Artist James Jean illustrates Comic-Con’s artistry

Artist James Jean. (Photo by Luke Hoverman)

As a prolific artist and comics reader, James Jean has deep roots in the multi-faceted world of comics.

Readers of DC/ Vertigo Comics’ popular “Fables” are familiar with Jean’s striking artwork, which has won numerous accolades, including five consecutive Eisner Awards and three consecutive Harvey Awards for Best Cover Artist. He has been nominated to receive his sixth Eisner at San Diego’s 2009 Comic-Con International, slated for July 23-26 at the San Diego Convention Center.

“I grew up reading comics and I was inspired to do art because of comics. And I still read comics,” says Jean, who is among the special guests featured at this summer’s sold-out Comic-Con.

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When asked what comics are currently on his reading list, Jean cited acclaimed alternative comic-book writer-artist Chris Ware as being at the top.

Whether or not Jean takes home another Eisner, he still has reason to celebrate.

The Taiwanese-American artist will debut his two new books  — “The Hallowed Seam: Process Recess, Vol. 3″ (AdHouse Books) and “Kindling” (Chronicle Books) — at the annual, four-day comics, fantasy and film gathering that is the largest convention of its kind in the world.

He’ll also appear at Comic-Con’s “Spotlight on James Jean” in the San Diego Convention Center’s room 7AB on Saturday at 1 p.m. You can find plenty examples of Jean’s art at www.jamesjean.com and www.processrecess.com

Like his two previous books, 2005’s “Process Recess, Vol.1″ and its recent follow-up “Process Recess, Vol. 2,” the third volume compiles select drawings from the Los Angeles-based artist’s numerous sketchbooks that he has kept over the years. As a welcome reprieve from his larger projects, Jean finds pleasure in drawing in his sketchbooks as a self-contained world free from the constraints that are par for the course of any commercial-art career.

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Throughout the book’s excerpts from his sketchbooks, the artist revels in the freedom to experiment by mixing ballpoint pen and graphite and colored pencils with small touches of acrylic paint. He often supplements his improvisational, visual riffs with bursts of journal writing.

“They’re mostly a place where I can just relax and not work with a deadline hanging over me,” says Jean, who stopped doing commercial artwork in 2007. “It’s a place where there’s no pressure. And it’s not even a place where I’m trying to find new things. I’m just trying to take a break from the other kind of work I’m doing.”

In regard to his other work, Jean also stopped doing his acclaimed “Fables” covers last year in order to focus on his painting and book projects. Last spring, the artist’s paintings were exhibited in his first solo exhibition, “Kindling: New Works on Paper and Canvas,” at New York’s Jonathan Levine gallery. And 12 paintings from the show have found a permanent home in his book, “Kindling.”

(By Jean James)

What readers of “The Hallowed Seam: Process Recess, Vol. 3″ will discover is the refined draftsmanship of a virtuoso at work. His mostly figurative drawings capture people immersed in introspective moments. In one drawing after another, men and women lounge in restaurants, or pass the time in cafes. Others send text messages and wait in airports.

What ties these seemingly random scenes together is Jean’s loose, spontaneous drawing style where figures frequently overlap, suggesting bodies in subtle motion over compressed periods of time. In most cases, Jean’s subjects are unaware that they have fallen under the gaze of an artist recording everything in his sketchbooks.

“If you do a nice figure study, it’s kind of like a parlor trick,” says Jean,  a graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts.  “The act of drawing or the point of honing your figure-drawing skills is to connect your mind and your hand. When you’re drawing freely and not thinking so much and just responding intuitively, I think that’s when you’re really drawing at a higher level.”

In addition to checking out Jean’s work, there are numerous, high levels of pop-savvy artistry to be found at Comic-Con. They range from the massive exhibit’s hall with its many booths of comic-book vendors to Saturday night’s always engaging Masquerade competition. Over the weekend, legions of Comic-Con conventioneers will descend upon Hall H in force for a series of multi-media presentations on upcoming film releases.

These movie-related presentations will spotlight Hollywood’s heavy hitters, such as Oscar winner James Cameron’s 3D epic “Avatar” (Thursday, 3-4:15 p.m.) as well as auteur-driven works including Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” (Thursday, 4:30-5:15 p.m.), Park Chan-wook’s vampire thriller “Thirst” (Thursday, 6:30-7 p.m.), Shane Acker’s “9″ (Friday, 2:30-3:30 p.m.), and Peter Jackson’s first Comic-Con appearance in support of the science-fiction epic “District 9″ (Friday, 3:45-5 p.m.). .

Other Comic-Con highlights include panel discussions on the brave new world of “Motion Comics: Graphic Novels in the Digital Age” (Thursday, 10:30-11:30 a.m., room 6DE), “Underground Comix” (Friday, 4:30-5:30 p.m., room 10), and a “Spotlight on Ray Bradbury” (Saturday, 3:30-4:30 p.m., room 6BCF). And it wouldn’t be Comic-Con without an appearance from filmmaker and geek-culture icon Kevin Smith (Saturday, 5:15-6:45 p.m., Hall H).

Fan boys and girls of all ages can rejoice that Comic-Con has finally arrived!

For a complete schedule of programming, log onto www.comic-con.org

Ethan Kendricks is an SDNN contributor.

Tags: 2009 Comic-Con International, DC/ Vertigo Comics, Fables, James Jean, san diego convention center, SDNN

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