Book Review: Visual Funk: Jim Mahfood Art

Visual Funk: Jim Mahfood Art is a amazing collection of art. Stupendous.

Featured in this 256-page hardcover are some of the best works from his 16-year career. There are illustrations, collages and photographs. The reproduction is wonderful. Illustrations are printed huge often filling a page, or even two. This is a big artbook and it's a joy looking at those artworks large and up close.

I really like what I see, from cover to cover. Jim Mahfood has his own distinct style, one that's bold, confident, graphic, wild, cohesive, expressive, playful, loose, free, creative and fun.

His line art are very lively, with varying thickness. There's a generous use of halftone pattern that you don't usually see in comics nowadays. Oh yes, he has a very strong comic style that you can see just by the page composition and how he poses his characters. Colours are everywhere, chaotic, but still work together as a whole to give a very graphic look. Each page is like a nice surprise.

The photographs included are behind-the-scene shots, body paint models (some nudity involved but painted over) and some of his other creations that cannot be scanned, like wall paintings.

Visual Funk is visually delightful.

Most highly recommended if you like the sketchy but definite comic style.

This is one of my favourite artbooks for 2013.

Visual Funk: Jim Mahfood Art is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

Visual Funk: Jim Mahfood Art