002+01:00

This was originally supposed to be spaceman spiff I think but just became another random character. Been drawing a lot of spacemen recently. Maybe something will come of it. Who knows!

Mail me art

2010-01-27T09:47:00.002+01:00

Ok so Mail me art is a competition run by the people who run little chimp society. Basically what happens is you get a package or envelope and use it as a canvas for a piece and send it off to them. They give monthly prizes and there's an exhibition and book at the end. So anyway I thought I'd give it a go even though I was leaving it a bit late. I'd wanted to do a collage piece for ages so this is how I approached it and turned the envelope into a block of swiss cheese with some mice inside the holes doing different stuff. I thought I had made a mess of it half way through but it actually turned out better than I had hoped in the end. So I sent it off yesterday and my fingers are crossed that it reaches them by the January 31st closing date and that it doesn't fall apart in the post. Had good fun making it even if it doesn't make it and sure isn't that the most important part!

Tippy Toes

2010-01-23T20:50:00.003+01:00

This guy kinda reminded me a little of the hamburgerler when I drew him up first. Messed around with textures on this one too. let me know what you think.

Bride

2010-01-14T23:51:00.003+01:00

Was at loads of weddings last year. My wallet hopes there won't be so many this year though.

The Hat

2010-01-08T15:23:00.001+01:00

Some people were asking me to see the Y-fronts picture on the hat so here it is. They don't give you much room to play with so it would've been nice if the image was bigger but my brother liked it so I'm happy.

Y-fronts

2010-01-04T09:12:00.003+01:00

Put this image on a cap for my brother this xmas which he really liked so turned out well. Did a handfull of homemade presents this year and seems to be the way to go. A happy new year to everybody by the way and hope you all had a great xmas!

Pin wheel

2009-12-08T10:37:00.003+01:00

I did this for a bookmark competition that the book depository are having. If it doesn't get anywhere I still had fun doing it.

GAGA

2009-11-17T15:07:00.004+01:00

Sorry for the absence of late. Between work being busy and my mac dying I've been away from the ol blog for a bit. I've had this pic of Lady GAGA on the burner for a while but didn't know how to treat it. Hope yiz like it anyway.

Sunny Day

2009-10-26T22:01:00.002+01:00

Was fairly lousy weekend weather wise but I suppose that's what you get this time of year. Extra hour sleep with the clocks going back was welcome though. Did this one up to remind me of sunnier times. Promise I'll do up a colour piece for my next post. Also updated my website for the first time in ages so check out franjohnston.com if you get a chance.

Cyclops

2009-10-12T20:51:00.001+01:00

This is my favourite out of the mythical guys I did. Think its because he looks like he has 70's hair though!

Centaur

2009-10-07T19:30:00.001+01:00

One of my favourite mythical creatures. Really enjoyed drawing this guy. Probly should have made his tail a bit more horseish or at least a bit more hairy looking now that I look at it though!

Fawn

2009-09-30T09:46:00.000+01:00

Another mythical creature for y'all.

Minotaur

2009-09-27T21:20:00.002+01:00

I've done a few greek mythical characters lately so I'll stick them up over this week. Here's the first.

Disco Dudes

2009-09-13T20:59:00.003+01:00

Another paint marker piece this time done on one of those little canvas boards.

Attack!

2009-09-11T17:23:00.001+01:00

Finally did something with traditional media and not digital even if it was just paint markers.

Red Riding Hood

2009-09-07T17:25:00.003+01:00

Didn't think I'd get this finished today but did so 2 posts today! woo hoo! If you couldn't tell already its little red riding hood. Messing with some designs for the wolf at the moment so will hopefully get him up soon in some shape or form.

Yee-Haw!

2009-09-07T17:19:00.003+01:00

No idea where this came from. Half naked guy on some kind of sausage creature. sometimes the mind works in mysterious ways!

Rain

2009-09-01T13:45:00.003+01:00

Did this one up yesterday and finished it this morning. Think anybody living in Dublin who looked out the window yesterday morning will know why I drew this. Good ol Irish weather!

The King

2009-08-27T13:40:00.002+01:00

The king of pop wacko jacko kicked the bucket recently so I tried to draw him but unsuccessfully so stuck with the good ol king of rock n roll who I always find easy to draw even though this particular one looks more like one of his impersonators.

Dentist

2009-08-26T21:21:00.003+01:00

Need to go to a dentist so it was on my mind when I drew this.

Jo Banger

2009-08-25T22:24:00.002+01:00

Went to look for the Jo Banger restaurant with a friend of mine the other day but unfortunatly the recession has hit it too and its now a dry cleaners! Doh! pity coz we were looking forward to some bangers.

Bear's pipe

2009-08-24T22:30:00.004+01:00

My mate Mike "the bear" Berridge got a pipe the other day because he thinks it will make him more attractive to women. His wife doesn't seem too impressed though! Did this little sketch in honour of his misplaced impressions of pipe smoking.

Han & Chewie coloured

2009-08-23T15:46:00.002+01:00

Haven't done a colour pic on the blog in a while and there've been people asking for one so I coloured up the Han Solo and Chewbaca picture I did a while back at the request of Mr Moondog.Hope he's happy with it!

Moon

2009-08-21T08:31:00.004+01:00

Went to see the film Moon on wednesday night. Best film I've seen in a good while. Go catch it if you can before it goes out of the cinema. This is a doodle of Sam Bell who is the main character in the movie. Also have to say the music from the film is absolutly class too. Another great Clint Mansell score.

Scrabble

2009-08-20T09:21:00.004+01:00

Good friend of mine has got me into playing scrabble online so its on the brain a bit. This is a sketch of two letter O's running away from a P because the don't want to be part of the word poo! which I have used before but only got 7 pts or something for. doh!

Balloon Goon

2009-08-19T10:30:00.002+01:00

Quick sketch I did while I'm waiting for some scenes to work on.Can't wait for everything to kick off in work.it'll be tough but great to get back into the swing of things!

Good vs Evil

2009-08-18T19:15:00.003+01:00

Hey FranFans!! (hello?...anybody?) ah well,anyway,I've been neglecting the blog of late mainly because I had plenty of time to do stuff when I was on the scratch but now I have my job back! woo hoo! so I'm gonna try to start doing a few post-it sketches like this one featuring an angel fighting a demon and hopefully a few finished pieces too!

Gringos

2009-07-08T13:29:00.002+01:00

This is a pic I did while I was out with the sketchers a few weeks ago. been up to my neck in nixers though so haven't got much done since. I'll colour this up once I get a bit of time.

Loud

2009-06-17T19:15:00.001+01:00

Loud people wreck my head a bit. So did this one to illustrate that in a weird way.

Shuuwaaaah!

2009-05-28T16:45:00.002+01:00

Quick one I did after work while I had some time to kill. For those of you who don't recognise him he's the magical mobile genie from the last batch of meteor ads before the togo one. Really like when ads are funny but verging on mental too. This one qualified for that catagory. Shuuwaaaah!

Ninja Wabbits

2009-05-13T17:47:00.002+01:00

Haven't been as frequent with the posts recently coz May has been bizzay! Did this one up the last time I was up with mooner in monaghan and added a tiny bit of colour to it there just for some extra punch.

Han & Chewie

2009-04-28T14:21:00.002+01:00

Off sick today with a dodgy tummy so no excuses when it comes updating the blog. Did this sketch the last time I was up with mooney. I'll hopefully get to colour it up sometime soon.

Hmmm

2009-04-21T11:01:00.001+01:00

Didn't know what to draw so I drew a picture of a guy thinking about something to draw.

Snowball

2009-04-20T11:01:00.003+01:00

Little sketch I did a while ago when it was snowing. Funnily enough it was the sun coming out that reminded me of it. Hope we get a little bit of summer now.

Sexy surprise

2009-04-16T09:03:00.001+01:00

One for all the ladies!

Clocktopus

2009-04-15T12:51:00.002+01:00

I'm bored. Don't ask.

The eclectic micks

2009-04-15T11:25:00.002+01:00

Just like to give a shout out to the eclectic micks who are a bunch of very talented Irish artists working in comic books and who have set up a daily blog to show of they're sketching skills. Check it out. It's really good stuff.

Merlin goes to market

2009-04-14T10:21:00.002+01:00

Did this one up this morning while I was waiting for my boss Rob to come in and give me some stuff to do. Started with the tower coz I haven't done many background elements in my pics on the blog and it ended up like this. Like when you start with one element in a picture and it grows from there.

KONG

2009-03-31T10:13:00.003+01:00

Watched Peter Jackson's version of king kong for the first time recently and the conceptual design in it was what stood out for me. Have the art of book at home which is a good book but what ended up on screen was fantastic and a pretty good story to the movie too.

dun largurgle

2009-03-28T21:43:00.002+01:00

Went out with the sketchers to Dun Laorgaire last weekend. Always misspell that place. Hadn't been out there in years and its nice seaside town to wander and do the odd sketch.This is what I came out with. really enjoying working with the pens and markers I've bought.hopefully work more with them this weekend. ps:sorry for the lack of posts lately. Haven't been in the best of health recently. normal service will resume soon though.

Knobs n Knockers

2009-03-16T09:42:00.004+01:00

Went to the print museum in Dublin with the dublin sketchers on sunday and it was a great experience. Having worked as a graphic designer before, and still doing the odd design nixer, I got a real buzz as I walked in the door and seen all the old wooden font blocks and printing machines that they had there. I would highly recommend it as a place to visit for an inspirational and informative trip. A big thanks to the staff too who were extremely nice and helpful and had no problem in giving the more inquisitive of us answers about all the machinery and old printing methods.
As for the drawings I think a lot of us got caught up in the detail and it was no wonder as all the machines were so complicated looking. The first one I did was with a brown watercolour pencil which I wish I had have had more time on. Didn't add water to it though as I was afraid I'd wreck it but as I've scanned it now I'll add the water and post the results if they're not catastrophic. Second picture I did was just a quick pen and colour pencil pic I did at the end and I'm actually happier with that one than the one I spent more time on! Always the happens. was a great day out anyway and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Before I joined the sketchers I was pretty early so I did a few sketches on the canal. One of a man feeding the swans, who was flattered I was drawing him, and an attempt at Patrick Kavanagh's statue that went a bit pair shaped. Spent to long on it I think but did get to realize what a nice statue it is!

Finger licking good

2009-03-14T11:35:00.003+01:00

Character design I did for a short story. He's supposed to be the sheriff/mayor of a small southern american town, looks more like colonel sanders with that mustache though!

The Lightbulb

2009-03-06T12:07:00.003+01:00

Been busy this week but while waiting on things to render got this one done. Have wanted to do a piece with a lot of characters in it for a while. Hopefully more will follow coz I enjoyed doing this one.

Hands off me booty!

2009-03-03T09:18:00.004+01:00

This chair be high, says I!...and so forth. Some Pirates of the Caribbean inspired cartoonery for yiz!

Sketching 1/3/09

2009-03-02T15:06:00.003+01:00

Went out sketching in the national gallery with the Dublin sketchers yesterday. Ended up doing this sketch of a painting by George Romney. Think its called "painting of unnamed lady" but not sure. Took me a while to get back into sketching realistic characters as I've been doing cartoons a lot lately but was really getting into it towards the end. Was good fun and it was great to meet up with a bunch of people who just enjoy drawing and with such different styles and views of art. Thanks for having me guys and thanks to Tom for asking me along. Cheers buddy!

Dinner time

2009-02-28T21:41:00.003+01:00

It seems like everyone I know is having babies at the moment so here's a glimpse of the future for all of them!

Sweaty betty

2009-02-24T15:51:00.002+01:00

Did this sketch a while ago back when I was doing exercise regularly but thought I'd put it up after learning that five of the lads have started training for a triathlon. Good luck with that!

Flares

2009-02-23T14:28:00.002+01:00

Was looking for something to draw when the new mcdonalds advert came on where the flares go out of fashion in 30 seconds. ding! flares.

Zom Boy

2009-02-22T14:20:00.002+01:00

Did this one up over the weekend. Not a serious idea for a show though. Can't imagine where I'd start with story ideas. Episode 1 "brains", episode 2 "more brains, etc.

BOOM

2009-02-19T21:39:00.003+01:00

Body Builder

2009-02-18T21:52:00.001+01:00

Anarchy

2009-02-17T22:53:00.003+01:00

I had a picture of a punk rocker I did lying around so finished it up to see what it would look like in glorious franicolour.

Whale

2009-02-16T14:42:00.002+01:00

Pterodactyl

2009-02-15T21:31:00.002+01:00

Another dinosaur design. Like this one coz it looks like he's going "Grrrrrrr"

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T11:50:00.002+01:00

Happy Valentine's Day everybody.

Another Creature

2009-02-13T19:03:00.002+01:00

Another Zoo Mu Tu creature. Sort of half elephant, half walrus. No name yet so suggestions welcome!

Triceratops

2009-02-12T21:38:00.002+01:00

Did a few dinosaur sketches recently. Here's one of them.

Burnt Bear

2009-02-11T21:54:00.003+01:00

This one was inspired by a cool drawing of yogi bear I spotted on Frederator the other day. Bears are cool.

Bolungun Slug

2009-02-10T21:16:00.001+01:00

Yet another zoo mu too creature design.

Nuflutomus

2009-02-09T09:08:00.003+01:00

More Zoo Mu Tu. Another coloured up creature this time.

Talki Tiki

2009-02-08T18:14:00.003+01:00

Tiki chief design I did up after watching the emperor's new groove which is a very inspirational movie.

Aine Mc Guinness

2009-02-07T20:47:00.002+01:00

I'va added young Aine Mc Guinness' blog to the links list and everyone should check it out coz her stuff is class. Quiet little Aine worked with us in boulder and I knew she was a talented artist but I didn't know she was of the level that her personal work shows. Hopefully she's better than me at updating her blog. great stuff.

Goobon

2009-02-07T14:05:00.001+01:00

Here's another zoo mu tu creature I coloured up recently.

Darth Maul

2009-02-06T12:38:00.002+01:00

Have a mighty muggs figurine of darth maul on my desk and based this sketch on that rather than the original design. Hopefully get to do a finished colour piece of this one sometime soon too.great character.

Superbowl

2009-02-05T09:13:00.002+01:00

Stayed up to watch superbowl the other night and it was well worth it.last year's match was good but this was just as good if not better and having it on the bbc is great too as you're not bombarded with adverts every 60 seconds.

Droolich

2009-02-04T19:50:00.003+01:00

A creature design from zoo mu tu. Gonna call it a droolich for now but if anyone has any other ideas for a name please pass them on.

"Tu" by Giggles

2009-02-04T14:42:00.003+01:00

Here's a sketch my friend Gill did of Tu, one of the characters for my show idea Zoo Mu Tu . She did some redesigns for me before but not in her own style so I asked her to do them in her own way and she came up trumps! Says she has more on the way so I'm looking forward to seeing them and I'll post them as soon as I get them.

Butt Monkey

2009-02-03T10:26:00.002+01:00

Don't know what part of my brain this one came from. must have been in a butt monkey state of mind.probably not the last time we'll see him so as I'm often in a but monkey state of mind.

Hitman

2009-02-02T17:21:00.004+01:00

Did this one after I seen the hitman movie which I really enjoyed coz I love brainless action movies with token hot chicks. what more could you want! on another note I've changed the look of the blog just as a way of turning over a new leaf and updating more frequently than I have in the past.

Baby

2009-02-01T19:31:00.002+01:00

don't put enough of my sketches up and I do a lot of them so I'm gonna start doing it from now on and maybe that will help my blog stay alive rather than dying a slow death while waiting for a new post. There'll be one a day in february anyway and hopefully I'll get some finished peices up too.

The Key

2008-09-28T12:11:00.002+01:00

Well its been a while since my last post partly because we've been really busy working on an animated feature for a Swedish company called Atmo and partly because I've come down with a bad flu which resulted in a dose of vertigo which I think I'm finally overcoming.back to work tomorrow anyway so fingers crossed that goes well.
This picture started ages ago when I found a picture of a key on an image search which had a heart at the cut end which I thought was pretty cool even if it was a bit sappy.I worked it into a sketch and it pretty much lay in my sketch book until the other day when I was fed up doing nothing being sick in bed and looked for something to work on.So I went down the Ashley Wood route this time. been trying to crack a method to make my work sway towards his style without losing my own so hopefully its heading that way. Gonna try to do a few more pieces this way and see how the style progress' so stay tuned!

Big Bank Ltd

2008-08-31T12:34:00.004+01:00

Just like to give a mention to big bank ltd which is a comic strip being drawn by my friend Paul O Flanagan and written by his friend Wilzzy. Paul's artwork is fantastic and the gags are very funny. You can see it at http://bigbankltd.wordpress.com/ and there's a new one every monday so give it a look if you get a chance.

Bad guy

2008-07-21T08:09:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine asked me to design a bad guy for a sports related game show he's pitching to rte and this is the end result which I'm very happy with and he seems to be too.

2008-07-18T08:03:00.001+01:00

Here's some redesigns Gill did of my Zoo Mu Tu characters to make them more animation friendly.really like the prof.

shutdown media

2008-06-30T10:11:00.002+01:00

shutdown media from fran johnston on Vimeo.

Here's a graphic ident me and my good friend Ed Smith did up. The Company we work for has been looking for more variety in our design so we came up with this and we're working on another one which I'll post when its done. Let us know what you think.

Forest

2008-06-16T08:13:00.004+01:00

Did this one up from one of Dave's sketches for a test for star farm productions. Tried to do it in a samurai jack type of style and really happy with how it turned out.

the Dukes of Dublin

2008-06-04T15:06:00.003+01:00

I knew there was a camera in my phone for a reason! I was walking down o'connell st the other day and the best scooter ever was tied up outside burger king. I hope the person who owns it brings it down to the east link, waits for the bridge to open and tries to jump over. That'd be class!

manga messiah

2008-05-28T12:45:00.004+01:00

I Was walking past a religious bookshop the other day and this was in the window. don't know if its the church trying to be hip and cool or what but they seem to have some clever marketing Stratagies. There was also a poster relating to the TV show LOST
which was clever too.I wonder is there many speed lines in it seeing as most manga comics are normally full of them. Don't think Jesus was that active though.