Jamani B
Jamani B is one of those artists who everyone always sort of assumes must
have been feartured as the Artist of the Month already, because her work
is just so good—but it turns out that she just keeps escaping
voters' notice, for whatever reason. Well, now it's time to rectify that
wrong. The artist herself has plenty to say:
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In the Artist's Own Words:
| “ | I seriously think my heart skipped a few beats when I first read the
E-mail. I could not believe what was happening. It was such a huge
surprise... and shock. I mean, what on earth? Seriously me getting
this HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE honour, while there is so much talent out there?
I am still in awe about the fact that I received this enormous honour. It feels like I won an oscar award. I can't find the words to express how thankful I am for this, other than just: "THANK YOU SO FRIECKIN' MUCH!" I want to thank all of my fans that have been supporting me over these 3¼ years at the archive. It is all of you that added my pictures to your favourites, added comments on my page, added comments on individual pictures (and always said something nice or constructive critisism that I can use to grow as an artist), added me to your favourites (although I don't always know who you are, but I stille really love you!! <3) and of course all of you guys that voted for me that gave me the confidence to practise and grow as an artist. I don't think I would have been able to grow so much if it was not for you guys! And of course Brian. You deserve one BIG BIG BIG hug for all of the time and effort and support you put into this archive. I don't know where I'd be and what I'd be doing if I did not find this archive. I have been drawing for my whole life (even before I could remember XD). My mother says that I picked up a pencil at my grandma's house and started scribbling (my grandma's one amazing and talented artist, so she was very glad to see me interested in drawing. She encouraged me so much my whole life. She still encourages me so much. She is one of my biggest supporters, together with my parents, brother, other grandparents and friends). I can't remember the first time I watched TLK, but my mother says I watched it when I was 3 years old, in 1994 (when it came out, yay! ^^). So naturally I drew lions everywhere and on everything and I have always been drawing TLK. But I got discouraged in 2001. It wasn't "cool" to draw lions in my school. It wasn't "cool" to even draw at all. So I stopped drawing and got very despressed, because it was one of my biggest hobbies that had to be thrown away. I was addicted to drawing. It was the only way to express myself. So you can imagine the pain I experienced. But in 2002... I found TLKFAA... I think it is SpiritWolf77 that was Artist of the Month at the time. I was so envious of her talent (and still am! XD). I couldn't believe the amazing talent that can be found at this archive. I felt like no match for you guys. I realized image isn't everything and started drawing again. I practised and practised and practised. I started drawing other subjects than lions. I started drawing humans, wolves, horses, other 2D movies (I LOVE 2D Movies! Especially Treasure Planet, Spirit SotC, Cowboy Bebop, Naruto, Tarzan and list goes on) and it was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It was so much fun. So eventually I joined in August 2003. Since then I have been uploading here and there and everywhere. It made me push my limits and grow as an artist. If I look at my first picture at the archive and my latest picture, I must say, I think I've grown a lot. And I could not have done it without you guys supporting me. So once again, a BIG hug to all of you and especailly Brian Tiemann. This is a like an amazing early birthday present! (my birthday is on the 8th of November) and September, October, Novmeber and December has always been my favourite months of the year, because September is spring, October is Halloween, November is my birthday and December is Jesus' birthday, on the 25th and also summer. Hehe, so this makes it so much more special. I will never give in to "image" again! I will always stay a kid at heart, watch kid's movies and stories and draw and draw and DRAW! It is my dream to become a illustrator or animator and nothing's gonna stop me! Bwuahahahaha! Thanks you guys! ^o^ Jamani B./CherryJam |
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Today, Jamani B shows great proficiency in all kinds of styles, including animation (she has a good walk cycle posted) and pixel art (an example of which is her proposal for new toolbar icons for each artist's page—a discipline that's a lot harder than it looks). She even tackles challenging pose concepts like extreme foreshortening. Lots of artists focus only on a single skill area, growing really good at certain things but ignoring other areas that aren't as interesting or are too tedious or frustrating; but it's the artists who push themselves to master those techniques too, like Jamani B, who really distinguish themselves.
She's done a lot of character portraits and requests for fellow artists, but for my money the real treat in Jamani B's work is her canon art. Her canon pictures capture the emotions from the movie extraordinarily well, looking like professional calendar art. She enters just about every contest that comes along, and we can always count on her entries being poignant, inspiring, or entertaining, and expertly executed to boot.
It's fortunate that Jamani B has already said she plans to pursue a career in animation art; because if she hadn't, we'd all have to poke her until she agreed to do so. Instead, all we have to do is cheer her on. We've got the easy part...