Issue 156

Hello!

I thought I'd do another book newsletter and share with you a few of my favorite BIG ones.

As mentioned last time, I'm planning on attending Light Box in a few weeks just to soak in all the creativity. Let me know if you'll be there and if you want to meet up. I've already heard back from a few people last wee, so maybe we have a get together or something!

Alright, here's 5 things I thought you'd find interesting this weekend.

Enjoy!

1) Star Runners

From the Art Department

This week on the Patreon I shared the entire 20+ page Star Runners chapter from Kepler's Intergalactic Guide to Spaceships (Taking pre-orders now in case you missed the Kickstarter). Here's a couple pages for you to get a sneak peek before the book comes out.

I'm in the hardest part of the process of making this book and I'm still enjoying the heck out of it. Not only am I enjoying the pain right now, but I'm fantasizing about my next book project. I guess if you love doing something so much that even the boring tedious part of the production offers some form of satisfaction you gotta follow that wherever it takes you.

You can see all the behind the scenes stuff and more in the creation of this book, including secret stuff I can't share publicly over on the Patreon.

I thought I'd share three of my favorite BIG books from my library today. Every time I crack these books open the creativity within washes over me. I get overwhelmed with inspiration and want to go make something that aspires the majesty of these tomes.

I present them to you here with my custom made Skull Chaser LEGO minifig for scale:

2) Hayao Miyazaki and the Ghibli Museum

From the Office of Dusty Old Books

Starting with the smallest of the Big Books is Hayao Miyazaki and the Ghibli Museum which my wife gave me for my birthday last year. It's actually two books.

One is all the concept sketches Miyazaki made for the architecture and layout of the Ghibli museum. They're loose and dirty and a fascinating glimpse inside the man's mind.

The other book is all the concept art and final art for the exhibits therein.

Look at those cutaways! mmmm baaaby.

The book isn't cheap, but for a Ghibli and Miyazaki fan who loves the watercolor art and sketches just as much as the films, it's definitely something worth saving up for.

You can get it on Amazon here: LINK​

3) Wednesday Comics

From the Comics Division

The second biggest book of this bunch is Wednesday Comics published by DC Comics. This was an experiment/oddity and the brain child of DC artist/editor Mark Chiarello that came out in 2009.

The idea was to get 12 of the industry's most creative artists to write and draw 16 full newspaper sized page stories that would be released as a newspaper each Wednesday. It was a phenomenal undertaking and produced some incredible pages that really pushed what you can do with comics storytelling.
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After all the newspaper editions came out the collected it in a large format book a year later.

Available on Amazon here: LINK​

4) Monograph by Chris Ware

From the Office of Dusty Old Books

Last, and biggest, book today is Monograph by Chris Ware and this book is BIG.

Chris Ware's comics actually make me depressed, which I know for some people is the point. However, I can't get over the mastery of the medium on display in his work. He's a fine artist who chose comics as his medium, and this book is like a portfolio of a quarter century of art making by one of the greats.

Ware doesn't just make comics, he makes sculptures, and books, and all kinds of little side projects. It's a shocking amount of material on display here; sketches, original scans, notes, photos, all a testament to his work ethic and prolificacy. These photos don't do it any justice.

You can grab a copy here: LINK​

5) On reading

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I'll just close today's newsletter with this quote:

(via Austin Kleon)

That's all for this week. Thank you for reading this newsletter and hope you have a great weekend!

-Jake

My sponsor for this newsletter is…me. It's me, because I'm not accepting sponsors for my email list, and don't plan to any time soon. Really, I'd just like people to buy stuff from my shop. If you like this newsletter, you can support it a few ways:

​Order something from the shop (Best)

​Back a kickstarter when I launch one (Also Best)

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Mention it on social media (Fifth best)

I'd appreciate any of these when you can. Thanks!

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*Any amazon link I post is an affiliate link

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