"The Line It Is Drawn" - Artist Try-Outs

Comic Book Resources is now accepting public votes on which new artists to enlist in their weekly draw-off, "The Line It Is Drawn."  Readers of the column submit bold ideas weekly, and the standing roster of CBR artists then have to depict whatever crazy and fun suggestions get thrown their way.  It is rare that they hold artist selections at all.

It is with great excitement that I request your input in this competition!  I have made the final cut after several weeks of Try-Outs, and would like to ask you to vote for me.  These are the three images I have submitted for this pursuit.

Please consider taking a brief moment to vote for me, and if you have the time and are interested, there are 8 other pages of talented artists to look at.  You may vote for more than one which is pretty cool!

- J. James McFarland

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2014/12/22/the-line-it-is-drawn-2014-artist-try-outs-week-two/9/

- J.

Portfolio Update

At the moment, I have two professional portfolios in play.

To the right is my 2014 Design and Illustration Portfolio.

On every other site I am referencing my 2015 Portfolio... this is it.

Enjoy!

- J.

Christmas Portraits

For a few of my Christmas presents I drew a few friends. 

- J.

Green Jaguar

This was a Christmas gift for a young writer I know.  He's put together several notebooks of research and story outlines, but has never been able to see a version of his own primary protagonist.

It was a great deal of fun working on this character.  The Green Jaguar is created by Ben Cendejas and designed specifically from his description.  I took few liberties. 

- J.

Comic Book Resources Submission

This is a cover submission for Comic Book Resources. 

Wish me luck!

- J.

Red Sonja Cover

Dynamite Entertainment just held a contest for a Red Sonja cover.  Now, while I normally eschew contest submissions of any type, this sounded like a good idea to me.

This was my entry for the event.  The majority of it was done during Thanksgiving dinner, and while on roadtrip for the holidays.  Whew!  Got it done on time with a few hours touch up in my office.

Wish me luck.

- J.

Aurora Rise 2014

 The Aurora Rise convention of Denver is a new and interesting show.  It is a non-profit endeavor and charity. 

The mission of Aurora Rise is simple- they try to help make the days ahead of those affected by Century Aurora Theater Shooting on July 20, 2012 a little bit brighter.

Here are a few of my commissions I sketched as a donation this year.  The attendees may choose to purchase a blank cover sketchbook from the choice of several different years, and may additionally choose to have a volunteer artist do a sketch original for a price as well.  It's a fun cause.

This is the website for Aurora Rise: http://www.aurorarise.org/

- J.

Comic Cons in the days before Cosplay

This is classy.  Daniel Clowes showing a proper old school convention, in the good old days before Cosplay was a staple of the circuit.

- J.

Colorado Springs Day Two

This is a collection of my favorite cosplays from the Colorado Springs Toy and Comic Con from fall.

These are so much fun.  We have Peter, Gwen, and Wild Weasel.  Additionally here is the 80s figure of Wild Weasel.  These guys who get into the military toy cosplays are usually overlooked.  I can't get enough of this detail stuff.

- J.

Colorado Springs Day One

The Colorado Springs Toy and Comic Con is always a good time.  This is a biannual event, in the fall and in the spring.

There are enthusiasts of all types, a variety of amazing work to behold, and a truly wonderful ambiance to the lobby with the natural lighting through the skylight, and natural foliage.

As is becoming my habit I suppose, here are a few of my favorite commissions from this show.  Enjoy!

- J.

24 Hour Comics Day 2014 : Cover

The 2014 24 Hour Comics Day I attended was at Time Warp Comics in Boulder this year.  This is a great shop, with decades of award-winning history.

Several of the artists who joined this event have submitted cover designs, this is mine.  Tommy Time Warp, his sister Tammy Timewarp, dinosaur teammates Dweezil and Tiberious Rex, and more.  These characters were created by the late great local artist Steve Swink, and Wayne Winsett (the owner of Time Warp). 

I chose to make the dinosaur characters feathered dinos... for instance, the corner box has Tiberious Rex in his spaceship... he is the mascot for Time Warp Comics.  He's also the main character on the cover, in fully feathered glory. 


- J.

24 Hour Comics Day 2014 : Tommy Timewarp

The 2014 24 Hour Comics Day I attended was at Time Warp Comics in Boulder this year.  This is a great shop, with decades of award-winning history.

 Over the years, many artists have drawn different versions of their mascot characters... there are a lot of them to choose from.  Tommy Time Warp, his sister Tammy Timewarp, dinosaur teammates Dweezil and Tiberious Rex, and more.  These characters were created by the late great local artist Steve Swink, and Wayne Winsett (the owner of Time Warp).  Wayne explained to me about how the characters were alternate versions of each other mirroring the different creator's interests, so I chose to finish out my last five pages with a Tommy Time Warp Adventure in space, with the two different ships and crews coming together and encountering my own creation, Aric Thee Redd.

It can be read as part of the Aric Thee Redd comic (as the events fall between and clarify the events of that story) or on it's own.  Here is the finished product, being hosted by Paper Dream Production's Jay Sternitzky, who hosts this event.

- J.

 

24 Hour Comics Day 2014 : Arik Thee Redd 4

2014 marked the fifth 24 Hour Comic live drawing event which I have been a participant of.

This year was unique for me... this is the first time I was not an organizer for the event.  It was refreshing simply showing up to an arranged event and partaking. 

As originator of the challenge, Scott McCloud has established rules for a comic to qualify: 
It must be begun and completed within 24 consecutive hours.
Only one person may be directly involved in its creation, and it must span 24 pages. 
The creator may gather research materials and drawing tools beforehand.
The artist may not plan the comic's plot ahead of time or put anything on paper before beginning.
Any breaks (for food, sleep, or any other purpose) are counted as part of the 24 hours.

Noteworthy:
If the cartoonist fails to finish the comic in 24 hours, there are two courses of action suggested:
Stop the comic at the 24-hour mark, or continue working until all 24 pages are done.
The former is known as "the Gaiman variation" after Neil Gaiman's unsuccessful attempt, and the latter is called "the Eastman variation" after Kevin Eastman's unsuccessful attempt.
Scott McCloud calls both of these "noble failures", which he will still list on his site as long as he believes that the creator intended to finish the project within the specified amount of time.

In my 24 Hour Comics, I generally do story based on Aric Thee Redd, whose appearance and costume changes every issue.  Twice I have successfully completed 24 pages in 24 Hours.  Once I continued the story past through at least 60 hours total (the second Aric Thee Redd... in which case there is an obvious difference between the work done during and after the challenge).  This year I stopped at 24 Hours, with a completed 19 pages.  Then, I added a 5 page secondary story so I could still print it at 24 pages.

Here is the finished product, being hosted by Paper Dream Production's Jay Sternitzky, who hosts this event.

- J.

Remi Going Away

 

 A local dude named Remi is leaving town to fly small planes, and his coworkers commissioned me to make them something to remember him by.  This is that piece.

- J.

X-Men Week: Sugarman

This week I'm working on some obscure X-Men characters for fun.  This hot little number is named Sugarman.  In addition to looking like some pedo California Raisin, he also makes gross slurping noises.  Normally he seems to be quite pleased with himself.


That's the final piece for this week.  It was fun, maybe I'll come back to it sometime later.





- J.

X-Men Week: Adam the X-Treme

 

This week I'm working on some obscure X-Men characters for fun.  This dude is a really, really modernized Adam X.  He was a tacky 90's character with too many pouches and many knives.  It seemed to me that he could benefit from a modernization.  Now he is a tacky 2014 character with too many pouches and many knives.  He retains his trademark bizarre ponytails and basic color scheme.

- J.

X-Men Week: Herman Glob

This week I'm working on some obscure X-Men characters for fun.  This handsome young man is Herman Glob.  He's made of wax.  He's flammable, and quite unfortunate in love I assume.

- J. 

X-Men Week: Stacy X

 

This week I'm working on some obscure X-Men characters for fun.  This beast of a lady is Stacy X.  Of course, backwords this is pronounced Ecstacy .  She was a very unlikely addition to the team, being a pheromone manipulating streetwalker.  I always liked her personality.

- J.

X-Men Week: Professor X

This week I'm working on some X-Men characters for fun.  This guy is Charles Xavier. 

- J.

X-Men Week: Emplate

This week I'm working on some obscure X-Men characters for fun.  This guy is Emplate.  He's really icky.  Normally he is illustrated with stark, chiaroscuro-esque grainy tones.  Figured it might be nice to give the old fellow a dash of color.

- J.

X-Men Week: Marrow

This week I'm working on some obscure X-Men characters for fun.  This cutie is Marrow.  She's really gross. This was how she looked back in the day when she first showed up.  Eventually the X-Men let her join the team.  Likely, this was because she got prettier and spunky.

I always liked her icky and bitter myself. 

- J.

Denver Comic Con Part Three

Denver Comic Con had those nice big tables so I could really stretch.  At this point I can fill a table of any size, so it's mostly a matter of trying to minimize my work into a careful arrangement, and a lot of decision making about what material to show and what to remove permanently from the table.  The last two years I have been letting much of my early prints and books run out and disappear, and that's a nice feeling.

- J.

 

This was a different commission for me.

Usually when art is commissioned from me, it is owing to an interest in my art style or personality.

Is this one random?  Oh well, Darkwing Duck, hey, he's rad.  I'll draw him any day.

Some of my favorite cosplayers from this day.  Say what you will,

Venus DeMilo is a cool looking ninja turtle. Also, creepy Skull Kid, Flash Thompson Venom with Asuka (she's rad), and a wicked cool Warpath and Dani Moonstar.

Denver Comic Con 2014 Part Two

Denver Comic Con 2014 - two months of planning, three days of confusion and bewilderment! pic.twitter.com/Stk9jt5iAf
— J. James McFarland (@JJamesMcFarland) June 16, 2014

 

Here are my two favorite commissions from DCC 2014.  The first one is Shipwreck from Gi Joe who is sort of a weird character in that the cartoon treated him like a joke, while the comics treat him as a capable Navy roughneck.  His '85 filecard even mentions time spend at Gitmo and fighting Mekong Delta insurgents so I wanted to portray him in action, giving him a Navy issue firearm.

It was actually made for a local cosplayer who brought the whole family out... you can see him here.

The second one is Barbara Gordon, which was made for a young woman who is a local librarian here and a big fan of Babs.

 Both great fun.

- J. 

Denver Comic Con 2014 Part One

There is so much happening at this con that I don't even know where to begin.  This event has taken sleep deprivation and exhaustion to a whole new level for me.

For now I leave you this.

- J.

Facebook Announcement

I've joined Facebook to easier access for you!

Find me here!

- J.

Westword Comics Winner

This is from the comic I submitted to the Westword second annual Comics issue:

 

So they chose it as a winning piece and you can read it online here: 

http://blogs.westword.com/showandtell/2014/06/in_honor_of_our_second_annual_comics_issue_here_are_winning_entries.php?page=5

If you take the time to read mine, check out some of the other great entries.  There is a lot of talent in this town and it's been a good time learning about them all.

- J.

Platte River Settlers 1855

There's a brief story behind these paintings.

A month and a half back, or so, I was invited to take part in a "Ghost Hunt" with a crew of investigators such as you would see on tv.  It was from midnight to six am in a building which has been legendarily considered haunted for some time.  This was not a public event, and while they did have recording and EMF equipment, it was not filmed.

It ended up being really freaky by the end, and immediately after leaving there I started telling my painting friends from last summer all about how I was going to try and capture it in a painting.

Surreptitiously, that same week I was approached about making some new art for a Steampunk Art Exhibit in a nearby art gallery, based off (I assume) this piece on my portfolio.

Now, the ghost experience made me want to do dark, spooky pieces, however the history of the ghosts is reputedly tied up in the 1850s history of flooding and death from the gold and settler rushes of the Upper Platte River Valley.  I ride my bike down the Platte River a lot, it's not big but it is pretty.

These factors all came together in a mash up of my ideas for this piece... it was the concept of Steampunk Settlers on the Platte River, with a dirigible boat wagon for both scouting, and also emergency survival, and the horse which charges the batteries for the wagon.  The woman is viewing the landscape (and those lovely blue mountains) through her viewscope, and yes, she's armed with a lightbulb gun.

This was a lot of fun.  They are each 22" x 38" on stretched canvas with acrylics.

- J. 

ComicFest Commission

This was a real fun quick commission.

I won't go into the entire pitch for my services at the ComicFest Convention (I only tabled on the third day, thanks to Jay Sternitzky hooking me up with a last minute spot) but it was pretty cool.  

A young man was looking for conceptual art to help develop a flash animation game he was coding, based on two full pages of written description.  As pictured above.

It was... a pretty affordable purchase for him...it was fun for me though.  It was about 40 minutes turn around time with a break in the middle so that's good.  

I hope it helps him push his product.  At any rate, hiring an artist at his age was a savvy move.  I never would have thought of that at... what, 15 years old?

Fun stuff,

- J.

Maize Issue Two Online

Maize Issue Two Online is debuting today.

This is the first place to read this story, premiering ahead of the print version. 

You can check it out by following it here online.

- J.

Colorado Springs part 3

As always I like to put up a few pictures of cosplayers at work.  There were a lot more which were awesome, but I'm not the best photographer in the first place (as clearly evidenced by the Vader who's already walking away from the enormous man in the wookie costume... dude his feet were like two and a half feet long!)

- J.

Colorado Springs part 2

Here are a few of the commissions and show pieces I completed during this con...

Batman sticking out his tongue, which was fun.  A few years ago at Rose City Con (if I remember correctly) I was asked to draw Batman with a Beard in a sketchbook.  The page before me was Matt Wagner and a few pages behind me was Levi Skeen, who is a cool guy and talented who is from my hometown of Spokane back west.  He inked some of my pages for his comic when I was twenty, or twenty one.  Thereabouts.

The next one is Slenderman, from a game apparently called Slender.  When I took the commission I thought that maybe Slenderman was the protagonist character... but as I was drawing it out it became more obvious to me that he was probably chasing the player... ooooo beware.

Lastly an arctic black ops Turtle.  Which one is it, hmmmmm?  I think I'll be developing this into a large print eventually.  Too fun.

- J.

Colorado Springs 2014

The Colorado Springs Toy and Comic Con is held twice a year, and is a charity benefit each time.

This event always seems to be a nice, solid investment on my time in terms of sales, marketing, and of course, fun!

This last weekend, I definitely was able to experience the most lush and relaxing tabling position I have ever been in... it was such a treat to be under natural lighting and have a slight breeze carrying through to keep me focused.  Tabling at a show can normally be so weary due to white noise and artificial lighting... what a nice change.

- J.

Sustainance

Last year my good friends in SE Portland put on an art show.  It was about "food" but otherwise open ended.  Now, this was a group which I was a part of for three plus years, probably over four years, and which I continue to visit every time I come to town, so I had to do something big and fun.

The final product was an image of two disturbing lovers, and it seemed to be some kind of alright to me.  It was a 3 foot by 4 foot acrylic painting, and I painted it flat on my big picnic table in my back yard, which was in the desert.  The heat was in the 100s that week, which was AWESOME for laying down layers quickly.

I also got crazy sunburned.  Ick.  Well, it happens all the time for me I guess.

I sent it in the mail in a tube, rolled up with the top brace bar and a bottom weight bar, as well as the ropes to hang it, and popped some grommets in it to make it all come together.  Couldn't figure out any other way to ship it for display, but it's a format I'm definitely going to use again one day.

This is a really great group so if you are ever down there in SE I encourage you to check it out.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Craft-Night-South-East/189282047780291

http://fosterpowellpdx.com/2012/04/09/meet-your-neighbors-zack-kosta/

- J.

Mitch's Girls

Here is a commissioned piece which was a blast to put together.

Originally Mitch and I discussed doing this as two smaller pieces back during the 30 Characters challenge for this year...  ultimately the project was pushed back due to his scheduling demands.  So, now the piece became a two character piece and became much, much larger.

The original art for this piece is about 17 x 15, which is a pretty big scale.  The women pictured are his girlfriend and her best friend, so it was important to me to get the facial features correct.  The request was to display their friendship and to make them into superheroes.

When I asked him to some input on their "likes" it was given to me that Lauren loves cats, and Anne loves Abraham Lincoln.  I didn't feel comfortable making a Catwoman design or a genderswapped Honest Abe since I only met the girls once, so I worked that into their picture.  The bubbly shapes on Lauren's costume have everything to do with this RAD 1920's jewel and chain necklace which she wore in one of the reference pictures, and I went kinda "standard James" thinking for Anne's attire.

Fun stuff! 

- J.

Bar / Speakeasy

This is the bar set up I designed to help with backgrounds in the first, inked issue of Maize.

I really wanted each part of the bar to look unique.

- J.

New York 1927

This is New York.

In researching old photos, I was intrigued by the presence of large groups of walkers in the streets.  The vehicles were very sparse. 

It should not be a surprise that so few people were driving I suppose. 

- J.