Anything can be a dragon
Issue 191
Hello,
We are heating up here in AZ! Summer hit us like a sledgehammer this week. Usually, I'm tucked away in my air conditioned office, but yesterday I went to Costco to pick up a rotisserie chicken, and BOY, that was not a pleasant experience.
Thankful for pools, AC, and big bags of ice.
Okay, here's FIVE things I thought you'd love as we roll into the weekend!
Enjoy!
STAYING IN THE LOOP:
3PP Podcast: Starting Illustration Later In Life
3PP Podcast: How To Get Your Art Noticed (By Agents)
3PP Podcast: The KEY To A Successful Art Career
A chronological list online art communities I've joined since 2001
A squilloid variant for the Refugium creature design contest.
1) Robot Round Up
From the Drawings Unit
Here's most of the landscape robot illustrations I did for the robots book.
The great thing about books is landscape images look amazing in them. The thing that stinks about social media is landscape images look small and insignificant.
I find myself being drawn more and more to art books, like I used to be before I got my phone. You just can't replicate the experience on a glass screen.
This book is out now digitally. Available here: LINK
I'll have print copies available in July!
Special thanks to Tate Parker and Anderson Carman for helping me out with colors on these.
Get my 8 book bundle for $60: LINK
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PATREON:
Get a front row seat of the ROBOTS book creation on Patreon: LINK
I'm posting my process for all my art on the patreon. If you'd love getting more behind the scenes content and learn a little more how I approach creativity, project management, and business strategies I post over there at least one a week. Consider signing up!
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
2) Experimental Ball Apartments from the 1980s
From the Architecture Desk
Back in the early 80s an artist and sculptor had an idea for an experimental settlement of extraterrestrial looking buildings, and somehow convinced some investors to get the money to build it.
That visionary was Dutch artist, Dries Kreijkamp, and his masterpiece was something he called the "bolwoningen." Bolwoningen roughly translates to "ball apartment" which is fitting because Kreijkamp recognized the shape of a sphere as the most organic and natural form in nature.
As something of a sphere artist myself (see half my robot designs above) I love these quirky little abodes.
More photos here: LINK LINK LINK
3) 1985 Nissan Com Com
From the Office of Wheels
How can something 39 years old look so fresh and be so perfect for this moment in time?
Debuted at the 1985 Tokyo Motor Show, the Nissan COM COM concept van was Nissan's answer to another quirky delivery van designed by Mazda. This thing has it all: straigtline styling. GPS. Car Phone. CD changer. But the think I love the most is the sliding front door.
It's a shame it never went to production.
4) Anything can be a dragon if you're Gomalemo
From the Illustrators Division
Japanese based creature designer Gomalemo has a gift. Not only does he possess a solid understanding of animal anatomy and physiology across all species, but he can combine those elements and make truly unique and captivating creature designs.
The thing that gets me is the wild combinations. Like, who would've thought to make a reindeer dragon? Yet it really works.
I got one of his books a while back and it's just a delight to flip through every now and then, when I need a little creative boost:
Much more here:
Pixiv: LINK
X: LINK
Instagram: LINK
Tumblr: LINK
5) On Structure
From the Inspirational Thought Unit
Back in January I posted this quote for the inspirational thought from French author Gustave Flaubert:
“Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.”
I got asked by a reader of this newsletter how one actually executes this.
The more structure you can add to your life, the easier it is to deal with problems when they arise and oftentimes many problems vanish.
For example: I used to lose my keys, wallet, and sunglasses ALL THE TIME. It was so frustrating to need to go somewhere and have to spend 10 minutes searching the house for all my stuff. It was always a mini crisis when I couldn't find those things. That's just one example...but my entire life was that way. I had a cluttered office, I had a cluttered schedule, I had a cluttered mind. Eventually I woke up to the fact that these mini-crises were eating away at my creativity because the mental capacity it took to deal with them sapped the cognitive resources I needed for my creative work.
I implemented a "Solve Problems for Future Jake" mindset.
It went like this: One spot for my wallet, keys, and sunglasses. Whenever I get home they go to that spot. Whenever I have to leave, I don't have to search the house, I just need to check that spot. It takes the tiniest bit of more work on my part when I come home, but it is worth not having a crisis in a time crunch later.
I repeated that mindset in every area of my life. Whenever I got a new piece of information I needed to remember, I had a spot to put it: My planner.
I established a daily and weekly schedule for almost everything in my life. I knew when I would be getting up everyday, when I would be eating, working out, showering, and going to work. And each week I knew when I would do certain tasks like my newsletter, inbox (still trying to perfect his one) and patreon updates.
Over time as more and more structure was implemented in my life I found that I was more creative and productive because so much more brain power was available for creative endeavors instead of having to solve scheduling problems and chaotic situations.
Hope this helps someone like me!
That's all for this week. Thank you for reading this newsletter and hope you have a great weekend!
-Jake
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Weekend Reading:
Griz Grobus by Simon Roy
Thank you for sharing your process, and those reference pictures. Sometimes I forget that I need to open my variety in references to things other than anatomy or character design. Very cool.
I bet they could just put the frozen chicken on top of some shopping carts in the sun for some solar powered grillin