Earlier this month, Exposed caught up with Jim Connolly: the artist behind immersive Sheffield-based comic strips, Batman-inspired punk moshpits and probably the beer clip on your favourite pint.
Made of Steel and its central figure, Steel Bolt.
Hi Jim, could you introduce yourself to the Exposed readers with a bit of info about yourself and your work?
I’m an illustrator best known for my work on the Sheff beer scene. I did a decade of artwork for Kelham Island and the past few years with Little Critters Brewing. I also work with a creative agency on varied online materials and a couple of years ago I made a comic called ‘Made of Steel’, which is the story of a teen female hero from Sheff. My style varies from a darker graphic novel style to a more cartoony look.
Can you walk us through your creative process and how you come up with your ideas?
Once I’ve got an idea from a client, or a lightbulb for a personal project, I start by doing lots of rough sketches and gathering reference photos. For the Sheff comic, I physically went to the locations to get a feel of how to best draw them, sometimes doing sketches at the locations. Rough simple drawings really help me lock down what works best. I try and keep things as simple as possible and go for maximum ‘pop’ so my work gets noticed.
“My style varies from a darker graphic novel style to a more cartoony look.”
What is your favourite medium to work with and why?
I love the freedom of working digitally and the lack of commitment to any mark made. That said, I still work in pencil at the offset and it’s tough to replace the relationship with paper when it’s how you grew up working. I have a fancy brush pen I’d love to get better with as it gives amazing textures I’d love to master. A lot of my process is about time as working digitally tends to speed things up considerably. I ink in Clip Studio Paint and colour/compile things in Photoshop. I sometimes also use Illustrator for bespoke text. I like to avoid using fonts, which adds time but makes a picture feel more mine.
Of course, you combine your love for music and comic book art with your band, The Bat Creeps. Could you tell us a bit about how the group came together and what you’re all about?
I’m 45 now but somehow this is easily the most fun I’ve ever had making music! It’s quite punky sounding with themes about buying comics to escape life’s pitfalls, a song from the perspective of the Terminator, and another about a toxic waste mutant thug reflecting on his crap life. We wear masks and give it plenty on stage, so it invariably goes down well with a crowd of fellow drunk idiots. We have a support slot coming up soon with Leeds underground legend Mik Artistik at the Dorothy Pax, which is guaranteed to be a mad one!
“It’s quite punky sounding with themes about buying comics to escape life’s pitfalls, a song from the perspective of the Terminator, and another about a toxic waste mutant thug reflecting on his crap life.”
How do you handle creative blocks or challenges in your work?
Ideas are rarely in short supply for me but I do struggle with depression which can be very debilitating and sap the fun out of everything. I guess walking my dog, Ernie, helps lift the haze and crack on. Somehow a Diet Coke always give me a creative kick in the head, stupid as that sounds.
Who are some of your biggest artistic inspirations?
I tend to like the comic-book artists whose style harks back to simpler-looking times like Tim Sale, Darwyn Cooke and Mike Mignola. I really admire Jamie Hewlett who most will know via Gorillaz but cut his teeth on the uber-cool Deadline Magazine. Being a Nirvana fan always felt like a creatively inspiring thing too, especially with their push on the DIY approach.
Can you talk about a specific piece that holds a special meaning or story for you?
My Pale Rider redesign from 2018 is a very special one for me. The rider’s origin is in the Book of Revelations as death approaching, which was a difficult theme to draw as my sister’s life appeared to be drawing closer to the end. A Frank Miller picture I found inspired me to draw him more as a force of nature than anything evil. It wasn’t really intentional but after I drew it I realised I’d really captured how that deeply sad situation made me feel.
Jim’s redesign of the iconic Pale Rider beer.
We hear you’ve got a follow-up to your ‘Made of Steel’ comic book in the works. Could you tell us a bit more about that project?
Love to! I financed the first issue using crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and, frankly, it was a big success! I thought that our hero deserved a sequel and another chance to trash half the city battling some baddies again. It’s big brash upbeat superhero fun aimed at all ages and genders. Issue #1 was an intro to Steel Bolt and her mentor Hephaestus (Vulcan) and I want to explore who they both are more and develop their bond. The new big baddie is a bear called ‘Billy Berserk’ who has been encased in steel within the Botanical Gardens Bear Pit for many centuries. An explosion unleashes him to go on a Hulk-like rampage. The project will be crowd-funding later this year for those who want to get involved and even physically be in the comic!
Design work for Sheffield’s Little Critters Brewery.
How has your style or approach evolved over the course of your career?
I learned to draw by copying characters in the Beano etc., so that’s always been in me, but I’ve pushed against it all my life to try and draw more realistically. Doing all the cartoonier stuff for Little Critters made me realise it’s fun to break the rules of realism and trust my natural style more. I think the new comic-book work is really benefitting from that ongoing experience.
What advice would you give to aspiring artists out there?
I think making your own opportunities is a BIG one and building your own name rather than waiting for some golden opportunity to land. I did lots of freebies for bands at my offset just to build a folio of work and get noticed on the streets. Go into cafes and bars and ask if you can put some work up then throw an opening do. Chances are the venue will relish the attention it brings. I got a gig for rock mammoths Iron Maiden simply by chatting to a friendly bloke in a pub in Macclesfield and giving him my card, which ended up in the right hands. Stick your head over the parapet, basically.
The artist working in his studio space.
@jimconnollydraws78 // jimcportfolio.co.uk // jimconnollyshop.bigcartel.com
