The Sky Chapel of Ethiopia

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​From the Arts and Culture Unit

I think this place is amazing and full of story potential: A thousand feet above the Ethiopian desert sits a church carved into the side of a massive rock mountain. It's called Abuna Yemata Guh and it's over 1500 years old.

The ascent to reach the chapel involves a strenuous hike , crossing a rock bridge, a a vertical rock wall climb, then a narrow path with a 300 meter sheer drop on one side.

If you're afraid of heights, this isn't the pilgrimage for you...or maybe it's a way to overcome the phobia?

However, once inside the chapel there's beautiful well preserved fresco paintings of old testament prophets and new testament apostles.

Oh, and one more cool thing, there's an old monk who lives there. Not sure if he makes the ascent every day or if he just hangs out up there 24/7...but I'm getting Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade vibes from this.

Watch this incredible video here: LINK

-Jake​

Pterotech Fly Rider

From the Drawings Unit

I took the week off last week to visit Utah and spend some time outside. It was EXACTLY the thing I needed. I came back refreshed and had a bunch of great new ideas.

One thing I learned from the trip was that watching my son Tate fill spare minutes with drawing made me realize I don't actually draw that much, and hardly ever for practice or exploration these days.

I decided that when I got back home I'd devote at least an hour a day to fun/exploration drawing.

And this is what I made yesterday and today:

Thought I go back to my roots and design a robot rider.

Might have to do a few more of these and make it a small series.

Here's a couple more robots from the sketchbook:

PATREON: I'm doing a series of posts on getting a book deal. This isn't a case study of a book deal I've landed in the past. This is a week by week, play by play of me currently trying to land a deal with one of the major New York publishers.

I'm sharing my strategies, my email interactions, notes I'm getting from my agent, missteps, and rejections. Patrons are seeing concept art, the gnarly stuff that's discarded, but also the polished stuff I'm sharing with publishers. We are in part 8 this week of a multi-part series that will end when the book get's published!

Sign up now: LINK​

The amount of support on my Patreon ebbs and flows, but always hovers around 125-130 people. I'd like to get that up to 140 this month. 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​

On what the audience wants

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

This week I watched a 13 minute video that 60 minutes did on Rick Rubin and was just mesmerized the whole time. Rubin is a producer in the music world who seems to be some kind of musician whisperer. He's worked with just about every major artist yet doesn't play an instrument, read music, or knows how to work a mixer.

What he HAS mastered is how to pull the best out of the people who work with him. He leans hard on gut feelings and helping artists push the envelope in their work.

At the end he says something that hit me like a lighting bolt:

"The audience comes last. The audience doesn't know what they want. The audience only knows what's come before."

- Rick Rubin

I think this is the most important thing to remember when you're creating something.

We are living in an age of content. There's more TV, movies, comics, and music that can be consumed then there are eyes to see it all. The entertainment industry is built on an economy of cheap imitations of good things.

AI is only compounding this as all it's capable of making is imitations of what's been fed into it. Algorithms are designed to figure out what you're interested in and ONLY show you derivatives of that.

All of this is made to satisfy a mass audience that avoids things that challenge their conceptions of what they like.

So what stands out? What cuts through the noise? What wakes people up?

Creating something that only YOU could create. Make that first, worry about the audience later.

Watch the Rick Ruben 60 minutes episode here: LINK

-Jake​

The Risograph Radness of Wren McDonald

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From the Illustrators Division

Wren McDonald is an illustrator based in Hudson Valley, NY. As an educator at SVA's RisoLAB he has access to the unique Risograph machines that give his prints the texture and richness they exude.

Not sure what risography is? Here's a nice colorful explanation: LINK​

Wren's work drips with personality and playfulness. You can see more of his work here:

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

Tumblr: LINK​

I just snagged an Akira zine and one of these stickers from his shop!

-Jake

House Cave

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From the Architecture Desk

Found this cool House Cave designed by Spanish Architect office UMMO Estudio.

I love seeing how people incorporate dwellings into the landscape and cave houses are one of my favorite subgenre of living spaces.

This whole space just looks cozy and safe. Though I can imagine there's all kinds of bugs that want to live there too, haha.

More photos and info here: LINK

-Jake

Sketchbook Junk

From the Drawings Unit

I've been on a freelance job since March that wraps up this week. I'm grateful for the work, but as I was looking for art to post in this newsletter I just realized how little I've drawn outside of the job for the past 4 months. These sketches are from April, and my sketchbook has one drawing in it from May and one from June!

The only other drawing I've been doing has been some character designs for a book proposal I'm hoping to go out with in July. More details on that below👇.

This should change in the coming weeks as I plan on launching a kickstarter for a sequel to my SPACESHIPS book. More details on that coming soon!

PATREON: I'm doing a series of posts on getting a book deal. This isn't a case study of a book deal I've landed in the past. This is a week by week, play by play of me currently trying to land a deal with one of the major New York publishers.

I'm sharing my strategies, my email interactions, notes I'm getting from my agent, missteps, and rejections. Patrons are seeing concept art, the gnarly stuff that's discarded, but also the polished stuff I'm sharing with publishers. We are in part 7 this week of a multi-part series that will end when the book get's published!

Sign up now: LINK​

The amount of support on my Patreon ebbs and flows, but always hovers around 125-130 people. I'd like to get that up to 140 this month. 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​

On the reward

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I listened to an interview this week with a Youtuber I like and the host said something profound that I think applies to all creative careers.

They were talking about how you have to go years sometimes where you don’t make any money from your work, and you just do it as a hobby. And how sometimes people give up because they're not making enough money from the endeavor. Which is fair, you've got to be responsible.

And then the host says something profound:

You essentially have to do it, “as if you have nothing to lose…” and then he added “and nothing to gain.” LINK​

I keep thinking about that last part.

“Do it as if you have nothing to gain.”

Most of the successful creators on youtube, in music, comics, film, and writing, all have these long stretches of doing their thing without any reward. It's an important part of the process, because you discover the real reason you do the work: The work is its own reward.

Financial and critical success may never come from doing the work, and even if it does, it will fade over time. What stays, what you're always left with is doing is the work. Do it as if you've got nothing to lose and nothing to gain.

See the entire interview here: LINK​

-Jake

Arcade Machine Papercraft

From the Office of Arts and Crafts

Okay, this looks like a fun project. This is a project designed by French illustrator Pierre-Marie Postel. Postel uses his illustrations to discover his own nostalgic universe of Japan.

From his about page: "His works reinterpret the codes of vintage and Japanese advertising from the 60s in a contemporary way, with occasional nods to pop culture such as manga or anime."

He's got a lot of great stuff on his website...too much to share here, but I thought these arcade things were a lot of fun.

I'd actually like to design my own papercraft arcade machines based on my characters and worlds....spitballing here...and give away the PDFs...maybe as an incentive to sign up for this newsletter? (I did something similar for Gallery Nucleus once, but it wasn't papercraft, and it wasn't for free)

What do you think?

Download the Postel's PDF print files here: LINK​

More images of his arcades here: LINK​

Postel's Website: LINK​

-Jake

Kevin Hong's Dragon Couriers

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From the Illustrators Division

New York based artist Kevin Hong is a Korean-American illustrator who seems to be dialed into drawing everything I love. I was thinking of just sharing a medley of his work here, but this Dragon Courier illustration series really caught my eye. Imagine Kiki's Delivery Service, but it's in a fantasy world and the girls ride dragons instead of brooms.

His style is a pretty straight forward western Japanese hybrid like you see in the European comics scene, but I think where he shines is his color and concepts.

There's another idea he has on his website that's essentially the dragon couriers but it's in the future and the fantasy is replace with technology and it just looks so well thought out and developed.

I'd love to see more of anything he makes. Hoping he does a comic or something someday!

Website: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Tumblr: LINK

-Jake

The Flying Jeep

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From the Military Vehicles Division

The V-1 Jeep was a concept created by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in the late 50's. The idea was to have an open fuselage helicopter that you could easily switch out the cargo space with whatever you wanted. It was to be compact, and maneuverable. The design even had ramjet powered rotor which kept the engine compact and low maintenance.

This thing looks like a G.I.Joe toy from the 80's. I love it's utilitarian design. A concept artist I follow online, but forget who it was now, noted that sometimes no thought for aesthetics in engineering actually produces some of the most appealing designs.

More info here: LINK​

and here: LINK​

-Jake

My New Keyboard

From the Department of Tools and Equipment

It's called the CREATOR MICRO* and it's more than just cool looking, it actually is increasing my productivity. I'm always looking for ways to improve my workflow and one of the problems is having to glance at your keyboard all the time to make sure you're hitting the right hot key.

When I saw an ad for this on IG I knew right away this was the mini keyboard I was looking for. It's fully customizable, you can make the keys do whatever combination of key strokes you want. It's easy to tactilely navigate, and I'm already getting to the point where I don't have to look down at my hand to know what button I'm pushing.

It's perfect for anyone who works on a desktop in Photoshop/ClipStudio and it's already shaving off chunks of time in my workflow. You can learn more about this micro keyboard here: LINK​

And order one for yourself here: LINK​

Also...due to the opaque alchemy that is the instagram algorithm I posted a reel about this thing that has, at the time of this writing, over 600,000 views. I'm baffled. It only has 1.5k views over on Youtube.

*This is not sponsored, I just love this thing and wanted to share it with you.

-Jake

On Control

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

In 2009 I shared a table at a Mocca Arts Fest in NYC with 3 other people who were all just starting our careers in comics in the previous years.

A few nights ago I was reading a report on the best selling comics of 2022, and there was a list of authors in order of how many books they sold last year.

One of the people I shared the table with was 7th on the list selling 850,000 books!

Another was 22nd on the list selling 350,000 books!

While completely happy for them and their well deserved success, I was feeling bad and anxious about my much dimmer success in comics the next morning. I was just down on myself for not reaching those heights of achievement. Then I came across a quote by Epictetus in my morning studies:

“When I see an anxious person, I ask myself, what do they want? For if a person wasn’t wanting something outside of their own control, why would they be stricken by anxiety?”

I thought about that in relation to my current bout of anxiety. A book’s success is wildly out of the creators hands. All the creator has control over is making it as good as he or she can.

Just focus on making something the best you can make it.

That’s the part you can have anxiety over, because that’s the part you control.

-Jake

The Grungergetic comic art of Vlad Legostaev

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From the Illustrators Division

I've coined a term for this style of art that I see in Legostaev and his contemporaries: Grungergetic.

It's grungy, full of energy, and I love it. I'm always afraid to get a little sloppy with my inks in favor of keeping things tight. But I'd love to loosen up a little like Vlad.

Vlad Legostaev is a Ukrainian based comic artist and one to keep an eye on. I love how he draws the Turtles: LINK​

You can see more of his work here:

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK (Content warning, lots of grizzly Ukrainian war coverage)

Website: LINK

-Jake

On the Book Radar

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From the Office of Comics and Books Acquisitions

Here's five books I've recently acquired and/or read that I think should be on your radar:

Dragon Hoops: LINK

It's fascinating how Yang weaves his own life into the narrative of this book. It's a window into the world of high school basketball, with a history of the sport threaded throughout.

Frontier: LINK​

THIS BOOK. Hot damn. I don't read French, but the book is gorgeous and delicate, and intense. And I got all of that from looking at each panel. It's a sci-fi masterpiece and I wish my comics could do just a fraction of what this one does. Can't wait for the english translation.

Superman: Up in the Sky: LINK​

I read this to celebrate Superman's 80the birthday. I was reading a twitter thread of “what superman book would you recommend to someone who hasn’t ever read superman” and this was the one that kept showing up on the list that I hadn’t already read.

It’s a good Superman doing what Superman does book, with all the weird and all the heart.

Joe Death and the Graven Image: LINK​

I'm currently reading this, and just love where the story is going and the art is pretty unconventional but engaging. I'll probably be highlighting Benjamin Schipper in a future newsletter.

Ryo Yambe Sketch Vol 1: LINK​

I mentioned Ryo in the last newsletter, and since then his book became available! It ships from Japan, and the process is a little convoluted, but the book is a feast for the eyes.

-Jake

The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

From the Office of Oceanic Affairs

As a product of our times I straddle the fence between both needing and hating that I need oil based energy. All that aside, I can appreciate the engineering marvels and utilitarian beauty of these mega structures.

I pulled these images from a fascinating thread on twitter sharing a ton of images of oil rig structures I'd never seen before.

The thread stuck a lively and mostly civil discussion about what is beautiful and whether or not something can be beautiful in spite of its function.

I'll leave that debate to others, for now I'm just so caught up with their designs and how I can apply that to the comics I'm creating.

Read the entire thread here: LINK​

-Jake

Moonbreaker Concept Art

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From the Drawings Unit

A couple years ago I was brought on early on to do concept art for the recently released game Moonbreaker.

I recently got clearance to share my concept art online so here's a few images of a massive piece I had a ton of fun creating.

I started out doing a couple rounds of character designs, but they moved me on to designing some scenes and world building. This first scene shown here is supposed to be one of the capital cities of the universe and I tried to pack in as much story and detail as I could in there to make it feel like a lived in metropolis. I based it on my many trips to NYC where you have opulence and squalor living on top of each other, and a middle class just trying to get to work without getting in the way of each other.

You can see the rest of my Moonbreaker Concept Art here: LINK

-Jake

On Reading

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

My son, who wants to be an artist of some kind professionally some day and knows the importance of a full creative bank account, was stressing out because there’s too many shows to watch, comics to read, films to catch, and he doesn't know where to start or what to do.

Here’s the advice I gave him for comics, but I think it applies to any medium:

  • Always be reading a classic. Something that is universally accepted as excellent and has endured through time. This is so you know what other works were built on.

  • Always be reading something contemporary. This is to see how the old ways have inspired the current generation, and to see what new groundwork is being laid.

  • Revisit something that inspired you as a kid. This is the thing that awakened your love for comics. To remind you of the power of the medium. A variant of this is: just read the trash you love.

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I try to follow this advice, but I also give myself the room to just follow my interests. Here's an additional guideline:

You don't have to finish anything you're not enjoying. But do take note as to why it lost you, and remember that when you create your own thing.

What's your reading advice?

-Jake

Elizabeth Torque's Awakening of Wonder

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From the Illustrators Division

I only recently became aware of comic artist Elizabeth Torque on twitter where she's been posting these jaw dropping drawings. A quick search to find out more about this artist revealed an extensive back log of comic covers for Marvel: LINK. Her Marvel work is excellent, but also very much in line with what you'd expect on the cover of a Marvel comic.

The work she's been recently posting on Twitter though is a MAJOR leveling up. There's something unleashed and magical about these. Like she's really tapped into something personal. To paraphrase from one of her pieces there I'd call it an "Awakening of Wonder."

I love this new direction for her, and someone PLEASE hire her to draw a Labyrinth comic! If not Labyrinth, then I'd love to see her own comic project some day.

More on her Twitter: LINK

-Jake

The Sculpted Architecture of Jacques Couëlle

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From the Architecture Desk

Self-taught French architect Jacques Couëlle was a polarizing figure in the world of mid century architecture. Eschewing the straightlines and minimalism that was in voque at the time, Couëlle saw the building as a sculpture and in 1962 created the masterpiece Castellaras estate in Mouans-Sartoux, France.

Couëlle work blurs the line between sculpture and architecture and I really dig it.

More images here: LINK​

Related from the blog: LINK LINK

-Jake