Your Creative Push

Tom Hart is a cartoonist and the Executive Director of The Sequential Artists Workshop, a school and arts organization in Gainesville, Florida. He is also the author of the New York Times #1 Bestseller, Rosalie Lightning, a book about the loss of his daughter. Rosalie Lightning has been translated into French, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese, and was featured on many best of 2016 lists, and nominated for two Eisner Awards.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/tomhart

-His early love of Peanuts and the exuberance, confusion and anger that Charles Shultz was able to convey through his characters.

-His artistic educational journey.

-How Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics changed the way he thought about approaching comics.

-How he was able to continue working on comics through his initial artistic shortcomings.

-Following your instincts.

-His own push towards creating comic strips.

-Dealing with adversity, setbacks and failures in an extremely difficult and frustrating business.

-His book How to Say Everything and how it remained 90% finished for nearly a decade.

-How he got past the roadblock of wanting to say everything by realizing that you have to start by saying something.

-Getting used to putting things behind you and moving forward.

-How SAW started and what its students accomplish.

-Tricking your inner critic into thinking that what you're doing really isn't that important.

"In my first year of art school I think I made two pages of comics. I just didn't get it."

"You're never going to say everything. So just say something. Say the next thing."

"We've exalted art in some ways, but it can be simply something that you do."

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Julie Doucet

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Amy Dresner is a former professional stand-up comic, having appeared at The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory, and The Improv. Since 2012, she has been a contributing editor of the online addiction and recovery magazine TheFix.com. She's also written for the Good Men Project, The Frisky, Refinery 29, and has been a regular contributor to Addiction.com and PsychologyToday.com, where she has her own addiction blog entitled "Coming Clean." My Fair Junkie is her debut book.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/amydresner

-How she got into the position to write her first book.

-The misconception of creative people that you need drama, tragedy or addiction to have a significant life or art.

-Finding inspiration by simply being outside of your comfort zone.

-The connection between addiction and creativity and seeking a connection to something outside of yourself or something greater.

-How she was able to be so open, honest and vulnerable in writing My Fair Junkie.

-If you had the nerve to live what you lived, you should have the nerve to write about it.

-Dealing with the resistance of not wanting to put herself in the headspace of active addiction.

-How it is never too late to start something or to change (and how you'll never feel ready).

-How you do anything is how you do everything.

-Allowing yourself to have "shitty first drafts."

-How she writes for herself and why she never reads the comments on her articles.

-Putting yourself out there and owning all of your mistakes, flaws and humanness.

"I'd finally had a real narrative arc where I had a transformation and a story to tell. I landed in a different place and I had something to say."

"What was comfortable for me was the chaos. What's uncomfortable is any kind of normalcy and things going well."

"As a writer, I know that the stuff that you don't want to put down on the page is exactly the stuff that you need to put down on the page."

"Ironically, the more specific it is, the more universal it is."

"You get ready by doing it. If you're waiting to feel ready, you will wait forever."

"I feel weirdly bullet-proof. A big way that I deal with my own shame is to own it. I put it out there. Because then what is anyone going to say?"

"There is a freedom in owning it. Because nobody has anything on you. There's no secret."

"It's always scary when it's new. The more you do it, the less scary and hard it becomes."

"I faked that I didn't care for a long time. Until I didn't care."

"Fuck your feelings and take your action. Take consistent action every day."

Too Sober to Be Creative (The Fix)

My Fair Junkie: A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean by Amy Dresner

Website / The Fix / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

Tom Hart : Website

Kan Muftic is a London-based Animation Director and Concept Artist, who has worked on projects like Annihilation, Godzilla and Guardians of the Galaxy. He is also the animation director for the Netflix and Channel 4 show, Kiss Me First.

Kan's first book, Figure Drawing for Concept Artists is a comprehensive guide for learning figure drawing techniques to aid every concept artist's skill set.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/kanmuftic

-His early desire to be a zoologist and his decision to become an artist instead.

-Discovering concept art and how he knew he had to pursue it as a new career and passion.

-The terrifying decision to leave the stability of his current work in order to learn a new way of approaching art.

-How your interest is the thing that will lead you to success because it will ensure your motivation to keep learning and working hard.

-Having to push past the fact that actors and writers are given directorial roles without question, while traditional artists are doubted.

-How he approached the idea of being the leader of a creative team for Kiss Me First.

-Dealing with moments of extreme self-doubt.

-His practice of mindfulness and how it helped to get him through his rigorous 2-year project.

-Neuroplasticity.

-How he was also able to complete a book during the busiest two years of his life.

-Realizing the value of being able to communicate through drawing.

-Speaking with Ridley Scott.

-His approach to the uncanny valley.

-The experience of working with Netflix and what surprised him the most about the company.

"It was just a thing that I had to do and it felt completely right. I've only had that with concept art and when I met my wife."

"I realized eventually that the only thing that matters is to do what you really really really want to do and that life takes care of the rest somehow."

"Listen to that quiet, deep guttural voice inside of you."

"I had levels of self-doubt that I didn't even know I had."

"The ability to communicate through drawing is absolutely invaluable."

Figure Drawing for Concept Artists by Kan Muftic

Kiss Me First

Headspace App

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Amy Dresner : Website / Facebook

Cindy Hohman is the creator of The Art Marketing Project, which helps independent artists by teaching marketing and promotion skills so you can do what you love and make a living with your art. Her goal is to make art and creativity a viable, sustainable, and profitable career path.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/cindyhohman

-Her background working at the Art Students League of Denver and the Denver Art Museum.

-How and why she started the Art Marketing Project.

-Why it is so important to develop a marketing plan and not just do what everybody else is doing.

-The importance of keeping track of your numbers and analytics.

-How to know when to quit your attempt at a particular social media tactic.

-Building a brand for yourself that you choose, and then finding your ideal buyers.

-Whether or not you should create a new identity if you plan on doing a different type of creative work.

-How to push past the icky feeling that comes with marketing and self-promotion.

-Being a hedgehog.

-Having a strong website and also making sure you make it clear that your work is for sale.

-Not being afraid to make real-world connections.

-Disney's rule for selling art and how it is never too early to start selling your art.

-More information about her new course.

"Without a marketing plan, you can easily get caught in the shiny object syndrome."

"Marketing is hard, but you should enjoy a good part of what you're doing with it."

"Your ideal buyer is for you to choose, not for your past buyers to tell you."

"Don't try to be acceptable and pleasant to everybody. What you do should hit right to the core of who it's meant for."

"You don't even have to have your website up and completely functional and perfectly done to sell your work."

"Sharing your work is great. Being clear that it is for sale is even better."

Art Marketing Project goodies for YCP listeners

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Kan Muftic : Website / Facebook

Heidi Gustad is a knit & crochet designer, Midwesterner, & one-time Librarian who is obsessed with colorful knitting, crochet & yarn crafts.

She is also the creator of Hands Occupied, which features dozens of free knitting & crochet patterns, over 250 step-by-step How-to posts, and 100+ inspiration posts to help you dream up your own DIYs.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/heidigustad

-How she got into knitting as a child as a way to battle anxiety and insomnia.

-How she pushed her knitting to the side because of her talent (and responsibility) with the oboe.

-Getting involved with blogging.

-Her realization that she could have been monetizing her side hustle for years.

-How much easier it is for younger people to learn things.

-Why she finally made the decision to quit her job as a librarian and pursue her creativity full-time.

-Dealing with the question of Am I defined by what I do for a living?

-The importance of finding your own happiness so that you can help others.

-Balancing a knitting and crocheting world in which some people have a lot of money to spend while others do not.

-How she achieves flow state.

-Being able to get to know yourself.

"I was Knit-Flixing back before that had a name."

"Creativity has always been a way that I've handled my anxious behavior and anxiety within myself."

"It's so funny to me now that this is my full-time job that I just sat there missing all these opportunities to monetize my side hustle."

"I just had this gut knowledge that I needed to come back to creativity as the foundation for my life."

"You can sit there forever and not pull the trigger on doing your creative work, whether its as a side hustle, or part-time, or full-time or sometimes."

Heidi's Free Patterns

Youngman Brown on The Blue Magic Podcast

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Cindy Hohman : Website / Facebook

Alex Strohl is a Madrid-born, French adventure photographer whose work is characterized by his extraordinary existence. Instead of creating contrived scenes, Strohl creates authentic moments and captures them as they unfold before him— continually blurring the lines between work and life.

Strohl's photography has been featured in prestigious publications such as Forbes, Vanity Fair, and Gentleman's Journal and his client list includes dozens of household names. He is based in Whitefish, Montana—but spends the vast majority of his time on the road with his partner Andrea Dabene; they often journey to the most remote reaches of the world.

His new course, The Adventure Photography Workshop offers an in-depth look into his mindset, methodology, and strategy, not just as a photographer, but as a creative thinker.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/281

-His recent traveling, including his recent trips to the Pyrenees and Iceland.

-How he plans his trips and his shoots.

-The reason he created the Adventure Photography Workshop.

-Training yourself to enjoy doing the difficult work, and some of the tips he has for getting yourself in that mindset, like taking cold showers.

-Finding motivation in previous successes.

-Some of the things that he didn't expect about creating a course.

-Deconstructing his methods and what that did for his mindset and strategy as a photographer.

-How investing in knowledge up front can save you time later.

-Splitting up large projects into more manageable pieces.

-Dealing with uncertainty as a creative person and developing certainty by creating a system for yourself.

"When you're a freelancer, you're the asset. You're the business."

"It's all about drawing energy from our high moments."

"You can't be someone else. People are going to see right through that."

"The value is in the implementation, not the idea."

The Adventure Photography Workshop (Use Coupon Code CREATIVEPUSH at checkout to get $100 off (Limited to 25 orders))

Alex Strohl on Your Creative Push Episode 180

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

Get Out of a Creative Rut - Woody Allen's Shower Hack to Master Creativity

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Heidi Gustad : Website / Instagram

Dougie Hoppes is a Dark Fantasy Artist living in Hillsborough, NC. During the daytime, he writes software for a neuroscience company, and at night and on weekends, he works on his art business and spends time with my family.

He is also the creator of the ShadowMyths Cards, designed to inspire idea generation, and the upcoming Shadow Myth's book, Selik's Road.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/dougie

-How he got a later start in his art than most.

-His wife's wise advice to paint what he truly loved instead of what he thought he was supposed to paint.

-Going to his first Comic-Con at the age of 47 and the creative shift that it gave him.

-How he destroys 90% of his work, but documents it all.

-A glimpse into the way in which he has evolved as an artist (and continues to evolve).

-Getting past the tiredness.

-Taking calculated risks.

-His style of finding the images and the story after he makes marks.

-His upcoming Kickstarter for Selik's Road.

-How he came up with the idea for his Shadow Myths book.

"In the beginning, I did stuff that I thought people were going to buy."

"If you're going to improve, you've got to take risks. Nobody ever improved by just sitting there."

Shadow Myth's Kickstarter

Illustration Master Class

One Fantastic Week

Terry Crews on The Tim Ferriss Podcast

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Jennie Nash is a book coach, a writer, and the founder of Author Accelerator, a strategic book coaching service that offers the sustained editorial support writers need to complete their projects and make a powerful impact on their target audience.

For eight years, writers serious about reaching readers have trusted Jennie to coach their projects from inspiration to publication, landing top New York agents and book deals with houses such as Scribner, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette.

Jennie is the author of four novels, three memoirs, and one self-help book for writers. She has taught for 12 years in the UCLA Extension Writer's Program, delivered three courses for CreativeLive, and spoken at writing conferences all over the country. Her guest posts have appeared on popular writing sites including The Write Life, Writers Helping Writers, and The Book Designer.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/jennienash

-The inspiration that her father gave her as a hard-working writer.

-Her lifelong pursuit of trying to prove the power of story.

-How she developed as a writer after her 4th grade debut.

-The importance of grabbing onto whatever creative thing is calling out to you.

-How she became a book coach and what she does to help her clients.

-Wrestling with her identity.

-How the creative parts of our lives are mostly spent in solitude, spending time with our own minds.

-How anxiety, doubt and stress are emotional resistances that all writers and creative people will deal with their entire lives.

-The importance of knowing why you want to do something creative like writing a book so that you can get through all of the resistances that you encounter along your journey.

-How to know when it is time to walk away from a project, temporarily or permanently.

-More information about Author Accelerator.

"If you're writing aimlessly, it's easy to not end up anywhere."

"A book is an incredibly linear thing. But a book is not written in a linear fashion and a lot of writers get into trouble when they think that it is."

"Even the most successful writers are having the same struggles as you. It doesn't end."

"Project: easy. Editorial solution: easy. It's the emotion that's hard."

"Why do you care about this particular story. Why? What about it is calling you and moving you?"

"Writing is hard for so many reasons. But it shouldn't be painful."

Blueprint for a Book (Author Accelerator)

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

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Dougie Hoppes : Website

Jeff Leisawitz is an award-winning musician/producer, a critically acclaimed author and internationally distributed filmmaker who has devoted his life to creativity. He burns with a mission -- to inspire writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, entrepreneurs (and everyone else) to amp up their creativity, heal their hearts and shine in the world.

Not F*ing Around: The No Bullsh*t Guide for Getting Your Creative Dreams Off the Ground is Jeff's first book.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/jeffl

-His early interest in music, photography, and writing.

-The importance of focus when you have many creative impulses.

-NLP and how it can aid creative people.

-How creativity is a way for us to be seen, expressed and healed.

-How to get past your inner critic.

-Seeing your art as ephemeral and being willing to destroy it.

-How the movie, Patterson inspired him to take up the daily practice of writing a poem.

-The notion of building up resiliency to rejection.

-The lessons that he learned from improve comedy such as "Yes, and…."

-His advice for people to shift from the fucking around mindset to the not fucking around mindset.

"If you don't focus on something, you're never going to get very far in anything."

"Creativity is a way for us to be seen, expressed and healed in our lives."

"The inner critic is the super villain of the creative self."

"If you're going to step out into the world as any kind of artist, you will be rejected most of the time. And that's okay. The trick is to remember that you are not your creation."

Not F*ing Around: The No Bullsh*t Guide for Getting Your Creative Dreams Off the Ground by Jeff Leisawitz

What I learned from 100 days of rejection | Jia Jiang's TED Talk

Website / Book / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

Jennie Nash : Website / Author Accelerator

Matt Madden is a cartoonist and teacher best known for his book 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style (Penguin), a comics adaptation of Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style. In addition to his personal work he has written two textbooks with his wife, Jessica Abel, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and Mastering Comics, (First Second).

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/matmadden

-How he got a later start with art and cartoons.

-How he discovered Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau and he instantly knew he wanted to do something similar with cartoons.

-Oubapo.

-How giving yourself rules or constraints can help you to get past the fear of the blank page.

-How he has come to terms with certain limitations of his own creative process and pace.

-Some actionable advice for anyone wanting to implement some limitations or constraints in their own work.

-His advice for people who might feel as if they got into their creative passion too late and are "behind pace."

"I rarely have that terror of the blank page."

"It's a very slow moving thing and a long time before I get that gratification of finishing a project."

"You have to be careful what you draw in those panels because you are condemning your characters to relive that scenario eternally."

99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden

J.S. Bach - Crab Canon on a Mobius Strip

Jessica Abel on Your Creative Push Episode 179

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Jeff Leisawitz : Website