JBB: An Artblog!

I'm Jessica, an illustrator, designer, and ceramic artist & this is my process blog! Follow for extreme close-ups of tiny brushstrokes, assorted clay creatures, and sometimes books! To see more finished work, visit my website at jessicabartram.ca & to buy things (mostly ceramics), see my shop: heywitch.bigcartel.com!

[thatdisasterauthor]

I’m reading a book about the famous mass grave of queer Ancient Greek soldiers, and the whole forward talks about these “amazingly detailed skeletal diagrams” of every skeleton in the grave, sketched by the Victorian archeologist who originally dug them up.

These are the diagrams:

They crack me up every time one comes up. Clearly someone skipped art class in whatever fancy boarding school daddy sent them off to.

[sayitasyoucan]

My Valentine Cards

[pansylair]

a tiny ceramic sphinx with equally tiny riddles (sold)!

[pansylair]

I've been so tickled by them I couldn't help but draw them for some fun :)

[inthetags]

Reblog and put in the tags what you would have been blogging about on tumblr in 2004.

[weepingwidar]

Peter Van den Ende (Belgian, 1985) - Diplodocus (2025)

[humanoidhistory]

Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico, 1934. Photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

(Magnum Photos)

[jbbartram-illu]

for the art ask meme, 4 5 and 8!

5 & 8 have been answered in previous asks (if you want to send me different ones, @imathers pls do <3), but here's #4...

4. What's your least favorite part of the body to draw, if any?

I'm just like other girls...HANDS. It's hands (and feet). Tho I just generally have issues drawing people and have to work really hard to make them not look weird (as I mentioned in an earlier answer, I have gotten better at them the last few years! Human bodies just aren't my favourite thing to draw).

[jbbartram-illu]

7 and 20 for the artist ask game, stay warm!

Thank you! I'm happy to report that our house is well-insulated (the perks of living in Ottawa in a place built within the last 4 decades) & I haven't had to go outside much during the extra-cold snap.

I've already answered #7, but here's #20...

20. What motivates/inspires you artistically? (topics, emotions, etc)

I think my top three inspirations are nature, folklore/mythology, and ancient/Medieval art. This goes for both pottery and illustration!

[jbbartram-illu]

For the artist ask: 5, 8, & 16!

Already answered the other two in previous responses, but here's #8!

8. How would you describe your art style?

Tiny-detail-obsessed, nature-oriented/inspired, colourful, often-fantastical/folklore-inspired, and weird. I think that mostly covers it?

[jbbartram-illu]

hi! for the artist ask game: 5, 12, and 16, please!

5. What piece of art are you still proud of to this day? (Show or describe)

I think the two books I wrote & illustrated myself have to win for this one! I've got Ghost Water Kiss, a collection of illustrated short stories...

...and Water Water, a kid's book inspired by my own childhood on Georgian Bay. I'm incredibly proud of both of them.

12. Ever participated in a multi-artist collaboration (3 or more) such as a multi-animator project?

Only when I was in school and had to! I'm an only child and I think that turned me into someone who isn't a team player. I love to be in total control of all parts of a project & work alone in my studio & all that art-hermit jazz.

That said, I did do a really fun stop motion animation project with a couple other people for one of my classes way back in 2012 & it deserves to be seen, I think! That one was a good time.

(I just answered #16 in the last ask!)

[jbbartram-illu]

For the ask game: 7, 16 and 17?

7. Who are some artists that have inspired you?

Oh my god, I have so many! For artists from the past, my Big Ones are Frida Kahlo, Marc Chagall, Otto Dix, Emily Carr, Caravaggio, Medieval illuminated manuscript art (especially 1200s-1300s ish), Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Tove Jansson, Leonora Carrington...I'll stop here, but my dad was an art history prof, so I could go on!

In terms of contemporary artists, I love Eleanor Davis, Kate Beaton, ummm oh gosh I'm drawing a blank...I have so many more but my brain won't dredge them up. Oh! Michael DeForge, Jillian Tamaki, and Isabelle Arsenault are all amazing!! I'm sure I also have some 'fine art' (I hate that term for non-illustrator/comic artists, but y'know what I mean - painters and stuff!) artists in my head somewhere, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

(& that isn't even getting into ceramicists I love! We'd be here all day!)

16. What was something you used to struggle to draw with confidence/ease, but have now mastered?

Hmm...still working on feeling truly confident drawing people, but my abilities have improved a ton after a bunch of people-heavy client projects and working on my graphic novel. I think my confidence with drawing interiors has become better, as I'm able to feel out the perspective in a more organic way now so it looks less tightass.

17. Your personal favorite works of art (not made by you) are...?

Here, I picked the first five that came to mind --

Marc Chagall, The Birthday

Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas

Stefano Maderno, The Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia

The Luttrell Psalter (whole dang thing)

Caravaggio - Conversion on the Road to Damascus (Conversione di San Paolo)

[artpawsii]

Artist Ask Game

Hey everyone! I've seen many artist ask games going around on Tumblr over the years and I've always wanted to make one of my own. If you're reblogging from someone other than the source, and you'd like to help foster a bit more community here on Tumblr, consider sending an ask to the person who put the post your way! :) Without further ado:

1. When did you start creating art?

2. Do you do art in any professional capacity? (Graphic design, commissions, animation, etc.)

3. What are your favorite subjects to draw? (OCs, your fan faves, etc.)

4. What's your least favorite part of the body to draw, if any?

5. What piece of art are you still proud of to this day? (Show or describe)

6. Favorite and least favorite angles/perspectives to draw?

7. Who are some artists that have inspired you?

8. How would you describe your art style?

9. What's the longest you've ever suffered from artblock?

10. How do you deal with art block?

11. Have you ever drawn a meme with your OCs or canon characters from a fictional media?

12. Ever participated in a multi-artist collaboration (3 or more) such as a multi-animator project?

13. What kind of art do you personally not see the appeal of, and why?

14. Do you prefer to make fan content or original content?

15. Do you/have you participated in Artfight or art trades in general?

16. What was something you used to struggle to draw with confidence/ease, but have now mastered?

17. Your personal favorite works of art (not made by you) are...?

18. Do you typically use filters on your art?

19. What's your biggest insecurity when it comes to your artwork?

20. What motivates/inspires you artistically? (topics, emotions, etc)

[weirdo4life13]

If you have other questions or requests feel free to ask them too >:D

[shelandsorcery]

gonna be a polar vortex this weekend and i won't be outside on adventures at all, wanna send me some fun asks to keep busy?

[weepingwidar]

Minyoung Kim (Korean, 1989) - Tug of Lettuce (2023)

[jbbartram-illu]

I always put together a top 20-ish (24/25 if you count the two books that are a series this year), 2025's is as follows:

(Presented in no particular order)

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Shehan Karunatilaka

A Sorceress Comes to Call - T. Kingfisher

Cathedral - Ben Hopkins

Bonavere Howl - Caitlin Galway

They - Kay Dick

The God of the Woods - Liz Moore

Shy Creatures - Clare Chambers

The Bog Wife - Kay Chronister

Smothermoss - Alisa Alering

The Warm Hands of Ghosts - Katherine Arden

The Mountain in the Sea - Ray Nayler

I Hated you in High School - Kathleen Gros

Small Game - Blair Braverman

The River has Roots - Amal El-Mohtar

The Charterhouse of Padma - Padma Viswanathan

The Return of Captain John Emmett / The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton  - Elizabeth Speller

Cicada Summer - Erica McKeen

A Drop of Corruption - Robert Jackson Bennett

I Remember Lights - Ben Ladouceur

Endling - Maria Reva

Spread Me - Sarah Gailey

The Starving Saints - Caitlin Starling

The Whalebone Theatre - Joanna Quinn

The Works of Vermin - Hiron Ennes 

** Honourable mention to Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd, which I just realized I missed in the insta version of this list (along with I Remember Lights, but I remembered that one in time to slap it on my best books). Oops!! **

To see all 64 books I read this year, you can go here: jessicabartram.ca/books2025

[eep-blue-sea]

THE PEQUOD WRAPPED

[hawkpartys]

my "i don't need a rabies shot because i eat the vaxx-laced meatballs that fish & wildlife leaves out for the coyotes" shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt

[wetwellie]