Are You an Octopus or a Phoenix?

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From the Department of Video Works and the Comics Division

In my first youtube video of 2022 I got to interview Ryan Claytor, who is one of the most creative and prolific visual storytellers I've had the pleasure to talk to. He shared something with me that was so profound I had to open the video with it. You can see it below: LINK

Come for the 2 minute intro, but stay for the hour long conversation because it's fascinating.

The reason I did this interview was because Ryan reached out to ask if I'd help promote his comic Kickstarter. Once I heard about the kickstarter and a little more about Ryan I knew I had to have him on the channel.

His comic is called A Hunter's Tale LINK​

It's a mini comic that was written by his grandfather and illustrated by himself. I love the idea of generational creative collaboration.

I read a poem once about how when everyone dies there's three deaths and it has just stuck with me. The first death is when your heart stops beating. The second is when your body is laid in the grave. And the third is that moment sometime in the future when your name is spoken for the last time.

By making new things out of our ancestor's experiences and words the act of creation has a way of turning the hearts of the children towards their fathers and in a way keeps them alive for future generations.

Ryan's kickstarter ends this weekend, so back it before you miss out on it.

Also, check out Ryan's website here: LINK​

-Jake

Skull Chaser in 3D

From the Modeling Division

A friend of mine sent me a link to these recently and I was just floored by how cool these CG models of Skull Chaser are. This REALLY makes me want to pitch an animated series or something.

These were created by 3D artist giobiancoFB.

Click through to see these models on sketchfab where you can actually rotate them in your browser.

Skull_Chaser (Fan Art): LINK​

Skull Chaser motorcycle: LINK​

Skull Chaser motorcycle..animation: LINK​

Skull Chaser motorcycle... in action: LINK​

Work on the comic continues, albeit at a slowww pace. Really happy with this panel:

Still working on a new name for it. I appreciate all the suggestions last week. I feel like I'm getting close to something good.

-Jake

Japanese Tōmyōdai

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From the Department of Creative Bank Accounting, Architecture Desk

I learned about Japanese lighthouses this week. Most of the lighthouses you'll see in Japan look like traditional western style light houses. In the Meiji era Scottish engineer Richard Henry Brunton supervised the building of 26 of them and established a system of lighthouse keepers. Prior to his influence, Japanese lighthouses looked like this:

There's only a handful of these left and they aren't very well known. All of these are Edo period and look distinctly Japanese. I love the squared off and squatty look to them.

For some reason whenever I've thought of lighthouses I always thought of the traditional New England cylindrical style. It never occurred to me that other cultures would need to have solved the same problem and would've done it in their own style. Something to think about next time you sit down to design a spaceship or castle. Try to think about how this particular alien or fantasy race would approach the problem and let that influence the design, from the bones up.

(Via @UrbanFoxxx)

-Jake

Absolute Zero

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From the Comics Division

This is cool...Absolute Zero is a short, 7-page comic book published in Wired several years ago that I never knew about until recently. It tells the story of what happened to Dr. Mann (Matt Damon) on his ice planet before the events of the movie.

This was written by Christopher Nolan himself, and drawn by Sean Gordon Murphy. I kind of wish more movies did this: fleshed things out with comics drawn by really good artists. (That's why I kind of dig the Star Wars comics that are filling in all the gaps between the original trilogy.)

You can read the comic here: LINK​

Or go track down a copy of the November 2014 issue of Wired and read it in print.

-Jake

On Batman

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From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I was thinking about Batman this week. (By the way, I'm not too excited for this new Batman movie. I want to be, but I don't need more darkness in my life right now and boy howdy it looks grim. Crazy idea, but hear me out: What if we got a live action Batman film that was...PG? I'd like a little less dark and a little more knight with my Batman, please. A live action take on the 90's Animated Series would be everything for me. Set in the 30s-40s. The tech isn't over the top. He has to be a detective...stuff like that.)

ANYWAY...Some creators want to be all Batman and no Bruce Wayne.

They want to spend all their time working on the fun stuff, staying out all night, punching bad guys, using the latest tech, and driving a cool car. But Batman does not exist without Bruce Wayne.

Bruce Wayne spends time in the real world, he's watching the finances, he foots the bills, he's out doing research, he's networking, he's going to meetings at Wayne Enterprises. All of that needs to happen for Batman to be able to go out and have fun fighting crime.

At the beginning of my career I wanted to just play the Batman part. I wanted to have fun doing illustrations, graphic novels, working in animation, dabbling with 3D. However, I think in order to really succeed as a creator you need to learn to embrace both the fun art side (Batman) and the less fun business side (Bruce Wayne).

The fully actualized version of you is the person who can kick butt at art, and also kick butt at business. Be Batman AND Bruce Wayne.

-Jake

The Largest Cave on Earth

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From the Exploration Unit of the Department of Interestingness

The largest gave on earth isn't big...it's MASSIVE. Gosh dang, I did not realized just how big until I saw this short film. Film maker Ryan Deboodt did the world a service by taking his drone and camera set up to Hang Son Doong to document its size in this peaceful yet awe inspiring short film.

You can see more of Deboodt's work here: LINK​

website: LINK​

Watch the film below:

(via Colossal)

Paleoart Round Up

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From the Illustrators Division in partnership with the Division of Prehistoric Studies

I'm always impressed with paleo artists and their ability to give life to animals that we only have scraps of skeletons to work from. Thought I'd share some cool paleoart I've seen lately.