Issue 173

Hello!

Lat we met was the Original Art Sale and I just wanted to thank everyone who bought an original. I LOVE running these sales twice a year. I used to want to keep all my art, but when I saw how happy it made people to own a piece and hang it on their wall or keep it in a portfolio with other artists I realized they're much better off in someone else's hands than mine.

Been pretty busy in May so I only had time really to shoot out one newsletter. I should be in a better spot during the summer to be more consistent with these.

Here's 5 things I thought you'd find interesting this weekend.

Enjoy!

LATEST

I do all kinds of things that never end up in the newsletter, so this spot in the header here is just a quick run down of what I've done recently that I didn't want to devote an entire segment to:

• I'll have a table at LIGHTBOX in October: LINK​
• Packing and shipping out the Original Art sale: LINK​
• Podcast Episode 162: Not All Practice Is Created Equal​
• Podcast Episode 161: The Problem With Preachy Art​
• Podcast Episode 159: The Comics Industry with Tony Cliff ​
• Patreon: Getting A book Deal Series: Part 6 and Part 7​

1) Sketchbook Junk

From the Drawings Unit

I've been on a freelance job since March that wraps up this week. I'm grateful for the work, but as I was looking for art to post in this newsletter I just realized how little I've drawn outside of the job for the past 4 months. These sketches are from April, and my sketchbook has one drawing in it from May and one from June!

The only other drawing I've been doing has been some character designs for a book proposal I'm hoping to go out with in July. More details on that below👇.

This should change in the coming weeks as I plan on launching a kickstarter for a sequel to my SPACESHIPS book. More details on that coming soon!

PATREON: I'm doing a series of posts on getting a book deal. This isn't a case study of a book deal I've landed in the past. This is a week by week, play by play of me currently trying to land a deal with one of the major New York publishers.

I'm sharing my strategies, my email interactions, notes I'm getting from my agent, missteps, and rejections. Patrons are seeing concept art, the gnarly stuff that's discarded, but also the polished stuff I'm sharing with publishers. We are in part 7 this week of a multi-part series that will end when the book get's published!

Sign up now: LINK​

The amount of support on my Patreon ebbs and flows, but always hovers around 125-130 people. I'd like to get that up to 140 this month. If you sign up this month I'll give you any of my digital artbooks of your choice. Just DM after sign up and I'll send you a download link.

You also get a 15% discount in my shop, and at the end of the month some patrons get all my working files to learn from and pick apart. Sign up here: LINK​

2) House Cave

From the Architecture Desk

Found this cool House Cave designed by Spanish Architect office UMMO Estudio.

I love seeing how people incorporate dwellings into the landscape and cave houses are one of my favorite subgenre of living spaces.

This whole space just looks cozy and safe. Though I can imagine there's all kinds of bugs that want to live to too, haha.

More photos and info here: LINK​

3) The Risograph Radness of Wren McDonald

From the Illustrators Division

Wren McDonald is an illustrator based in Hudson Valley, NY. As an educator at SVA's RisoLAB he has access to the unique Risograph machines that give his prints the texture and richness they exude.

Not sure what risography is? Here's a nice colorful explanation: LINK​

Wren's work drips with personality and playfulness. You can see more of his work here:

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

Tumblr: LINK​

I just snagged an Akira zine and one of these stickers from his shop!

4) The Mechanical Masterworks of Gorshenin Stanislav

From the Office of Robots

Russian artist Stanislav Gorshenin seems to have an incredible handle on realistic robot designs that feel like they're from a not too distant future.

Check out more designs on his Artstation: LINK​

5) On what the audience wants

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

This week I watched a 13 minute video 60 minutes did on Rick Rubin and was just mesmerized the whole time. Rubin is a producer in the music world who seems to be some kind of musician whisperer. He's worked with just about every major artist yet doesn't play an instrument, read music, or knows how to work a mixer.

What he HAS mastered is how to pull the best out of the people who work with him. He leans hard on gut feelings and helping artists push the envelope in their work.

At the end he says something that hit me like a lighting bolt:

I think this is the most important thing to remember when you're creating something.

We are living in an age of content. There's more TV, movies, comics, and music that can be consumed then there are eyes to see it all. The entertainment industry is built on an economy of cheap imitations of good things.

AI is only compounding this as all it's capable of making is imitations of what's been fed into it. Algorithms are designed to figure out what you're interested in and ONLY show you derivatives of that.

All of this is made to satisfy a mass audience that avoids things that challenge their conceptions of what they like.

So what stands out? What cuts through the noise? What wakes people up?

Creating something that only YOU could create. Make that first, worry about the audience later.

Watch the Rick Ruben 60 minutes episode here: LINK​

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

-Jake

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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)

​Support me on Patreon (Second Best)

​Share the newsletter with a friend (Third best)

​Shop for art supplies using my affiliate links* (Fourth best)

Mention it on social media (Fifth best)

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

>>Any amazon link I post is an affiliate link<<

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