J. James McFarland - Friendly Belligerent

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Manhatten Subway Map

This is one of the largest single image commissions I have ever built. It's a movie poster built at 27 inches by 42 inches, and while that is a scale I've been working at quite a lot, this one is a massive vector file. It's quite the value for the client, and I am very proud of it.

- J.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

The Trade

Here is the episode of THE TRADE podcast which I was a guest on recently. It was a great deal of fun, and we got to talk all about webcomics, storytelling, and art process!

I would enjoy going back on at some point!

- J.

http://thetrade.libsyn.com/episode-39-interviews-interviews-and-new-comics

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Character Design

Here is some client work from this week, a little character design.

This is about a quarter of the designs for this round of work on the character. My favorites, but not all that the client was given to think through.

- J.

Saturday, March 5, 2016

J. James Makes Comics

As I've worked on a few comics over the last month, I have kept a list of my hours.

To do this, I kept a separate blog:

http://friendlybelligerentmakescomics.blogspot.com/

Check it out, it's a reasonable breakdown and accurate too.

- J.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Nightwing

This was a fun commission.

The goal was to do both Nightwing and also Robin in the same composition.

My first thought was that it would be disingenuous to put them at the same eye level, so I started grinding away at how to fix it so they could be appropriate heights.

The Burt Ward fist pound is what figured it for me.

- J.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

2 Hour She-Hulk

Just made a little 2-Hour She-Hulk with a mix of india ink brushed with my brand new (first time used) Windsor & Newton 7 #1 and a watercolor fibre pen.

She's ugly. I like it. Her underbite is cute.

Skin tone green is hard to get right with watercolor, she looks a little... ill. That "four color funny book" green is a lot more primary than this is. I'm going to tackle her again soon for sure.

It's on ebay. The name is "She Hulk J James McFarland view online live ORIGINAL"

I cast it on periscope while I drew it... but I suspect that I didn't actually turn on the camera. Yes, yes, that's true. Sure is me, yep thanks.

- J.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Red-Headed Demon

This is my recently submitted design for the 2016 ComicFest banner competition.

There was a lot of thought that I put into this. I'll just go ahead and talk about it.

So, it was a themed submission request. The goal was a family friendly medieval fantasy piece, something which could look good on a very large banner, be eye catching, and all around good looking piece.

After spending some time thinking about it, my thought was that most of the submissions would be of the shirtless barbarian variety. I'm no stranger to that, my 24-Hour Comic character is Aric Thee Redd, a more-confused-than-average-Joe just trying to make his way in this world.

It also seemed likely that there would be dragons. I mean, of course, it's a medieval fantasy piece, that's only natural. Expected, even. Lastly, scantily clad damsels in distress. All around, it seemed likely that the judges would be flooded with a strong showing of Frazetta influenced imagery... I love me some Frazetta, that's for sure. (That one with the polar bears, oh!)

My thought process was to take what I expected and do a 180-degree spin on it. So, a large non-dragon with a fearsome non-barbarian and a sexy un-scantily-clad woman.

You can see the curves of the woman under her leathers, and the dragon-ish features of her bird-lizard steed are pretty obvious. Lots of Jim Henson influence in there (I'm kinda jiving on the Muppets). Volcano, full leathers, all that agitation... gotta be sweaty.

See, she's hot.

So much fun, I loved making this piece.

- J.

OH! I made it pink. Really, really, really pink. That's not an accident.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Dragon Face Lady

This is a commission for a client.

She wanted to be portrayed as a dragon,
and so she is! She made me an awesome face to draw.

I was trying to channel Jeff Smith's Big Red Dragon a little bit
as I went through this sketch, and the wings are my favorite wings ever.

- J.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Anakin's Face

So there are quite a few Vader covers I have sitting around here!

This is only the third sketch cover I have ever made. The first two have gone to auction, for the Aurora Rise charity auctions. This one, I'm going to sell myself.

Here it is.

Ebay is strange new territory to me.

So, the moment captured in this drawing should be pretty easy to remember from the movies. I took the liberty of a fairly large point of departure.

Two points of departure, if you want to count the gloved hand. I worked hard to have that hand fade back into the background and putting a glove on it might fool around with the effect.

- J.

Monday, January 18, 2016

311 Book - flashback from 2012

So, here's a book I made from start to finish:

I built a 30 page "311" fan book. I never advertised having made it, it never got documented in my portfolio. In a tale of "scope gone MAD" I took on a $500 commission in 2012, and then it turned into what should have been a $3k project.

I basically got bullied into never stopping work on it. So, four years later, here's the cover for the unfulfilled "311" fan book I built.

It was actually print-ready... I had started work on the second of FOUR of these, having never collected the initial confirmation fee, before I got the nerve to stand up for myself.

Don't ever work for free based on promises. Work for pay based on being paid.

- J.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Westword Comic 2015

This was my submission for the Westword Newspaper of Denver from 2015.

It was a personal take on what Colorado means to me. Very gratifying to have it go up and be seen.

- J.

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

Go to Work

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.