Robocop 2 and Creative DNA

I don't remember much about Robocop 2, but the design of Cain's cyborg body is seared into a recess of my brain. Because Robocop 2 is so old, and my exposure to it was in my early teens I sometimes forget how much this design influenced my art.

I mean, to this day I'm still finding places to put little asymmetrical Xs on my robots.

Your creative DNA is made up of stuff like this. They’re the things you see as a kid or teenager that alter your thinking a little bit. You may have been aware of it at the time, but over the years you forget where these influences came from, until all you have is what is a part of you. Then every once an a while the original idea lands back in your lap and you’re reminded just how much they are a part of you.

I just wanted to salute those things that made me who I am. And remind myself that I didn’t just boil up out of the ether, but am a complex art making machine held together by tiny powerful strands of creative DNA.

-Jake

On the niche

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I just listened to a fascinating podcast interview with Emmett Shear who is the CEO and co-founder of Twitch. For years he was turned down by investors because his company served the gaming niche and well, you know how that turned out for him. (In 2014 Amazon bought Twitch for about $970 million in cash.)

There's an old saying, "Niche and get rich," meaning make something specific and deliberate for a small group and that group will go to the ends of the earth to support your work.

This principle isn't just for business. I think it works in life as well. I like how it's put here:

"I can't give you a surefire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: Try to please everybody all the time." - Herbert Bayard Swope​

When you try to please everyone, you neglect the people that mean the most to you. As someone who struggles with too much people pleasing, I needed this reminder this week.

-Jake

On Fitting In

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I've been pondering the age old question: How does the artist/writer/performer/teacher/musician make an impact with their work?

Do they bend their work to fit with what sells? Or do they make something for that narrow niche of audience that aligns with their unique interests?

Or do you balance the two?

Comedian Janeane Garofalo had this to say on it (taken from this NYTimes article)

“Being popular and well liked is not in your best interest.

If you behave in a manner pleasing to most, then you are probably doing something wrong. The masses have never been arbiters of the sublime, and they often fail to recognize the truly great individual.

Taking into account the public’s regrettable lack of taste, it is incumbent on you to not fit in.” - Janeane Garofalo

This resonates with me...but the key ingredient to be successful doing this, ingredient that she doesn't mention is: You have to be really REALLY good at what you are doing.

(Via Chip Zedarsky's Newsletter. Thanks Kohl for sharing it with me)

-Jake

On Potential

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I've been pondering this thought from Photographer and writer Craig Mod as I make this Spaceship book:

“It’s easy to be seduced by the world of potentiality. A book is always greatest before it’s written. You are intoxicated by what it can be. That’s very dangerous. You want to kill those seductions as quickly as possible, and one way to achieve that is fast iteration. Make known the unknown; murder your fantasies.”

- Craig Mod

He speaks the truth. At some point you have to make your vision a reality, and that's when you realize where all the holes are. The point here is that you can get really frustrated when reality doesn't live up to expectations. The key is to make a minimum viable version of it, and then build out from there.

Don't lose sight of that original vision though!

I let the vision guide me, but I don't let it derail me.

-Jake

On Motivation

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

Today a friend of mine shared with me this this tweet by author Brad Stulberg:

A big misconception is that you need to be motivated to get rolling.

You don't.

Research: Motivation often FOLLOWS action, not the other way around.

In Practice: You don't need to feel good to get going; you need to get going to give yourself a chance at feeling good.

So the question is how do you get going in the first place? Might I suggest the 5 minute trick: Tell yourself you're only going to do something for 5 minutes. This is a little prank you're playing on your brain.

You might even set a timer to really sell the idea to the brain that it's just going to be short and painless. One little hack that I like to do is start a work playlist that I ONLY listen to when I'm doing focused work. I'll tell myself I'll just work until the end of the first song.

What happens is that somewhere around minute 3 or 4 your brain gets absorbed into the work and now the motivation kicks in. Thirty minutes later your brain realizes what you did, but it can't get that mad at you because you're accomplishing something and feeling good about it.

-Jake

On Success

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

The success you have in life is all relative. I've met a millionaire who felt unaccomplished, and knew a guy who was able to get job at U-Haul installing hitches and thought he won the life lottery. I think to feel satisfied in life you gotta stop looking outward for validation, but instead look in the mirror for it.

I like novelist Toni Morrison's thought on the measure of success:

"For me, success is not a public thing. It's a private thing. It's when you have fewer and fewer regrets."

Source: Interview with The Guardian​

That might be the key there. Before you take on any project, or invest tome and energy into something, ask yourself, "will this lead to less regret in life, or more?"

(via 3-2-1)​

-Jake

On Attention

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

Here's a perspective I think about often from author James Clear:

"Look around your environment.

Rather than seeing items as objects, see them as magnets for your attention. Each object gently pulls a certain amount of your attention toward it.

Whenever you discard something, the tug of that object is released. You get some attention back."

- James Clear

On the flip side, magnets are also useful though. I have books, toys, and art prints all over my office. I made it a space that gets me creatively charged every time I enter it. The room pulls me towards my work when I don't feel like working and keeps me there.

However! I think the most powerful attention magnet is the smart phone. It's like a MRI machine in your pocket. You want to get work done? Put that thing in the other room and remove all the metal from your pockets.

The key is finding that balance between good magnetism and dangerous magnetism.

-Jake

On the bet

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

This week I launched a kickstarter for a book I believed in, but wasn't sure would be accepted like my past work. I've sold a lot of DRAWINGS books (for an indie self publisher) and it made sense to do another DRAWINGS book. I've also sold a lot of comics. It made sense to do another graphic novel. But this hybrid thing that is Kepler's Intergalactic Guide to Spaceships seemed risky.

The ONLY way I would know for sure was to buckle up and make a pitch to people that this thing was worth their time and attention. That takes some courage.

"Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one's better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk—and to act." -André Malraux​

Betting on your ideas is still a bet. Sometimes you lose. At the end of the day though, losing a bet with yourself is still a win. You get knowledge on what works and what doesn't. You still get experience. You still grow. Most importantly you exercise that courage muscle.

The alternative is the "sure thing." Which gives expected results, expected experience, and sure, growth (maybe?). The worst part though is your courage muscles atrophy. Some day you'll want them, even need them and you'll wish you had the strength to take the bet.

-Jake

On doing

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

Had a long chat last week with a peer about whether or not he should start a youtube channel for his art. We looked at all the angles to see if this was something he should pursue or not. I kept coming back to asking him what he actually wants to spend his days doing. In thinking some more about it, I recalled this quote:

"Don't think about what you want to be, but what you want to do."

― Richard P. Feynman

​Austin Kleon puts it this way, "if you want to be the noun, first do the verb." Think about what you want to do, and let the labels and career come out of that.

Looking at it backwards though: what you do ends up defining you.

Granted, this day and age, every indie professional is required to wear ALL the hats: marketing, accounting, admin, customer service, etc. So the move to start a YouTube channel to increase awareness of one's work makes sense. The concern is that one can get so lost in the weeds of doing everything, that they end up being nothing.

It's important that no matter what extra things you take on, they don't interfere with the thing you really want to be doing. And by doing, I'm really talking about the things you create.

In June 2027, when I look back at what I've created in the last 5 years I don't want it to just be a pile of "content" posted online to help make the social media companies richer. I'd like to look at a stack of books, point at them, and say to myself, "I made THAT."

What do you want to have created by June 2027?

-Jake

On Praise

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

A little more on what I opened the newsletter with about what your art is supposed to be.

Your art is to be the praise of something that you love. It may only be the praise of a shell or a stone.

- John Ruskin

I like that. Your art is praise. Your job is to show someone why something should be praised. The act of praising it teaches people to appreciate that thing. I can tell you I didn't appreciate rocks that much until I read Calvin and Hobbes. The way Watterson drew canyons and landscapes in the Spaceman Spiff strips made me realize how fun and beautiful the shapes were in the deserts I grew up in.

As you can tell from my own art and the landscapes I post about here that my appreciation for rocks has continued to grow.

Think about that the next time you're stumped about what to create.

-Jake

On To-Do lists

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

Here's a productivity tip I picked up from a Tedx talk by Rory Vaden: How to Multiply Your Time​

To-Do List Questions:

1) Can I eliminate this task?

2) If I can't eliminate this task, can I automate it?

3) Can it be delegated, or can I teach someone else how to do this?

4) Should I do this task now, or can I do it later?

Often times I get overwhelmed with to-dos piling up and I keep forgetting this advice. When I look at what is really streamlined in my life it's because I have applied this advice in the past. The trick it to keep remembering ask myself these questions!

-Jake

On Decision Making

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

Any kind of creator is faced with never ending possibilities when it comes to what project to work on. Whether you're getting hit up all the time with offers to help out with something, or you have a growing list of ideas you'd like to tackle, or you're faced with two different opportunities and can only choose one, it is sometimes debilitating to know what to work on next.

There's two quotes I keep coming back to when I'm faced with decisions:

If I'm saying yes out of guilt or fear, then it's a polite "no." Neil Strauss

If it's not a "Hell, yes!" It's a "No." Derek Sivers

I like both of these because they operate on two ends of the enthusiasm spectrum. I've said yes to projects I wasn't excited about, and only took on because I felt guilty I'd regret it. Worse yet, I've taken on projects out of fear that I wouldn't succeed on the path I was currently on.

Guess what? At best they were a neutral impact project. I didn't grow at all by taking them on. The worst cases wasted my time and energy taking me down paths I never should've been on in the first place.

Don't do something out of fear or guilt. If you do take on a project, take it because your head is in that "Hell, yes!" space.

-Jake

On Genius

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I would say that your job as an artist isn't to make a living with your art, and it isn't to focus on perfecting your craft, and it also isn't to make a contribution to society that blows peoples minds. Those are all byproducts of doing your job. What you should be primarily concerned with is just creating.

How then do you make something that exceeds expectations, elevates your ability, and in the end pays you? Ryan Holiday has some advice on that from page 43 of his book Perennial Seller:

"You don't have to be a genius to make genius--you just have to have small moments of brilliance and edit out the boring stuff."

- Ryan Holiday

In other words, show up and create every day. Over time the brilliant stuff (those things that inspire, elevate, and are valuable) will rise to the top. All you have to do is create.

-Jake

On Deciding Your Future

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I keep coming back to this theme of what you do now directly effects what you become in the future, that our daily decisions actually have lasting impact. I think it's because I'm middle aged now and can clearly see how I am both benefiting and suffering from daily decisions I made 5, 10, and 20 years ago.

I like how this concept is succinctly said here:

People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their future.

-F.M. Alexander​

Now I'm looking at 20 years from now, thinking about what the Jake in 2042 wants to be doing and enjoying and deciding what habits I need to extinguish and what habits to cultivate in order to live happily in that future.

-Jake

On Investing

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

"Think about what you want today and you'll spend your time.

Think about what you want in 5 years and you'll invest your time."

-James Clear (Newsletter)

My typical day planning stems from what I want to get done that week. When I plan my week, I based it on what I want to get done that quarter. My quarter planning is based on a year plan. Planning for the year is informed by a 5 year projection of what I'd like to have accomplished.

It has taken me YEARS to figure this out. And I still fall into the habit of thinking what I want this day, instead of thinking about the future.

I think this applies in every scene in your life. Take a moment this weekend and think about where you want to be in the spring of 2027 with:

• Your relationships

• Your projects

• Your health

• Your finances

​
Plan your days accordingly.

-Jake

On Friendship

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

Everything good in my life ties directly to friendships I've made with people. The old saying attributed to motivation speaker Jim Rohn “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” tracks with my experience.

My high school friends were a creative bunch, open to new ideas and experiences, and that shaped me into following a creative path for a career. For the last 20+ years wife has been my north star for focus, direction, and what really matters in my life. And I have a solid group of father/husband/artist friends that I communicate with regularly which helps me navigate life.

Recently I've read a couple articles about making and enriching friendships, so this has been on my mind a lot lately.

According to this research by evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, “It takes about 200 hours of investment in the space of a few months to move a stranger into being a good friend.”

If you're going to spend 200 hours with someone becoming good friends the best way to do it is spending that time doing something pointless.

The gist of that article is that in a highly transactional world relationships tend to turn into useful alliances...hence the term "networking." Yes, you need a network, but for a satisfying relationship you don't base it on something practical like a project or a job, you organize them around something that isn't useful at all. Like a fandom, or a sport.

This is getting long, so I guess the point I'm trying to make here is don't neglect the making and keeping of friendships, because there's not much more to life than that.

-Jake

On Doing

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

A couple years ago I was listening to a Q and A with filmmaker and YouTuber Patrick (H) Willems. (He's my favorite YouTuber btw.) And he made a good point in this Q and A that I wrote down, and it's stuck with me ever since:

"People will only hire you to do what you've basically already done."

- Patrick H Willems

This tracks with my career. I didn't ever get a graphic novel deal from a publisher until I had drawn over 75 pages of comics on my own. I didn't get a job doing concept art until I had a done concept art for my own projects.

One of the big problems about getting work is getting the experience needed to be qualified for the job. I think Patrick's implied solution is spot on: go out and DO the thing you want to do. It might be bad at first, but you'll get better. Keep at it, and you'll get good enough to get the job.

-Jake

On Stretching

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

For many years I put off doing my comic SkyHeart because I felt like I wasn't ready to do it. I knew it would stretch my abilities, perhaps beyond what I was capable. I felt like I needed to prepare a little more, get a little better, level up a little more before I took it on.

​ James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, has this to say about doing something that stretches you.

There will never be a perfect time to do something that stretches you. If you were ready for it, it wouldn't be growth.

After 15 years of putting it off I realized I might never be ready. It dawned on me that perhaps act of doing SkyHeart was going to be the thing that made me level up and be ready to do the book.

When I figured that out, it decided to just dive in and do it, and boy, was I grateful. It was by no means a perfect comic! However, I leveled up as an artist, it was a self publishing success with 3000 copies sold, and it boosted my confidence as a creator. There's way more to the story, but the lesson learned was I shouldn't have waited 15 years for the perfect time.

-Jake

On Imperfections

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

Have you ever created something and while looking at its finished state could only see where the project was wonky in places. Where it fell short of the vision? Where the parts that failed to live up to your expectations glaringly obvious? Perhaps you were satisfied with the outcome, but not thrilled with the execution?

I like the outlook on dealing with this let down of reality vs vision when it comes to your work. From Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland:

For Charles Darwin, evolution lay revealed when a perfect survival strategy for one generation became, in a changing world, a liability for its offspring.

For you, the seed for your next artwork lies embedded in the imperfections of your current piece.

Those imperfections are a signal that your work is wanting to evolve. Maybe the faces you draw, or the dialogue you write, or the way you manage a project isn't as good as your inspiration. Your next piece of work is a chance to lean into that flaw and make it your style.

​Kirby wasn't a master at anatomy, but he leaned into the energy his peculiar faces and limbs had made it into a distinctive approach to drawing that was ALL his.

-Jake

On Resources

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

The French have an expression: "faire feu de tout bois" which translated means "to make fire out of any wood." This is the fundamental principle of my concept of filling your creative bank account.

Every experience you have whether directly (seeing the pyramids for example) or indirectly (watching a documentary about the pyramids) is creative fuel. But it doesn't need to be amazing experiences like traveling someplace exotic or seeing an inspiring movie or reading an incredible graphic novel to fuel your ideas. Creative capital can come from anywhere...even from the crappy day you might have had last week.

Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges says this about it:

"A writer — and, I believe, generally all persons — must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art."

Next time you're down, or in an unfair situation, or you keep screwing something up, take stock of it, audit it, and see where the gold of an idea is. Pair this with last week's inspirational thought: perhaps you now have the right story to help someone.

-Jake