“One of the most solid pieces of writing advice I know is in fact intended for dancers – you can find it in the choreographer Martha Graham’s biography. But it relaxes me in front of my laptop the same way I imagine it might induce a young dancer to breathe deeply and wiggle their fingers and toes. Graham writes: ‘There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.’”
just read hungerstone and it has me by the throat so.. some Hungerstone and Carmilla doodles in my sketchbook •w• I forgot the pen I was using wasn’t waterproof, so the last water-colored doodle I dropped the contrast on a bit so you can hopefully see the original lines better :(((
“Do it scared” “do it alone” are all great tips, but my biggest takeaway from therapy is do it messy. This is especially true if you’re getting out of a burnout, which I experience often. Literally just do it messy. You don’t need to pick the perfect trail to walk, the perfect playlist to listen to, whatever the fuck it is. You don’t need to have a meticulous to do list and wake up at the exact time you planned and drink the exact amount of water you planned to drink. Like the biggest thing for people like me to remember is sometimes it’s okay to do it messy. Put on a random yt workout and just get it done in sweats. Do 5 minutes of a daunting task and go from there. Sometimes just getting up is a win during intense burnouts or depressive funks. Literally just do it messy.
I'm just going to say it - body hair (and beauty standards in general) is truly one of the final frontiers of women's issues in the West. Too many women just love their gilded cage too much. It shocks me how virulently women will defend it. I barely open my mouth and the "well I like how it feels. it just makes me feel cleaner. sensory issues. I do it for me. feminism is about choosing (to conform)." brigade come rushing in by the dozens.
Well I don't like how it feels. I don't feel cleaner without body hair. I don't prefer not having body hair. But who will advocate for women like me, but me? For women who do like hair removal, they are advocated for every time they step out of the house and see 99% of the female population also conforming to that standard, or when they watch a movie and see all the shaved actresses, or view an advertisment, or open a magazine, or watch a music video, or scroll through social media, or walk down the streets without receiving insults and glares for having a completely normal bodily feature.
You genuinely can't even point out that hairlessness is a man-made standard without women losing their shit and acting like they are totally immune to propaganda they've been exposed to from birth. I'm so tired.
There’s an episode of Sesame Street (on Netflix! you can watch it easily!) where Elmo attends a toy-swap, where you offer up old toys you don’t play with anymore and receive someone else’s toys that are new to you. Cute!
But Elmo, after cheerfully surrendering his old toys, sees that the children who swapped toys with him are playing with his toys “wrong”! They’re imagining entirely different make believe scenarios! They’re pretending the football is a dinosaur egg instead of a rocket ship! Aaahhhhh!!!! And this is so distressing to poor Elmo that he does the unthinkable: He does swapsies-backsies and takes all his toys back!
This being Sesame Street, he learns that you can’t control how other people play pretend, but you can join in if you want to! And if you don’t want to, that’s ok, you can just play pretend your own way by yourself or with someone else who wants to play that way too. You can still be friends with people who play pretend differently than you (and aren’t being mean/harmful/etc, do not bad-faith-read this 🤨).
Publishers Weekly says my "obvious love for the form animates the volume." And I'll animate again! I'll never stop animating volumes.
The above quote has been my bio on Bluesky for the last few years. Finally, the time has come to make good on my promise: I'm animating another volume, folks.
I've signed a deal to produce an art collection that takes a broad look at the entire history of science fiction art. It'll be titled either The Art of the Future or The Art of Science Fiction – tbd – and it's coming out Fall 2027 from UK publisher Frances Lincoln.
It's a part of the "Art in the Margins" series, joining The Art of the Occult, The Art of Darkness, The Art of Fantasy, and The Art of the Unknown, all by my art book author friend S. Elizabeth (@ghoulnextdoor).
I'm excited! It's a lot of new territory for me: 1880s books, 1920s magazines, 1980s cyberpunk, 2000s video game concepts, and the coolest contemporary sci-fi artists of today, among a lot more.
Doug Andersen's 1991 cover to the Cyberpunk 2020 Night City Guide sourcebook will be in the book.
It's also a lot more work, so I'm restarting my two-issues-a-week schedule for my newsletter – On paid-tier Fridays, I'll publish something connected to the book. Sometimes I'll do my Book Notes series where I collect quotes and art from a specific art book I'm researching, and sometimes I'll highlight a bunch of art from a specific artist.
So, I'm discounting my paid tier for the next two weeks: It's normally $5/month, but if you use these exact links any time before June 16, you get my writing-a-book special of $3.50/month or $40/year for life (or until you cancel). If memory serves, that's the cheapest I've ever gone!
I'm going to try to get this 1961 illustration in to represent Syd Mead - not confirmed yet.
Want a sneak peek at what an art-book-behind-the-scenes email might look like? Check out my latest email for a grab-bag of cool art and fun facts.
One more week left on my paid newsletter's 30% off deal! Get the $3.50/month or $40/year deals here.
You can also check out today's free newsletter for an example of what I'm up to on the paid tier. We're looking at the history of '30s science fiction mags right now.
YOUR LAST TUTORIAL WAS CRAZY GOOD!! do you have any tips on how to draw head angles? tilts, etc…
I feel like I repeat this a lot but the easiest thing to me is to model the head as a helmet of sorts, with a more spherical back and a flatter front, and the neck inserting into the base
Surface lines are useful to understand how the volume turns and deforms with different angles. Then from there I just apply other levels of abstraction (for instance, thinking of the jaw as a solid part that has a more or less fixed axis, thinking of structures like teeth and lips on top of it, etc)
It's easier for some people than others, but to me it does just come down to 1. Simplifying anatomical structures (especially bone and muscle) and 2. Either rotating those in your head or using external 3D aids to understand the volume
this may be my age showing but I am a passionate supporter of wires. earbuds? put a leash on those things. wireless keyboard? no, it needs to hold hands with the computer. the ps5 controller I forgot to charge has the staying power of a wealthy nonagenarian with a much younger wife and 14 life insurance policies, but the controller plugged into my pc? that baby will outlive my bloodline. my ethernet cable is like a son to me.
