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Hello!

Had a great week. Not as productive as I would've hoped, but it was a week of balance. Got some drawings done, a podcast recorded, emails replied to.

AND Spent a lot of time with family. Climed a mountain. Had a nice long lunch with my sister. Even watched a movie on a week night 😱.

I get so focused on output sometimes, I forget how important input is. I just need to come to terms with the amount of work I can get done in a balanced week and chill out a bit, haha.

Ok, here's 5 things I thought you'd like to see. Enjoy!

1) Inktober Week Two Down!

From the Drawings Unit

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Here's my Inktober drawings for the week. Gave Skull a break and explored some new characters.

By the way, I'm going to have an original art sale in November and all of these will be on the market. Just a heads up to set aside a little cash now if you've been wanting to add one of my drawings to your collection/wall.

2) Moon Bike!

From the Office of Wheels

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This might be the coolest thing to come to space tech since the James Webb Telescope.

NASA needs a new lunar rover because walking on the moon is a pain in the butt. But rovers are heavy and bulky, and cost a lot of money to transport to the moon. German motorcycle design company Hookie says, why not use motorcycles???

I say YES.

And they nailed it. This design is rad.

More photos and video here: LINK​

3) Decomposing T-Rex found in Germany

From the Division of Prehistoric Studies

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Ok, this really got me for a second. Apparently this is an exhibit at the Dinosaurier Museum Altmühltal in Germany. How freaked out would you be if you were hiking through the woods on a crisp autumn day and stumbled upon this!

Love the little dromeosaurid scoping out the remains, looking for a treat. Nice touch.

(via @DennisMHansen)

4) Mecha Beetle

From the Office of Scale Models

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Check out this incredibly cool kit. I'm thankful for smaller model companies that take wild swings and put stuff out like this.

You can pre-order here: LINK​

(Thanks to @mr_cinn for the heads up on this one)

5) On Pushing Your Tastes

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

Something I read from an article this week that applies to more than just graphic design:

My daughter and I have been having an ongoing conversation about what makes a design good and the merits and flaws of "corporate illustration." Her tastes are expanding and her eye is sharpening and it's made me think about my own visual diet.

I'm always a little bit worried that my own work will grow stale. Worried that it'll look dated or tone deaf. The late Christopher Hitchens said, “The one unforgivable sin is to be boring.” There's some truth in that when it comes to being an illustrator.

So what's the prescription to fight the design entropy that can afflict a creator's oeuvre?

My take: Consistently take in the new, question your staples, and entertain the ugly.

That's all for this week. 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:

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