Jim Hardiman

Jim Hardiman (full James M. Hardiman; born May 8, 1972 in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, USA, died August 29, 2014 in Ozark, Missouri, USA) was an American furry artist.

Fandom involvement
James "Jim" Hardiman was a known fandom cartoonist and illustrator most active during the 1990s and early 2000s. He is best known for his Skunkworks, Caterwaul Incorporated and The Ups and Downs comic series, and the creation of a trio of young skunk characters, Lori Parks, Oynx and Natasha.

Jim often worked alongside fellow furry artists such as Shawntae Howard, Max Black Rabbit and Desiree Lee (among others), in various personal and third party projects, such as A Study in Black and White, AnthropoMORPHINE and In The Zone, a 64-page comic book intended to cover the costs of cancer treatment for Michael-Scott McMurry (Zonie). In 2010 he was approached by Jason Canty of Angry Viking Press to work on further Skunkworks and Caterwaul Inc. comic books and even some animated shorts ideas.

Jim Hardiman's works and contributions were submitted for consideration for both the 2002 and 2012 Ursa Major Awards.

In 2012, Jim teamed up with Angry Viking Press to conduct a Angry Viking Press: Moving into 2013 with new publishing Kickstarter campaign, offering The Collected Skunkworks TPB, commissions and dakimakuras featuring a selection of Jim works as campaign perks. Part of the goal was also to raise funds to publish a revised edition of the Skunkworks paperback, along with new Caterwaul Incorporated comics and the first Penance The Bear collected works book.

On May 31, 2015, 9 months after his death, Hardiman's mother, Pauline Hardiman, announced that she and her family would scan all the media that Hardiman had promised Jason Canty for the The Collected Skunkworks project after a face to face meeting with Canty so it would finally be published.

On August 31, 2015, just over a year since Jim's passing, Jason Canty announced on his Kickstarter that the Skunkworks book is finally done and will be sent out for printing.

On February 2, 2017, Jason Canty has finally confirmed the final approval of Jim's mother regarding shipping the Skunkworks art books. The art books have been printed in 2 volumes because of the large amount of art that has been collected from both Jim and several contributing artists. Volume 1 will be 150 pages and volume 2 will be 182 pages, respectively.

Medical issues
In 2002, Hardiman developed eye problems relating to Diabetes Type 1 Mellitus. Sean Rabbitt, owner of Rabbit Valley, let his customer base know of Hardiman's medical situation (including Hardiman's lack of medical coverage), and after the story being picked up by the online furry news magazine Flayrah, fans started contributing moral and financial support.

Alternative comic publishing house Radio Comix helped with the endeavor by publishing Skunkworks Reflections, a multi-artist tribute book.

Due to his illness, Jim cut short both his art output and convention travels, occasionally posting new works in various image boards when time and health permitted. Meanwhile his close friend Desiree Lee continued to draw and publish the webcomic By The Tail with his characters.

Convention attendance

 * Anthrocon - 1999
 * Confurence - 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000
 * ConFurence East - 1996
 * Mephit Furmeet - 2001, 2002

Death
Jim Hardiman died on August 29, 2014 due to kidney failure. Jim was a double transplant patient. He was a diabetic since the age of three. At the age of thirty-five he was dying of kidney failure and was blessed to receive a donor kidney and pancreas so he was no longer a diabetic. Unfortunately after a little more than 6 1/2 years, his donor kidney failed. .

Works
When he (or Desiree) had new media to share, Jim would post them to his Skunkworks mailing list, in addition to such sites as Fchan, to prevent some users from doing so against his copyright wishes.

Comic series

 * Skunkworks - Skunkworks features stories (often sexual) of three sassy young skunk girls, Lori Parks, Onyx and Natasha. Some stories also feature their mother Valencia and the alter egos of Jim himself and Desiree Lee.
 * Even with the adult nature of the series, there was a healthy dose of humor and wit. The girls are often shown as being exhibitionists, and their antics frequently get them into trouble, along with making life hell for Jim.


 * Caterwaul Incorporated -
 * The Ups and Downs -
 * Penance The Bear - This series would have collected all published stories of Penance The Bear. It was one of the perks offered during Angry Viking Press ' 2013 Angry Viking Press: Moving into 2013 with new publishing Kickstarter campaign.

Webcomics

 * Cats N' Cameras - Jim was the illustrator for Chapters 6 through 9 of the webcomic Cats N' Cameras,.
 * By The Tail - By The Tail was a collaborative webcomic between Hardiman and Desiree.

April Fools' art gags

 * Spunkworks - On April Fools' Day 2008, skunked.com announced that due to changes in the furry fandom since Skunkworks was first published, the books would be rewritten to with new content to reflect such changes, initially with the introduction of four gay male characters, Vance and his three sons, Nathan, Ollie and Larry. gay male counterparts of Val and her three girls.
 * Skankworks - Another gag using the "change in the fandom" idea featured the three girls as emo/goth types on the fake cover of the aptly named "Skankworks". These pictures were in fact, little jokes poking fun at such different aspects of the furry fandom, and, despite some opinions, they were not meant as malicious attacks on any one person or clique.
 * Cubworks - Another gag bemoaning the state of the fandom concept featured the three girls as cub art characters types on the sugary cover of the aptly named "Cubworks"
 * Pumpworks - This gag page tackles the muscular and sexual hypersizing of furry characters on the fandom, depicting the girls with massive physiques and enlarged sexual parts, or, as he puts it: "Poorly rendered steroid freaks covered in fur."
 * Animeworks - This gag page takes on the over-saturated anime influence on the fandom by depicting almost every Japanese manga cliche using the girls, plus bonus characters.
 * WTFworks - No data

Controversy
Jim Hardiman had said on several occasions that Radio Comix never paid him for any artwork submitted, nor did he received any of the financial aid derived from the Skunkworks Reflections tribute book:

Memorials

 * RIP Jim Hardiman art by Jim Groat
 * James M. Hardiman Memorial Page on Facebook

James Hardiman