ITC 27. Teachers
Sketches, stickers, and recommendations
Welcome back to In The Cave! There’s no better time than winter to retreat into your cave and not emerge until the weather becomes a bit more bearable. Let’s say... July or August. We should hibernate by default.
→ Reflections
When I was very very young, I had a very specific idea of what a teacher was or should be: someone who knows everything about a subject. It’s curious how I didn’t perceive a teacher as someone who teaches, but as someone who possesses knowledge. In the case of martial arts, the teacher had to be the fastest, strongest, most resilient, and most experienced of us all. It was almost expected that they would be invincible; otherwise, why would they deserve the title of master? But of course, I was naive and still developing.
Thanks in large part to my teachers, I eventually came to understand the true meaning of the concept. A teacher isn’t necessarily the one who knows the most, but rather the one with the greatest pedagogical ability. They are the best at transmitting knowledge and, above all, the ones who can identify a student’s strengths and knows how to guide them toward improvement, growth, and evolution. They are a facilitator, an inspiration, a catalyst for possibilities.
Almost no one remembers those ultra-experts in their fields who would come to class and spout off a string of ideas with a book in front of them, then announce a date for an exam. Who we do tend to remember are those who listened to us, saw something in us, and those who believed and motivated us to look beyond. Or sometimes, people with a sincere and contagious passion.
Prove me wrong: what teacher do you remember most from your childhood or youth? (or perhaps later in life!)
Recent sketches
I keep advancing with these sketches (that will be part of a future book) and I recently started working on the cover, which will be pretty minimal. There’s still a lot of work to do in terms of content, but since this project is about exploration and enjoying the drawing process, I’m not even setting specific dates. The book will be finished when its pages are full. The goal is to have a minimum length by the end of 2026. Little by little:
→ From the past
iMonstickers
When I started doing more illustration work, I was coming from many years of graphic design activity. My tools were basically InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator (Macromedia Freehand before that). A lot of vector work, dealing with typography, iconography, etc. So my first illustrations were pretty minimal, flat and scalable.
iMonstickers is a pack of stickers for iOS and iPadOS messages that I created with Daniel Devesa years ago (I talked about him here). They’re still a good testament of that old vector style that I used before trying a more organic, nuanced approach. Here are some of them:
If you want to use them, they’re a total of 16, and available on the AppStore!
Have fun!
Try to find 6 differences between these 2 images we made at Reedsy. As usual, extra hard on mobile. You can also learn more about writing a book synopsis if you read the associated article!
🔖 This month’s recommendations
1 → A series: Pantheon
Another one of those series that receives very positive reviews but goes more unnoticed by the general public than it deserves. Pantheon (2022-2023) is a contemporary science fiction thriller based on multiple short stories (compiled in The Hidden Girl and Other Stories) by author Ken Liu.
It revolves around the concept of Uploaded Intelligences (UIs in the series): human consciousnesses transformed into digital models through a process that necessarily destroys their physical brains. However, they all seem to suffer from a ‘congenital’ defect that leads to their degeneration.
The series explores numerous philosophical, moral, and social dilemmas, and these are handled with a sobriety and elegance that at times reminds me of some of Satoshi Kon’s works. A true essay-fiction about the future of artificial intelligence, and the reality as a simulation theories.
Sixteen episodes. The first fourteen will look to you like a cool contemporary, good-quality animated series for adults. The last two… well, be ready for them, because in essence, all the previous ones are a long, long preparation for an ethical and intellectual atomic bomb. You’ll need time to reflect after them. You’re warned.
Great voice cast (Paul Dano, Aaron Eckhart, Daniel Dae Kim, Rosemarie DeWitt, Chris Diamantopoulos, William Hurt…) and an impeccable global technical execution.
2 → A game: Don’t Stare
Once again, I’m recommending another little indie game. These are the projects that interest me most: simple and daring. It was part of the “20 Second Game Jam 2025”.
And indeed, you have twenty seconds to go on a series of dates in which you try to make your date uncomfortable by staring at the parts of themselves that make them self-conscious or insecure. The more dates you scare off, the higher your score.
The art direction, the bizarre characters, and the sound design make this little experiment interesting and original, and keep you trying even if the game loop is brutally short and simple. I think it’s a good example of how the artistic decisions of a simple project can elevate it.
The game has been developed by Gabe M Carvalho, with Owen Melisek taking care of the art and music, and it can be played for free on Itch.io.
3 → A book: Paperbacks From Hell
It’s not precisely a new book. But I only recently learned about it and instantly knew it was perfect for me. A great Christmas present! In this book, written by Grady Hendrix, he discusses all those fantastic horror book covers from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, analysing them by trends and sub-genres, and illustrating them with tons of amazing examples. Highly recommended for fans of poster and cover design, and for lovers of vintage horror.
4 → An artist: Bianca Bagnarelli
I’ve been following Bianca’s work for quite a few years now, not only as an illustrator but also as a comic book author. I’ve bought most of her works as an author so far, including purely digital short comics like Philosophy, Miriam, and Wolves, and there’s something about her drawing style and storytelling that I always find captivating. I love the beautiful forms, the use of color, and her elegance. Bianca’s website is a bit outdated, but you can find her most recent work on Instagram.
5 → Music: Dust of The Saturn (2016) by Dynatron
You can’t go wrong with Dynatron if you like electronic music and Synthwave. Their portfolio is full of amazing tracks that always transport me to unexpected mental landscapes. Here I’m revisiting their track Dust of the Saturn from ten years ago. It will likely lead you to many of their other tracks. (P.S.: My wife identified in this track an interesting musical pattern from Terence Trent D’Arby’s Delicate! (1993) Coincidence? I don’t think so…).
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.
See you soon!
Read a previous story:
I remember a lot of teachers. My favorites were those that brought the subject into my world and made sure I could connect the dots to something that was not merely an abstraction in the textbooks. I also remember a professor who came to a high school I was visiting one day and gave a lecture—una clase magistral —on geology. The passion of this guy was remarkable. I believe we all left the class loving tectonic plates, not only with knowledge but also with plenty of curiosity to keep ourselves going on the subject.
Some of the teachers that I remember more vividly are indeed the ones that I found to be the most inspiring or the most empathic. But I also remember very well teachers that had no pedagogical ability whatsoever. For example, I had this algebra teacher that was somewhat of a lunatic. If you entered his class by mistake, you might have mistaken it for a acting course, such were the dramatic ways in which he gesticulated and told his stories. It was very entertaining to watch, but I just couldn't see how any of that was related to algebra.
Nice, I had Pantheon on my watch list for some time. I will definitely give it a chance!