Every patron gets a book, every year. Pixels become ink & paper: a 250+ page volume you can smell and lick. All drawn, written, printed, and shipped from Japan.

• The Illustrated World of Luis Mendo •

THE TOOLS

Leaving the Boring Stuff to the Machines

An open-hearted take on how I ended up using LLMs to do the boring work.

March 09, 2026

THE MASTERS

Upward Downwards & Upwards again

Where I mourn the loss of my friend Joachim Baan by finishing a project we ran together, making it all about him and his legacy.

February 15, 2026

KARUIZAWA VISITORS

Put a Whale in Your Life

The visit of wonderful human Matthew Smith {aka Whale} to Karuizawa reminded me of the need to welcoming more "givers" and rejecting all "takers" in my life.

February 06, 2026

TOKYOMÓN

Tokyomón — Pilot

So you want to see Tokyo from a different point of view? Let us show it to you.

January 31, 2026

ARTIST'S LIFE

An Eternal Fight

Nothing comes easy and certainly not comics. A very real fight between me and my work.

January 24, 2026

ARTIST'S LIFE

Peek Behind the Cover

A little peek behind the process of illustrating a magazine cover. This time for House Beautiful Magazine.

January 16, 2026

PROSE

Twenty 20 Something

Why I do not wish you a year of happiness from January 1st, but rather everyday, from any day.

January 02, 2026

THE REST

The Year of the No-Horse

2026 Is going to be the Year of the Fire Horse, and since I am terrible at drawing horses, I decided to draw and propose alternative zodiac signs for the new year.

December 26, 2025