Happy Birthday greetings to baseball’s greatest catcher, Johnny Bench. #cfpayne #hartfordartschool #johnnybench @illustrationmfa @illustrationacademy

Remembering Pearl Harbor. CCAD grad and Ohio illustrator great Robert McCall was commissioned to create a series of story board images for the movie Tora Tora Tora. Absolutely great pictures by a great illustrator. Ohio has given us so many great illustrators. #cfpayne #hartfordartschool #mfa @illustrationmfa

Tomorrow Leslie Cober and I will be hosting a series of Zoom portfolio reviews for illustrators who may have interest in earning their MFA at the Hartford Art School. We have scheduled time slots for more Zoom reviews Saturday December 13. To sign up, go to mfa@hartford.edu to claim your slot for your private review. #cfpayne #hartfordartschool #mfa @illustrationmfa @lcgdesign

All hail the holy turkey we share this Thanksgiving. Be thankful for the blessing you share. #cfpayne #hartfordartschool #mfa @illustrationmfa @illustrationacademy

It’s official. The time is right. It is good news for all. This summer I will be retiring from my position as director of the MFA in Illustration Program at the Hartford Art School. It’s hard to believe it has been ten years when I met with Shayna Piascik, our program manager to plan our 2016 summer schedule. Over the course of these past ten years it has been my honor to follow the lead of Murray Tinkelman who started the program many years ago. I owe an enormous thanks to our thesis advisors, faculty and guest speakers for their efforts in making our program so unique and life changing for our students. The program will be in the great and most capable hands of Leslie Cober. She is a superb talent with roots deep in illustration history and what’s happening now. I studied with her father Alan E. Cober and as an alumni of our program she now follows me. With her at the helm I see a great future for those who wish to earn their MFA at the Hartford Art School. Thanks for the great ride we all shared with our love for the art of illustration. We even had time to have fun in our journey. #cfpayne #hartfordartschool #mfa @illustrationmfa @illustrationacademy