Michael Francis is a Native American (Kiowa/Cherokee) Illustrator with seven years of experience working in entertainment. He specializes in animation and video games. Michael achieved a BFA in Visual Development at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and has worked for clients like Columbia Pictures and Bent Image Lab, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and various independent projects and teams to assist them in creating concept art/visual development that included environments, props and character designs while utilizing his strong 2D foundational skills.
Projects
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Visual Development and Background Painter
Collaborated with my team and the BIA to create an animated short summarizing a report on how climate change impacts coastal tribes in the lower 48. My responsibilities were:
Style Development and Research
Script Refinement and Cultural Input
Storyboards
Background Paintings
Spot Illustrations
Bent Image Lab/ Columbia Pictures
“Harold and the Purple Crayon”
released theatrically: August 2nd, 2024
I painted rendered color keys to aid the VFX Lighting Team in creating the final animation for the sequences, I partnered with my art director to create finished color keys that fit the project’s children’s book art style, using a provided style guide. My team worked on the 2D animated portions of ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’
Color Script Artist
Full Client List
Luxark Studio - Junior Concept Artist - 2025
Bureau of Indian Affairs - Visual Development - 2025
Columbia Pictures and Bent Image Lab - Color Script Artist - 2023
Lunar Games - Character Designer and Illustrator - 2019 - 2020
Tandem Media LLC - Character Designer - 2019
SCAD Animation - Concept Artist - 2018
Ford Motor Company and SCAD Pro - Color Key Artist - 2018
education
Academy of Art University
San Francisco, CA, School of Visual Development
BFA (Bachelors of Fine Arts) in Visual Development
Graduated December 2022
Attended Fall 2019 - Fall 2022
Savannah College of Art and Design
Savannah, GA, School of Illustration
BFA (Bachelors of Fine Arts) in Illustration
Attended Fall 2017 - Spring 2019
other work experience
In-N-Out Burgers - Morning Cleanup Crew - 2025
Apple Retail - Sales Specialist - 2021-2025
IKEA - Restocker - 2021
Walmart - Overnight Stocker - 2020-2021
Ex Libris Bookstore - Sales Associate - 2018 - 2019
lets collaborate!
Along side larger projects with commercial clients, I also work with small businesses and individuals.
Personal Commissions
Artistree is the artist commission platform that I’m currently using and I like it because it has no artist fees and they plant a tree for every commission sold :)
Commercial Commissions
I collaborate with a variety of clients to create personal illustrations either for their brand or for personal use. This includes portraits, paintings and more to be used for products and promotional material.
I also can create graphics needed for live events and businesses, this included things like logos, t-shirts, posters and social media content.
email me for more info
me@michaelfrancis.art