Book Review: The Hallowed Seam PR vol. 3

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.

The Hallowed Seam (Process Recess, Vol. 3) is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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