On the Book Radar

From the Office of Comics and Books Acquisitions

Here's five books I've recently acquired and/or read that I think should be on your radar:

Dragon Hoops: LINK

It's fascinating how Yang weaves his own life into the narrative of this book. It's a window into the world of high school basketball, with a history of the sport threaded throughout.

Frontier: LINK​

THIS BOOK. Hot damn. I don't read French, but the book is gorgeous and delicate, and intense. And I got all of that from looking at each panel. It's a sci-fi masterpiece and I wish my comics could do just a fraction of what this one does. Can't wait for the english translation.

Superman: Up in the Sky: LINK​

I read this to celebrate Superman's 80the birthday. I was reading a twitter thread of “what superman book would you recommend to someone who hasn’t ever read superman” and this was the one that kept showing up on the list that I hadn’t already read.

It’s a good Superman doing what Superman does book, with all the weird and all the heart.

Joe Death and the Graven Image: LINK​

I'm currently reading this, and just love where the story is going and the art is pretty unconventional but engaging. I'll probably be highlighting Benjamin Schipper in a future newsletter.

Ryo Yambe Sketch Vol 1: LINK​

I mentioned Ryo in the last newsletter, and since then his book became available! It ships from Japan, and the process is a little convoluted, but the book is a feast for the eyes.

-Jake

The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

From the Office of Oceanic Affairs

As a product of our times I straddle the fence between both needing and hating that I need oil based energy. All that aside, I can appreciate the engineering marvels and utilitarian beauty of these mega structures.

I pulled these images from a fascinating thread on twitter sharing a ton of images of oil rig structures I'd never seen before.

The thread stuck a lively and mostly civil discussion about what is beautiful and whether or not something can be beautiful in spite of its function.

I'll leave that debate to others, for now I'm just so caught up with their designs and how I can apply that to the comics I'm creating.

Read the entire thread here: LINK​

-Jake

Moonbreaker Concept Art

From the Drawings Unit

A couple years ago I was brought on early on to do concept art for the recently released game Moonbreaker.

I recently got clearance to share my concept art online so here's a few images of a massive piece I had a ton of fun creating.

I started out doing a couple rounds of character designs, but they moved me on to designing some scenes and world building. This first scene shown here is supposed to be one of the capital cities of the universe and I tried to pack in as much story and detail as I could in there to make it feel like a lived in metropolis. I based it on my many trips to NYC where you have opulence and squalor living on top of each other, and a middle class just trying to get to work without getting in the way of each other.

You can see the rest of my Moonbreaker Concept Art here: LINK

-Jake

On Reading

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

My son, who wants to be an artist of some kind professionally some day and knows the importance of a full creative bank account, was stressing out because there’s too many shows to watch, comics to read, films to catch, and he doesn't know where to start or what to do.

Here’s the advice I gave him for comics, but I think it applies to any medium:

• Always be reading a classic. Something that is universally accepted as excellent and has endured through time. This is so you know what other works were built on.

• Always be reading something contemporary. This is to see how the old ways have inspired the current generation, and to see what new groundwork is being laid.

• Revisit something that inspired you as a kid. This is the thing that awakened your love for comics. To remind you of the power of the medium. A variant of this is: just read the trash you love.

I try to follow this advice, but I also give myself the room to just follow my interests. Here's an additional guideline:

You don't have to finish anything you're not enjoying. But do take note as to why it lost you, and remember that when you create your own thing.

What's your reading advice?

-Jake

Elizabeth Torque's Awakening of Wonder

From the Illustrators Division

I only recently became aware of comic artist Elizabeth Torque on twitter where she's been posting these jaw dropping drawings. A quick search to find out more about this artist revealed an extensive back log of comic covers for Marvel: LINK. Her Marvel work is excellent, but also very much in line with what you'd expect on the cover of a Marvel comic.

The work she's been recently posting on Twitter though is a MAJOR leveling up. There's something unleashed and magical about these. Like she's really tapped into something personal. To paraphrase from one of her pieces there I'd call it an "Awakening of Wonder."

I love this new direction for her, and someone PLEASE hire her to draw a Labyrinth comic! If not Labyrinth, then I'd love to see her own comic project some day.

More on her Twitter: LINK

-Jake

The Sculpted Architecture of Jacques Couëlle

From the Architecture Desk

Self-taught French architect Jacques Couëlle was a polarizing figure in the world of mid century architecture. Eschewing the straightlines and minimalism that was in voque at the time, Couëlle saw the building as a sculpture and in 1962 created the masterpiece Castellaras estate in Mouans-Sartoux, France.

Couëlle work blurs the line between sculpture and architecture and I really dig it.

More images here: LINK​

Related from the blog: LINK LINK

-Jake

Pre-Ware Motorcycles

From the Office of Wheels

Nice collection of pre-war motorcycles by photographer Paul Clifton. These are more utilitarian looking than the overly designed motorbikes of the current era, but there's beauty in their spartan styling.

Lots of ideas here for vehicle design. I may be incorporating some of these into a future comic.

More bikes here: LINK, LINK, and LINK​

Clifton's Website: LINK

-Jake

Big Shop Update!

From the Division of Products and Services

I made a couple NEW pins for the shop. I am so PUMPED for how cool these pins turned out. I designed this octopus holding a pen a few years ago for Inktober and I always loved this design. My wife convinced me that it needed to be a pin, so here we are.

ORDER HERE: LINK​

I also have the Spacing Out pins available: LINK

AND

I've added a new print to the shop: STAR CRYSTAL: LINK

The Star Catcher pauses for a brief moment to contemplate his 4th dimensional existence.

All orders that come in are lovingly packed by my assistant Lucy. She's a college student and works Fridays and Saturdays. So if you order now there's a good chance it will get packed up and shipped out before Sunday.

PATREON: This week on the Patreon: sketchbook art dump!​

I'm sharing a bunch of images from my private sketchbook.

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​

On the Fruits of Opportunity

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I've been thinking a lot lately about what direction to take my career in the coming months and years. There's a lot of opportunity out there and it's hard to parse out what's practical and what's going to be a waste of time.

One thing I'm trying to balance out is making opportunity vs chasing opportunity.

The difference is an opportunity you make is usually born out of passion, and an opportunity you chase is usually born out of desperation.

My friend put it succinctly:

"A project born not from passion but from opportunity may bear fruit but it’s almost always bitter." -Kohl Glass

On the flip side, I've done passion projects that have borne very little fruit, but boy was it sweet fruit.

Listen, I've got 5 kids and a mortgage so I'll take any fruit. But I just worry that chasing too much opportunity actually limits the amount of lasting success one might have in a career. James Clear looks at it this way:

“If you spend too much time working on good things, then you don't have much time left to work on great things.

Understanding opportunity costs means eliminating good uses of time, and that's what makes it hard.” - James Clear

The trick then is to set aside enough of yourself to work on projects that make opportunity so that those projects have the sunlight, nurturing, and fertile soil they need to make a ton of sweet fruit.

-Jake

The cute yet cool drawings of Concept Artist Ryo Yambe

From the Illustrators Division

I've seen Yambe's work here and there on the internet and it has always stopped me in my tracks. I'm a sucker for combining cute with cool, and Yambe does it masterfully and seemingly effortlessly.

Back in October I had the surprise pleasure of meeting him in person at Lightbox Expo. I was excited to pick up a copy of his new book collecting all of these drawings. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the printer, or shipping, or something and he didn't have any books with him. I hope he's able to sort that out because as far as I can tell there's no way to get a copy right now.

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

-Jake