A photo story by Magnolia McComish
Brandon Whelan hunches over his desk a wall of athletes, rappers, and movie stars look down on him. Junior Brandon Whelan is on the Franklin Pierce University football team and has an artistic streak with both drawing and rapping.
Brandon’s earliest memories are of drawing. “It is the first thing I can remember being really good at.” What started as scribbles has morphed into graphic images of sports, movies, people who inspire him and things that “just look cool.”
Early on Brandon styled his drawings after comics. “I always liked comics, but I couldn’t afford them, so I just drew it instead.” Now, he draws posters of his favorite things, never wanting to splurge when he can just do it himself. It usually takes six hours over several days to create a full page poster.
The process starts with an inspiration photo on his computer. He holds his hand up to the screen to measure the distance between points in the reference. This is how he assures the drawings is to scale. He color matches the picture to the references so it feels realistic, and has an eye for the composition that makes the photo come to life.
"I go through spells of not drawing, and that’s usually when I’m making music the most."
Brandon's artistic ability is not limited just to drawing. At 15 a friend pointed that he had a talent for rapping. What started as dissing classmates turned into a passion project and a way to process emotions. When he can hear his emotions flow through his rap it becomes a validating experience. At the same time releasing creative energy.
At the end of 2021 Brandon had heart surgery for aortic valve stenosis, a type of heart valve disease. It prevented him from playing football and most of his other hobbies. Music was how he past the time recovering in bed for almost three months.
"My first album [that] I thought was good, I wrote while recovering from heart surgery. I was so grateful to be alive and well, so the writing was a lot of me venting and getting stuff off my chest [about] experiences I've been through."
That album is Weight of the World.
Brandon's albums generally take six to twelve months to complete start to finish with about eight to ten songs. His music can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, Sound Cloud and YouTube.
Most of his beats are home made. Others come from producers he has met through making music. Most prominently, a producer who goes by ILOVEJ.J. Brandon started releasing music in 2018, all recorded and produced in his dorm room.
From the football field to his dorm, Brandon uses his creativity to make things he want to see or hear. He has big goals for himself, never half committing. "I already have a Grammy speech planned out in my head."
Currently, Brandon's music can be found on SoundCloud, just search "Brandon Whelan."
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