How To Be An Artist

The final episode of How To Be An Artist. A recap of the journey and some conclusive thoughts. I also finally answer the question posed in the title.

Read the Essay, Maybe You're An Artist on my Medium page:

https://brandondayton.medium.com/maybe-youre-an-artist-76ea9e54f620

Arran Rogerson is an artist, musician and co-host of the Golden Shadow podcast along with Alyssa Polizzi. In this episode we discuss Arran's artistic background and the urge to create, what the shadow is and the various methods and practices Arran explores for coming in contact the shadow, the dangers of shadow work, the limits of the internet and why Sensemaking needs art. 

https://linktr.ee/arranrogerson 

https://www.goldenshadow.org/

Phillip Sevy is a prolific artist and writer in the comic book world having worked on various titles and with various publishers such as Top Cow, IDW and most notably, Dark Horse as the artist on Tomb Raider and on the creator-owned title Triage. In this episode we discuss Phillip's experience working with Dark Horse, pitching Triage and producing the book as a one-man wrecking crew. We also discuss the themes of Triage and how they map on to Phillip's own journey of self discovery.

Phillip's website: https://www.phillipsevy.com/

Doug Wagner is a comic book writer with a career stretching back to Malibu Comics and passing through almost every publisher since then. Most recently he is known as the writer and co-creator of Plastic and Vinyl from Image Comics. In this episode we discuss Doug's career, finding his voice with Plastic, the benefits of collaboration, when and how to veer away from formulas, the line between a hero and a monster and why you should be very afraid of Daniel B. Hillyard.

Jason Young is the co-creator and co-writer of Pretty Violent with Derek Hunter and one my Draw Night chums. Today he returns to discuss psychedelics, meditation, if life is worth living and what Jason thinks the purpose of art is.

Chuck Marohn is the president and founder of Strong Towns, and the author of the book by the same name. Chuck gives a brief introduction to the work of Strong Towns and then we discuss the myriad ways we shape our human habitat and how our human habitat shapes us. We discuss how humans are like bees and chimpanzees, why everyone should read Daniel Kahneman and Nassim Taleb, the rhetorical style of Strong Towns and how they can address the most controversial issues without becoming partisan, the importance of transcending our corrosive contemporary politics and why fighting isolation may be the most important work any of us can do. We also have a rousing chat about the potential of art, artists and creativity to change the world and why cities need artists and artists need cities.

More Strong Towns: https://www.strongtowns.org/

The Book: https://www.strongtowns.org/strong-towns-book

Chuck on twitter: https://twitter.com/clmarohn

Ben Simonsen is a master illustrator and concept artist that I've had the privilege to collaborate with from the earliest phases of my career. Ben and I discuss our early days working together at the legendary 8fish as well and his discovery of illustration as a career. We also the benefits of playing with new tools, respecting the idiosyncrasies of the individual artist, the discipline of early study, when to copy and when to go to the source and finding your artistic flow. We also discuss the benefit of being in a collaborative environment, strategies for responding to burnout and Ben's current interest in cinematic realism. 

More of Ben's stuff:

website: https://www.bensimonsen.com/

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDp5rH5zLC4eqOOKKDNnd2g

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bensimonsen/

Peter Limberg is founder and steward of the Stoa, a Covid-born "hill on the noosphere" where all the most interesting conversations on the internet seem to be happening. In this episode, Peter shares some delightful and energizing concepts for artists including the idea of the Daemon as an artistic guide, the concept of deathwork and lifework, treating your life as an artistic project and coming into right relationship with fear and other unpleasant things. He also shares a brief history of the Deamon-in-action with the inception of the Stoa, thoughts about journaling as an artistic and spiritual practice and how to be (and not be) a Stoic.

The Stoa: https://www.thestoa.ca/

Peter's journals: https://thestoa.substack.com/

Michael Eliason is a Seattle based architect advocating for housing reform across multiple dimensions. In this episode we discuss the various technologies, standards and systems that are quickly being adopted in Europe but are still seen as a novelty in the US. We discuss the German model of cooperative housing (Baugruppen), the energy efficiency standards found in Passive House, the emerging possibilities of mass timber and other decarbonization technologies, zoning reform and the key role finance plays in determining the shape of our cities.

Michael on twitter: https://twitter.com/holz_bau

For a deeper dive into all of the above you can check out Michael's writing at the Urbanist and on his medium blog:

https://www.theurbanist.org/author/mike-eliason/ 

https://15kwhm2a.medium.com/

Other stuff mentioned in the show:

Aeroseal: https://aeroseal.com/aerobarrier/

Eco cocoon: https://ecococon.eu/

Cohousing in Berlin: https://www.cohousing-berlin.de/en

Mass timber website in German: https://www.proholz.at/ 

Passive House: https://naphnetwork.org/

Books (if you can find them!)

Self Made City

Cohousing Inclusive

The Vienna Model

Jerzy Drozd is a cartoonist, teaching artist and prolific podcaster. In this episode, Jerzy returns to talk about the art of podcasting among other things. We spend the first half talking about podcasting and Jerzy's podcast roll call including Lean Into Art and 4 million Years Later. We talk about Jerzy's approach to teaching and how that informs podcasting, engaging with a podcast community, and podcasting as performance. As we discuss the building of online communities we take a turn towards the archetypal as we discuss the archetype of the Good King, when it is time for things to die, and what type of wizard you might want to be. 

Jerzy's current podcasts:

Lean Into Art: https://www.leanintoart.com/

4 million Years Later: https://anchor.fm/4my

Some of Jerzy's legacy podcasts:

Comics Are Great: http://comicsaregreat.com/

I don't normally do much with show notes, but we reference so much stuff here I thought listeners would appreciate it:

The Emerge Podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge

Jerzy's Nerd Nite talk on 80's storytelling: https://youtu.be/_vxvcyhvlk8

Great Courses -- King Arthur: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/king-arthur-history-and-legend

Rob Stenzinger's "Listening Like a Coach": https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Listening-Like-a-Coach-for-Creative-and-Design-Leaders/1249058671

Legacy of the Heart: https://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Heart-Spiritual-Advantages-Childhood/dp/0671797840

This Jungian Life: https://thisjungianlife.com/

The Good King: https://thisjungianlife.com/episode-147-the-archetype-of-the-good-king/

Peace Pilgrim: https://youtu.be/6CAsjZqYPME