PencilBooth Take #46
Train in the three difficulties
Hello everyone! It's about to get a whole lot wordier over here... Strap in.
Many eagle-eyed readers might have noticed for the past year or so we've been using PencilBooth to send this newsletters out. What you may not know is that PencilBooth has been a product of our own creation. How you wouldn't know that is another question altogether though, as it feels like that's literally all we talk about sometimes.
Anyhow, last week we launched PencilBooth 2.0. It's a pretty big deal, so we're going to tell you all about it here, along with some other stuff.
Say hello (again…) to PencilBooth 2.0
So yes, I know we promised no new websites this year, but we technically started this last year so it doesn't reeeeeally count.
Around 18 months ago we launched PencilBooth - A simple idea based on a random domain name we bought ten years ago. As huge fans of TinyLetter, the no-nonsense text-based newsletter service, we wanted to make the equivalent but for visual artists rather than writers. Of course, what started as a simple idea gained a small amount of user interest at which point we got hooked...
Six months into our initial launch we went all-in, trying to see if PencilBooth could really be a thing. While newsletters continued to gain traction as a medium, they were still very much focussed on servicing writers or content-creators, and were growing in complexity to a dizzying degree.
A few weeks ago we proudly launched PencilBooth 2.0 - Redesigned and rebuilt from the ground up as a visual newsletter service for creative types, and we are forcing everyone who reads this to please have a look at it as we really have spent more time and money than we should have on this, and am mildly freaking out.
Asking the question of what would an email newsletter app that prioritised imagery over text look like, we're ridiculously happy with what we came up with in response, especially given the limited size of our team. The new PencilBooth homepage aggregates images from everyone's recent issues, plus we have heaps of new features like link-in-bio support (check out our new sign-up page here for example), and this new thing we came up with called 'The B-Roll', which is a simple way to share links in a more visual bite-size manner, plus lots of other bells and whistles.
So after all the hard hard work of building the thing, the hard hard hard work comes next, which is getting people to actually check it out and use it. It's still early days and there's lots more we want to do and fix up, but I can confidently say from being a user of this thing as well, this is something special.
Please check it out in more detail at pencilbooth.com - We're particularly looking for some help spreading the word. If there's any newsletters, influencers, magazines, blogs etc that you think might be interested in this little experiment, please pass it on!
Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled programming...
A collaboration with the Australian National Academy of Music and artist Kate Banazi
Kate Banazi is best known for her silkscreen prints and her interactions with colour, movement, light and shadow.
This piece became the feature for the Australian National Academy of Music and their 2024 seasonal guide, online and available for download, link in image.
A Grim Milestone
Guy Shield's Grim character definitely seems to be making in impression with folks. Nearly 400 thousand of them, give or take. We've put together a few reels of his greatest...hits... for your perusal!
Solid Lines x Canvas
These iconic illustration sets by Solid Lines artists Janelle Burger and Kimberly Engwicht are now live and free to use on Canva! Search janelleburger in the elements section to access the ‘Women in Gaming’ collection, or input kimberlyengwicht if ‘Blak and Deadly’ is more your vibe, and get creating! 🎮🖤
Louis Wes Baseball Cards
Inspired by a successful collaboration with Topps last year, Louis has been designing and producing his own custom range of cards, with each batch selling-out on announcement. These are a true labour of love and amazing items to behold! Click above to view a short reel going over his manufacturing process.
Okay, that's all we have for now. Be sure to keep an eye on our instagram and other social feeds this week as we formally launch our S/S'24 season with our new signings as well! We'll be back next week with a recap of our new talent and other stuff. Thanks for reading!