James Chapman on Swapping Microscopes for Acrylic Paint Markers

Illustrator James Chapman on why he chose a career in art after completing a PhD in physics

Over the last five years, illustrator designer James Chapman (@jameschapman) has written and illustrated his own books; worked on projects for Disney, Nickelodeon, and Universal as a 2D designer at the animation studio, Brown Bag Films; created viral content for Buzzfeed; and seen his POSCA pen sketchbook series evolve, attracting tens of thousands of followers to his Instagram account. James describes his specialty as “making art that’s cute and colorful and overall entertaining.”

James grew up in an artistic household in the West Midlands in England. “My dad was an architect, and my brother was very good at drawing.” Inspired by the talents in the family, he set about practicing his drawing skills at a very young age, producing pictures of the things he liked most (namely Sonic the Hedgehog). Aged 16, he came to a crossroads when picking the subjects he would study at A-level–a decision that would determine what he could go on to study at university. Forced to decide between science and art, he eventually chose science and went on to study physics, right up to PhD level.

After he completed his PhD in 2015, James began focusing more on his art career, making it his sole goal. While he started out sharing digital art, more recently, he has reverted back to working with physical media, mostly using POSCA pens or acrylic-paint pens, the medium he focuses on in his newly-launched Domestika course, Illustrated Sketchbooking in Full Color.

Over the past year, James has been working on a colorful sketchbook project, for which he creates unique illustrations filled with film and pop culture references. “POSCA pens act as a nice middle-ground between digital and traditional art, allowing for easy fixes to mistakes (like an undo button) while creating something one of a kind,” he explains.

We recently caught up with James to learn more about what he’s currently working on and why meeting other artists has been a key part of his creative education.

After choosing to study science, you’ve said that you didn’t really create any art between the ages of 16 and 21. What prompted you to pick it up again as an adult?

I didn't really enjoy my PhD too much. It wasn't work that I got much joy out of. I was finding out about the magnetism of a very specific material at a very low temperature. I thought, "Is this interesting? Will anyone find this interesting ever?" I wasn't finding it interesting, and I'm not sure my supervisor found it very interesting. When experiments were running, sometimes I’d have to put something in a machine for 10 hours and then come back and check on it. As a result, there would be a lot of downtime where I was doodling, getting into art again. I started posting things online. That was the big turning point because I was actually sharing it with other people, whereas the doodles in my notebook had just been for me; no one else has ever seen them. I decided to start being more open about sharing my work, and that's when it became a career option: when other people saw it and liked it. Beforehand, it had all been very secretive.

You have said that you were more focused on digital art at first. How did you make the jump from doodling to working with different software?

Around the first year of my PhD, I bought a little drawing tablet for my computer and thought that I'd try out digital illustration. I was seeing all these illustrations online, and everything looked so clean and presentable. They were these beautiful finished pieces, whereas everything in my notebook was quite sketchy and messy, all biros and pencil. I thought if I worked with digital, I could clean it up, use an undo button, and really experiment. I didn't have the confidence to share my work before just because my sketches felt very unfinished. After a while, I wanted to go back to the sketchbook style and try to take everything that I'd learned and create finished versions in my sketchbook, which is what the course focuses on. I realized that it is possible to do neat things in a sketchbook.

How did the sketchbook project come about?

I started out doing illustrations on the tram to work–back in the “olden” days when we used to go to a building to work. It was a 40-minute tram ride from my door to work every day, 40 minutes each way. I was quite bored, staring out the window, so I thought, “I'll just do some sketching while I'm here.” I’d bring a little pencil case with me. I could probably get one picture done in a day. I would start off with a little sketch in the morning and then come back to it at the end of the day and add the details, as the tram was a bit wobbly. That's how I filled most of my sketchbooks. Then, after the world changed (as a result of the pandemic), I just kept it going. I'm a creature of routine, so it has been quite nice to have an hour of the day where I do something physically artistic; it keeps me centered.

You work full-time at Brown Bag Films. Can you tell us about your day-to-day role and responsibilities?

I'm a 2D designer and I'm currently working on a 3D production, a pre-school show. I design props, backgrounds, and locations in 2D form, sketching out the concept art for it and doing what’s called a 2D turnaround, where you draw it from every angle. Then, it gets sculpted in 3D by someone else. I'm the first step in the process. I work alongside great character designers. Today I was drawing birthday cakes, designing different options for what the final cake will look like. It's really exciting to see something that you draw in 2D be transformed into a 3D object. It feels like "Penny Crayon," that children's program from the 90s about a girl who had a pencil, and whatever she drew appeared in real life. I'm glad to work with talented people. That's been a big part of my artistic growth–talking to other artists is such an important part of it.

How has meeting other artists helped you grow as an artist?

When I was a physics person doing art during my evenings and weekends, it was very much a solo project. Once I started talking to other artists at various meet-ups in Manchester or working in a team, I discovered all these things that I didn't know about art. I would go to these comic events in the UK and talk to people there about how they set up their table or run their online shop. Or being in the animation studio and talking to people about how they set up their files or choose colors that work well together. Or even just finding out shortcuts for Photoshop.

I've learned more through other people than I have through doing it first-hand. Socializing with artists is a great way to develop yourself as an artist, even though it doesn't feel like it–it can feel like you've got to put pen to paper to learn things as an artist. But talking to other people is such an important part of it. Not having an art school background, I was picking things up in a random hodgepodge way. The only reason I got into the POSCA pens is because I saw someone on Twitter using them, and I thought, “Oh, that looks fun.” Knowing other artists and keeping an eye out for what other people are up to is a valuable thing to pursue. In today's world, there are still ways to keep in touch with other artists and keep drawing as part of your social life. It's still doable; it's just a bit different now.

Tell us about your book.

My first book is called Sounds All Around, a big collection of illustrated pictures of all the sounds things are supposed to make around the world. When I find something interesting out, I want to tell people about it. I grew up thinking dogs went “woof woof,” but if I’d learned Romanian as a child, they’d be going “ham ham.” It was a really interesting idea to me, and I’m very grateful to my publisher for helping me spread the good word about strange noises.

James' first book "Sounds All Around" is published by Andrews McMeel Universal.

In his course, Illustrated Sketchbooking in Full Color, James will show you how to take part in an ongoing sketchbook project using paint-marker pens. “Once we’ve covered how best to use these pens, I’ll show several different color palettes you can use to make your pictures as striking as possible. And to set you up for future success, we’ll be going over the best ways to present the work online and how to create prints of your favorite pieces for sale,” he adds.

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