Your Creative Push

Joey Feldman is a mixed-media artist from Los Angeles, California. His works are figurative with a frenetic, cartoonish style at their core. With line art applied to its fullest extent, Joey's initial, fast-sketched lines play a role in the final piece.

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

-How he wakes up early and gets right to work because of the way that his creative energy gets drained as he goes about his day.

-DDD and LGD -- The feelings of depression that he gets if he doesn't create something.

-His experiences with drawing O.J. Simpson, Eminem, and Donald Trump.

-His advice for people to deal with haters or with criticism.

-Dealing with procrastination and distractions.

-Freedom (the app) and how it helps to keep him focused.

-How he balances his time.

-The value of to-do lists.

-How meditation helps to energize him and also "clear the slate" in his head.

"I get up at 4:15 every morning and I just have this desire to create."

"I mean the guy is orange and yellow. How could you not draw him?"

"I think it's just this day and age of distractions is what holds me back the most."

"It all goes back to a plan, because left to my own devices, I'll find 35 other things to do if it's not written down."

"Just go and make stuff. Create! Do the things you don't want to do, so you can do the things you want to do."

Freedom: Internet, App, & Website Blocker

Neil Gaiman - Commencement Speech at the University of the Arts 2012

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Shawn Coss is an Ohio-based artist who loves to sling ink and paint at paper until it forms some type of creature. He works for the webcomic and cartoon show, Cyanide and Happiness and also produces his own personal "dark art." During the month of October, Shawn is illustrating mental illness and disorders for Inktober.

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

-How and why he started his Inktober project about mental illness and diseases.

-Some of the positive and negative feedback that he has received for his depiction of mental illnesses.

-How he handles negative feedback and "haters."

-How he juggled getting a nursing degree and still created art.

-How he got involved with Cyanide and Happiness.

-His advice for people whose version of success isn't necessarily gaining monetary independence through their creative passion.

-The common advice of quitting your job and just "going for it."

-How he balances his time between work-work, personal work, and family.

-How he feels as if he is wasting time when he is sleeping.

-How he feels unfulfilled if he goes to bed after spending a day without creating something.

-Trying to find the balance between creating art and spending time with family and friends.

-The story behind his books.

"That's just how I've always been. I've never been apologetic for my artwork. I've never set out to offend anyone, I create just to create."

"I create artwork that I want to create, and I realize that when I do that, or any artist does, success will find you. Or at least your audience will find you."

"You'll definitely find an audience that digs your stuff. Whether that will pay your bills or not remains to be seen."

"I feel like I'm wasting time when I'm sleeping."

"If it's in my head, it won't leave until I create it."

Cyanide & Happiness

Kindergarten: A Collection of Creepy Stories by Shawn Coss

AMN Clothing

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Karl is a painter from Sweden with a special interest in nature… specifically birds. Karl's style comes from his interest for the forms of meditation found in Zen Buddhism, and he believes that the first brushstroke is the most important.

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

-How zen calligraphy helped to make him understand how he was trying to control his life.

-How so many years of looking at birds allows him to paint them by memory.

-How the practice of kyudo affects his painting.

-Karl takes Youngman through a meditation exercise.

-Why thinking too much about how the painting is supposed to look like can interfere with the actual painting of it.

-The theory that the first brush stroke is the most important.

-To approach the first brush stroke (or any first creative action) full of energy.

-To not worry about what other people think about your work.

-To embrace "happy accidents," and see where they take you.

-How art is a (safe) battle ground for him to overcome his fears.

Karl's Final Push will inspire you to create from your heart.

"If you have the knowledge of how to paint, if you paint with the image faded in your mind, then your intuition will paint for you."

"As soon as you start thinking about how it ought to be, you limit yourself."

"If you paint with your heart, you will paint something beautiful."

"I don't do it for the art. It is a practice ground for overcoming my fears."

"The only advice I can give is believe in what you're doing, and just do it. Don't be concerned with comparisons."

Website / Facebook

Stuart Holland is a visionary realism artist currently based in Boise, Idaho. Working in primarily charcoal and watercolor, Stuart's work often depicts ethereal figures as they explore and engage with stark landscapes riddled with enigmatic natural and artificial features. Drawing influence from sources like psychology, various spiritual traditions, psychedelics, and quantum physics, Stuart's drawings and paintings explore the timeless concepts of Light and urge viewers to contemplate their innate relationships with Self, Nature, and the Universe at large.

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

-How his recent work has been heavily influenced by ayahuasca ceremonies that he recently took part in.

-How his artistic style has changed since his experiences.

-His reason for using charcoal.

-The experience of telling his parents about his transformative experience.

-Self-doubt and how to deal with it as a creative person.

-The importance of having a creative sanctuary.

-The role that travel plays in expanding his perspective and feeding his creative energy.

-How he balances his time as a bartender, an artist, and someone who loves to sleep.

-His dreams and the significance that he gives to them.

-Lucid dreaming and how they can be used to potential "speak" with your subconscious to get through creative blocks.

"I would really love to get into working with holograms and using that as a medium to facilitate a facsimile of a psychedelic experience in a sort of immersive art installation."

"It's so hard to be a creative person in a world that doesn't necessarily favor creative endeavors."

"Having that creative space is crucial for me."

"Creating something and bringing it to fruition and manifesting it in front of you is a very sacred ability that we have and it needs the reverence and the opportunity to flourish."

"Each night you dream it's like having a mini-life."

"It's not going to be one single decision that makes that transformation happen in your life, but it's going to be a small series of decisions that you make throughout your day, throughout your week, over the course of a year."

The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley

Dark Nature: A Natural History of Evil by Lyall Watson

The Human Experience Podcast Episode 69

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Gary Taxali is an award-winning muli-media artist from Canada who draws inspiration from vintage comics and advertising, producing an assortment of graphic design, fine art, and street art, all rolled into one. His work has been seen not just in print and in museums throughout North America and Europe, but on toys, wine labels, coins for the Canadian Mint and clothing.

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

-The experience of designing coins for the Canadian Mint.

-A very serendipitous story relating to coins and his ancestry.

-The relaxation that can come from being aware of the serendipitous nature of existence.

-His experience with clients wanting to control his creativity and how he dealt with it.

-His process of creating a design for the marriage-themed coin.

-How he gets through the creative struggle of not being able to pin down the perfect iteration of an idea.

-His advice for people who have a difficult time "going for a ride" with their art as opposed to being in complete control.

-What we can learn from an obsessive love of doodling.

"I really believe that serendipity exists all around us. You just have to open your eyes and just stop and take a look at it. Because it's rampant, it's everywhere, it's in our lives on big levels and on little levels. It's really refreshing to know that when you are aware of it, how much more relaxing, I think, life can be in terms of submitting to the process of just what life is."

"Drawing pictures in boxes is pretty easy."

"I like to do something that has a bit more dynamic energy."

"Our mind likes to remind us of why we shouldn't do things."

"I think creativity is just a settling with, honoring, and embracing your idiosyncrasies."

"Don't ever let your art be something that you think is a measure of who you are. It's not. The measure of who you are is your awesomeness, and you've already won the game."

Website / Facebook / Instagram

Chris Reeves is the founder of 2930 Creative, a digital advertising agency in Dallas, Texas focused on helping the nonprofit, medical, tourism, and mortgage industries. Chris and his team have also began branching off into many new mediums, including a Facebook Live show and two podcasts, "The Creative Block Podcast" and "One-Star Review."

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/162

-How he and his wife started 2930 Creative and how he is surprised to have made it five years strong.

-Not quitting when the going gets tough and continuing to persevere.

-How and why he started the new podcasts "The Creative Block" and "One Star Review."

-The fear that comes when you start a new creative project.

-Coping with loss and how experimentation with new projects have helped him.

-How technology has made things both easier and harder.

-His earliest creative moments.

-His experiences being in a ska punk band as well performing as a DJ.

-The idea of having creative "phases."

-How he and his wife balance their time.

-The importance of making some separations between work life and home life.

-How he gets past the "shiny object" syndrome and decides which of his many ideas are valuable enough to pursue.

-The importance of giving back.

-Making a "creative bucket list."

"I think the biggest reason we made it is that we didn't quit."

"I think it's just not quitting. Because it is easy when things get hard to just do something different."

"The idea was born out of the fact that chasing down clients for money is not very fun."

"It's always scary when you start a new thing. I think every creative feels that way."

The Creative Block Podcast

One-Star Review

Curate

Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business by John Mackey

Uncontainable: How Passion, Commitment, and Conscious Capitalism Built a Business Where Everyone Thrives by Kip Tindell

Pencil Kings

Schoolism

Pen Pineapple Apple Pen

Kung Fury

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Stephanie Halligan is a cartoonist and the "art and soul" behind Arttoself.com, where she delivers a daily dose of doodles and notes of inspiration to her subscribers' inboxes.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/161

-How Art to Self came to be and what it means to her.

-The importance of putting work in on a daily basis and giving yourself goals and deadlines for that.

-The notion of making work that you need to see, that will help you out on your daily grind, and how that will most likely resonate with others.

-Her six-year old mega-fan!

-How it's not just her cartoons and notes that inspire people, but also the fact that she shows up every day to do it.

-Some of her daily resistances that hold her back from putting in the work.

-Understanding that creative blocks and self-doubt will always be there, so just recognizing its presence can help to diffuse it.

-"The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield and how it helped to inspire her to create daily content via Art to Self.

-The importance of creating personal work as early in the day as possible, when the resistance isn't as strong.

-Taking E-mail and social media apps off of her phone.

-Taking motivation from the perseverance of people like Jim Henson.

"Show up and create. On the days when fear is kicking your butt, show up and create. On days when you feel on top of the world, show up and create."

"If I let fear, emotional doubt, and worry stop me from drawing, I probably would only draw ten days out of 365 every year. So it was important for me to be held accountable for that work."

"It's amazing how sometimes those lowest moments can produce the best art."

"It's okay if you've stopped. It's okay if you're not doing the thing that's been bubbling up in you for so long that you know you should be doing or that you really want to do. It's okay that you're not there. But how about tomorrow?"

Stephanie's Creative Confidence Guide

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin

Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones

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Kelogsloops is a talented 20-year old artist from Melbourne, Australia who has been drawing since he was five years old. He has amassed an impressive online following, with nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/160

-His artistic journey and how he got to the point he is at now.

-The decision to go against what everyone else thinks is best for you to pursue the thing that you love.

-The notion of being on your deathbed and regretting not doing something you truly cared about.

-How to handle your parents or loved ones not being supportive of your passion.

-The change that he made so that he could pursue his artistic passion.

-The incredible power that comes when you can align the thing that you want to do with the thing that you have to do.

-Creating a YouTube channel and putting his face to it.

-His passion to help anyone out there who might also be struggling from the same problems that he is, but not have a teacher or a friend to reach out to.

-How he dealt with being mistaken for a girl.

-His advice for people who might want to transcend gender "norms" of artists.

-Anonymity and how it can help you to fully express yourself.

-The differences between inspirational art block and motivational art block.

"The more I drew, the harder it was to study."

"You shouldn't have to change your work to fit those around you. Because that's not very expressive of yourself in the first place, which kind of defeats the purpose of art."

"My work isn't about whether I'm a guy or a girl. That's the last thing that people should worry about."

"I create my work to resonate with people. The point of it is to connect with people and make people have a dialogue between themselves and the work. So it's about what the person sees in the work, not what I put in the work."

"That's how I tackle art block. Just surround myself with inspiration until I get a new perspective. And that's when I get the new fuel to go on again."

MINDSHIFT - Motivational Video

Website / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / DeviantArt / Tumblr / Twitter

Jordan Matter is a portrait photographer specializing in actors, models, and dancers. He is the photographer behind the NY Times bestseller "Dancers Among Us," and in October, 2016 he is releasing his new book, "Dancers After Dark."

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/159

-How he initially became interested in photography and then how he came back to it.

-The black & white printing course that he took at School of Visual Arts in New York City.

-The story of what gave him the inspiration to approach photography with a new determination.

-How a long period of "alone time" gave him the opportunity to obsess over photography and completely devote himself to it.

-How individuals can still keep an open mind to a potential path to making money from their now-casual creative passion.

-The difference in results between a defeatist attitude versus an optimistic one.

-His books Uncovered and Dancers Among Us and how they led him to eventually create his new book, Dancers After Dark.

-The notion of serendipity and how it has played a role in his photography and his career.

-The difficulty of a passion project with no guarantee of income taking away time from your family.

-Giving up sleep or giving up mindless activities to give yourself time to create your passion projects.

-Dancers After Dark and how it is a celebration of passion and one's willingness to pursue it at all costs.

-How the nudity of the dancers shows all of the muscles that they have developed from so many years of hard work and practice.

-His advice for people who might struggle with approaching their creative pursuit without a plan.

"When I saw my first print come up in the developer, it was like a Hallelujah moment. I just suddenly realized that this was what I wanted to do."

"So I picked up the camera again, but this time I went at it with renewed gusto."

"I don't know that I'm really meant for a casual passion."

"This doesn't always have to be casual. How can I explore possibilities within this passion to make a living at it too?"

"The bigger thing for me was that I was allowing myself to fantasize about what it could become. Whereas before I had seen why it wouldn't become that."

"If you know you love things in the general sense of a certain subject matter, keep working until you find specifically where you fit into that."

"You can pay your bills and have your passion project."

"I've just learned to exist with very little sleep so that I can do all of the other things that I want to do."

"One of my photos went viral and I didn't take it."

"Once you cut out spontaneity and once you cut out the fresh moment, then all you're looking for is the thing you've already planned to do.

"I think the biggest mistake that people make is they plan something out, and then they do it as planned. And then they stop. You want to surprise yourself! You don't want to just get what you expect."

Dancers After Dark

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Chris is a sculptor and a painter of all manner of critter, and has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world. His work has been published in numerous books and periodicals in the US as well as in Europe and Singapore. Chris is also a toy designer and sculptor of numerous instantly sold-out editions of designer art toys and figures.

Amanda's mixed-media work combines the textures and colors of antique domestic objects, the natural world, and an obsessive attention to detail. Her fabric creatures evoke ideas of cast-off children's toys and ill-conceived taxidermy experiments with crooked human teeth. Her work is highly sought-after by collectors around the globe, and she has exhibited her work in galleries, boutiques, and conventions across the United States, as well as Europe and Japan.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/158

Listen to Part 1 here!

-The "F it moment," where you have no more time to finish a project and you have to put your perfectionism aside in order to submit your work.

-The idea of getting many different projects started all at once and how to handle all of that on a daily basis.

-Will you be happy or sad with how you spent your time when you are on your death bed?

-Coming to terms with the fact that you have a lot to say about the world and finding the way to say that through your creative endeavor.

-What their creatures bring to their lives and what their lives would be like without them.

-What their online followings do for their creative process.

"It's kind of this narcissistic fear of failure and it really keeps me from doing a lot of stuff."

"The way that I try to combat the futility of time is that I try to break everything down into small chunks. Eventually all those bricks will eventually form a wall and then you'll have a body of work.

"In terms of creativity, for me it's drawing first and everything else after."

"It gives me a reason to share my crazy obsessions with other like-minded people who also appreciate crazy obsessions."

"You have to be a little crazy and a little silly and be willing to be a little frivolous. I think that's really really important."

"Do whatever you can to demystify the creative process."

"The thing that holds me back the most is that there is not enough time to do all the things that I want to do."

"I don't want to be yet another contributor to the endless bucket full of commentary. What I want to do is give people a break for a second. To look at something that might make them smile in an otherwise dismal day. Or just a normal day."

"Wishing got nobody anywhere. Except for Pinocchio."

"On Friday night, where are you at? Are you out drinking with your friends? Or are you in your studio working on your passion, working on what's important to you?"

"Really put your head down and put the work in. That's the only way you'll get results."

"The goal is not to end up in a place in your life. The goal is to get better and progress until you can no longer create art."

Bindlewood

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Website / Facebook / Instagram / Tumblr / Twitter