Coming Up For Air

Issue 215

Hello!

It’s been a minute since I’ve been in your inbox. And by minute, I mean a FOUR month gap in newsletters wide enough to fly an airship through. The nice thing is that in this over-saturated attention ecosystem we find ourselves in you probably haven’t noticed one less voice in your inbox. For the few who have been wondering what I’ve been up to, the short answer for my absence is simply, I’ve been working.

Friday mornings have traditionally been the time I set aside to write a newsletter. It’s been one of my favorite things I do in the self-employed, Frankenstein’s-monster-of-odd-jobs-sewn-together that I call being an independent illustrator. Among those jobs are *inhales deeply for effect* Marketing, Customer/Client Acquisition, Video Creation/Editing, Social Media Managing, Customer Service, Project Management, IT, HR, Accounting, Patreon, and I think I’m forgetting something…oh yes: Art Making.

As a solo creator, I’ve got to do all of those jobs because it’s all a part of what makes the monster able to survive. You can’t have a Frankenstein monster without arms, legs, heart, or brains. They all need to be operating in order for him to terrorize the villagers.

If I only had to do one thing it would be to make art, obviously. But if I had to do two it would be to make art and put out a newsletter. I love writing messages, sharing my thoughts, showing you what’s been inspiring me, and getting feedback and ideas from you. It’s been a true delight of my career to sink into that frame of mind on Friday mornings.

If you missed my last newsletter it was titled “Up To My Eyeballs” for a reason. At some point you say yes to too much and this job becomes a game of triage. If I’m going to take this Frankenstein analogy a little further, the monster doesn’t HAVE to speak to terrorize the villagers. In the same way I don’t HAVE to do social media and newsletters to do the drawings. The freelance work has deadlines, the newsletter doesn’t. After a while though, the monster does need to communicate in order to stave off torch-bearing farmers, or say, convince a maiden to be his bride.

Which is why I’m here. It is time to let Frankenstein’s monster talk, to get this newsletter up and running with a more reasonable cadence. I’d like to get back to weekly, but that seems audacious. So we will stick with a vague yet truthful: you’ll get it when you get it.

Alright, lots to share today so…let’s jump into it!

STAYING IN THE LOOP:

Lot’s of great episodes of the podcast lately. A few of my favorites:

• 🎙️3PP Podcast: Let’s Talk About Studio Setups

• 🎙️3PP Podcast: Cracking the Creativity Code

• 🎙️3PP Podcast: Mind-Shifting Marketing Ideas for Your Art Business

From the Special Projects Unit

A few months ago I was in the middle of drawing my next Wings of Fire comic, when I got an interesting email from my art director. He wanted to know if I could do a “Bonus Poster” for the next Wings of Fire novel. This would be a Barnes and Noble exclusive. This would be a pretty high profile illustration gig. The pay was good too. The only problem was I really didn’t have time to do it. However, I figured I could push a couple other projects back a few days since those projects had a little wiggle room, and clear some space for this one. I told him “count me in.”

Within a couple days I had the brief. Which was basically a dragon on a simple castle back ground. (there was more to it than that. I got a description of the dragon and what not).

What excited me about this project was that I got to be the first artist to design a never-before-seen dragon in the Wings of Fire world.

I share the entire process of how I illustrated this on my Patreon.

Here it is in the wild:

I am pretty happy with this one. I think I pulled it off, but not without pulling out some of my hair. Not that it was too hard, there's just that phase in every illustration where you're not sure you're going to actually land the plane and it will be a fiery explosion with no survivors. I felt that hard, but persisted, and ended up on the runway without any casualties.

From the Modeling Division

These kit-bashed mechs by Japanese modeler @m1_s1_t1_k1 show what’s possible with scraps of Gundam plastic and a little glue.

More in his Portfolio: LINK

From the Illustrators Division

English artist, architect, and explorer Frederick Catherwood was not the first Westerner to explore the ancient Mayan cities depicted in his illustrations, however, he was the first to accurately illustrate what he saw.

His books, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán and Incidents of Travel in Yucatán, were best sellers and introduced the Western world to the Mayan civilization.

What’s cool about this, besides how well done these lithographs are, is that many of these sites have deteriorated since they were first discovered, and his illustrations are so accurate they hold great archaeological value to modern researchers.

He was able to make such precise and intricate drawings because of a special tool called a camera lucida that utilizes a prism to superimpose the image of a subject onto a drawing surface, allowing the user to trace the outlines and details with accuracy.

Catherwood spent a year in the jungle fighting off insect, beast, and even a bout of malaria to get us these illustrations. Though he died at the relatively too young age of 55 it wasn’t the jungle that took his life. He drowned in the Atlantic ocean when a steamer he was a passenger on collided with another ship and sank.

I kind of want to make a graphic novel biography about him.

More illustrations here: LINK and here: LINK

Wikipedia entry: LINK

From the Comics Division

Found a cool indie comic project by French artist Carla Antonia called Lace & Linen. I love her style, and the this overcast world she’s building. She describes her comic as such:

In a dream-like world where time passes slower, a spy has been ordered to get rid of a man. In a stoic manner, she pursues her task- only to realize this target is someone she already knows. It's a story of two people's way to escape reality in a world they have lost hope with, and how they can find a new light together.

The only problem is she’s just posted on chapter. We need more! But it looks like she’s in submarine mode right now. Not seeing much activity on her socials.

Read the first chapter here: LINK

Carla’s Instagram: LINK

Comic trailer (What. this looks amazing!): LINK

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I recently listened to an interview with a writer who ditched their laptop for writing and now uses a typewriter. They have to re-type and re-type over and over again as they make revisions and adjustments to the book.

They said something that I can’t stop thinking about: “making art is inconvenient.”

Their point being that everything you do to make it more convenient makes it less art and more a commodity. Friction is needed to gain traction. Make the contact points too smooth and you get a lot of motion with no forward momentum.

Does adding friction to the process, slowing it down, and letting it simmer on the stove instead of microwaving it improve the quality of the work?

I think it does.

That is something I’m going to consider the next time I stress out about how long something is taking to create.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading this newsletter and hope you have a great weekend!

-Jake

My sponsor for this newsletter is…me. It's me, because I'm not accepting sponsors for my email list, and don't plan to any time soon. Really, I'd just like people to buy stuff from my shop. If you like this newsletter, you can support it a few ways:

​Order something from the shop​ (Best)

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I'd appreciate any of these when you can. Thanks!

Currently reading:

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

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