From the Illustrators Division
I've been following Matt Rhodes since the early 2000s. He's an incredible artist who's work bridges the gap between concept art and illustration.
He's worked for years in the gaming industry on AAA titles, but the work that absolutely stuns me is his personal project TELLURION.
I was reminded by this when friend of the newsletter, Thomas, sent me an email suggesting this for the newsletter.
Here's Thomas's note in the email:
"He spent three years drawing more than 300 full-color panels. He said that he was terrible at dialogue and for a long time it kept him from doing a story. Then someone suggested he draw a story without dialogue. I was skeptical, but after a dozen images I was hooked, and binged the whole thing. It was surprisingly gripping.
It’s really a great example of not letting your weakness stop you from creating art."
A couple lessons here:
There is power in slow productivity. You can create something substantial by consistently chipping away at it image by image over time. No need to sprint.
Do work that plays to your strengths. Yes, you want to grow and improve in areas you are weak, but don't let those weaknesses be a roadblock to making something great.
Experience TELLURION here: LINK
Matt's Instagram: LINK
Artstation: LINK
Also, I love his version of DUNE: LINK LINK and LINK
-Jake