Search for the Eagle's Eye

October 30, 2023 in Illustrators Division

From the Illustrators Division

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Cool new book alert. I love indie book projects, especially the world building kind that's going on with Search for the Eagle's Eye.

This is by Arizona based artist Tate Parker, who, if the last name wasn't a give away, is my son.

He was in California for a couple years doing missionary work and carried this little sketchbook with him everywhere he went. He'd do drawings in it inspired by what he saw and was doing. The result was this epic adventure of three kids as they search for the Eagle's Eye.

I love how raw and honest the book turned out. Tate's an empathetic Gen Z storyteller that makes me excited for this new generation of creators.

You can pre-order the book here: LINK

Tate's Instagram: LINK

-Jake

Lost in Somnia

October 27, 2023 in Special Projects Unit

From the Special Projects Unit

Have you ever had a dream where you’re lying comfortably in your bed and then the next moment falling over a city? It’s happened to me a couple times and I always wake up with my heart pounding!

For this year’s Inktober challenge I’m wanted to try answer the question: what if you don’t wake up from the falling dream? What happens next?!

This is my 15th Inktober challenge, and every time (whether I complete it or not) I get pushed just beyond my ability and comfort, AND I seem to get better at drawing.

I guess that’s why I keep coming back to it.

With that, here's my first 16 drawings for the year:

Instead of waking up from the dream, the boy’s fall was broken by a loose web stretching between the derelict buildings. It looked as if the city’s inhabitants had vanished years ago. He was not looking forward to meeting its new citizens.

The boy wriggled free from the webbing, and dove into a hole in the ground to escape the oncoming spiders. The dark tunnel widened and opened up to a lighted path underground.

The bikers rode sharp and fast as they dodged around the boy and skidded to a halt. One in front and one in back, these were the first humans he saw since landing in the foreign city. Something about their dead eyes made him more afraid than the spiders.

Something about the boy demanded protection rather than predation. The bikers knew exatly where to take him.

Guided by these unlikely saviors, the boy found himself standing before the Underseer in a chamber aglow with surface light. Here, the Underseer, a figure of enigmatic authority, bestowed upon the boy a truth as profound as it was unsettling.

"Without the map," the Underseer said, "you shall remain forever adrift in this dream world, a ship without a star to steer by."

The deal was struck with an unspoken weight that hung heavily in the chamber of light.

"I shall give you the map," the Underseer said, his voice echoing through the chamber like a distant thunder. "But in return, you must retrieve something of great importance to me. In the belly of the Temple of the Golden Sun, lies a sacred artifact—The Star Crystal. Bring it back to me, and you shall have your passage out of this underworld. Your path homeward will be revealed."

The chamber was a place of profound stillness, save for the haunting drip of condensation that echoed through the air. As the boy’s fingers closed around the Star Crystal, he felt a shiver of otherworldly power coursing through him. The crystal was cold to the touch, as if it held the very essence of the cosmos within its core.

As the boy hurried out of the temple, clutching the Star Crystal tightly, a question nagged at him. Why had the Underseer not retrieved it himself?

The toad monster's monstrous bulk belied its deceptively swift and nimble nature. Determined to escape its attacks, the boy darted into the labyrinth of the underworld. The toad gave chase, each crushing bounce closing the gap between them with alarming speed.

I realized after I finished inking that the proportions were off on the boy, so I went in with correction tape and tried to fix it. Still not happy with the pose/proportions. Finished, not perfect, right?

Just as the boy felt the monstrous toad's noxious breath and gaping jaws closing in on him, a turn of fortune appeared in the form of a girl swooping in with breathtaking speed on the back of a jet-powered beetle.

The Underseer's promise of the map was just a lie laid bare by the danger the boy escaped. She flew him out of the underworld, beyond the fallen city, to wander lands safe from the treachery of the Underseer and his malevolent forces.

There, the two of them hatched a plan to return the Star Crystal to its rightful place, knowing that it was essential not just for the boy's escape but also for the stability of this dream world itself. In the process the two's hearts became intertwined with a shared sense of purpose and destiny.

The boy and the girl observed the strange passage of time, which seemed to move faster and differently in this realm. Days turned into years, and it felt as if they had known each other for a lifetime. The memories of the boy's home, once vivid and urgent, began to fade like a distant, forgotten story.

The importance of the Star Crystal started to diminish in their eyes. It was tucked away safe on the hidden island where they had carved out a life together.

Watching the moon rise over the sea the two found a sanctuary in each other's arms that they never wanted to leave. However an unspoken reality lingered in the air. The enemies that had haunted their journey through the dream world were not to be underestimated, and their thirst for power and control would not wane with the passing of time.

As the urgent transmission crackled through the girl's radio, a sense of foreboding gripped the boy and the girl. The call summoned her to the Sky Castle; a place she had vowed never to return to. But her commitment to that old promise dissolved when she learned why she was needed. The voice of her mother was faint but heavy, "The world is collapsing, we need the Star Crystal."

With each strike of her dagger, the girl carved a path through the assailants as the boy shielded the Star Crystal. The crystal, pulsing with an otherworld energy would find safekeeping with the Castle's Monarch. The only question remained was how the Underseer knew to send a wake of Sun Walkers to the Sky Castle first.

I couldn’t quite get this finished yesterday, so I’m officially behind! Good run though. I think this is the best I’ve done on Inktober in a while.

My plan, as always, is to stay on top of the challenge this year and do all 31 days. If anyone has been following my posts you'll see I've fallen behind this week. Life got in the way and I haven't been able to do it the last 3 days.

I might catch up, or I might have to come back to this later, not sure how I'm going to fit in the time to finish this AND go to Los Angeles next week for Lightbox. We shall see!

-Jake

On the trajectory

October 09, 2023

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I think the worst thing you can do as an artist is day trade in your creativity. You know, it's where you measure your success by how well you did each day.

Studies have shown that 95% of people who day trade stocks lose money in the long run. They're so focused on day-to-day fluctuations of the market that they lose sight of the bigger picture and don't notice whether their decisions are trending down or up.

The smartest investors are the ones who make consistent deposits in a portfolio of stocks, and then forget about it. Only checking once a quarter, every six months, or annually. If something didn't perform as well as they liked, they make adjustments.

Whether they are up or down on any given day doesn't concern them. It's the trajectory that matters.

It's the same for people who create. By only paying attention to whether you're having a bad day or a good day, a productive day, or a slacker day, you might lose sight of the bigger picture.

Instead, make consistent creative deposits and forget about it. Whether you made something amazing or forgettable today isn't important. What's really matters is that you showed up and did something.

Then, each quarter, six month mark, or annually take stock of your trajectory. Did you finish X amount of projects? Do the drawings you make now look better than the drawings you made last year? Are you landing the jobs that fit your skillset?

Whether they are up or down on any given day shouldn't concern you. It's the trajectory that matters.

-Jake

The Primary Color World of Linzaoyu

October 06, 2023 in Illustrators Division

From the Illustrators Division

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I'm just so charmed by these colorful, dreamlike, and enchanting drawings by Japanese artist Linzaoyu.

I would love to see this in an oversized coffee table book, with some kind of narrative in the margins. Seems like there's way more going on in these images than what the pictures show us.

Very little info about the artist online. They're mostly active on instagram. Check out A LOT more of this kind of thing there: LINK

-Jake

The Coin Auctioneer

October 04, 2023

From the Department of Interesting Collections

I've always had a fascination with money design. I would examine all the coins and dollars I could get my hands on as a kid, checking the dates and seeing if a coin was on this earth longer than I had been (which was easier to find the first 20 years of my life as it is now). I loved the artistry on display of the secret symbols, solemn compositions, and ornate carving work. I even designed a few of my own dollar bills once for fun.

To this day I can't hold a coin in my hand without checking the date on it. So when I see coin collections like this I'm just captivated by the history, craftsmanship, and humanity of these little tokens. You can learn just about everything you need to know about a culture or institution by what they put on their coins. Each one of these is a time capsule, revealing a world on it's two sides.

These were all pulled from this one instagram account which is a nice follow if you're into this stuff. Curated by British coin expert Dominic Chorney, you'll get a nice nugget of history and wonder with each post.

See more here: LINK

-Jake

The Fab Lab

October 02, 2023 in Architecture Desk

From the Architecture Desk

The Fab Lab is a maker space and studio office for Roth Architecture located in the Yucatán peninsula. Designed to look like it organically grew out of the jungle, this place looks more like an alien home than an office space.

Tons more photos and info here: LINK

Roth Architecture specializes in these kinds of buildings. Check out the rest of their projects here: LINK

-Jake