Meet James Fenner | Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with James Fenner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi James, why did you pursue a creative career?
For me, pursuing a career as an illustrator was a no-brainer. I grew up in a creative household around music, crafts and painting. My mom was always creating & she really helped to encourage me to create without boundaries. From the moment I could hold a pencil I was making comics & presenting them to my classes. I think art is also the first place that I felt praise from the adults in my life – psychologically it was a huge motivator. As I grew older, I became more and more infatuated with metaphorical storytelling in media. As a shy kid, art really became my second language. It was a place I could have conversations without having them out loud. That feeling still carries over – I have a lot of personal metaphors that bleed into my work. Now my goal is to create art (paintings, comics & animation) that can inspire others the way that my favorite media impacted & inspired me.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When you listen to a song’s lyrics & you can hear your own life/story in it – that’s magic to me. I want to create that sensation in illustration, comics & animation. I use a lot of personal metaphor in my work, but I try to make it vague enough that others can see themselves or their experiences in it as well. The dream is to create media that makes others feel like it was made for them specifically. That connection & empathy is something I prized as a teenager. I want to give that support & feeling to others.

I think building a personal style & brand actually comes naturally. It’s all the over-thinking & fighting it that puts you behind. Your style is made at the intersection of your strengths, weaknesses & experiences. There are some weaknesses you can improve & others where it doesn’t matter. An example for me is that I’ve always been drawn to shadowy, brooding figures. It’s an innate thing – I have prosopagnosia (face blindness) & drawing shadowy, ambiguous figures just made sense. It’s something unique to how I see the world. It’s a weakness, but I’ve leaned into it & turned it into a strength, too. Will I be hired to do portraits? Probably not, but that’s okay.

An art director once gave me the advice, “You can decide to create for everyone or you can commit to your style. You won’t be hired by everyone, but when someone wants what you do – they’ll only be able to come to you.” It hit me hard. Since then I’ve tried to chase the fun & not overthink my work too much. Our goal, as artists, is ultimately to become our own favorite artists. We are the amalgamation of our favorite aspects of the world, so anything we create should be catered specifically to us. Oddly, the more intuitive I let me art be – the more people have responded!

Career-wise, I feel in many ways like I’m just taking my first steps. I’m not where I want to be yet, but I also am not rushing the process. My main goals are to have my own personal comics in people’s hands or an animated show on TV. In my heart I know that’s what I was made to create, I’ve just been waiting for the right time.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I really prize quiet & solitude, so my itinerary would be focused around outdoor spaces in the Portland area. We’d start at the Rose garden or the Hoyt Arboretum and then make our way up into the forest trails. Forest park on the West side of Portland could honestly account for the entire trip – there’s so many cool trails to see there. For food, we’d swing down to NW 23rd & pick out whatever we’re in the mood for. It’s been years since I’ve truly spent time downtown & unfortunately, I think all of my absolute favorite food places have closed. We’d have to discover somewhere new.

Not far from there is a little shop called ‘Scrap’ which is basically a recycled art store. You never know what you’ll find – many local business donate leftovers. Their stock can range from crates of butterfly shaped paperclips, to bins of plastic baby doll heads, to stacks of topographic maps – you can never guess what they’ll have & it’s all super cheap. A fun day would be to go there with a limited budget, pick up as much as you can and create art with friends.

Branching a little further out, Sauvie’s island is an amazing destination any time of year. The island is mostly dedicated to farming, but has really amazing beaches & trails. My favorite is to hike along the beach to the lighthouse, stopping to picnic along the way.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mom & aunt deserve huge shout-outs. Both are immensely inspiring artists to me. They both created not just from study, but also from imagination. Being surrounded with that kind of creativity while growing up helped so much to nurture my imagination & confidence.

I also have to give so much thanks to some of my teachers & mentors. The first being my high school art teacher, Randy Simmons. His guidance was exactly what I needed at the time. My work wasn’t great back then, but I got a lot of encouragement to try new things & experiment out of my box. I carry so many of his lessons with me today. In college, my main mentor was Lee White – an amazing children’s book illustrator & teacher. He has a great artistic eye & always knew how to give critiques to bring out the best in student’s work/style. I went to school for 2-D animation & there weren’t many illustration classes. Lee was kind enough to work with me in independent studies to help build a custom illustration curriculum. He also helped me to get my very first gigs as a professional illustrator. I only wish I could go back & tell myself to listen even more!

Website: JMFenner.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmfenner/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JMFenner91