ITC 12. One year
Yearly reflections plus recommendations
We’re ending the year! 12 issues of ITC so far. One per month (kind of). So today’s introduction is a personal yearly recap! You can skip it if you’re looking for this month’s recommendations ;-)
Yearly recap
Honestly, I feel like I'm so lucky overall that I can't complain about anything, especially considering the strange state of the world out there. But if I had to, I'd say that 2024 hasn't been a great year health-wise.
The less good part
After years of poor posture and too many hours hunched over an iPad, and perhaps, just perhaps, those three decades of kicking and punching, my neck and back problems have lately become more than somewhat limiting.
It seems that all my cervical discs are seriously worn out. Plus, one disc protrusion pinching a nerve, and a shoulder tendinitis among some other persistent injuries. And despite physiotherapy, daily stretching and strength routines, I cannot recover (at least yet) a zero point of “no-pain” when working.
I had to stop boxing, since my neck couldn’t handle it, which breaks my heart because it’s been incredibly rewarding after keeping my Taekwondo training to a minimum. It’s weird, because in some ways I feel stronger than ever. And yet, all this has been making my life complicated lately.
However: this last month has been noticeable better than the previous thirteen-fourteen, and I’m starting to think that some actual results may come soon.
The positive stuff
One more year, and despite the change in many routines, I have been able to share an immense amount of time with my family, every day. A privilege that not everyone has, but one that I have worked hard for.
It’s been a relatively calm year for my family in terms of health. Not as many hospitals as in previous ones.
I’ve been able to meet some artists that I admire! One of them was Mol, who led my self-assigned Annual In-depth Course on Some Topic® (on visual development). Such a sweet guy.
Some small personal projects have slowly evolved, which is always better than no-progress.
I visited the South-East of France with the Reedsy team. Beautiful region and beautiful people!
Some of our long TKD students got their black belts this year. Training with them has been very refreshing and somehow that reactivated certain things (keep reading).
My good friend Miguel Ángel and I decided to start training for our 5th dan black belt. A challenge that at the moment seems complicated and far away for various reasons, including the ones mentioned at the beginning of this newsletter. But if Mike Tyson was able to endure eight rounds at fifty-eight years old, I think we’ll be able to do this. Eventually.
This is the first year in a long time where I have practically not posted anything on social media. Focusing on Substack has been a wise decision.
The most satisfying project of the year was making a little Half Life 2 fan art for my son, as a birthday present. In the illustration, he shared space with Gordon Freeman and used the legendary Gravity Gun to fight off some Combines and Headcrabs.
Only two reactions were possible: total indifference or deep appreciation. I am pleased to see that in a world inundated by AI-generated stuff, a young person is still able to appreciate the effort, intention and care put into a work of art, regardless of its modesty 🥲
This newsletter reaches a very small number of people, mostly friends and colleagues. So there's a good chance that if you're reading this, you've been close to me in one way or another. And for that, I can only thank you, with all my heart. More next year!
Now, time for the final recommendations of the year. This time, I’ll keep them short. ONE per block. Enjoy them!
Recommendations
1 →A document: A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT
I discovered this document via Honos. French researcher Arthur Perret, Professor of Information and Communication Sciences at the IUT of the Université Jean Moulin Lyon, has written this guide in response to another one published by OpenAI titled “A Student’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT.” Perret refutes each of the original points, one by one. Very interesting, sensible read. Not just for students!
2 → A game: Pyrene
French developer Two Tiny Dice (aka Christophe Coyard & friends) launched Pyrene this year. They are the creators of Forward, Escape the Fold a game I recommended some months ago.
With Pyrene, they seem to have mixed ingredients and mechanics from Forward and one of their first games: Endless Cards. All of it inspired by pre-Roman Basque/Pyrenean mythology. It's really my kind of game. Simple, smart, pretty, stimulating. A lot of love behind it.
3 → A series: Cobra Kai
Look. I know. This could be categorised as a triple-A series in terms of silliness. But I like it.
Although some of the secondary characters are world-class champions in real life (like Rayna Vallandingham or Brandon H. Lee), the main cast are complete martial arts sub-amateurs to say the least, with the exception of Martin Kove, who is obviously an old man now, and Thomas Ian Griffith, whose beautiful kicking technique I always greatly admired.
And yet they have managed to create a martial arts fiction that is strangely addictive. I am biased, of course. Some moments are a good reflection of the relationship between masters and students, and the experiences shared between them.
If you just need to have fun with low-level martial arts, teenage love, undramatic drama and a bunch of adorable characters (such as Johnny Lawrence), don't hesitate. You can watch it on Netflix.
4 → A book series: Fantasy Sports
I’ve admired Sam Bosma’s work for a long time. He started working as an illustrator until he realised that it was a complicated world and that his skills seemed to fit better in other sectors. So he jumped into animation, not without creating before some very cool things.
One of my favourite ones: the Fantasy Sports comic books by Nobrow. A series mixing Fantasy and dungeon exploration with sports. As crazy as this seems, he’s created a cool lore in just three albums, following the adventures of Mug and Wiz, serving the —not so trustworthy— Order of Mages.
In theory, there’s one last pending album (as today). But Sam seems to be very busy, so who knows if he’ll ever conclude the story. By the way, he is married to Kali Ciesemier, another great illustrator!
5 → An illustrated book: ALSGTTUROB by Tommy Parker
Ahem. Full title: A Little Slugger's Guide to the Unwritten Rules of Baseball and Life. Written by Patrick Renna and illustrated by Tommy Parker.
I couldn’t care less about baseball BUT I like good illustration, and Tommy is very good. So I’ve pre-ordered this book that will be published in February 2025 and you should too! English, 32 pages, addressed to children between the ages of 5-8 years.
6 → Quotes
“Wisdom fears no thing, but still bows humbly to its own source, with its deeper understanding, loves all things, for it has seen the beauty, the tenderness, and the sweetness which underlie Life's mystery”.
—Manly P. Hall
“We are living in a time where there are forces at work that are explicitly engineered to make you feel inconsequential and helpless; there are systems in place that are designed to promote apathy and inaction. But the moment you feel even a flicker of optimism — the tiniest twinkle of a positive emotion — you have the advantage.”
—From Kyle T. Webster’s newsletter
7 → A newsletter: BP&O Weekly
If you like branding, you should subscribe to BP&O. It’s fair to say that most of their content on Substack is actually a bridge to their beautiful website, full of reviews and cool case studies around branding and rebranding (always fun for designers!).
They also have collections which are, essentially, filtered results on specific topics or design fields. Everything curated with impecable taste. A quick heads up: their free content is limited to ten articles per month.
8 → An artist: Ryan Heshka
Ryan Heshka (Canada) is a formidable artist. His commercial work has always been beautifully weird and original, but above all I value the huge personal universe he has been able to build over the years. Extravagant, funny, pulp, surreal, dark but… colorful?, pop but… underground? I don't know how to define him exactly, but his personal style is unique. The 256-page book Fatales compiles many of his best pieces.
9 → A song: Your Master is Calling by Pink Turns Blue
Let’s end the year with this German post-punk classic! 1987. I was there, guys. Enjoy it and remember to play it during family Christmas dinners. Full volume.
Thank you for reading In the Cave. Currently, I’m using social media just to promote this newsletter, share other people’s work or send memes to friends. Nothing else. So if you like this newsletter, please share it and recommend it. You can also find me on my website or Dribbble.
See you in 2025!
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