James Becker is an accomplished graphic designer whose work appears in many different media, including magazines, books and videos in over 70 different countries and in more than 25 languages. Recently he has started to create fine art pieces and make them available to the public.
“For over 30 years I’ve created commercial art for other people, other reasons, and others’ visions. To do this I have been using one of the most powerful tools available to an artist - a computer. After some time at this profession I longed to return to the simplicity of a pencil and paper to create art. Combining a long time love of the aesthetics of automotive design and the challenge of photo-realism with my return to the basics of fine art, I began a series of illustrations called "Heads & Tails." Most often I use a .05 pencil, an eraser and many reference photos, that I shoot myself, at car shows. Recently I have come full circle and have started to investigate what I can do with my pencil work once it has been digitized. I will not stop with the straight forward pencil work, but new digital frontiers are out there waiting to be explored as well.
“I believe there is beauty in the design of everything from a simple spoon or chair to the most ornate cathedrals of Europe. It just depends upon where you place your focus. When you look at a car you might just think it’s a thing that’ll get you where you’re going. But if you look closely at something like the way reflections dance off the chrome surrounding a 1957 Chevy’s tail-light, I think you might find as much of interest there as in any piece from Rembrandt or Dali or any of the Masters.”
— James Becker