Your Creative Push

Debbie Chesebro is a creative producer with over 15 years of experience in production, post production, accounting & finance, feature films, commercials, and new media. She has worked on feature films such as Hurt Locker, Nacho Libre, Fever Pitch, and Pee-wee's Big Holiday, as well as many international productions. Most recently, she worked in Cambodia on Netflix's upcoming Angelina Jolie Pitt-directed feature.

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

-Her role in the new Angelina Jolie Pitt-directed feature on Netflix and her travels to Cambodia.

-The various roles and jobs that she has had throughout her career on her journey to be a producer and writer.

-The role that writing has played throughout her life.

-The unfortunate events that happened after writing a screenplay with her writing partner.

-The story behind "Prom Queen."

-The strange phenomenon in Hollywood, how ideas are often met with similar ideas at the same time.

-The idea of regrouping to figure out why you fell in love with your creative passion in the first place and working from there.

-Her love for John Hughes films.

-How a writing partner that is willing to "play" and bounce ideas back and forth doesn't just make the process more fruitful, but also more fun.

"The process itself can be so painful and torturous, but then when you have this story, this piece of paper that you filled up with words, it kind of seems like a magical thing."

"Just go back to the origins. Why are you doing this? What inspired you in the first place? What is it that you truly love?"

Another solo episode.

About magic.

Only, like, two episodes after the last episode about magic.

Yawn, right?

Except not! Something incredible happened after the last episode... Youngman goes as far as to describe it as "magical," believe it or not. This episode starts where the last episode left off, though it wasn't planned that way.

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

YCP Episode 145 with POWERS

YCP Episode 111 with Brandyn Burnette

YCP Episode 136 with Lisa Congdon

YCP Episode 110 with Gabriel Picolo

POWERS is the dynamic duo comprised of Mike Del Rio and Christa Ru, two talented musicians moved from New York to Los Angeles, but made sure to maintain their collaborative orbit with one another on their journey. They have helped to create music for some of the biggest names in music, but have come together with POWERS to grasp timeless music out of the universe for the world to enjoy.

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

-How they came together to create POWERS.

-The importance of collaboration, especially when you can find someone who "gets it."

-The difficulty in being a solo artist and having to make so many big decisions on your own.

-How important it is to take notice of when you are having fun while creating, and doing whatever you can to stay in that zone.

-How Selena Gomez cut one of the songs they were working on

-Their advice for keeping that childlike inspiration and joy that we sometimes forget about as we become adults.

-The importance of surrounding yourself with "good coconuts" – people who support your mission and your creative goals.

-The difficulty in spending too much time on an idea or song and becoming numb to it.

-Making sure to be the captain of your own ship and to have the confidence to know that you are the one whose ideas are sought after.

-How some of their favorite songs come from an idea they had four years prior.

-Keeping a database of ideas that you can come back to at any time to continue to become inspired or see which idea is ready to be turned into something complete.

-The importance of becoming a "shipper" – someone who continues to put out content on time.

-The story behind their new song, "Sunshine."

"The feeling of being creative, whether you're five years old and playing with legos and drawing – that magic and sense of wonder where you just made something out of thin air -- that doesn't really age. That feeling is eternal."

"Making something and pulling it out of the universe is a very special, kind of birthing emotion."

"As a band we always wanted to reach as many people and touch as many people as possible while still keeping a sense of integrity, intelligence, and sincerity with our music."

"You have to keep a corner of it for yourself. Where you don't care if you succeed, you don't care if anybody pays attention to it. It's purely for the enjoyment of what you're doing."

Website / Soundcloud / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/144

A magical solo episode. Oh my.

But seriously, this is about magic. Or at least Youngman tries to convince you so.

What you'll get from this episode is some amazing looks back to previous episodes and then Youngman trying to make sense of the awesomeness of them. Namely, he tries to bring it all back to the magic that happens when you decide to do something and you tell the Universe that you're going to do it.

Saying what you want is all you have to do. So do it.

Richard T Scott is a painter, writer, and coin designer for the United States Mint living in the Hudson Valley. His paintings are in museum collections in North America and Europe. One of his coin designs commemorating Fort Moultrie will be on the new quarter released into circulation this November. Richard is represented by Paul Booth Gallery in New York City and Galerie L'Oeil du Prince in Paris.

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

-How he got involved with the United States Mint and his first quarter that is going to be minted of Fort Moultrie.

-How paintings do not stand the test of time, but coins and sculptures do.

-An important lesson he learned from his friend in high school about the difference between natural talent and hard work.

-How JMW Turner was inspired by Claude Lorrain.

-Things that have held him back during his art career, such as financial strain and crippling doubt.

-The cloud that hung over his head for a long time, where he didn't believe he could actually be successful as a professional artist, despite his drive to be the best painter he could be.

-The powerful idea of collaborative competition, and the way that he uses it with Adam Miller.

-A powerful story about the chance he took in reaching out to Odd Nerdrum and the journey that it took him on.

-One of his best moments, happening at the moment, having a piece accepted into the Georgia Museum of Art.

-What art and creativity brings to his life.

-Why Rembrandt is one of his greatest influences.

-Some of the things he has coming up at this very exciting time in his career.

"2000 years from now, it might be the case that none of my paintings will be around, but these coins will."

"This idea that you're born with genius or talent and that's what defines whether or not you succeed at something… I don't think that's true. I think it's about your passion."

"Even though I've always been driven to be the best painter I could be, I never believed that I could actually be successful at it."

"What I keep telling myself is to be optimistic, to be realistic, and to be honest with myself about my strengths and especially my weaknesses."

"I would rather win a silver medal knowing that I had reached my greatest potential instead of winning a gold medal when my competition hadn't even reached theirs."

"So I had gone from thinking I had cancer, my marriage is falling apart, feeding myself out of a garden, foraging, and having ten cents to my name… and suddenly I had sold eleven paintings within two weeks."

"At any moment, anything can happen that might seem so incredibly small. And if you're there and you're ready and you're prepared and you're on your game, it could turn into something that you can't even imagine.

"For me, art is the way that I understand the world. It's the way that I digest life."

TED Talk with Theo Jansen

"Fourth Wall" at Paul Booth Gallery

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

Artist Chris Riddell is a prolific writer and illustrator whose work is familiar to both children and adults. He is known especially for his distinctive line drawings with their clever caricature, fascinating detail and often enchanting fantasy elements. In addition to his children's books, Chris is a renowned political cartoonist whose work appears in The Observer, The Literary Review and The New Statesman. Chris is also the current Waterstones Children's Laureate, which is awarded once every two years to an eminent writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/episode1again

-Why he loves working for different age groups and how the contrast affects his creativity in a positive way.

-Why rushing to self-definition is unnecessary.

-What being the Children's Laureate means.

-How the joy of drawing and art in general shouldn't stop when you grow up.

-The idea of "the sketcher" versus "the non-sketcher."

-How questioning things is a positive thing.

-The power of having a sketch book and taking notes.

-How everyone is an artist from childhood, but then self-doubt takes it away.

-How the community of sharing via social media leads to a golden age of visual art and cultural exchange.

-How his starting point is a very permissive one — drawing without an agenda.

-How putting off creativity until tomorrow leads to never getting anything done.

-You can develop good habits just as easily as bad habits.

-How a SINGLE line in a journal can bring back memories more clearly than a photograph.

-How the internet allows us to go on imaginative journeys.

-His formula for balancing his time.

-How commissioned work and leisure work sometimes become melded into one.

His final push is a simple, but powerful idea, that literally any human being can implement.

"Drawing is a meditation."

"We are in a golden age of visual art and we should all be talking about it a lot, and carry on sharing the artwork we do."

"Grab a coat, get out the front door and go. Walk into a creative journey."

"Make a mark on the page. And then make another one. And another one. And another one. That's the way you start."

"Start with a lowly ambition. Start with making things look beautiful on a page and see where it takes you."

Mike Azevedo is a freelance concept artist and illustrator from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has worked on projects such as League of Legends, Hex, Legendgs of the Cryptids, and worked for clients such as Bluzzard, Guerrilla Games, Games Workshop, and Direwolf.

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

-How he balances commission work and passion projects.

-His YouTube channel and how he tries to teach and inspire others, as that was the way that he learned.

-How watching his own timelapse videos can help him to learn more about himself, since he is "in the zone" when he is actually painting.

-His belief in the Pareto principle, that 20% of the work you put in is responsible for 80% of the results.

-Knowing how to determine when to start a piece over from scratch, making sure to remember what you did right and what you did wrong.

-Why he doesn't zoom in during the beginning stages of his drawings.

-The importance of making a few good decisions as opposed to many small bad ones.

-How digital painting and the ability to go back sometimes makes people not want to make big decisions.

-One of his first creative moments, drawing dinosaurs and giving them away.

-His advice for getting in the zone.

-His strategy of trying to get in the mindset between comfort and anxiety.

-The importance of giving yourself time for personal work every single day, no matter how tough it is with your schedule, because that is when you are able to experiment and try new things.

"I could either give up and start believing them, or I could use that to drive me to study more, practice more, and prove them wrong."

"You have to have a little bit of courage to be a different version of yourself every day and trying to get better."

"It starts to get easier to manipulate your own mind when you know where it is."

Mike's Timelapse video

YouTube / ArtStation / DeviantArt / Facebook / Instagram / Tumblr

Linda Blondheim is a landscape painter whose mission is to visually record the rural, agricultural lands and trees of her beloved Florida. She believes that painters are stewards of our history and culture, who record the experiences and lives of their own time. Her legacy as a painter is to leave a visual record of the beauty of rural Florida.

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

-Why she loves Florida so much and why she makes it the central theme for her art.

-One of her first creative moments.

-The initial support and encouragement that she received from her parents in terms of artistic expression, and then their resistance when she announced that she wanted to do it as a career.

-Some of the things that held her back as an artist, including being legally blind in one eye.

-Some of her tips for artists in terms of thriving financially as an artist.

-The importance of understanding your collectors.

-The mistake that many new artists make of trying to hang out where all the other artists are hanging out.

-Her best and worst moments as an artist.

-The importance of letting go of your ego as an artist.

-Her formula for balancing her time.

"At thirteen, my dad made a studio for me in the attic where I dreamed of being a famous artist."

"My dad wanted me to be an attorney. It didn't work out well for him."

"I didn't really come to understand painting until I was in my forties."

"There has to be an authenticity about being an artist. It is very important that you believe in what you paint, that you live it, and that you understand it."

Website / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

Dan Mumford is a freelance illustrator working out of Studio100 in central London, UK. Over the past 10 years, Dan has worked within the pop culture and music scene creating everything from album covers, branding, and screenprints to new interpretations of classic film posters and albums.

His clients include Disney, Sony, Iron Maiden, Wizards of the Coast, Icon Motosports, CBS, and many bands and record labels from around the world.

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

-The path that he went down to begin to develop his unique style.

-The importance of embracing your many interests and passions and trying to find a way to combine them into your creative expression.

-The difference between passion projects and commissioned work.

-How he has never been able to get work done at home and needs to go to the studio in order to be productive.

-The importance of not pushing your body too hard, or else you could develop serious injuries that will take you out of the game completely.

-His formula for balancing his time, including getting e-mails and other work out of the way and off of his mind first thing in the morning.

-His best and worst creative moments.

-The value of having a gallery behind you to take care of the "extra" stuff.

"I'd never really done anything on quite such a large scale before. It was really tiring as well."

"Don't worry too much about the outside world."

"If you enjoy doing it, then you're going to be better at doing it. You'll find yourself creating work that is far superior."

"Be yourself. Just be true to yourself and don't try to be something that you're not."

"Keep making your work in a way that makes you happy."

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

Lisa is a Fine artist and illustrator from Portland, Oregon best known for her colorful abstract paintings, intricate line drawings, pattern design, and hand lettering. She works for clients around the world including the MoMA, Martha Stewart Living, Chronicle Books, Cloud9 Fabrics, among many others. She has exhibited her work around the country, including in shows at the Contemporary Jewish Museum and Bedford Gallery and is currently represented by Uprise Gallery in New York.

Amongst all of this, she is also a prolific author, including Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist, Whatever You Are, Be a Good One, Twenty Ways to Draw a Tulip and Fortune Favors the Brave.

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

-What makes a successful artist.

-The three main things that you need to be a successful artist: talent, curiosity, and dedication.

-The importance of putting your work out there even if you are not 100% satisfied or comfortable with it.

-How we assume that other people ahead of us on the artistic journey already have it figured out, but in reality, nobody has it completely figured out.

-How insecurity never goes away for any artist, no matter how far they have come in their career.

-One of her first creative moments which, in hindsight, was a true precursor to her becoming an illustrator.

-How the connection between what you loved as a kid and what you love now sometimes becomes very clear

-Her life and careers before becoming a full-time illustrator.

-Dealing with the stress and anxiety of being a college graduate without a direction on what to do with the rest of your life.

-The danger of paralysis by analysis and how you sometimes just have to dive in and try something to see if you like it and see if you are any good at it.

-The power of writing about and talking about the various things that hold you back from creating on a daily basis.

-Not having to deal with existential questions on your own, because we all have them.

"Talent is 10% of what it takes to be successful."

"I still struggle with insecurity about putting my work into the world. It still feels vulnerable. But the key is I do it anyway."

"Eventually, people were like, 'Hey I want to buy that.'"

"Sometimes you just have to dive in and try something."

"Begin despite your fears or whatever roadblocks you think are in your way. Let go of the excuses and justifications and begin anyhow."

Art, Inc.: The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter