Artist Biography: Jackson Jones is character artist and illustrator that is currently in the Game and Animation program at Southern Arkansas University. Jones started his career as a student in the fall of 2016 after moving away from his hometown of Cabot, Arkansas. He began with intentions to broaden his skills as a digital artist with the pursuit of being a character artist and illustrator. Jones has stated that many of his artistic influences include that of comic books, superhero cartoons, and bodybuilding. Having only recently discovered bodybuilding, Jones has credited the intense sport to aiding him in further understanding the human form in the gym and in his own character art.
This hobby is what started Jones on his ongoing series The Master Builders. It is a series of characters, illustrations, and animations of real life bodybuilders reimagined as comic book characters. Jones has stated that this series helps to bridge the gap between “nerd” and “meathead” culture. The goal of its pieces are to encourage younger viewers to pursue a healthy and fit lifestyle by having strong characters to look up to.
Inspired by the art of famous comic book artists, such as Jim Lee and Jason Fabok, Jones’s love and appreciation of comics can be seen in the majority of his work. However, Jones has also credited fine artists such as American painter Frank Frazetta and the figure drawings of French painter Jacques-Louis David to being immense inspirations to his work. Most of his style resembles that of heavily inked and cell shaded images that appear as if they’ve been pulled right of the page of a comic book.
Based on the likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Flexinator is the first in a series that re-imagines famous bodybuilders as superheroes called the Master Builders.
As I was crafting the universe in which my Master Builders existed, I began to realize that something was missing.
After the majority of characters were created in my Master Builders series, I decided that the best medium to tell the stories of these characters would be in the form of comics.
Using my love for concept art used in films to depict big keyframe scenes, I decided I would do the same to illustrate a pivotal fight scene between my characters Flexinator and Commander Kai.
Although most of my character work is 2D, I do enjoy creating models of characters based on concepts that I have drawn.
My love for fitness and bodybuilding has influenced a majority of my projects.