DRAWINGS books are making their way onto people's desks!
I shipped over 800 books last week across the world. People are loving their DRAWINGS books. Here's what a few have said:
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I had an incredible opportunity to teach a workshop for La Galeria Roja in the scenic city of Sevilla, Spain. 18 people from around Spain joined me for the three day workshop where I taught:
- Drawing fundamentals or my approach to drawing everything
- How to draw robots and machinery
- How to design characters
- How to draw comics
I also did a couple demonstrations for the class. One of a robot chicken and the other of a steam punk girl.
I also had time to explore the city and take a few pictures. So much of what I saw of the city are things I want to put into SkyHeart. This trip was definitely a creative bank account filler. Here's a few photos of this beautiful city.
One of the best parts of traveling somewhere to do a workshop is you have a built in group of people to hang with and show you around the city. I had so much fun with these artists from all walks of life. Some where new to art, others were students in art school, and some were skilled professionals. It was great to see everyone learning and creating at their own level.
Thanks to David at La Galeria Roja for bringing me out. I hope to visit your beutiful city again some day!
Jake
]]>I got the books back from the printer and they are BEAUTIFUL! I'm really proud of this book. Colors are rich. The paper is firm. It's a solid book.
Here, take a look for yourself:
There you go. If you like this kind of stuff, there's 128 pages of it in this book.
Shipping now.
]]>I went and did a press check for the DRAWINGS books this week.
A press check is where you take pages straight from the printing press and check their color to see if it's looking right. The press these books are getting printed on is a huge 4 color offset machine about the size of a semi-truck. Watching it churn out DRAWINGS pages was impressive and noisy!
The pages needed a little color fixing, but after a few runs we got them pretty close to matching the other books. Here they are next to each other for comparison:
And get a look at the control panel for this machine! Looks like something out of the original Star Wars movie:
These books are running on schedule and should be ready to ship out in March as planned.
I'm having them print extra copies so if you haven't ordered one yet it's not too late:
]]>What if Cupid used an army of robots to carry out his work? That was the idea this week when I sat down to do a Valentines Day themed drawing.
I used the supplies I got this month from my Art Snacks box and submitted this to the monthly #artsnackschallenge.
I took process photos so I could share them here:
Step 1: Photoshop Sketch
Step 2: Print the sketch out
Step 3: Get art tools ready
Step 4: Overlay vellum and trace the sketch
Step 5: Base rendering stage
I also removed the sketch underneath and erased the smudging outside the drawing.
Step 6: More rendering
Step 6: (Cont) More rendering
Step 7: Erase smudging again
Step 8: Add highlights and reds
Finished image I posted online:
These art supplies from my Art Snacks box worked great. I highly recommend them. A list of the supplies can be found here:
To subscribe to ArtSnacks click here, and use the code: JAKEPARKER to get 10% off your first month of supplies.
For a list of the other art supplies I use go here:
That's all for this transmission. See you next week!
-Jake
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First things first, DRAWINGS IV is at the printers! I uploaded all the files and they are working on the book. I should be getting a schedule from them soon so I know when exactly the books will be finished.
As I was putting the print files together I noticed a theme that developed over the course of the year: mounted riders.
I can explain why I kept returning to the mounted rider theme. My goal as an artist is to present a story with each image I draw. I want there to be blanks the the viewer has to fill in. In that way the story becomes a shared experience, both myself and the viewer contributing to the final piece.
I guess that is why I like the image of a traveler in between locations. They inspire curiosity.
Where are they from?
Why are they traveling?
Are they running from something?
Or are they searching for something?
What is their destination?
So many questions!
Hopefully these drawings get you to start fabricating your own answers that become a foundation to build your own stories.
I love mounted riders so much, I'm thinking that maybe I should just do 100 of them and get it out of my system.
That's it for this transmission. See you next week!
Jake
As I was putting together my latest DRAWINGS book I saw that I had several drawings of a character I came up with called KNIGHT OWL:
He was a character I made up randomly in the background of this drawing:
People really liked the character, and then I started getting commission requests for him:
Then people started asking how he worked. Was he a large owl wearing armor, or a small owl piloting a robot suit? To answer those questions I drew this:
To which someone informed me that owls don't have hands. I thought that couldn't be true. I remember learning about how owls had a second set of talons tucked away under their wings. I did some research and found that it was only one species of owl, the Western American Bellows Owl. Sadly, they are on the endangered species list. Here's the only known photo of one:
As for Knight Owl, he could show up in a comic idea I have after I finish up with SkyHeart. I might team him up with Battle Chicken!
If you like these Knight Owl drawings and you want more, they are collected in my latest book DRAWINGS IV.
That's it for this transmission. See you next week!
Jake
It was an incredible year for me both professionally and personally. I learned so much, and was able to implement a lot of the things I learned this year before the year was out. I want to share some of these major lessons with you. These are things I’ve understood before, but they crystallized this year allowing me to harvest the benefits now. Here’s the list:
1) You can't (and shouldn't) do everything.
I went into the year with enormous expectations for my career and projects. When the realities of life made accomplishing some of these things impossible I realized that I couldn't do everything.
Example: I had a strict schedule planned out to work on SkyHeart and two picture books in the winter and spring months. It was a delicate balance that would require me to focus entire days to one project. Then my wife needed surgery and the time I needed to work on these books went to helping her recover.
Thankfully, she regained her full health, but the year ended and two of these projects I committed to didn't get finished. The ripple effect was I dropped the ball in other areas too. For a while I beat myself up for not being more productive, then I came to the realization that I couldn't do everything. I also realized I shouldn't do everything.
You see, I wasn't just taking on 3 big book projects, I was also answering every email, I was posting updates and content on social media multiple times a week, I was packing and shipping orders for my shop, I was editing all my own videos, I was updating my website, and scanning my own artwork.
Solution: I had committed to too much. And so this was the year I learned to either delegate, collaborate, or let go.
I took on an intern, I found collaborators, and if the task couldn't be delegated to one of them or done by myself, I let it go.
The result was by the end of the year I was way more productive on fewer things, and much happier because I wasn't so stressed about the things I couldn't do.
2) The Power of the Time Block system
By figuring out when I was most creative and least productive, I was able to plan my days according to my working habits for maximum efficiency.
Solution: The time block system requires auditing your working habits and discovering when you are the most creative, productive, and focused. It takes some time experimenting, but the knowledge gained about your habits is more valuable than the time investment.
I broke my days down into time blocks of 2-4 hours and monitored how much work, and what kind of work was getting done in these time blocks. I experimented by trying to do administrative duties in one time block then trying out creative tasks in other time blocks. Then I would switch them around and record my results. Here’s what I found worked for me:
Early mornings 4am - 6am: Best time for tasks that need creative thought and productivity
Mid mornings 6am - 9am: Best time for helping around the house, getting kids ready, and exercise.
Late mornings 9am - 12pm: Best time for productive tasks that need creativity
12pm - 1pm: Lunch break
Early afternoon 1pm - 3pm: Best time for productive tasks that don’t need creativity
Late afternoon 3pm - 6pm: Best time for administrative tasks, email, meetings, phone calls, and interviews
Early evening 6pm - 8:30: best time to spend with family
Mid evenings 8:30 - 10:00: Best time to fill my creative bank account (read, watch films)
10pm: Asleep
Once I had this schedule laid out it was just a matter of looking at my tasks for the week and inserting them into the appropriate time block for the most effective use of my time and energy.
Example: Inking my comic is a task that requires a high level of productivity but isn’t low on the creative demands of my brain. On the other hand, writing and figuring out comic layouts require lots of creativity. Since I’m more creative in the mornings I filled those time blocks with writing, and my afternoon time blocks with tasks like inking.
3) The Power of Work/Life Harmony
An unanticipated outcome of the Time Block system was finding harmony between my work and life. The two shouldn’t just be balanced, they should harmonize with each other, in that your life should make you a better worker and your work should make you enjoy life more.
The first half of the year was so stressed and work heavy that I found myself bringing my life into my work and my work into my life. Which means that when I needed to be present at home, my mind was still thinking about work and vice versa. I came to this realization when my wife said to me one day, “I’d like to have a conversation with you that wasn’t about your work, Star Wars, or comics.” It startled me, and made me realize I was becoming very one dimensional.
This started me on a path to audit my life and see where I was breaking down. I discovered that I was being ineffective with my time, that I wasn’t spending enough time reading and consuming a broader range of things, and that I was burrowing deeper and deeper into my little hole of work and my favorite geek niche. I couldn’t relate to your average person. My health was slipping. And I came to the realization that as a storyteller to humans I needed to be able to relate to all kinds of humans. Otherwise my stories would be very flat and inaccessible.
Solution: By using the time block system, and letting go of doing everything I was able to spend less time working and more time reading books, watching films, exercising, and going out with my wife and other couples. It started me on a path to a more well rounded, approachable Jake.
4) Opportunity Costs are Real
This year I took on a lot of obligations that required traveling: Conventions, speaking engagements, and books signings (18 engagements in total). There’s nothing wrong with doing any of these things, but they put into perspective the things that I wasn’t doing: making new content. The price to do all of these events meant that I wasn’t in my studio making a new book, comic, SVS class or youtube video.
Example: In March I went to a convention in Kentucky. It was an ok show but the best part was hanging out with friends who I don’t get to see in person very often. When I was talking to one friend he and I both lamented about how we wish were back in our studios working on our books.
When I looked at what I was selling at my table it dawned on me that I had been creating content for the conventions I was attending with the idea of immediate payoff: prints and DRAWINGS books. I was neglecting my products that were going to take a long time to finish but would have a longer shelf life: SkyHeart.
Solution: This mentality shift influenced me to make the decision to take the year off from traveling this year and focus my efforts on creation. After I made that decision I started to look for other areas that I was spending time and what opportunities it was costing me. I found that email and instant messages from people needing advice, portfolio reviews, or interview questions were a huge time suck and causing me anxiety for not answering them in a timely fashion. I have a soft heart when it comes to these kinds of interactions because I remember being a directionless young adult and just wanting someone to point me in the right direction. Ultimately, I had to make the hard decision that at the end of the year I would rather have another chapter of SkyHeart finished than a pile of answered emails.
5) The True Power of an Online Brand
I made about the same amount of money in my online shop as I did in publishing with two advances and royalties checks coming in. I put about 8 hours into publishing for every one hour I put into my shop. This imbalance of time vs payoff made me realized that while publishing requires a long game mentality, I shouldn’t neglect the short game of keeping up my online shop.
Example: I’ve spent years growing a following on social media. 270K on Instagram, 190K on Facebook, and 50K on YouTube. But these social media numbers didn’t translate to amazing book sales for my children’s books Little Bot and Sparrow and Who’s the Grossest of Them All. My editor and my agent both were let down by this development. On the flip side my online followers really liked the prints and self-published books I have listed on my shop and I made over 1800 sales last year.
Solution: I will continue to use publishing as a platform to build a following and hopefully bring a more diverse group of people to my following demographic. I’ll also continue using publishing as a way to build relationships in the industry, an outlet for creativity (I love making kids books) and as professional development.
But I will also put more time, creativity and labor into my shop and personal products. I love making comics, art books, and prints. And it will be a platform to explore more creative outlets such as t-shirts and stickers.
All right, that’s the five things. I hope these are helpful and applicable to your own situation. At the very least I hope they give you some perspective on how to make this year more productive and enjoyable.
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DRAWINGS IV is the FOURTH installment to my DRAWINGS book series. Every January I collect the drawings, sketches, and commissions that I did the previous year and make a beautifully printed full color perfect-bound book.
It includes my entire Little Bot Inktober Run, all my Disney Bots, and a ton more. I think it's my best book yet.
The costs for getting a quality book printed can be considerable. Pre-orders are a way to offset the funding I need print this book. Pre-orders are also a way to gauge interest so I'll know how many I need to print to meet the demand.
The books will be printed and shipped in March. This is to give me time to acquire enough pre-orders (2 weeks), time to print the books (4 weeks), and time to sign and pack them up (1 week).
Here's what you're getting:
At 7.5x9.5 inches, it will be exactly the same size as the sketchbooks I draw in every day, and exactly the same size as DRAWINGS I, II, and III. They'll look good next to each other on a shelf. 128 full color pages Durable softcover matte lamination, perfect bound
128 Pages
Full Color
Soft Cover
7.5 x 9.75
Thank you so much for taking the time to look at this. I love making books, and your support in buying these makes it possible to continue my goal of building a universe one drawing at a time.
Thanks,
Jake
]]>The first printing sold out in 2015. Over the last two years I've heard over and over again, "Will you reprint DRAWINGS?"
After careful consideration, I've decided to go for it and reprint the book.
But reprinting a book like this costs several thousands of dollars. In order to get DRAWINGS reprinted I need to take pre-orders to offset those initial costs. Pre-orders are also a way to gauge interest so I'll know how many I need to print to meet the demand.
The books will be printed and shipped in March. This is to give me time to acquire enough pre-orders (2 weeks), time to print the books (4 weeks), and time to sign and pack them up (1 week).
I also decided that I needed to update the cover to match the graphic design of the other books in the series. These books will look great sitting together on your desk or bookshelf.
In getting the book prepped for printing again, I've had a chance to revisit the art in this book. Some of it is 5 years old, and it's amazing to see how far I've progressed as a draftsman in those years. What's also interesting to me is how some of these ideas are still fresh to me. There's worlds that I created in some of these drawings that I want to revisit.
I didn't realize that would be the purpose these books serve in my life when I made this first book back in 2013. I mostly made them for other people who expressed interest in my work online. Instead of scanning through images made of pixels behind glass screens, I made them to have something physically tangible a person could hold and study.
I had no idea then how much I would use these books too. By collecting my best drawings in physical books the artwork remains accessible to me. Because they are in a book now they stay on my bookshelf or table and act as reference books. I look at them often; way more than my old sketchbooks I've archived away in a drawer.
I'm taking pre-orders for the book now, along with pre-orders for the newest installment DRAWINGS IV.
Thanks,
Jake
]]>Welcome my brand new online shop! I've had some form of online shop since 2008, and before that I sold books off of my website via paypal buttons. It's always been a great excuse for me to make tangible things and earn a little cash on the side.
I am humbled and grateful for so many people who have supported my work through buying my books, prints, and original art. As my shop has grown over the years it has become not just a bigger part of my income, but a place for experimentation and exploration. I've learned so much about making books and self publishing because of this shop. It's got me itching to try more avenues of creative expression.
With that, I've got big things planned this year. I'll be branching out into a few other areas. I wish I could talk about it now, but not yet. Not until things are in a better position for sharing. Can't wait to show you though.
This "news" section will serve as a "What's Up" with the shop. Any time I'll launch a new book or print I'll be sharing the details here.
In the meantime, while I get things up and running here, feel free to contact me about any suggestions you have for the shop. Me or my assistant will get back to you asap.
Thanks,
Jake
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