On quality coming from quantity

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

A couple weeks ago the New York Times Magazine published a long article about Matt Farley. Farley is a musician most notable for releasing over 24,000 songs. He's written a song about almost every situation (highlighting something interesting in a book), every notable thing in pop culture (Used to be a Pizza Hut), and stuff I'd never think of. (Poop in a Wormhole). Say what you will about the quality of most of those 24,000 songs, the man is unconventional yet dedicated to being prolific.

The article is a fascinating read about one artist earning a living by cracking the algorithm through a relentless pursuit of quantity, challenging society on what exactly is artistic expression, and making a massive amount of work in the process.

One thing he said in the article stuck out to me:

“If you reject your own ideas, then the part of the brain that comes up with ideas is going to stop,” he said. “You just do it and do it and do it, and you sort it out later.”

Maybe the thing holding a lot of us bck is we reject ideas we have before they even have a chance of succeeding? Maybe we could take a page out of Matt Farley's book and just create what our brains come up with, and sort out what's actually good and bad later.

Read the full article here: LINK

-Jake

Javier Senosiain Aguilar Casa Orgánica

From the Architecture Desk

Casa Orgánica, a concept house by Mexican architect Javier Senosiain somehow looks cozy, prehistoric, and futuristic all at the same time. For the homewner who's always saying, "Pshhhh, who needs straight lines?!"

Senosiain says the house was inspired by the shape of a peanut shell: "two roomy oval spaces with a lot of light, connected by a low, narrow, dimly lit passageway."

It doesn't just look super interesting, it actually is psychologically functional: "he idea for this proposal was based on the elemental functions required by man: a place to live and fellowship with others, which would include a living room, dining room, and kitchen, and another place for sleeping, with a dressing room and bath. The original concept is embodied in two large spaces: diurnal and nocturnal."

More photos and info here: LINK

-Jake

Electric Porsche Dakar Racer Concept

From the Office of Wheels

Industrial designer Kamil Kozik's electric off-road Porsche looks rad. It's got all the right angles and curves to just barely convince your brain it's a Porsche, but then it infuses all the engineering aesthetics expected from an off-road rally racer. All of this packaged up in a nice render. Very cool.

More of Kozik's work in Instagram here: LINK

-Jake

Rarely Seen Unhinged Cover Illustrations by Noriyoshi Ohrai

From the Comics Division

I fell in love with Noryioshi Ohrai's art back in the 80's when I would see some of his movie poster art hanging up at the theater. Though I didn't know who the artist was, his art stuck with me. Then in the 2000s someone had found and posted a bunch of his Star Wars and Godzilla art online and I finally put the two together.

Recently I stumbled on several comic covers he did of Demon Lord Dante for Weekly Bokura Magazine and they are exciting. I love the wild swings Japanese creators have taken over the years. You never know what's going to take off and I feel like most publishers these days take the safest bet by just publishing nostalgic remakes.

The weekly manga anthologies published in Japan seems to be the solution. Print a bunch of different stories each week, see whatpeople like, and eliminate the ones people don't.

Anyway, back to Ohrai's covers here...not much else to say other than I'm picking up what he's putting down here.

More cover art from Weekly Borurka Magazine collected here: LINK

I particularly like this one too:

Robots, Robots, Robots

From the Drawings Unit

Last Friday I delivered the last 9 pages of the comic to my colorist, and wrapped up the art duties on the book!

I'm So happy with how it's looking. I sent the pages off to a few friends of mine who make comics and the feedback I'm getting is that it's my best work yet. 🙏

To celebrate, here's a hot plate of new robots to feast your eyes on:

Get a front row seat of the ROBOTS book creation on Patreon: LINK

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I'm posting my process for all my art on the patreon. If you'd love getting more behind the scenes content and learn a little more how I approach creativiy, project management, and business strategies I post over there at least one a week. Consider signing up!

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