Welcome to James JAJAC'S art blog!

I Love Ghosts!

2012-01-22T12:23:00.000-08:00

Sketch Book January 22nd 2012.

Ghosts are everywhere people, show some love!

James

Let it Snow!

2012-01-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

Starring John Goodman as Frosty the Snowman and Jonathan Winters as the tiny narrator.

THE END

BRICKS

2012-01-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

Cut paper pattern collage: How I spent my lunch break

2011-11-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

The other day at school a student who had finished her work asked if she could make a snow flake. Normally I would have said no because it was so close to the end of the period and things like this tend to get messy, but I let it go. It was Halloween but she wants snow flakes, who can argue with that? Another reason you say no to these things is that as soon as one person starts making snow flakes everyone wants to make snow flakes. Not that I blame them, making snow flakes are fun. When class was over and everyone had gone it was my lunch break. I sat down and indulged in creating my own snow flake. It had been a long time since I worked with cut paper and as soon as that door was open I couldn't put down the scissors. These images were created one after the other, with the results then glued down onto contrasting paper. I was having so much fun It was hard to stop. No templates were involved this was just folding, cutting paper and enjoying the surprise.

Good day,
James

Published: Motivating Teen and Preteen Readers!

2011-09-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hey very exciting, I finally received the finished copy of the book I worked on with educator/writer Jeffrey Pflaum. "Motivating Teen and Preteen Readers: How Teachers And Parents Can Lead The Way". It is a beautiful book, the published illustrations look wonderful and the cover is impeccable! My hats off to Jeff, Kristina, and the designers who worked on this, It was an amazing experience, and I am very grateful to have been apart of it!

Here are a few of my interior illustrations (click on the drawings for a larger image):

You can purchase the book at amazon and read through it here:

Amazon HardCover

For the Kindle:

Amazon Kindle Edition

I feel very proud of the work I did on this, I hope you dig it!

James

New Book Cover: Motivating teen and preteen readers! Also: SNOOKI!

2011-07-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

I just received word that the book I worked on with Jeffrey Pflaum has gone to print. Here is the final book jacket! Hey teens go out and buy this thing! It is fully illustrated!

Jersey Shore fans take note, here is my preliminary sketch of SNOOKI (ball point pen).

I am going to start color on this baby soon. I am hoping to handle this with colored pencil and acrylic paint.

C'mon y'all someone dance with SNOOKI, don't leave a girl hangin'! Who can hate on this?

Everybody good?
James!

Portraits: Fat Captain America, Alice Cooper, Tori Spelling & Ernest Borgnine

2011-06-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

I think one of the hardest aspects of being an artist is maintaining confidence. Sometimes people will say things about your art that discourages you. They may not even mean it to but some part of their comment/gesture/attitude will chip away at you. I remember an incident like this in college at SVA. I was presenting some of my work to the class and spoke about my interest in portraits. I am certain that no one meant to give me the impression that they thought it was a bad idea but there was an overall feeling that I walked away with: disinterest. Obviously I blame no one but myself for letting this effect me the way it did but it is something I have come back to again and again as an artist. You can't let anyone's opinions overshadow your own. Very often you will not get the reaction you want from a piece and I am always shocked at how difficult it is to put these doubts behind you. It has taken me years to get my art to where it is today and I am very happy with my progress but I cannot even count how many times I've lost confidence along the way.

I often imagine George Lucas telling someone about star wars and being openly mocked. Imagine if he let that stop him! Never depend on anyone elses vision but your own. Most people have no imagination, they can't believe it until they see it.

Recently I was forced to put art (and my social life) on the side as I went back to school for a degree in art education (somewhere I am very happy to be, there are no regrets in this regard). Having lost so much drawing time I could feel my abilities waning, It was subtle but I could feel it. I kept myself in the game by doodling incessantly in my sketchbook. Now as the school year approaches an end I find myself with spare time again. Last week I sat staring at piece of paper (on a weekday with a rare day off) and wondered what I should draw. A simple concept but it was daunting, after all this time where do I start? I tried a portrait but felt frustrated. I spent hours on it and put it aside. Then I recalled an idea I had, it could be as old as high school. It was a simple parody, It was Captain America only FATTER. I can't say it is the greatest thing in the world but it served it's purpose. I lost myself in that drawing, I had fun it made me laugh. The stakes were low and consequently I became unstuck. I guess one of the nicest things about losing confidence is how easy it can be to get it back (even though realizing that is the most difficult task of them all). After Fat Captain, I've been on a portrait kick. I'm not rushing myself, I'm just letting it happen and waiting to see where it takes me. I have specific goals I have not yet attained but I'm having a blast all the same.

Here is FAT CAPTAIN AMERICA.

Alice Cooper drawing. He is looking slightly wall eyed. Drawn with ball point pen.

Alice Cooper finish. I am experimenting with digital coloring. I f___ing love these dot screens (color half tone in your photoshop filters). I plan on trying a new finish with traditional materials, colored pencils? Paints? Maybe both. That said I am pretty happy with this version.

Tori Spelling. Why draw Tori Spelling you ask? Well, it was my lunch break, there was a newspaper, and that is pretty much it. Then again I am drawn to plastic people like her. I am not sure how I will finish this yet but I hope to post it when it is done. Please excuse her slightly off eyes.

Last but certainly not least. Ernest F____ing Borgnine!! This was drawn with pencil, and colored pencil. A new technique for me, usually I do all of my drawing with ball point pen. Not perfect but I love it.

The title of the Borgnine piece is: "Ernest Borgnine has baked you a basket of cookies and he wants to watch you eat them".

If you are needing some confidence in drawing yourself here is a great column in the NYTimes by my ex-drawing teacher James McMullan. Jim McMullan Drawing Lessons! You won't regret it!

Happy Summer!
-James

Let the chidren read!

2011-06-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a book cover I've been working on. It is a teaching guide for teachers and parents up against preteens and teens not motivated to read on their own. I had the silly idea to use a book on the horizon in the vein of the monolith (Space Odyssey 2001) drawing them all toward it. Not to equate teenagers with apes, but just play on the power, mystery, and symbolism of the object.

Here is the original 2 minute clip from 2001:

Jumping Monkeys

This is my first blog posting in months! Feedback is welcome!
-James

Operation Portrait

2010-11-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

Last week while developing a portraiture lesson plan for 9th and 10th grade, I was forced to consider the process of capturing a likeness. I designed a series of questions (Pre-drawing goals, chosen technique, post drawing assessment) so that students can document their process and depending on their success make adjustments.

Before I presented the lesson I tested the questions on myself. I found an image, made a list of goals, stopped to record my process and assess my success.

SKETCH 1: The focus on this exercise was capturing a resemblance and the energy of the subject.
I liked his youthful energy, his style, his warmth, and that the image felt like a moment in time. Attempting to capture energy this first sketch was done very quickly:
While I like the drawing and feel it was energetic, I felt I failed to capture a likeness so I started again examining my process.

SKETCH 2: This time I began with focus on accuracy first and energy second. I blocked in the shape of the head and built up the face paying close attention to relationships and distances. I exaggerated some features for emphasis, his eyebrows for example are much higher. While the resemblance was important I wasn't interested in photo realism but a recognizable interpretation.This time around I felt much better about the resemblance but found that having to block in the shapes and constantly test the likeness slowed me down. I felt I lost energy and was relying on value to test the likeness. It made me appreciate artists like Al Hirschfeld who can do all of this so effortlessly with only line and shape.

Finding a likeness can be a fascinating/infuriating process. I like both of my drawings but I find the likeness requires some refinement. Each drawing was done with a specific goal and a slight shift of focus. The nice part of using the questions was that when moving from one drawing to the next, intention and technique were more clearly defined. The steps break the process into stages and it is fun to watch the evolution of a portrait taking shape. By making each drawing distinct it became a process that I could learn from rather than feel thwarted by. The drawings now feel like experiments rather than failures.

Does anybody else out there have a technique for capturing a likeness? Any favorite portrait artists that you can turn me onto?

If you are interested in the photo of the old fellow above here is the website I was looking at while drawing it: http://www.chrisstevensonline.com/

Here are the questions that I was working with, maybe you could try them out and let me know how they work for you!

Section One: Pre drawing

1) Do you often draw portraits? Do you find portrait drawing challenging?

2) What is the feeling or mood you want to express about your subject?

Section Two: Your process

3) Proportion: Is your face accurate or distorted? How did you approach capturing a likeness?

4) Where or how did you start your drawing?

5) What technique are you using? Line, shape, tone?

Section Three: In conclusion

6) How successful do you think you were in capturing your subject?

7) Are you satisfied with your work?

8) What do you think could have done better?

9) What was most difficult for you?

-James

Art School Vs. Elementary School Part 2

2010-08-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

I call this Art Vs. Elementary school for a reason. Art school changed my perception of art. Before Art school my art was whatever I wanted it to be, there was no real pressure. Sure I had standards but it was personal, individual, and all mine. Art school made me reexamine the kind of artist I wanted to be. It exposed me to things I would have been too stubborn to find on my own. It made me a better artist and my standards of art were raised considerably. So much so that during school I felt crushed by them. Post college I fought like mad to live up to them. When you have time and boundless energy it is a complete joy to work on a drawing and hone your skills day in and day out. Then I discovered teaching. It was a complete accident but I loved it and once the ball got rolling It felt like somewhere I'd like to be. Of course working as a substitute teacher and getting my certification in grad school was suddenly eating up a considerable amount of my time and energy. I had to loosen the reigns and simplify my objectives. Art became less about the challenges and more about the release.

I posted some drawings in June that I had done while working as a substitute teacher here are some more from that same time. Most of these were done on my breaks in school or on the train or bus.

I wonder what other artists do when in this position. This is how I get unstuck, what do you do when you've raised the bar so high you find you can't (or don't have the energy or time to) reach it?

I know this is a massive post, I had meant to do this in sections, but summer came and summer went so here it is all at once. It is kind of like that scene at the end of "The Crow" with Brandon Lee, where he gives the bad guy back all of the pain that he caused and the guy falls off a church in the rain and gets impaled by a gargoyle, only with crayon drawings and sketchbook doodles and instead of falling on a gargoyle you fall into a basket of candy and are serenaded by baby turtles in top hats*. Does that make sense?

-James

*Hopefully.

Art School Vs. Elementary School Part 1

2010-05-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

I have been substitute teaching for almost three years now and I have found myself continuously inspired by childhood art work. It is so unselfconscious, so raw, so...spontaneous! It has sent me off onto a new path. I have been preoccupied with trying to find what comes most naturally to me. There are a lot of styles you can cultivate, and concepts to explore, but I want to see what comes out in that pure trance like state when I am not even thinking. I want to reconnect with what made me want to be an artists in the first place.

These are a collection of drawings that I have done on my break inside of class rooms, or with materials that the children might use themselves. Crayola markers, dead Crayola markers, crayons, etc.

I have not had much time to post in the last few months so I have a good bunch of these, I hope you like them!

Viva (almost) Summer!
-James

Subway, New York City!

2010-03-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

This is my homage to the J train, my favorite subway line.
I always feel so at home. There is nothing nicer than staring out the windows of the J train on a nice sunny breezy afternoon.

I used to draw in this style a lot in 2005, it has some how organically, slowly, returned to me. I am having fun trying to reteach it to myself and develop it. The reduction of it makes it easier for me to express my feelings about things. I can be more symbolic without the pressure of being photo realistic.

I took this photo waiting for the J train last week, see ya soon!

-James

ZZZZ City

2010-03-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

This is exactly how I felt while riding the train to class yesterday morning.

THE END

Foot-Monster

2010-03-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

Sunny day in Queens.

2010-03-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a nice day. I worked at a new elementary school as a substitute teacher In Queens. I biked out to Ozone park, and then to Queens College for a seminar. In total I did about 20 miles on my bike and on such a beautiful day it was amazing. I felt like I could have done 20 more. On the way home I missed my train and spent an hour of quality time doodling in my sketch book.

I am playing around with some of the different styles I have been drawing with through the years. I am hoping to pick one to do a series.

Space Invaders

2010-02-26T05:09:00.000-08:00

I am not sure what the context was when I drew this but based on the time, date, and subject I am thinking I must have been working as a doorman. Probably the 4- midnight shift which I must have finished on the subway or the bus ride home (based on the sharp dip in the quality of the art). I don't have relatives like this but boy did I run into some feisty folks as a doorman. One day I hope to redraw and put a polish on all of these old sketch book comics, some of them are really fun. It is nice going back and finding them.

"Snow-day"
-James

Count to 500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000...

2010-02-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

I think I forgot I had a temper. Well it is back. To the point where I realize something may have to be done about it. I have not been dealing with my new schedule/commute (health) lately and I have found my anger completely unmanageable. I am sitting here recovering from a ridiculous and completely out of line outburst. This is a drawing from the LIRR from a few days ago. I need to learn how to relax. Manage multiple (multiple, multiple, multiple) tasks and manage just about everything better during this time. Have a headache, wish me luck!

One color fun in sketch book town.

2010-02-07T11:33:00.001-08:00

While cleaning out my old bedroom at my parents house (or at least trying to) I have been going through a bunch of the old one color illustrated children's books I own. This is my quick slap dash train ride home homage to the printing found in those books. I love when the color screens are slightly off center.

Comic Book Heaven

2010-01-25T08:18:00.001-08:00

I decided to put up some of my favorite super hero related drawings I've done.

Reeve's Superman will always be of my favorite movies. Even Superman III (mos def).

Ferrigno as the HULK is better than religion. I don't even need to pray, I just watch an episode of the Hulk and I am back on board and life is good again. I painted this in college and sold it almost ten years later last year for some one's wedding anniversary.I hope with Ferrigno on their side their love will last forever.

Jack Kirby. Copying a Kirby drawing is is like trying to decipher an alien language. His drawings always look like they weren't drawn but fell fully formed, like a rubber stamp, out of his unconscious mind. I drew this because Captain America had been blinded by Red Skull and his eyes creeped me the fuck out.

I still own one of the first comic books I remember reading.It was an issue of Brave and the Bold featuring The Karate Kid and involves time travel and his girlfriend and this guy with the shooting staff named PULSAR. This is me drawing comic characters and ice skaters in my sketch book into the wee hours.

BLACK GOLIATH!!

I copied this panel because it was this one really affecting dramatic moment in a pretty average run of the mill book. I felt really sad for Flash. I didn't quite capture his look of despair.

Here is a distorted copy of a bunch of comic book thugs talking about GHOST RIDER.

This begins a brief theme I was exploring in around 2006. I was inspired by old comic books and rock and roll posters and the junk store knock offs of these big iconic characters. I was going for surreal and trying to see how far I could take these images before they completely lost their impact.

Mr. Crunch Horn- GREEN LANTERN

Sultry sex hero- Cross eyed WONDER WOMAN

Melting existential BATMAN

Mr. Walrus Hat- Inspirational FLASH!

BOOTLEG Spiderman Movie Import

And I close with some old sketch book stuff.

A Hulk toy I used to own.

This is a silly little thing drawn on the J train. I was trying to do one of those old fashioned huge signatures that look like something you would brand onto a horses ass.

And finally, man my style has changed so much since college:

Afterward:

The last comic books I bought were an issue of powerman and iron fist and the creature commandos, both from 83, respectively. Not to mention the more recent BATMAN 80 page giant which has an old friend Nelson X Asencio inking the story "fire and Ice". Nelson and I worked years ago at the Comic Den in Kew Gardens NY. He got his start inking SHI with Billy Tucci and segued into toy design with his own successful company Story Box Ink. Check it out, he is a great guy!

I hope you enjoyed this forage through my comic book memories!

Have an exciting action packed day!,
James
JAJAC

VISIONS

2009-12-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

This was for a group art show built around the theme: VISIONS. When I think of visions I think of striving for something. I was inspired by Norman Lindsay, William Blake, and M.C.Escher. I never really got a chance to truly finish it but I hope to really get into it as soon as time opens up again.

Here is my subway sketch:

Here is the drawing with all of the figures in place (unrendered):

And the (pre-final) final:

I like this last version of it but I plan on turning out a cleaner version one day.

Thanks to the BLOOD DUMPSTER group, it was a good time.

Michael Alan
Matthew Brennan
Melissa Dowell
Brian Edgerton
Tim Kellen
Rebecca Memoli
Jeff Moore
Guillermo Riveros
Kristen Terrana
Vincent True
Megan Van Deusen
Rita Varian

Cor-diddly,

James JAJAC

PS- Thanks for posing George!

Happy Birthday Harvey Pekar!

2009-10-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

When I found out about the Harvey Head Birthday show I was excited. I love his work and and I think he is a truly interesting personality. My initial concept was to create a satirical piece with Harvey on the cover of a celebrity magazine. The idea that he could reach that level of fame and public accessibility is probably, for any one who knows him, or of him, ridiculous. But for those that admire him, as I and many others do, I felt like it would be a funny, silly, tribute, to the man that is Harvey Pekar (styled after US and OK magazine).

Of course it was only a moment or two into this phase that I reread the instructions which included the request to not include text of any kind and I abandoned this direction altogether. BRAD IS JEALOUS. I include this version here only for fun and that sense of twilight zone absurdity.

Here is my finished, traditional portrait of Harvey. I know we're supposed to make him look like an ugly angry old sod, and I contemplated going back and starting from scratch, but I kept spotting pictures where he looked downright hand some. So why not?! I know that life is hard and that we're all gonna die and that suffering is every where and people are dying as we speak and that the splendor of American life is not as splendorous as every one wants us to believe but to me Harvey Pekar is a success story, he is an inspiration, and for a minute or two please accept that he is a warm handsome, non crotchety, seventy year old guy who is happy with who he is and what he has accomplished. For a split second a beam of sunlight bursts from within his soul, maybe, just maybe, because he is thinking about donuts. God I love donuts.

Go to SMITH magazine here to see all of those amazing birthday heads:
SMITH Magazine and HARVEY PEKAR!

Thanks to Jeff, AKA Jahfurry for including me on this! If you would like to contribute your very own Harvey contact Jeff Newelt on face book for details.

Harvely Pekarily yours,
James
JAJAC

My Burlesque Era

2009-09-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

I started getting into burlesque in 2006. For a few years I was seeing shows and taking pictures and doing drawings of them. I fell out of this because, usually, I could not find any one to go with me and I hated seeing the shows by myself (while taking pictures). Most of the time the audience is filled with girls who are friends with the dancers and/or weird solitary men who sit silently staring in the dark. Eventually I started to feel like that was how people could see me so I gave it up. Had fun with the drawings though and I love/loved the whole burlesque vibe. I hope to get back on this one day.

These are Dottie Lux (below).

This is the last Burlesque drawing that I worked on last year.

I still have a whole bunch of images that I want to draw from and there are some spectacular performers out there. There is a girl named Gal Friday that I want to draw and also Ruby Valentine. I think I heard guest Ruby starred on "MadMen" last season which is awesome.

Oh and if any one has not heard of Molly Crabapple's burlesque drawing classes go here now: http://www.drsketchy.com/ They are all over the world last I checked. Here art website is http://www.mollycrabapple.com/ I recommend taking a look at her 'Scarlett Takes Manhattan' which is her first comic book venture.

Special thanks to Dottie for letting me shoot photo's at her shows, Brooke G. and Opal the wonderful wiener dog.

Hats off,
James
JAJAC

Sketch Book Moments

2009-09-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

This is a favorite page of doodles from my current sketch book.

I was admiring a JAWS poster that day.

One Dollar Bill

2009-09-01T11:18:00.002-07:00

One Dollar bill

2009-09-01T11:18:00.001-07:00

Jerry Lewis Baby

2009-08-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

The Slap Shot Experiment

2009-08-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing that is an homage to decaying graphics. I found this SLAP SHOT video box in my parents basement. This is also an homage of my fathers decision to purchase a BETA player in the early nineties.

I plan on adding music to this when I figure out how to do it.
If you would like to ENHANCE your viewing enjoyment and have a copy of THE FINAL COUNTDOWN by EUROPE, cue it up and press play at 12 seconds as the video begins.

THAT IS HOW IT IS MEANT TO BE SEEN!

Cordially with oregano,
James

The sketch book cartoon continiuum (a visual poem)

2009-08-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

And that's my summer!

Good night!

James
JAJAC

Put it on you!

2009-08-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Yo, I'm not even itchy! I stole this GOLD BOND medicated cream from my Mom's house so I could draw it! And that was months ago! Sorry mom. :, (

Stone cold,
James
JAJAC

Self Portrait 1998/ Portrait 2009

2009-07-12T09:01:00.002-07:00

A self portrait from college.

Portrait of me in 2009 by eight year old Martina.

I haven't changed a day.

-James

1 point perspective!

2009-06-19T16:07:00.001-07:00

This is my example for the kids in my after school art program. I wanted to try and demonstrate 1 point perspective in a simple and fun way for them. Some of the kids picked it up like nothin!

Weird, weird, weird, weird, WEIRD!

2009-06-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

This was an illustration I was paid to do in 2001 straight out of college. It was an album cover for a Britney Spears parody. The song was called "No More Tail", I don't think it was ever actually produced. The illustration itself was meant to be a bizarre parody of romance novels.

I have another version I can't find with some updates on her face and tail. If I can track it down I'll add it to the post. In a weird way this is exactly the kind of image I would like to be associated with. It never fails to astonish me! How weird is this??

Haha,
James
JAJAC
from the
moon

Anthropology Deluxe- Unicorn-Man Edition

2009-06-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

A rare find.

Jump into atmosphere!!

2009-05-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

A quick piece from my sketch book.

Until the tides turn!

-James

Lets make a mess shall we?

2009-05-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

My process. Draw a quick messy bald head with a sharpie marker while exhausted.

One month later trace said drawing with a ball point pen also while exhausted. The results? History!

Artist Statement:

What is life? What is art? Does being drawn with a sharpie change the identity of the artist? Have I been cloned? These are only a few of the questions I asked myself during this artistic endeavor. The message of this piece is that Americans are no longer afraid of communism.

LEONARD COHEN RULES!!!

Love,
James

Reaching out.

2009-05-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

And my scanners version:

Kiss a tomato!
James

I am tired and I want to draw!

2009-04-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Fuckin' A: Ugliness, Anger, Hopelessness, Misery, and Blood

2009-04-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Please tip the doorman,
James
JAJAC

The world is spinning just for you!

2009-04-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

I think it was something on TV that inspired it, but I started doodling lines of people. That and that fact that I had barely drawn a line (with a pen) for two weeks for various reasons. I wanted to warm up and get back in the swing pretty quickly. Here is the first one.

And I proudly present some awesome scanner distortion. You are beautiful!

Line #2, the continuation of line #1, trails off into a freaking vortex! Holy goddammit!

My favorite part of line#2 is the guy in front/right in the top hat suit coat and BUTTAFOOKO pants!

Line #3 is the reckoning! They have arrived upon a spectral landscape where gnomes burn their toast with impunity and life is golden all through the universe!

Accidentally symbolically I am debuting my comic strip blog this week! I'll be sure to let every body know about it and send out the links! Special thanks to Stephanie O'Donnell, Sara, and especially Justine Z. (<3) for all their help and support!

For my birthday I'll be visiting with Ziggy in the Appalachian mountains for some sage advice.

Freaking Giuliani!

Happy onions!
James
JAJAC

Here we go:

http://jamesjajac.com/comics/

Cara Mia/Spock Must Die

2009-04-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

I used to cut photos out of the paper when the screens were doubled. Sometimes the color would be out of sync on top of the gray tone. It looks really creepy. This is my rough portrait of one of these images.

And here is a portrait of Dr. Phil when he first started getting famous. I loathed everything about him then. I tried to make him look like a huge erection headed monster, IE: a jerk off, blow hard, penis face.

That's strange, those colors are completely wrong! This is some weird photobucket distortion. Here is the right one:

And then there is Ernest. For some reason in college I started renting all of the Ernest movies. There is something incredibly endearing about them and Jim Varney he just seems like such a swell guy. I got this impression of closeness between him and some of the actors in the movie, like they were really good friends off camera and that they really cared about each other. I am thinking of a scene were his love interest in Ernest goes to Africa is patting him on the back and reassuring him that everything is OK. It is really quite impressive that these films carried on for so long almost changelessly. Some of them are actually pretty funny too!

I never actually finsihed developing this color version but I liked it at the time. By next year I should have my color stuff worked out! Looking forward to it!

My birthday is April 15th! Happy birthday also to Freddy, Daniel Matz, Megan Zwiebel, and Emma Thompson and Samantha Fox and David Letterman (even though he is a cad).

Cheers!
(I mean the show)

James
JAJAC

OX BAKER- 1 old angry wrestler

2009-03-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

He is the guy Kurt Russel has to fight in Escape from NY.

He is OX- BAKER wrestling legend.

Yes I doodle!

2009-03-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

And some times Doodles lead to bigger and better things. I drew this after my film expressionism class let out early after the final exam. I sat in the room, an empty theater drawing alone.

My portfolio teacher Robert Goldstrom (a terrific illustrator and an amazing artist) recommended I put this in my portfolio. It made it into the illustration annual and that book was sent out to all of the major illustration houses and advertising agencies.

The after math of this was- First I got a call, and my first major illustration job, from Weiden + Kennedy, they wanted to use it as a billboard (That job led to another gig doing illustrations for ESPN X-games).

Then It won first prize in a student scholarship competition at The Society of Illustrators. Then Brad Holland called me and asked me if he would use it in a book he was putting out for the Illustration conference. Naturally I said yes!

It was a crazy and absolutely great time and I am so grateful for all of the people I met through the experience and especially to Robert Goldstrom for encouraging me to include the drawing, and Catherine Johnson for all of her support and kindness and of course Brad Holland for being such a great guy. It meant so much to me, and it was so affirming to have all of this happen before I was even out of school a year.

And it just goes to show you, you never know how far a doodle will take you!

One love,
James

PS-- http://www.robertgoldstrom.com/

The country corpse, the national debt and life in general (with girls)

2009-03-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, I drew a picture of a boy dying in a field. I was on the bus. I was sad.

I find this catalog strangely terrifying. She's got a smile as genuine as happy and as joyful as a punch in the face. Striped Blouse Page 4.

I don't know where or when I drew this but I finished it. I love John Goodman.

Some guy.

With a ruler.

Cartoons.

John Goodman Finished.

Kate Moss bares her soul in New York Magazine.

Life is a miracle (with pearls),
James

Your grandmother smells of melon, and I like it.

2009-03-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

I had a cold so I had to take medication.

My sister and her boyfriend John bought me a FOLDING POCKET COMB. This made me happy.

I was drawing a coffee machine that has probably been broken since 1983.

Some one left this strange note over the air conditioner in the break room. It looks like it has been there for years.

This is the life.

This is a quick drawing of a real package of supplements for TEENS from the early 2000's.

I am celebrating my one year anniversary- I have gone a year with out alcohol and a year with out passing out from low blood sugar. The two tended to go hand in hand.

Life is good. I like the 09's.

James
JAJAC

ATARI memories and sketch book skulldugary

2009-02-25T13:51:00.000-08:00

Ah the days of yore! Yes I am old enough to have experienced the joys of ATARI! The remnants of this period have been faithfully stored away in a dusty old metal crate in the crawl space of our attic where I found a mess of old games and this- GIGANTIC joy-stick device that once seemed the very HEIGHT of technology (if I can remember correctly how excited we were when we first got it). You can't really gauge the size of it from the drawing but it is over seven feet tall.

And can you really be considered an artist if you do not have your very own WALL-EYED SELF PORTRAIT in your portfolio? I think not.

This next drawing was drawn while working at a local school in Queens. I was sitting in the cafeteria copying phrases off the walls and doodling with crayons and trying to recreate some of the students drawings. The drawing of the little girl who is saying "HI" was drawn by a student who stopped to talk to me.

I want to dedicate this drawing to all of the Jewish samurai lovers in the entire universe- this one's for you (wind chime)! And to all of you spelling nerds: I KNOW I MISSPELLED SAMURAI! Just chill. Holly wood will no doubt come knockin' about his one. I can see it now, Scorsese and Spielberg neck and neck racing for the film rights. It will be my greatest triumph! It will star Jaleel White as a ninja and star Ed Norton in the title role.

Now here we have a drawing I did of a Garfield band aid. I drew this because like the ATARI controller it is a remnant of the 1980's. It is so old that is it vintage. I could probably sell it for a million dollars on ebay. Here is the first version and then a quick final edit.

This blog has been dedicated to all of the ladies in the entire world.

Wind chime...

...Smooth jazz.

James
JAJAC

Sketch book updates, sad comics and pretty snow men!

2009-02-18T10:07:00.001-08:00

There he is every one! The prettiest snow man there ever was! OK so before you go steaming off mad at me making fun of a poor Indian man keep in mind this man either killed his family or stole millions of dollars from investors, who knows maybe both! I am leaning toward theft but there is a lingering doubt he killed some one! I should have made a note of his name but this was drawn quickly in a break room out of a communal newspaper. If you recognize him let me know!

Ah comics! This was out of an issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA NO. 191 from 1981. It was drawn by RICH BUCKLER and PABLO MARCOS and written by GERRY CONWAY. The comic was particularly melodramatic and filled with soap opera and a distinct lack of humor. The scene I copied was between THE FLASH and ZATANNA- his hand on his head dejected and and his chin held up by a loving hand. She reassures him:

"You have never made a fool out of yourself Barry Allen"

Apparently they had a "relationship" or did not. I was struck by the attention to detail that was paid to The Flash's pained expression. The rest of the comic appeared to have been done very quickly while this moment comparatively seemed to jump out as this surprisingly authentic moment. You may laugh and say "Who can take this crap seriously?" and I just think "Well...some one did"!

These two yellow dudes were torn from a copy of MAXIM! They made me think of old school DEVO and an old ridiculous George C. Scott movie called RAGE! If you have ever wanted to see George C. Scott shoot an orange cat with a rifle or barrel down the road on a dirt bike while laughing maniacally as buildings explode this is your movie (Naturally the movie concerns contamination).

The text in the drawing was a remainder of some torn off text. ASSDRUG for you.

Last is my update for The Defibulators new edit of the coloring book I created for them in 2006. You can see my updated signature below.

And yes as a matter of fact they do have a new album out that you can check out here:

thedefibulators.com

It looks sweet! So go on out and buy it!

Good day sir!

James
JAJAC

Paint ball brats!

2009-01-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

I like this drawing very much. I think the kids were funny and the article about the paint guns is funny too. Their review consists of "The paint balls come out very fast (and they run out quickly) and it can hurt a lot".

These are some very rough color studies done in crayon. I know what I want but I haven't found it yet.

I want to be the Stanley Kubrick of Illustration. That's all I am trying to say.

The holidays are a good time to catch up on drawing!

2009-01-04T15:48:00.000-08:00

I stayed home to draw lighters and watch horror movies. Captain Kronos and Asylum on 777 horror HD. Kronos was OK, not much to recommend it I thought; a bit silly, but definitely charming (I missed the beginning). Caroline Munroe was cute. Asylum is a new favorite. Feels just like an old EC comics anthology. The cats were sleeping.

Justine sat across the table from me at dinner. We looked at each other through a Christmas ornament hanging from the chandelier. She and her parents were talking about Oliver Twist. I asked her if I could draw her and she obliged. I don't usually draw people. Yes that is wonder woman on her shirt, isn't she charming? Justines fingers do not actually look like breakfast sausage and her nails were a deep crimson. The "all rights reserved" across the bottom was copied from a "muppets from space" dvd I borrowed from Adam Rosenberg. It was a cool movie.

I'm out of order. I get captivated by strange graphics on house hold items. Sometimes I feel like drawing them is like doing a portrait of the person that made them. Some where out there a person created this. Or like doing a still life. Why is drawing a tree across the street any different than drawing the letters on a bottle of wine? Seems like the same idea to me. It caught my eye.

Table sketch. I don't always like to draw a straight forward still life. I think I might as well take a picture. Sometimes. This one started with the upc on the RUFFLES bag and spiraled out ward until I ended up sketching the crown off the bottle cap of a bottle of CORONA Light. Product placement.

After having spent so much time drawing things from life I got bored and dived back into good old fashioned doodling. This is where all of my art springs from. I feel like any one who doesn't doodle cartoons must be weird. Like Monet what did he doodle? Roses? What a weirdo! Doesn't any one have a sense of humor? What did Picasso do doodles of? Probably buffalo's with erections killing matadors while women cry blood and get their heads cut off. yeah sure THAT'S ART! Good work romeo. Oh and if I was to analyze this I would know EXACTLY what it means. Yep, I was hungry for cookies.

Watching TV. Some lady was riding a bike up a hill and wheezing. The cats were sleeping and you can't see it but they had machine guns. It was a blood bath. And Christmas tree top left.

I don't often get into the color and I have been making a concentrated effort to break back into it. I have been carrying some colored pencils, this was the first attempt so I was trying to keep it simple. Damn I love cartoon frogs. I wish these were puffy stickers. Shout out to Justine! Yo Yo!

More doodles. Written in an alien language. If you don't know what NEXT 4 DAYS Z 10 means. You are clearly not educated. Go get a degree. This one features, again, my holiday muse the spray bottle. Another example of straying into doodles. I drew this while we watched 'Fiddler on the Roof'. I felt very alienated by it's jewishness and I illustrated the scene where the girls father rejects her and leaves her standing in the road because she married out of the faith. HARSH! It was a good movie though, I made it through the songs. I liked some of them, but musicals are usually hard for me to get through. There is just something about breaking into song... I don't know man.

This one was drawn just prior to the one above. I really enjoyed this and I added the 'DIET' at bottom because as you can see it was behind the lamp (It starts after the K on the coke can). I love that font. My favorite drawing teacher was JACK POTTER this reminds me of him. Actually he used to be the artist on the old illustrated Coke ads. Weird.

This is a little shout out/ homage to Justine. I spotted this on her book shelf and grabbed it. This is a portrait of the cover of a book she illustrated for college at Pratt (she is a PRATT brat). Her color is beautiful, obviously I did not tackle that aspect of it. The name of the book is "When You're Short" but I only drew the letters with cool little curlies on them. It is about a kid who is sad because he is short and so he build a jet pack. C'mon short people start hooting!

This morning for some reason I woke up feeling beaten. I sat at the table sullen silent and alone doodling very slowly for maybe over an hour. I don't drink any more but it felt like a hang over. Probably coffee withdrawal. I like the drawing but I felt so bad. By the end of the drawing I started to come out of it. It was very therapeutic. I signed it.

Lastly, speaking of Fiddler on the roof. I once interned for James McMullan formerly of PUSH PIN STUDIOS. One of my first tasks was to pose for some reference shots for a poster he was doing for fiddler on the roof. I was gonna put it up but I can't seem to find it. Maybe I never actually scanned it? Well it is floating around here some where. Until then this will have to do. "Through a haze of tears" -The wall street journal!

Asta La Vista baby.

James
JAJAC

PS-Ah sweet, I found it!

01/07/09
-James

BROOKE and BUGS

2008-12-11T16:08:00.000-08:00

From the summer of 2007. This was the first of 3 burlesque portraits of Brooke I had completed. This is still one of my favorite images. The kind of reaction I get from it mostly though is people feeling sort of perplexed by it. Especially the distorted melting hand but I still stand by it. I love the weird hand!

When I made this piece I was trying very hard to separate all of the textures and trying to distort the image in a subtle way. The satiny shine on the glove, the feathers on the boa, the washed out skin, the warm light on her eyes, the rough texture of the blue green wall behind her. I love the idea of an image carrying a secret symbolic power and I tried hard to not define what was happening and to let it take on a life of it's own.

It is not half of what I'd like it to be but It was happy moment for me! I had just bought some new brushes and it was pure pleasure painting this.

Relaxation techniques.

2008-08-29T10:14:00.001-07:00

I was taking the J train one morning with a head ache and I started thinking of reassuring slogan-ism's like "Let your mind be free". This also makes me think of En Vogue lyric I heard on Saturday night live in approximately 1993: "Free your mind and the rest will follow", and also a David Byrne lyric off of his "look into the eye ball" album (I'm pretty sure it is "let your mind be Freeeee", or something like that). I finished this drawing in central park yesterday while waiting for my appointment with my 'diabetic specialist' surrounded by little children chasing birds with swords made out of balloons.

I mean it though! Let your mind be free! If you love something LET IT GO!

Back on track!

2008-08-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

I have been away but now I have now returned.

Here is what I have been working on!

1)A Double portrait of Gene Wilder and the sheep that he is in love with. A commission that references a story in the Woody Allen (also pictured) movie"Everything you ever wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask". They are both 30X 40" and painted in oil.

2) Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel- SPANKED! This is an ad for her web tour. I drew it Justine Zwiebel designed it-
Justine Zwiebel

Get “Spanked” here

3) This is a book cover for Blake Maddens 'The List Maker' a very cool book you should keep an eye out for. My friend Jeremy Joi (author of 'The Night Auditor') brought me on for this.

Bizarre coincidence!

2008-05-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

The image below I called the "The Nightmares" and I was trying to illustrate an idea I was working on of a kid having nightmares. I remember drawing this very clearly because I was working as a doorman and I was killing time and it is probably the most complete drawing I've ever done while working. The bed room was made up exactly as the room I was currently living in at the time. The bed with two pillows, the window and the chair in the corner. I wish I could speak definitively about my intentions but on the chair I drew a single black glove. I may have done this just because I kept losing my gloves and there actually was a single glove in my room, or I may have just done it on a whim, something quick that occurred to me in the moment.

A few months maybe a year later my friend Jelena linked me to her painter friend Warren's profile on myspace. One of his images depicted a fish head on the corner of a chair against a wall and I thought immediately of my sketch book drawing! After fishing it out and scanning it and looking at them side by side I thought it was an uncanny coincidence. It was so strange, I wanted to talk to this guy Warren about what his intentions were, it seemed like they are both 'dream' images. I mentioned it to Jelena and she sent Warren a copy of my sketch book detail.

She said and I quote- WARREN: "Oh he must have copied me". I believe my response was, and I quote- JAMES: "Tell him he's a FUCKING HACK"! Unfortunately that ended my interest in talking about intentions and finding out when each of these images were created. I put it behind me, but after all these years I find it still resonates and having found the image again today it still does, even more so! It is so exact they practically fit on top of each other. The open end of the glove mirrors the stump of the fishes neck, the separation between the fingers mirrors the fishes mouth, down to the placement in the picture, bottom right against the wall even the base board sits at the same point!

The only intention of this blog is to say "isn't it weird". There is no pointing fingers, and though both of these images may have been posted on the internet at the time I do not believe for a second that either of us was influenced by the other in any way.

The adventues of CARROT MAN!

2008-05-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

Color Experiment- GOD Loves Monkees

2008-05-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

Spanish Drummer on Skull

2008-05-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

Drawing comics! Ghost rider #51-page 12

2008-04-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 13- Look out!

2008-04-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 12- Self portrait l'Orange. Check out my crimson eyebrows!

2008-04-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 11- Concept doodles. This one is about unemployment in finland and emotional havok. You wouldn't understand.

2008-04-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 10- Rihanna. How YOU doin?

2008-04-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 9- Doodles at the dentist!

2008-04-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 8- Dark eyes that see through everything.

2008-04-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 7- Ever feel like you are going in circles? One guy has fallen, can you find him?

2008-04-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 6- Enjoy your health and Build Wealth!

2008-04-21T20:49:00.001-07:00

Oven fresh 5- Elevator man! Designed after an old elevator door!

2008-04-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 4- Tired of doodles!

2008-04-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Oven Fresh 3- Migraines for president

2008-04-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

Oven fresh 2- I love this guy! A color experiment.

2008-04-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

Big oven fresh delicious! Cover

2008-04-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

One of my dream projects. The Antenna boyz.

2008-04-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

I was depressed when I drew this. 2002

2008-04-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

A bird on a ladder!

2008-04-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Bill Rides Again!!

2008-04-14T10:54:00.001-07:00

"A Bridge 2 Far", An Improvised Comic by Jason Dikeman and James JAJAC - Serialized!

2008-04-10T15:02:00.002-07:00

"A Bridge 2 Far" (2 small to read version!)

2008-04-10T14:17:00.001-07:00

Captain America #212

2008-04-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Captain America #212

2008-04-09T08:17:00.001-07:00

Fire and Ice skaters

2008-04-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

Dr. Peter Wigman

2008-04-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

One fine day I witnessed this exchange.

2008-04-07T20:14:00.000-07:00