Hello!

Last week was the four year anniversary of the newsletter, and I was informed that something weird happened with the newsletter going straight to gmail users spam folders. If you missed it last week, double check your folder and see if it went there. Or you can read it here: LINK​

Here's five things I thought you'd like to check out this week.

Enjoy!

1) The YA-33 Foxrunner

From the Making Comics Division

The YA-33 Foxrunner makes an appearance in the comic I’m working on.⁣
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It’s a transport ship I designed for the Missile Mouse books I made a while ago. Bringing it back for this new comic!
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Trying to draw all my ships freehand instead of tracing over 3D models to give them a human wonkiness to them.⁣
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Unfortunately, the Missile Mouse book shown is out of print, but I got the rights back for it. Sooooo I might self publish it? Who knows! You can get used copies pretty cheap on eBay and Amazon though: LINK​
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The comic I’m working on now will be kickstarted in April. Details and dates on that next month!

Join the Patreon: Patrons are getting frequent updates on this comic, including more behind the scenes stuff. They've also read the full comic in both roughs and now pencils as I finish them. This week I've been posting inked pages for patrons. As well as the book title reveal. When I finish the comic I'll have an exclusive special edition PDF for patrons.

Join here: LINK​

2) The Brubaker Box

From the Office of Wheels

Considered the first minivan, and I do mean mini, it is built on the chassis of a Volkswagon Bug, the Brubaker Box was a futuristic car concept that drips with style.

Unfortunately it wasn't a viable business venture and its creator Curtis Brubaker ended up filing for bankruptcy after only building three of them.

I'm glad he followed his dream though because we at least get to see what an alternate present might look like had these things influenced automotive design.

Wikipedia entry: LINK​

More photos: LINK​

I wish I had an afternoon to learn more about Brubaker. He was a lear jet designer turned concept car creator. And designed a vehicle in 78 that looks like the inspiration for the cyber truck:

3) The Jianqing Huaigu Trail

From the Photography Desk in cooperation with the Office of Environment Design

"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 28 PATHS IN THE WORLD."

That is according to photographer Masuki Rina who visited the Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taiwan. Seeing it through her eyes is a special treat, however I think there's just an inherent beauty here that must be seen in person. Putting this on my list of places to visit someday.

If you're needing reference for an enchanted forest or lush alien planet or a hideout location, you can do worse than this place. I'm content just looking at these and imagining myself getting lost in there and not minding it one bit.

Tons more photos here: LINK​

(Found via Colossal)

4) Felipe Magaña aka humanmgn

From the Illustrators Division

Lately, I'm impressed with the work of Felipe Magaña a Netherlands based Chilean 2D digital artist. He's definietly influenced by Japanese artists, but I also see a little French flavor there as well. Love the character designs, rendering style, and subject matter.

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

5) On Windows

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I've been talking to a wide range of artists lately for my podcast. Several of these interviews haven't dropped yet, but I'm seeing an emerging practice in the routine of these highly successful creators: lack of social media usage. And specifically a morning devoted to creating. One artist specifically left social media entirely and subscribed to a handful physical magazines to fill the inspiration hole that social media left.

There's two things at work here: concentration and inspiration. These might be the nucleic ingredients to creating. An artist needs to find a proper balance of input and output. I'm thinking a lot about input and where that should come from, and its delivery method. I think the worst possible way to get inspired is by surfing social media. Yes, you can get inspired, but at what cost?

I like Patricia Lockwood's perspective on this from her 2018 essay on writing. In it she says:

I like the idea of windows. You can spend your day looking through a tiny glass window in your hand, seeing what thousands of other people are seeing. (Which does have its place, I admit). Or you can look out the full sized window in your house and see a view unique to you. What are other windows you have access to? And how can you replace the tiny handheld one with those?

This is still half-baked, but I'm thinking it through right now and wanted to share where I'm at.

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

-Jake

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