🖌️🎨 James C. Christensen (1942 - 2017) is an American illustrator, a man with boundless and irrepressible imagination

 🖌️🎨 James C. Christensen (1942 - 2017) is an American illustrator, a man with boundless and irrepressible imagination, who created many fantasy, fairy-tale images that inspired and continue to inspire many figures in cinema and art.
The future artist was born in Culver City, California, to Sybil and Harry Christensen.
The famous Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio was located near their home, and little James and his friends loved to play there. Of course, it is so exciting to watch the filming of films, and even see movie stars. Little James was distinguished by a rich imagination, he, like all children, loved to listen to fairy tales with bated breath. But not only to listen, but also to invent, trying to depict on paper what the imagination dictates.
After graduating from high school in Santa Monica, James continued his education at the University of California, Los Angeles. James's family belonged to the Mormons, and he spent his youth in South America with his parents, helping them with missionary work. Christensen received his specialized education at the Mormon-founded Brigham Young University quite late, where he received a master's degree. James began to paint in oils only during his studies at this university.
Christensen began his creative career as a freelance illustrator and art teacher in high school. James also taught painting at the university he graduated from from 1976 to 1997. At the same time, the artist was also an editor and illustrator for the Mormon magazine "New Era". He was awarded the Chelsea Prize three times and was nominated for other awards more than nine times.
The artist's fantasy illustrations have received recognition all over the world, and his work has become especially popular in Japan.
Christensen has participated in numerous exhibitions and received commissions from media companies to create works for publications such as Time-Life Books and Omni. James Christensen has also published three books - two collections of illustrations, A Journey of the Imagination: The Art of James Christensen (1994), Rhymes & Reasons (1997), and a children's book, Voyage of the Basset (1996), known for its unusual image of a mermaid, which caused indignation among the religious community.
Family has always been very important to the artist; two of his five children became successful artists. And the house of James and his family was designed by Christensen himself and is filled with all sorts of secret passages and unusual sculptures. The house project became a reflection of the artist's paintings in the real world. James Christensen passed away at the age of 75 in 2017.
James was a talented illustrator, under his publication there were many children's fairy tales, science fiction and all sorts of thematic publications and albums. The characters of his paintings are not only heroes of fairy tales, myths, legends and fables, but also characters created by the artist's unbridled imagination. The works of James Christensen need to be looked at for a long time and carefully, because they are full of many details and interesting little things.
The boundless imagination of the artist James Christensen can only amaze, admire and be inspired, immersing oneself in his fantastic worlds.