GUEST DOODLEWASH: Jimmy Illustrated

My name is James Skarbek and I grew up in Pennsylvania and currently reside in Astoria, New York City (follow me on Instagram and visit my website!). 

I became interested in art as a potential career path when I started high school. I’d been artistic and drawing all my life, but this is when I started seriously taking classes at local colleges and learning a wide range of media from charcoal and pastels, to oil and watercolor painting.

For a while I thought I’d like to be a fashion designer, but I realized that I was only interested in illustrating clothing, and people in general, rather then actually creating and sewing designs.

I discovered Fashion Illustration as an art form and moved to NYC to study it at the Fashion Institute of Technology! Seven years later, I currently work as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator in the Apparel Industry, focusing mostly on Womens and Mens graphic tees.

I’ve previously worked in Home Décor creating watercolor designs for packaging. I’m also a part of Fashion Art NYC, a fashion art collective started with a friend and former classmate.

I’m extremely inspired by all the people around me. Mainly strangers I encounter on my daily commute as well as close friends. Their energies and personal fashion choices (shoes + hair especially!) provide me with a ton of inspiration.

It’s so hard to grab sneaky photos of everyone’s amazing hair, many times I’ve settled for the shoes but those are always great too. I also routinely keep up with what designers are showing each Fashion Week and draw runway looks that I find inspiring. 

I particularly love looking at the close up shots of model’s makeup and hairstyling. Sometimes I will draw them verbatim, but many times it is only a starting point for a more surreal piece. When not drawing people, I love to illustrate flowers and moths especially (I find moths fascinating!)

One of my absolute favorite materials are the Dr. PH. Martin’s Concentrated Radiant watercolors. They’re great because once completely dry, they are no longer water soluble. So you can create a great intense color wash, and then later work on top with more watercolor without fear of ruining/muddying the initial color and tone. 

I usually set down a base color using this method and then build up my painting with normal watercolors as well as opaque white ink. These inks are also great for fast life drawing, creating vibrant lines that you can either leave as is or work into later, adding subtler tones. 

James Skarbek
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Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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