Malachi James has always loved drawing. His school notebooks were crowded with cartoon characters, and in high school he designed and produced his own comic books which he sold to his classmates. He was determined to become a storyboard artist, and worked hard to get into a top animation course in London.
Today Mal has his dream job, working for Moonbug Entertainment. He draws on a cintiq tablet with a special pen and a two-fingered glove (so his hand doesn’t touch the screen). He works long hours on his storyboard drawings, and then in his free time he does more drawing!
Sometimes when he’s working he listens to his favourite music. One day, listening to some classic jazz tracks, he thought of a new drawing project. He could do stylised portraits of all the greatest jazz musicians! He created a series of ten drawings, and each one is unique, with so much character shining through. Most of the musicians are ones I have heard of, but a few are new to me.
I love all of these drawings, even though I don’t know much about jazz. They all have a lot of personality and convey so much emotion. Mal’s style is similar to caricature (where features are often exaggerated and stylised to look ridiculous), but these guys remain classy and cool.
Mal has a lot of talent and a real passion for his art. If you want to see more of his work, he has an Instagram account HERE. He also makes inspirational videos on YouTube to support other young people wanting to establish themselves as freelance artists and animators. You can watch those HERE. Remember the name. Malachi James is going places.
Lynne Rickards author 