2008, 2009, 2010 A Favorite Piece per Year

Collyer Brothers, 2008

I've chosen 3 of my favorite watercolor pieces from 2008-2010, all done for fun. I read the book Ghosty Men and was fascinated with the Collyer Brothers. I found their story quite touching, I won't go into it in detail here but you should look into it.

Life of Pi, 2009

My favorite section of the book Life of Pi was when the bolt of lightning strikes the water and he describes how it looked like a white tree with roots.

Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, 2010

Terry Gilliam's Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus was definitely not his finest hour, but it inspired this painting which I love to this day. I like the patterns and the composition.

I created these in-between freelance jobs and around my full-time day job. It's very important to do personal work, it's a way to build up a portfolio of the kind of work you'd LIKE to be getting. It's a hoot looking at this stuff now, it seems like someone else created them- it's so weird.

2000 My Handmade High School Yearbook

Cover to my handmade yearbook 2000

I was not your average high school student: I never got my photo taken, didn't go to prom, didn't play sports, and didn't buy my yearbook. When my calligraphy & advertising teacher Mrs Jennifer Trettner asked us to do our final project in a calligraphy font of our own creation, I decided to make my own yearbook. Although the calligraphy font I created is ugly & illegible in places... and my layout skills left something to be desired... I love my handmade yearbook.

Teachers and students would write their messages/comments directly in the book (comments not featured here, those are mine!). Each page would have a yearbook-esque pic and a full drawing at the bottom, they would sign the opposite page. Here's a few memories from my yearbook...

 

My parting words for High School were borrowed from Roger Klotz, they are words of wisdom.

I'm thankful for my teacher Mrs Trettner. Her classes prepared me to be a professional in everything that I do. In the desert of Three Village, she had true passion & guts.

Sometimes I kick myself for not also buying an official yearbook, because it would've made the process of drawing autobiography "Secrets of Silent James" easier, but I'm proud to say my memory proved to be quite sharp! So... HA!

2009-2011 Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Screamin' Jay Hawkins Ol' Man River by Silent James 2009

Screamin' Jay Hawkins is one of my favorite musicians. I first saw him in the movie American Hot Wax in Vincent Di Fate's illustration class. Screamin' was outrageous! I dove into his music and loved pretty much all of it. I was mesmerized by any live clips I could find, the above illustration was based on his performance of Ol' Man River (with a homage to Ashes at the end!). At the time, this piece was a breakthrough for me. It was the first piece I had done in years that was actually fun to create.

Screamin' Jay Hawkins by Silent James 2011

I created this next one during my next phase of illustration, which I still use to this day. His singing ability was truly special. Jim Jarmusch said it best, "He's a national treasure." I loved him in JJ's film Mystery Train, I wish he had acted more- he was great!

Screamin' Jay Hawkins by Silent James 2011

I eventually saw the documentary "I Put a Spell on Me", which was fascinating. I especially loved the clips from the original "I Put a Spell on You" music video. Screamin' said that everyone thought he was a joke dressed like that, but he believed he was dressed like a warrior; an African warrior.

Screamin' Jay Hawkins by Silent James 2012

The last one I painted was in 2012, I really like the colors I used. I also got to paint a spell like in my books Three and Dee. I loved his entrances in the casket, he said the scream he would bust out from the coffin would cause half the audience to faint!

My favorite songs of his besides ones mentioned above are: Voodoo, Poor Folks, I Hear Voices, Shattered, Monkberry Moon Delight, Whistlin' Past the Graveyard, Portrait of a Man, Frenzy... sheesh, there's too many to list.

2007 Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth "Hermano" by Silent James 2007

I saw Pan's Labyrinth for free before it was released, we won some kind of giveaway. I didn't know anything about it, I found it very exciting and scary. Shortly after its release, the director held an art contest on the movie site, the prize was the 10 winner's work would appear on the dvd menu of the film. I quickly created 10 pieces and submitted them. The winners were chosen by popular vote from people that came to the site. I don't like that system, the director should have chosen, I've never been popular, haha.

I wanted this above piece to be half nice and half evil, summing up the whole film. I liked Ivana Baquero as Ofelia, she's a great actor!

Pan's Labyrinth "Bug" by Silent James 2007

This next one is usually a favorite with people. It's the most normal, nice looking piece in the bunch.

Pan's Labyrinth "Mama" by Silent James 2007

This one is gruesome, I like the watercolor effect on the belly. My friend Morgan saw the sketch, then saw the finish and exclaimed, "I didn't expect all that blood!"

Pan's Labyrinth "Trio" by Silent James 2007

I like the composition because all the shoulders flow into the arch. Esther loved Maribel Verdú in Y Tu Mama Tambien.

Pan's Labyrinth "Root" by Silent James 2007

I tried to draw most of these from memory, showing different perspectives etc. Morgan remarked about this one that it reminded her of the Rankin/Bass production of the Hobbit, which is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Pan's Labyrinth "Frog" by Silent James 2007

I like the hazy background in this one, I think I missed the mark with the characters in the foreground.

Pan's Labyrinth "Pale" by Silent James 2007

The Pale Man scene was my favorite in the movie, I loved the set up, the paintings on the wall, the creature, it all worked. I do not like his long fingers here or his red belly, but I like the doorway.

Pan's Labyrinth "Fathers" by Silent James 2007

I love the technique on the faun and the simple coloring of her face. I like this one.

Pan's Labyrinth "Final Task" by Silent James 2007

Pan's Labyrinth "End" by Silent James 2007

I have to be honest, I can't watch this movie anymore. I tried to watch it again years later and it was too violent, I don't think it's old age but who knows. I like Guillermo del Toro's sketchbooks. I can never keep my own because if I do one bad drawing, I toss the book aside because I can't bare to look at it every time I open it. I know it's insane, I'm working on that.

I look back on these images with delight. I do not work in this method anymore (I'm much happier not to) but I think these look pretty good.

2005-2006 College Work

I still like some of the work I created during this time, it has charm and energy. These drawings were done on blue paper from direct observation of the models. Mia Paloma Sorada was among the best, I called this one Waiting For Him.

Conversely, here is Waiting For Her. I don't remember his name, but they were both great models. I used a quill, brush and an awesome retractable multi-colored ballpoint pen I got from Japan. Drawing live really does add so much. These were done in Karen Santry's class, she had fun, elaborate setups.

This caricature of Owen Wilson was made to market my work to the NY Times. I like this, even though it is in such a generic editorial style. My friends thought it was funny I chose to draw him, but I loved him in Zoolander.

My friend Jason Raish and I were among the 10 finalists in the Dave Chappelle's Block Party Poster Contest. This would have worked much better if I was allowed to do a landscape composition, but I really love all the likenesses here. This was the first in a series of renaissance homage paintings I would create.

My favorite: Jack Nicholson's Joker! Since seeing Batman in the theatre in 1989, I have thought about the Joker every single day of my life. I began experimenting with spray backgrounds a la Ralph Steadman. You mix a batch of watercolor in a spray bottle, mask the areas you don't want the spray on using frisket film, then go to town! It adds a quality and directness that is missing when you piece the background together (like the block party background).

"That obscene giggle!" I love the film Amadeus, and created this large scale watercolor. I remember this was the first piece I framed with acrylic instead of glass, I was happy how light it was but it was prone to collecting dust and scratches. Amadeus and the Joker were given to my older sister.

I took my portfolio to every magazine and newspaper, it was a grueling and frustrating process. Most of the art directors would not meet with me in person and I had to leave it with the mail room. I'm sure they never even looked at them because I installed a trap to tell if it had been opened.

I met with Steven Heller from the NY Times, he flipped through quickly and mumbled something about my work being a "Chinese Menu". He went on and on about a drawing I did of Elvis, he loved the expression and the technique. I met with him again 6 months later and he honed in on that same drawing of Elvis and spent the entire time telling me how much he didn't like it.