On service

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

A friend of mine shared this message with me this week and I keep thinking about it.

“In centuries past, art was made for the honor and glory of God. Viewed in this light, a career in the arts was a career of service, not egotism. There is a cue there for us. The dedication of our work to a higher cause than our own self-promotion frees the work from preciousness. It becomes not about how good we are but about how good we can be in selfless service to something larger than ourselves. As artists, we are the bearers of gifts, spiritual endowments that come to us gratis and ask only to be used. A gift for music asks that we give voice to it. A fine photographer's eye asks that we focus it. We are responsible to our gifts for the use of our gifts, and this is a form of accountability too.”

by Julia Cameron.

I love this message, because for the side of me that thinks I'm hot stuff it's a reminder I shouldn't use my talent for stroking my ego, and conversely, for the side of me that thinks I'm a washed up hack it's a reminder that I have the ability to use it in the service of something bigger than me.

Source: Walking in this World: The Practical Art of Creativity

-Jake

The Insane World Building of Tanner Staheli

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From the Illustrators Division

Tanner Staheli is a Utah based artist who's built and incredible universe he calls "Immortalize." His world is as meticulously fleshed out as the hyper-detailed crosshatched drawings he's made for it.

The website he's put together has all the regions of the world with drawings and descriptions, dozens of characters, over a dozen different organizations, and even fauna.

But Staheli isn't just caught in the world building trap, he's begun writing a drawing stories for this world. You can get the first comic he's made here: LINK (sadly it's out of stock, but you can get a digital copy for $5.)

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Shop: LINK

-Jake

Rux Ryder Comic Pages

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From the Making Comics Division

I've been chipping away at a new comic that will be in the Robots book. Here's the first 3 pages. I'm sharing the entire process and the rest of the comic on my patreon for those interested.

The comic in the SPACESHIPS book was directly connected to the book, in that I had Kepler breaking the 4th wall and was speaking to the reader part of the time.

This time for ROBOTS I decided to have my character unaware of the reader, but still have the story correspond with the rest of the guidebook. I think it'll still work just as well. Also, I can cut out the comic part and make a standalone comic with just it.

These are getting colored up by Anderson Carman and the finished pages I'm getting back look solid!

PATREON: If you want to see ALL the sketches, reference material, and prelim drawings I'm doing that go into the creation of drawings like these, become a patron today.

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

-Jake​

Robocop 2 and Creative DNA

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I don't remember much about Robocop 2, but the design of Cain's cyborg body is seared into a recess of my brain. Because Robocop 2 is so old, and my exposure to it was in my early teens I sometimes forget how much this design influenced my art.

I mean, to this day I'm still finding places to put little asymmetrical Xs on my robots.

Your creative DNA is made up of stuff like this. They’re the things you see as a kid or teenager that alter your thinking a little bit. You may have been aware of it at the time, but over the years you forget where these influences came from, until all you have is what is a part of you. Then every once an a while the original idea lands back in your lap and you’re reminded just how much they are a part of you.

I just wanted to salute those things that made me who I am. And remind myself that I didn’t just boil up out of the ether, but am a complex art making machine held together by tiny powerful strands of creative DNA.

-Jake

On what grips your soul

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

"You must cultivate activities that you love. You must discover work that you do, not for its utility, but for itself, whether it succeeds or not, whether you are praised for it or not, whether you are loved and rewarded for it or not, whether people know about it and are grateful to you for it or not. How many activities can you count in your life that you engage in simply because they delight you and grip your soul? Find them out, cultivate them, for they are your passport to freedom and to love." - Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello

Source: The Way to Love (via: James Clear's Newsletter)

-Jake