"My Favorite Artists" Series Blog #12: thegeekcanpaint

Welcome back to another feature in my "Favorite Artists" Series. Today's featured artist is Keith James, aka DeviantArt user, "thegeekcanpaint". Let me tell you...."the geek CAN paint"!!!! haha Seriously, his work is amazing!  Mr. James is a traditional artist/illustrator residing in Saint Paul, Minnesota. What drew me to Keith's work was his extraordinary Harry Potter fan art! Anyone who knows me, knows my obsession with Harry Potter!!!  Let's now take a look at that fantastic artwork!!!

I can't recall which drawing of Keith's first caught my attention but I can tell which one's my favorite! It's this extremely detailed drawing of Professor Dumbledore's office from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". The amount of detail put into this drawing had me staring at it for hours just looking at all this picture had to offer. In the drawing, you can see the sorting hat on a shelf behind the Headmaster's desk, Fawkes' stand above his recently ignited ashes, a tiny copy of "Tales of Beedle the Bard" (drawn to look like the special edition) and even a small bowl of Dumbledore's favorite candy, (lemon drops) on his desk. What's really amazing about this drawing, is that Keith also added a few "special" items. Items like, the Green Lantern and ring (located on the far left of the drawing), a lightsaber, the lamp from Aladdin, a golden ticket form "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and a bunch more!!!  I mean, this is probably one of the best fanart drawings I have ever seen in my LIFE!!! It's spectacular!!!

"Dumbledore's Office"
photo credit: Keith James 

Poor Ron!
photo credit: Keith James

Another favorite drawing of mine, created by the super talented, Keith James is the picture of Ron burping up slugs from Chapter 7 in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". The angle is quite interesting and the characters are perfectly represented. Hermione, with her big teeth and hair. Harry and his dark messy hair and large round glasses and poor Ron lookin' super ill from the slugs. LOL Strangely enough, that isn't even MY favorite part of the drawing. My favorite part is all of the Hogwarts House banners in the background. I don't know what it is but I love anything to do with showcasing the Houses of Hogwarts!!! *Fun Fact: As determined by Pottermore, I am a proud member of Ravenclaw House ;)*

Mugglenet ArtBook Cover
photo credit: Keith James

Many fans of the Harry Potter fandom may be aware of the website, www.Mugglenet.com. Well, a few years ago, it was announced that Mugglenet was going to release a book of Harry Potter related fanart created by the fans of site and fandom. Having submitted a few drawings to Mugglenet before, I was contacted and asked if I would like my art to be submitted for review to be added in the book. Of course, I said ABSOLUTELY! Now, a year or so later, I discovered Keith James' work on DeviantArt and found out that he was also involved with the book and was actually asked to draw the cover!!! And what a cover it is!!!! It perfectly suits a fanart book showing Harry Potter "coming to life" off of the artist's drawing. Also, if you look closely, you can see Mr. James' reflection in the Golden Snitch! haha Nice touch! ;) Unfortunately, it has been a few years since anything has been heard about the artbook but as far as I know, they are still trying to get approval for it, so keep your fingers crossed!!! :)

These images alone cannot show you everything that Keith James' art has to show. He has a gallery full of beautiful art that you will definitely want to check out! So go on over to his DeviantArt page or his official website! He also has more than just HP related work. I will end this feature here but I'd also like to show you a couple more of my faves of his work! Take a look after the links below! ;)

Keith's DeviantArt page: //http://thegeekcanpaint.deviantart.com/
Keith's Website: http://thegeekcanpaint.com

Book 2, Chap. 7
photo credit: Keith James

The Basilisk Fight
photo credit: Keith James

Thanks again for checking out my blog. I have a few more artists that I want to feature, so subscribe to my feed so you can be updated when I post new entries!

-Fefe