Mr. James is a Belgian artist, known on social media for making anthropomorphic drawings of countries, including micronations. With an extensive pictorial work, he has achieved a significant number of fans.
His characters form the "National" Heroes aka "The Nations", that are based about characters that are from other countries in the world, The Nations begin around 2018/2019, but that isn't the begin of these characters. The first character (Pablo) was made in 2012. More info in the Wiki.
Today we will talk to him about his art, and about Rino Island's
character, "Elian Reyes."
How was your first contact with
drawing?
A.- I had a friend who
drew alot, and he inspirated me to draw too. Some years later, I drew my
characters Pablo (Mexico), Leandro (Italy) and Didier (France) and also made a
few short comic's of them (unfortunaly I lost them).
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| Self portrait of Mr. James |
When did you start making drawings of
anthropomorphic countries? How did you get the idea?
A.- I had an Idea of
my first character Pablo (Mexico) in 2012, in 2019 I came into the internet to
show my characters. In march 2020 I made a instagram account and post there
alot of drawings of my characters. In 2021 I posted my drawings on each social
media platforms.
3.- What do you take into account to
draw the character of a country?
A.- I'm also trying to
figure out how I try to find a perfect stereotype for my character that is
based on that country. I search on internet for looks and clothing how that
person lookslike in that country. The hat and the mustache is something to give
my characters the look how people of these countries will lookslike if they
have a mustache or a hat. The States and other series that will be released
soon isn't it really necessary to give them these looks (not much, but depents
how they lookslike).
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| Pablo (México) shooting the COVID-19 |
4.- Do you have a favorite character?
A.- Yes, my favorite character is my first character Pablo (Mexico) and my second is Freddy (USA).
5.- Your style of cartoons is quite
original. What are your influences?
A.- I give my
characters hats and mustaches to give my characters an original icon. I hear
sometimes that people say that they lookslike the same, but i'm trying to work
on that.
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| Celian Reyes, from Rino Island |
6.- Let's talk about Celian Reyes.
How did you get the idea, and what did you take into account to create that
cartoon?
A.- I give him that hat, because I was searching how your nation's people would probably will lookslike, and I gave him that hat. I give him his original T-shirt, it is based on the colors of the flag of your nation. And the short I gave him, is based on how warm it is in your nation (I saw that of the photo's)
7.- Last but not least. What comic
from Belgium would you recommend to our readers?
A.- Gosh,
good question. I will recommed you guys to read The Smurfs and Kinky and Cosy.
More of Mr. James: WEBSITE - INSTAGRAM - WIKI OF "THE NATIONS" BY MR JAMES
