Fanart: "Jesus of Cool"

[beeinmybonnet]

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Title: Jesus of Cool
Characters/Pairings: James Potter
Genre: Portrait
Rating/Warning: G
Medium: Pencil drawing (7B and 8B); retouched in Photoshop Elements 5.0
Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter or any of the characters; I’m just playing around a bit.



Small version: 506x636
Large version: 795x1000


Title shamelessly nicked from Nick Lowe's first LP. It… wasn't meant to be so biblical, this drawing. I was trying out different background effects, and it wasn't supposed to turn out quite so halo-like. Oh well, James has lots of Christian references, being named after the first disciple to suffer martyrdom and all… Anyways.

This drawing came into being for several reasons: 1) I've always adored James, but never been able to put him down on paper. I wanted to change that. 2) I'm currently on a perfectionism high and want my drawings of the Marauders to have a more 70's feel to them. I'm trying to convince myself that it's more important that they look retro/true/as horrible as they did back then, rather than looking pretty. And 3) I wanted to take my mind off of all my art assignments. ♥

I used quite a bit of reference for this one. For face and body and all that, Andrew Garfield posed as model. (Because he is my James Potter. The thin-haired man in the films that look like my dad is not.) I stole the specs from Elvis Costello that he wore in the late 70's. As for the hairstyle, I just tried to re-create the famous shag, though James' mutinous hair wasn't too co-operative. I used no reference for the shirt, so I apologise if the collar and creases are wonky.

All in all, I'm satisfied with the result. He looks pretty much like he does in my mind! ♥ (Oh, and his eyes are enormous because the prescription of his glasses are crazy-strong. He's very long-sighted, you see.)

Comments

[la-dissonance.livejournal.com]

I like this! You got the retro feel down perfectly, what with the glasses and the shirt and everything. ♥

[beeinmybonnet.livejournal.com]

Ah, mission accomplished then! :D
Thank you! ♥