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 rtist Jim Salvati has a
message for his students at
the prestigious Art Center
College of Design in Pasadena:
Even “normal people” can make it
in the art world.
“I’m a very regular guy; there’s
nothing fancy about me,” says
Jim, who grew up surfing the
beaches of Southern California
and didn’t decide on an art
career until junior college. “I tell my
students that you don’t have to be
extremely talented to make it. You
can make it in life on passion and
determination.”
Jim has plenty of those two attributes,
and he most certainly has
“made it” in the art world. He’s
been a prolific artist for movie studios
and theaters with a client list
that includes Disney, Warner Bros.,
Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures
and Radio City Music Hall. Some of
his most famous work? He was the
master illustrator and conceptual
artist behind many of the memorable
images and finished paintings
associated with the Harry
Potter films.
He describes his style as “painterly
realism,” and his favorite subjects
are people. Ask him about a painting,
and he will tell you the subject’s
personal story. One of his newest
paintings, “Joan,” features his 20-
year-old son’s best friend, while
another recent piece, “Red
Feather,” captures Scott, a fellow
instructor at the Art Center.
“I like to paint people I know and
tell their stories,” explains Jim, who |
Jim Salvati: A Not-So-Regular Life |
 You can make it in life on passion and determination.
has two sons with his
wife, Linda. “And
while I’m a very
happy and optimistic person, my
paintings tend to
have an edge of
darkness to them.
They’re more emotional
and moody.
Even my Harry
Potter work has a
dark side.”
A Southern
California native,
he’s had a lifelong
love affair with the
ocean and surfing,
a passion that still
defines him.
Originally, he
thought he would
become an architect,
but he found it
too dry. One of his
junior college
teachers suggested
he take an art class
taught by Everett
Peck,
a famous
illustrator. He never looked back,
and went on to graduate from the
Art Center in 1982.
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| For the past 22 years, he’s been
teaching one day a week at the
Art Center himself, a gig he’s
found just as rewarding and inspiring
as painting. “I love teaching,
and
students respond to my style
because I’m so down to earth,” he
says. |
“Red Feather”
Hand-printed Chiarograph on black paper
Dimensions: 20" x 14"
Edition of 10
“I ran into a former student
the other day, and she gave me a
big hug and told me my class was
the best she’d ever taken. That
really made me feel good.” |
