Vermillion Cliffs Roadside Attraction

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From the Exploration Unit

I was going through an archive of images I've puled from online and saw the first image up there and it reminded me of when the Parker fam visited this spot a few years ago on an overcast day.

This is the stone house at the Vermillion Cliffs location in northern Arizona. Visiting here feels like walking into a Moebius drawing.

It's a place out of time that instantly opens up your imagination.

Located here: LINK​

-Jake

Got my eye on you

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From the Illustrators Division

I'm in awe at the colors of this Beholder drawing by Canadian artist Darren M. A. Calvert. I thought it was digital at first, but no, this guy knows his way around design markers. Fabulous. I'm taking notes.

More of Darren's work here:

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

Etsy: LINK​

This got a good chuckle out of me: LINK​

-Jake

SPACESHIPS, SPACESHIPS, SPACESHIPS II

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From the Drawings Unit

If you can't tell, I'm having too much fun drawing spaceships lately.

Been cranking these out every day this week for the kickstarter. They seem to sell pretty quick, which makes me so happy! Expect more as the campaign rolls on this week.

(I made a guide on how to manage your pledge and add an original art piece: LINK)

-Jake

On the bet

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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

Are you in the market for a very large ship?

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Department of Vehicles and ships

While researching spaceships I stumbled on a website for a company the builds ships: Damen Shipyards Group based in the Netherlands.

Their website is a cornucopia of different styles of ships. Here's a list of what they build:

Tugs
Workboats
Pilot & Tender Vessels
Ferries
Dredging
Offshore Support Vessels
Pontoons & Barges
Defense & Security
Research & Science Vessels
Cargo Vessels
Fishing Vessels
Shipyards & Docks
Yachting

Not living next to an ocean makes me forget just how many ships there are out there. As a boy raised in Arizona where water is pretty rare, I'm fascinated with ships like these. Any time I see them in person, they stop me in my tracks.

Damen has a nice style to their ships. Love the shapes and colors going on. Good reference here for spaceships too. Click around and you find neat stuff like these research vessels they build: LINK

-Jake​

Stargazing in Style

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Department of Space Exploration in cooperation with the Architecture Desk

Out in The-Middle-of-Nowhere, France, nestled in the rocky grasslands is a tiny village of telescope buildings specifically designed for stargazing.

This is like the perfect mix of everything I love: weird bubble architecture, elaborate machines, scientists hiding out in the wastelands, and space.

Chefs kiss!

(Via: Messy Nessy Chic)

Related: Pascal Hausermann​

-Jake

SPACESHIPS, SPACESHIPS, SPACESHIPS

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From the Special Projects Unit

Some more spaceship drawings I made yesterday and today for the Kickstarter. These are add-ons you can add to your pledge.

I made a guide on how to manage your pledge and add an original art piece: LINK

I've got more art to share in the future. Next week I'll be showing A LOT of process and behind the scenes stuff on the Patreon. So if you haven't signed up yet, now would be a good time. LINK​

​Patrons also got a free copy of this Red-Shift Renegades One Shot I just released:

There's also been a great discussion on the Private Patreon section of the discord about how to be an indie comic artist, and an outline of my approach to business. Join the patreon and then join us in that conversation!

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JOIN THE DISCORD COMMUNITY HERE: LINK​

It's been a ton of fun seeing what people are posting and discussing over there. The newsletter has it's own thread so you can discuss what I share with other like-minded folks. Come on over, grab a snack and join the party!

-Jake

Classic Superman Never Looked SO GOOD

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From the Comics Division

J. Totino Tedesco's variant cover for Action Comics #1031 is everything I want in a Superman Comic. Nothing fancy here, just an understated form-fitting suit (by contemporary superhero design standards), a physique that looks like the guy eats real food and works on a farm, and a bank heist. Simple and straightforward. You don't need to Superman to have to save the world, battle aliens, or fight Doomsday to have a powerful story. No, a good Superman story is about the choices he makes. When you're all powerful, practically omniscient, and impervious to danger your weakness isn't really something as basic as kryptonite. Your weakness is is that you can't save everyone. Superman can stop the bank heist, but what is he neglecting while he deals with these mobsters? In a city full of crime, murder, disaster, accident, suicide, and more, every person Superman decides to help means there's someone he didn't have time to help. That's where the drama lies. How he deals with that is the story I want to read. I don't know if Action Comics #1031 actually addresses any of that, but the cover sure looks cool.

You can see more of Tedesco's work on Instagram: LINK (Check it out to see process photos for his Superman cover, included close ups of the art)

Original art for sale here: LINK

And here's his Marvel Page: LINK

-Jake

On doing

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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

Saturn's Hexagon

Department of Space Exploration

Do you know about Saturn's hexagon? Of course you do...but if not: SATURN HAS A NATURAL HEXAGON AT ITS NORTH POLE.

When I first learned this about a decade ago it blew my mind in two ways. First, that I was well into my thirties before I found out about this, (why didn't a teacher show me this? they discovered it in 1981??) and second, that it's just the most alien looking thing in our solar system.

At the center of the hexagon is a MASSIVE vortex. That's a close up shot of it there in the red and green.

Just to help you understand the scale here check out this image of the United States overlaid:

More about the Hexagon here: LINK

-Jake

The Gungy Futurism of Scott Vanden Bosch

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From the Illustrators Division

I fell in love with Scott Vanden Bosch's work a few years ago. Recently, I did a deep dive to try and find all of his drawings over time. It was cool to see how he's evolved as an artist and embraces the cartoony style he's settled on.

Here's a guy who has such a thorough understanding of composition, light and shadow, and design principles that he could do something pretty realistic with his work. But then his art would look like very other concept artist out there. No, Scott has a voice, and it's been a lot of fun to see what he does with it.

These samples barely scratch the surface. You should see the little sculpts he does of these guys.

Website: LINK​

Tumbler: LINK​

Blog: LINK​

Twitter: LINK (the most current collection of his art)

Instagram: LINK​

-Jake

Cyborg Turtle

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From the Department of Creative Bank Accounting, in cooperation with the Office of Good News

Back in 2015 this story of a loggerhead turtle that what injured by a boat made the rounds on the internet when scientists equipped it with a 3-D printed prosthetic jaw at a rehabilitation center in Turkey. I missed this story back then, but it was just brought to my attention recently, and now I share this with you.

A few searches didn't bring up any update on whether or not the turtle's body rejected the implant, or whether it was returned to the sea. However, I love that this happened. Warms my heart to see technology put to good use, righting a wrong.

-Jake

On Praise

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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

Griz Grobus

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From the Comics Division

Been reading this online comic by Simon Roy and Jess Pollard. I'll let them describe it to you:

"On a distant planet, a prying scribe, an overly sentimental constable, and a mayor resurrect a sleepy town’s long-defunct priest-bot. But “Father Stanley” is not what he seems. Meanwhile, in another universe, a hungry wizard accidentally sends a war-god into the body of a chicken"

So yeah, it's pretty fun.

Read here: LINK​

-Jake

Kepler’s Intergalactic Guide to Spaceships

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From the Special Projects Unit

​>>>CLICK HERE TO BE NOTIFIED ON LAUNCH<<<​

If everything goes as planned my Kickstarter will be launching next week. If you've enjoyed these newsletters, backing this book project would be a great way to show your love and support.

It's part comic. Part art book. ALL spaceships!

Here's a sneak peek at a couple of the reward tiers:

This is just scratching the surface of some of the things I've been putting together for this. Can't wait to show you the exclusive prints.

Again, sign up here for the notification at launch: LINK​

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JOIN THE DISCORD COMMUNITY HERE: LINK​

It's been a ton of fun seeing what people are posting and discussing over there. The newsletter has it's own thread so you can discuss what I share with other like-minded folks. Come on over, grab a snack and join the party!

-Jake