James Jean: An artist's artist

A bright young star in his chosen field, the internationally renowned artist/painter James Jean was in the country for a few days last week.

The Philippines was the last stop on a book/speaking tour, which took him to Ireland, England, France and Belgium before heading to Manila.

Fully Booked flew him in for book signings and two talks: one at the recently concluded Ad Congress in Subic and another at the College of Saint Benilde’s School of Design & Arts. Three signings at two branches which saw over 200 fans eagerly lining up to meet the artist, get their books signed and, more often than not, get their picture taken with him.

Jean later said, “The Philippines has been the best part of the tour in terms of reception and enthusiasm of fans.”

The line was comprised of a pretty even mix of males and females of varying age ranges. Most were familiar with Jean’s work through his 92 covers for the fan-favorite comic book series Fables.

Though he departed those cover duties last year to pursue painting with a more committed focus, his covers remain some of the best loved and well remembered.

Indeed, if one thumbs through Fables Covers, one can literally see the artist’s progressive growth and maturation through the years.

At the School of Design & Arts, students and non-students alike were treated to a slideshow and talk about the artist’s career, influences and turning points in a still young but already high-profile career. Jean attended the School of Visual Arts in New York to pursue cartooning, having fallen in love with the medium as a boy.

But art school, as well as the friends he made there, opened his eyes to many painters and styles he had never encountered before. An interest in painting was planted and soon grew to full flower. Soon after finishing, he landed a cover gig on Fables, where his stellar work caught the attention of many an art director.

“Apparently lots of art directors read comics,” he explained.

His dynamic compositions and variety of styles soon had him working with clients like the New Yorker, Wired and Nike.

Commercial illustration beckoned and his work started appearing everywhere from magazines and package labels, to posters, skateboards and album covers, like his much-celebrated work for My Chemical Romance’s “The Black Parade.” Perhaps his most “seen” work, however, were his contributions to Prada’s Spring/Summer collection of 2008. For the esteemed fashion label, Jean submitted sketches and patterns that were later used on bags and dresses. He designed and drew a massive mural that served as the wallpaper for the flagship Prada store in New York, a wall that spans 17 by 200 feet.

Another mural for Prada’s fashion show in Milan also served as the concept/storyboard artist for a short animated film that accompanied the launch of the collection.

But at the seeming height of his visibility, Jean retreated from commercial illustration gigs. After the release of his Fables covers he retired from his position as cover artist and abandoned all “professional” illustration jobs he was offered. The reason was to pursue, with renewed commitment and focus, his true love: painting. He had been itching to return to full-time painting for a while. Much of his professional work was a mixture of painting and digital work on the computer, but recently he had begun to incorporate more and more painting.

After a very successful solo show, “Kindling,” at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York, Jean’s work is now in the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. While working on new paintings, he plans to continue pursuing publishing projects: “Kindling,” a portfolio of removable prints from the recent show has been out a few months. XOXO, a postcard book containing some of his earlier work, also made its debut some weeks back.

The major release this year is his Process Recess Vol. 3: The Hallowed Seam. The Process Recess books have collected his work in the past (and are now extremely rare) but the latest volume is comprised almost entirely of sketchbook material.

But these are not your average sketches. Even Jean’s worst sketches usually outshine other peoples’ best. In his sketchbook he can experiment and play with whatever strikes his fancy: subject matter, stylization, caricature, color scheme. He feels that some of his best work is his sketches, which can be viewed on http://www.jamesjean.com/.

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 Mark your calendars in advance as +/- (Plus/Minus) return to Manila to play a gig on Dec. 18 at Encore (formerly Embassy). Last year’s gigs were a joy and this year should be no different. Consider it an early Christmas gift for being so good.

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Ramon De Veyra blogs at www.thesecurious days.com.