<![CDATA[James L. Barry Illustration

<![CDATA[James L. Barry Illustration - Blog]]>Sat, 03 Oct 2026 15:05:48 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Recent and Upcoming Events]]>Fri, 02 Oct 2026 14:42:57 GMThttps://www.jlbarry.com/blog/recent-and-upcoming-eventsThanks again for joining my newsletter. I'm thrilled to share my journey to publication with you!

September was a busy month! In addition to launching my newsletter, I also finished penciling "Strangely Familiar" and have received some good feedback from advance readers. I plan to start inking key pages next and will share some sneak peeks soon.

A couple weeks ago, I was invited to KidCon at the Creative Discovery Museum here in Chattanooga. This was sort of a mini comic con for younger kids to give them an idea of what conventions are like with cosplay, games and invited artists tabling. I had my display set up and gave away sketch cards.

Then on Sunday of that week, Katie Lamb Library in Collegedale, TN invited me to their Author/Illustrator fair. It was a lot of fun sharing my work with the kids, giving a drawing demo and meeting other local authors and illustrators.

I also celebrated my birthday! 9/25 is now considered "Dolly Parton Day" (9 to 5- get it?!) and I'm honored to share it with this icon. My parents came to visit, brought me a cake and my husband took me to Jekyll Island for a long weekend. I certainly appreciate all the well wishes and those that signed up for my newsletter during the b'day push!

And now to share some UPCOMING events - I'll be at New York Comic Con next Friday, Oct 9th at 11 am in Workshop Room 1E05 giving a drawing demo. I'm not tabling this year but I'll have some giveaways and happy to sign anything you might bring. Also looking forward to seeing some old friends while in NYC.

THEN, October 23-25 I will be at Galaxy Con St. Louis! It's my first time tabling at a convention in the midwest so I am super excited to meet some Warriors fans there.

And finally, Nov 7 and 8th is my hometown show, Chattanooga Comic Con. This is a really well run and fun convention for artists and guests alike. It's always great to see old friends and meet new ones!

Thats it for now! If you can't make it to one of these events, I hope to attend a convention near you soon. Drop a note in the comments if there's Comic Con I should look into for 2027!

]]><![CDATA[9/11]]>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:54:12 GMThttps://www.jlbarry.com/blog/911

25 years ago I was finishing up my final semester at NYU. 9/11 was a very traumatizing event and the loss for everyone is hard to describe. My heart goes out to the families of those that died and the first responders that are still suffering from the toxic air downtown. It changed everything for city, the world and personally. I am grateful to have lived through it though and glad I lived in NYC for so long. This is a painting I did based on a dream I had a couple months after the attack.

]]><![CDATA[Warrior OC's]]>Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:24:17 GMThttps://www.jlbarry.com/blog/warrior-ocsIf you don't know, an OC stands for "Original Character" and the Warrior OC's created by readers of the series is one of the coolest things about the fandom! I am so lucky to get a lot of commission requests for these. Usually the creator of the OC will send me drawings they have done themselves or commissioned from another artist and it's up to me to interpret that character in my style. I am always so inspired by the creativity in these OCs and I love drawing them!

I've realized I should have probably saved these with their names because that is often one of the coolest things about them but alas I was not thinking ahead! If you know any of these or one is yours, please leave a comment! I will post more in the future because these are so darn cute!

Commissions are open so feel free to email me if you want a drawing of your OC, pet or favorite Warrior drawn in pen and ink.

]]><![CDATA[How To Draw]]>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:29:49 GMThttps://www.jlbarry.com/blog/july-20th-2026I made these how to draw PDF's years ago- before one of my first convention appearances at Teen Book Fest. It was a wonderful event and I was lucky to be a guest in 2011 and 2012 alongside the likes of Svetlana Chmakova and Jeff Kinney. I was saddened to hear about the death of TBF founder Stephanie A. Squicciarini in 2018- she was so kind and a fierce advocate for reading and teens at the library.

I made these drawing packets for that event (way back when!) and they got quite a bit of traction on my old blog so I thought I would reshare them here. Happy Drawing!

]]><![CDATA[Recent Con Appearance]]>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.jlbarry.com/blog/recent-con-appearanceI've been lucky to be an invited guest at some amazing comic book conventions this spring. Awesome Con in DC, Galaxy Con in Nashville and Heroes Con in Charlotte were all a lot of fun.

I love DC and the crowd at Awesome Con is....well, awesome! One of the best compliments an artist can receive is being told that their work inspired someone to draw or create their own stories. I had that happen a few times at Awesome Con and honestly, it made me kind of emotional. There were even a couple kids in Warriors cosplay!

I also led a drawing workshop in the Awesome Con Jr. area and that was well attended. Thanks to the Mariano Brothers for including me in the line up and for inviting me to join them and the other creators for pizza that night!

Here are a few photos from the weekend, some Warrior cat sketch cards I drew and some art given to me by young artists.

Galaxy Con in Nashville was great and a good excuse to visit my family. I grew up in Nashville and used to enter art every year in the state fair as a kid. The convention was held at the original fair grounds so it was kind of a full circle moment! Lots of fun cosplay and other guests from the area there.

Then in June, I tabled for the first time at Heroes Con! If you don't know, Heroes Con is an "artist's" con. Being among so many of my heroes was truly inspiring! Thanks to Karla for inviting me and to everyone involved in producing such a great event. I drew lots of sketches, picked up some amazing art and enjoyed meeting so many other creatives.

Being at cons, I've realize that a lot of my early work on the Warriors is considered "classic" and many kids that read the black and white manga style comics are now adults! I hope to embrace the nostalgic vibes of my previous work while offering readers something new and exciting in my next graphic novel.

Thanks to Shane Berryhill for being my travel buddy and glad we could share a preview of our new GN with some folks.

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