On Fitting In

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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

Ultralazer

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From the Comics Division

This looks like a cool comic. French artist Yvan Duque does the illustrations and they are magnificent. Like a mix of Eric Carle and Adventure Time.

I love the maps, the colors, the shapes. Putting this in my books-to-buy after my book buying freeze is over in 2023. Available on Amazon: LINK​

More art here: LINK​

Duque's Instagram: LINK

-Jake

Concept Art from Finch

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From the Concept Art Division

I mentioned Finch earlier and I want to add that it's a good, quiet, small movie, that's not based on any existing IP. It's the kind of film I want more of. It's a pos-apocalytic survival film with a cast of three: Robot scientist Finch, and his robot creation, and his dog.

Concept artist David Levy did the design for the robot, and I really love it. There's a TON of images here: LINK​

David's Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

-Jake

ZvP

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From the Short Film Division

This fan-made samurai short film, titled ZVP (abbreviated from Zatoichi vs Predator, which I assume wasn't used for copyright reasons) clashes together the samurai and sci-fi genre.

In feudal Japan, blind Swordsman Zatoichi comes to the aid of a noblewoman carrying a secret treasure, and must fight cyborg ninjas and a powerful and mysterious Samurai.

From Junya Okabe the creator: "This is a fictitious sci-fi film trailer produced as a nonprofit fan movie, based on a Japanese historical film, or jidaigeki, which does not actually exist. Please enjoy watching it."

According to the date on the youtube video this was posted five years ago. FIVE. YEARS. How come I'm only NOW seeing this sublime masterwork of camp meets cool? I feel like some friend somewhere let me down, by seeing this and not telling me about it.

Watch the short film here: LINK​

Some behind the scenes stuff here: LINK and LINK​

-Jake

Making more comics!

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From the Making Comics Division

My sales pitch for Kepler's Intergalactic Guide to Spaceships was that it's "Part Comic, Part Art book, ALL spaceships."

In order to deliver on the comic part of that promise, this week I've been focusing on getting the comic pages done for the book. I've also added a section all about the technology that makes spaceships work in the JP universe. Having so much fun watching this book come together!

If you want to see more of these comic pages as I post them, as well as the rest of the making of the book, I'm posting regular updates on my patreon.

-Jake

On Potential

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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

The Boulder Mobile

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From the Office of Wheels

I'm in love with this little ride inspired by the Boulder Mobile from Wacky Races.

Japanese auto enthusiast Takamasa Segi bought a Ferves Ranger and converted it into this. Ferves was an Italian car manufacturer that made these tiny automoblies as an off-road alternative to the Fiats.

Farmers would buy them because they were easy to make tight turns on moutain roads and trails.

More pictures and info here: LINK​

And here: LINK​

-Jake

Ghibliesque Star Wars

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From the Illustrators Division

What if Star Wars was an early 80's anime for kids? Gop Gap's vision for that is absolutely perfect.

Gop Gap is a visual development artist working out of Thailand. They do some incredible character work, but also capture moments so well. Lighting and color is on point.

Check out the links below, there is A TON more work with Star Wars, Pokemon, Marvel, and Dragon Ball.

Artstation: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

If you like this, also check out this post from way back: LINK​

-Jake

The unexpected life of a throwaway sketch

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From the Film and Animation Division

483 weeks ago I posted a little drawing of a robot on instagram. That's almost 10 years ago! It got 747 likes. I didn't think much of it, and moved on.

Five years ago, CG animator and modeler Kiel Figgins ask for permission to make a rigged model of it and sells it in his shop. (I get a fair kickback of every sale)

This year, Lead Animator at The Mill, James Brown made an adorable PRO LEVEL animated short with the robot called "Love is a Dangerous Game."​

The internet really is a tool for connection and collaboration. I love that this happened, and it's a testament to just throwing stuff out there and being willing to let people roll with it.

-Jake

Spaceship Melange

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From the Drawings Unit

Here's a bunch more spaceships I've been cleaning up and coloring for the book. A rough layout is finished for the book so now I'm going in and polishing each spread.

As I was making this image I had all the spaceships overlapped and I thought it looked kind of cool:

I call it a "Spaceship Melange." This spacetime quantum anomaly used to happen a lot around super massive black holes until the invention and installation of gravitational vector alternators on most star ships.

-Jake

On Motivation

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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

Corporate Memphis...but cool

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From the Illustrators Division

London based Brazilian illustrator and designer, Gabriel Silveira does the Corporate Memphis style...but he brings an edge to it that I think elevates the genre. Like, I think it'd be cool to see a whole comic, or animated film in his approach to illustration. Really would like to mix in this kind of polish and refinement to my own work somehow.

Check out his website here: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Behance: LINK​

-Jake

3D Tour of the USS Drum

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From the Military Vehicles Division

First off, do you know about Matterport? It's a collection of places captured in 3d that you can explore from your computer. I think it's primarily to sell real estate, but the thing that really interests me is that you can visit museums, and interesting locations. Great for reference!

I'm particularly enthralled with the submarine tour LINK!

A few more really cool places to explore:

Lissieu Grande Propriete: LINK​

Star Trek Continues bridge: LINK​

Air Force One: LINK​

(Thanks to Jake Crowe for bringing this to my attention on the Discord)

-Jake

SPACE LAMBO

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From the Department of Wheels

Why can't we get a car today that looks like the Lamborghini Marzal (1967). Granted I know that side window probably isn't the best protection in a T-bone incident...but that's a small price to pay to look this rad.

The interior is just as cool. Love the elongated console and hexagonal dashboard motif in this thing. And the silver faux leather? Chef's kisss.

Sadly, this was just a one off, but you can see the shape language influence many future Lambos.

A good video here: LINK

-Jake

SEE-THROUGH CUTAWAY PRINTS

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From the Drawings Unit

This is something I've wanted to try for years, but never had a good excuse to do. I absolutely LOVE cutaways and overlays and this weekend while I was working on the latest cutaway for the book I thought, "Why not make this an ultra-cool handcrafted print set?" I made a few samples and they are just so darn cool, so I decided to make them add-ons for the Kickstarter.

Each print comes with TWO sheets:

1) A vellum see-through overlay with line work only:

2) A giclee print with the full color cutaway drawing for the base:

When you combine them, the effect is captivating. I find myself just staring at this print, then flipping the sheet up and down:

They are 11x14 inches which is a standard frame size you can get at Target, or Michaels, so you don't break the bank framing this thing. And boy do they look cool framed:

Here's a close up:

These are hand-crafted in my studio and you can add it on to your pledge for $65 each. Or if you want all three, I have a buy 2, get one free deal.

Available EXCLUSIVELY through the Kickstarter.

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

-Jake

On Success

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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

Scavengers

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From the Film and Animation Division

I'm not sure how this fantastic short escaped my attention for over 5 years! Made in 2017, Scavengers is an 8 minute peek in an alien world of bizarre extraterrestrial creatures and mysterious rituals. The short, created by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner, was created for Adult Swim’s Toonami branch.

The short follows a couple of colonists on a strange planet as they work their way through a series of specially choreographed customs in order to achieve...something. You need to watch it to find out.

Insanely inventive, this makes me want to add a little more weird to my own sci-fi work.

The short is making the rounds again because HBO greenlit an animated series based on the short called "Scavengers Reign."

Watch the full short here: LINK​

Watch the trailer for Scavengers Reign here: LINK​

-Jake

Paul Felix's Lilo and Stitch Art

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From the Illustrators Division

Lilo and Stitch turned 20 this week and it's brought back so many memories of a very impressionable time of my art life. I was in my early 20's and working at my first job at an animation studio, had my first kid a year earlier and was still trying to figure out my art style and where I fit in animation/concept art.

I saw Lili and Stitch and it's combination of cute, fun, and sci-fi made a massive impact on what I wanted to create.

I got the Art of Lilo and Stitch book and studied that thing front to back. I picked up watercoloring and worked on my design skills from it. One artist stood out to me above the rest: Paul Felix.

There's no Paul Felix website and as far as I can tell there's no social media account for him either. What there is though is the "UNOFFICIAL PAUL FELIX" blog.

To see a lot more work of his, check out the blog here: LINK

-Jake

Good night moon

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From the Department of Space Exploration

Andrew McCarthy, a fellow Arizonian, is an astrophotographer who does some incredible image work of the Moon. In that first one he actually captured the ISS transiting the moon.

I've been following his work for a couple years now and am always impressed with his captures.

I'm consistently blown away by his images.

Follow Andrew here:

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

Website: LINK​

Here's a nice blog post on how he does it: LINK

-Jake​