J. James McFarland - Friendly Belligerent: 2015

Thursday, December 17, 2015

I want to Live

This is a piece submitted to a magazine about meditation and other practices.

The juxtaposition of bright pink flower with the solemn, drab surroundings was intended to be self-illustrative.

- J.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

The beginning of September, I set up shop in a brand new studio space.

Upon awakening the first day there, I chose to leap to my feet, race to my drawing table, and begin an extensive work day. Only... that's not what happened.

Fatigued, exhausted and confused, I could not move for nearly an hour and a half, so physically and mentally drained from the prior months of moving. Staring, staring at the ceiling.

Knowing the power of setting a strong mental predisposition to the new surroundings, I determined to capture that moment instead. Thus, still worn and weary, I went straight to my table and captured that moment.

This has gone on to be both my fall 2015 business card image, and also the cover to my 2015 Rose City Comic Con print portfolio for Portland in September.

I'm rather fond of it.

- J.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Aura Gaia - Aurora Rise 2015 (pt 5)

This is an explanation of Aura Gaia.

Lord Know is the antagonist of Aura Gaia. He is evil. (He apparently likes Facebook.)

A technological ruling authority, Lord Know can see all you do, through the lens of himself and his many bodies. The character established himself first on Facebook, directly speaking to expected guests of the 2015 Aurora Rise event. Revealing himself 10 days prior to the event, he led with a string of confirmations that you "have been a good human" and acknowledging you for staying "subservient."

Next, Lord Know began a series of posts explaining that his "Gardeners" would be coming through your "zone" soon, and to follow their directions. Eventually, one of these masked Gardeners began to address the same online users, the guests of Aurora Rise.

This character was Aura Gaia, and she would use her own account online to slowly reveal the actual cosplay of Krista Kirkpatrick's creation over the next five days. This would allow for the philosophies and world of "the future of the Techno-Ecology" to be explored.

- J.

Aura Gaia part one - http://friendlybelligerent.blogspot.com/2015/11/aura-gaia-aurora-rise-2015-pt-1.html

Aura Gaia part two - http://friendlybelligerent.blogspot.com/2015/11/aura-gaia-aurora-rise-2015-pt-2.html

Aura Gaia part three - http://friendlybelligerent.blogspot.com/2015/11/aura-gaia-aurora-rise-2015-pt-3.html

Aura Gaia part four - http://friendlybelligerent.blogspot.com/2015/11/aura-gaia-aurora-rise-2015-pt-4.html

Aura Gaia part five - http://friendlybelligerent.blogspot.com/2015/11/aura-gaia-aurora-rise-2015-pt-5.html

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Aura Gaia - Aurora Rise 2015 (pt 4)

This is an explanation of Aura Gaia.

Here is a look at the thought process which took my design from start to finish.

I truly feel that the final product character which Krista Kirkpatrick and myself created was a strong blend of uniqueness, originality, and out-of-the-box thinking. It was very important to avoid falling into conventional genre tropes, and this should demonstrate that ideal fully.

- J.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Aura Gaia - Aurora Rise 2015 (pt 3)

This is an explanation of Aura Gaia.

One of the stipulations of the Aurora Rise 2015 Cos/Art Competition was the creation of a "3 paragraph backstory" for the original character.

Never one to back down from a challenge, in addition to the formal 3 paragraphs, I also made a 3 page comic for inclusion in our character presentation booklet.

Largely tongue-in-cheek, it was important to have some reverence for the character, trapped in an absurd world.

In this way, I could illustrate out the understandings of this future world, the characters and villains within it, demonstrate the importance of the social understandings of the people, and Aura Gaia's place within it.

- J.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Aura Gaia - Aurora Rise 2015 (pt 2)

This is an explanation of Aura Gaia.

When Krista Kirkpatrick and I began brainstorming, I immediately set the pace by making sure that we were brainstorming together. However, I wanted it to be largely based on her own character interests, and so I was pushing the collaboration "back and forth" in a manner to develop the character along her own preferences.

The character was eventually settled upon as a plant-based, nature powered woman... of the future!

Before we had any designs started, we had the basic understanding of the character. As she developed, I would set about designing the backstory and the world around her, as well as her partners and the antagonist.

- J.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Aura Gaia - Aurora Rise 2015 (pt 1)

This is an explanation of Aura Gaia.

This is a fictional, future- based character which I co-created with a well-known Denver based cosplayer named Krista Kirkpatrick (and you can find her online under the name Cosplay Rocket).

November 7th and 8th 2015, the Aurora Rise event occurred. This was the fourth annual charity fundraiser for the families of the victims of the 2012 Dark Knight Century Theater shooting. This year, we did something new.

Krista and I were hand-chosen from the community to put together a new character, and to present it as a series of illustrations, prints, a spoken-word origin, and a full-concept cosplay.

Our character was Aura Gaia.

I will spend a few posts discussing the character and process. This was the final print of the collaboration, and also the final costume of Krista as Aura Gaia.

- J.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Faces

Here are faces.

I love your faces.

- J.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Work Process - Rose City Con Portfolio Book

This is the level of preparation which goes into most of my work.

Countless print samples, color tests, and quality checks.

This is about half of the material I have left from the preparation for the 2015 Rose City Comic Con Print Portfolios which I handed out.

It's this level of processing which gives me pride.

- J.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Work Today

This piece is a landmark piece for the day I began work in my new studio space.

I awoke with a severe sense of knowledge that it was time to get to work, but I was paralyzed with physical and emotional fatigue... and an irrational fear of motivation to work. This is not normal for me, and it was not okay.

So, with clarity that it was time to "get moving" I promptly jumped to my drawing table and captured the moment of that fear.

I felt it was powerful and true enough to turn it into my fall and winter business card, use it as the cover for my 2015 Rose City Portfolio cover, and as web banners.

All good things which are true can be used as powerful motivation.

- J.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Jonothan's Father

This is a commissioned portrait for a man in Boulder. It's a portrait of his father.

- J.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Inward Violence & Outward Violence

Here are two illustrations which came as a pair!

These depict inward violence and outward violence, and were commissioned for a Medical Center as part of a larger display regarding "workplace safety."

So, we have (for instance) the woman who was just told that she owes $10,000 as part of her preventative checkup, or (on the other hand) the man who was recently informed that he will certainly not have much longer to live.

You know, uplifting, beautiful, and serene!

This was digital color over hand illustration. It was my goal to simulate watercolors.

- J.

Monday, April 6, 2015

RTG Stegosaurus

Red Team Go! is a Colorado-based collaborate group of artists who share their experience, strengths, and enjoy working together. One of the first collaborative books out is called Dinopocalypse! and has a variety of artists and writers putting together this collection.

You can read more about this booklet HERE.

This is my single page contribution.

The theme is basically "post-apocalyptic dinosaurs and motorbikes." I thought it would be fun to explore the idea of the back-to-the-earth, simple man. A farm boy walking his stegosaurus.

- J.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

G.I. Joe Filecard Biography

Here is an idea I've been wanting to put together for some time.

A few pals brought up the concept, and I just went ahead and did it. Huzzah!

Simple little biography. Perhaps it will look good on my table at future shows.

(Since I couldn't settle on which figure portraits to place on the cardback above... I made four versions, so the print versions will be varied like a stack of REAL filecards).

- J.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

X Men, Together

Here is a composite of my colored X-Men characters from earlier in the year.

Many of them are complete costume redesigns.

From left to right: Marrow (original costume), Glob Herman (naked), Xavier (Morrison-era leather with my own wheelchair design), Stacy-X (redesign), Sugarman (jeans and boots instead of leather-fetish gear), Emplate (almost total redesign, more color), Adam the X-Treme (total redesign, contemporary urban hipster).

- J.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

The Mighty Kwinn

Kwinn is an interesting early 80's character. His first appearance was in GiJoe #2 by Larry Hama, and after a half dozen appearances in the early issues of that comic, he met his final fate.

In years since, he has gone on to become a cult classic of monumental proportions.

He was originally based on the Hollywood actor Anthony Quinn, especially the character he portrayed in The Savage Innocents. This is a work in progress, as I continue to pick it up and work on it in between more prominent jobs.

- J.