Customer Reviews

The Hallowed Seam (Process Recess, Vol. 3)

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Length:: 0:27 Mins

In this book, you'll see the other side of James Jean when he's not painting his masterpieces.

The Hallowed Seam PR Vol 3 is a canvas bound hardcover book. The cover has a circle cut out to show a humming bird. James Jean is a prolific sketcher and has filled many Moleskine sketchbooks. This book collects some of his sketches as well as some photos, one of which shows a dead humming bird he found on the street. See any link?

There's no fantasy element in his sketches, most are sketches from life, be it on the plane, at the cafe, tattoo parlour or wherever he is. There are also figure drawings in nude sketches. Some of the pieces are briefly coloured, some are just playgrounds for colours.

Many of the pieces are intricate character studies. He has a very unique sketching style, many times he'll draw on top of what he already drew, creating a sort of collage. There would be heads, hands or legs in different angles, but in the same space, as if the person he is drawing has somehow moved and now the new position is drawn on top.

It's always interesting to read what other people write in their sketchbooks, to find out what they are doing at the time when pen meets paper. Unfortunately, his notes here are printed too small to be read at comfort. He probably uses A4 size sketchbooks which are scaled down for this publication. It will be useful to have a magnifying glass around.

If you've always wonder what he sketches, this book will give you a glimpse of that. Maybe you'll find your own inspiration from those fine lines.

He uses a ball point pen for his sketches, specifically a SKB SB-1000 0.5mm. It's a strange ballpoint pen that seems able to vary in tone like a pencil can. This pen is also known unofficially as the James Jean pen on the Internet.

By the way, there's also a limited edition of Hallowed Seam featuring a beautiful fine art cover. There are only 200 copies and already sold out, of course. From what I read on James Jean's blog, the regular edition is going out at 50 copies per day since launch. It's probably going to sell out like his Process Recess Volume 2: Portfolio and Fables Covers: The Art of James Jean Vol. 1, both of which sell at least US$100 online currently.

If you like this book, grab it now before it goes out of stock.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

James Jean continues to dazzle with the third volume of Process Recess. This book is a cornucopia of beautiful, confident drawings from life ranging in subject matter from travel, live nude models (including "it" porn starlet Sasha Grey, late of Steven Soderbergh's "The Girlfriend Experience"), as well as set visits where he captured such talents as Cillian Murphy and Susan Sarandon. His line work, most of which is achieved in ballpoint pen, is dazzling. The design is elegant and the art, as ever, is deft, fluid, rich and inspiring. This is a must-have item for anyone who appreciates truly fine work.

I've now purchased two copies of the Limited Edition - purely for the enclosed print (one copy was for my sister). It is absolutely stunning. James Jean is a master of pop art surrealism, I never tire of admiring his work.

Process Recess 3 makes for an excellent look into the sketching methods of James Jean. That being said, anyone who is expecting the wild, imaginative explosions from Process Recess 1 or 2 will be somewhat disappointed. The intricacy and skill of the life drawings are both useful and inspiring, yet the whimsical nature of Jean's imaginative works is mostly absent with a few excellent exceptions. I would definitely buy this book again, but would pass it up in a heartbeat for certain other James Jean works.

This is a great book for the James Jean lover, or anyone who enjoys process work.

Not everyone realizes the importance of the process behind a piece. In this book, James Jean offers the world a chance to look beneath the surface of his finished work and into his very being -sort of like looking under the water to reveal the rest of the iceberg. The sketches presented in Process Recess III are a visual diary of his life and are filled with tiny writings scribed by the himself (some of which you are able to read, e.g. his life-drawings of Sasha Grey). Also, the images shown in this book are photographs taken of the pages of his sketchbooks rather than scans. However, it doesn't make a difference since they're still very vivid.

Alongside his sketches, it also contains a small amount of photos (approx. 20) of scenery that I presume were taken by Jean (not really sure if that's accurate). The quality of the book binding/materials are very good, but have some (but not significant) impurities on the cover, e.g. there are a few bumps near the top of the spine in my copy of the book that can be seen on the front cover (probably due to an offset during the binding process).

Finally, the majority of pages are numbered and follow a hand-written index.

Its clear to see the journal capsule full of sketches that inspire,puzzle, mesmerise and entrance your mind is james imaginary but honest ideas of daily living. so cool!!

Im live in Bogota Colombia,and i can say this book is perfect,James Jean is a great Illustrator,now im a big fan.
Thanks.