Your Creative Push

Bobby is the founder and creator of Imaginism Studios in Toronto, Canada. He presently does multimedia concept design, having created characters, creatures, and beasts for such blockbuster motion pictures as Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Men in Black 3. In addition, he is an avid supporter of his fellow artists, having lectured at various schools and studios around the world on how to stay creative, and successful as an artist.

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

-How he started his YouTube channel and why he has kept it going.

-His advice for people who feel that they aren't ready to take on a certain endeavor, that they would be far better off just starting.

-Some of his favorite videos, including his interview with Iain McCaig and his "Morning Motivation."

-How Schoolism came to be and what it can offer to potential students.

-How Stephen Silver and Norman Rockwell's "Famous Artist Course" helped to inspire Schoolism.

-The story of his artistic journey and all of the "no's" along the way.

-How attempting to make Schoolism the best it can be actually ends up holding him back a bit with his personal work.

-How it is an honor to be a part of the collective communication of art throughout history.

-How great things take time, but to be patient so that they are allowed to grow to their full potential.

"If you start when you feel you're absolutely ready, it's already too late."

"When I got out of school, I didn't really feel like I was ready, and the world told me I wasn't ready because I couldn't get a job."

"When the top artists are not given the knowledge that they are searching for, they don't just complain about it and do nothing. They keep going and they keep searching for that great knowledge out there."

"Before I could speak, I loved drawing."

"Art is the most magical, most amazing conversation that we've been having amongst human beings for millennia."

"If you have something to contribute, I urge you to contribute it. Because what a shame if it isn't passed on. It's almost like you were never here."

"Great things take time. Great things will make you feel like you're getting held back as you see all these weeds grow quickly and you're this little acorn trying to grow. Twenty-five years from now, the weeds and the weeds children will all be dead and you're going to be this beautiful, giant tree."

"Life is not a one-man show. You need others to really get to your dream."

Schoolism

Interview with Iain McCaig with Bobby Chiu

"Morning Motivation" by Bobby Chiu

Website / YouTube /Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

Paul Ollinger is a graduate of Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. He was one of the first 250 employees of Facebook where he served as VP of Sales for the Western United States. In between he spent two years performing stand-up comedy full-time in Los Angeles, CA, opening for some of the biggest names in the business.

Today Paul writes, performs comedy and speaks widely on work, wealth and purpose. Specifically, he uses humor to help others with their work lives and sales quotas. His first book, You Should Totally Get an MBA: A Comedian's Guide to Top U.S. Business Schools

When he's not working, Paul is playing golf, binge watching Netflix or checking Who's Viewed Your Profile on LinkedIn. He lives in Atlanta, GA with his beautiful wife, two wonderful children and French bulldog, Colonel Tom Parker.

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

-How he handles binge-watching Netflix and still finds time for productivity.

-How the only people who should write a book are the people who can't not write a book because all of the time, money, and dedication they require.

-The story of what occurred in his life to inspire him to write "You Should Totally Get an MBA."

-What people can expect to get out of the book, and what he learned in writing it.

-Some of the resistances that he faced while writing the book.

-The massive distraction that can come from social media.

-Self-doubt and how hard it is to continue to create when it seems as if nobody out there cares about what you are creating.

-How he got more excited and focused about his book as the final product came into tighter focus.

-The importance of figuring out the thing that you can't not do and just doing it.

-The importance of stating your intentions so that you can find fellow travelers who are excited to help you out.

"I really try to make sure I get in an hour or two of work before my kids wake up every morning. Because once they're up, the day is full of landmines on the calendar that can keep you from actually focusing and getting that work done."

"The best thing I got from the job was the realization that I wouldn't be happy unless I really gave my creative aspirations, my desire to write a book, and really do comedy a full swing."

"My inability to not write a book is what led to writing that book."

"Snark doesn't scale."

"It's so hard to believe that what you're doing is worthwhile when nobody out there is demanding that you do it."

"It's really all about the incremental progress you can make on any given day."

"I didn't know what the value of what I was working on was. All I know is that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And I know that because I can't go do anything else and feel good about it."

"Stating what you're doing and stating your commitment to your mission helps you find fellow travelers.

"Don't wait until some ambiguous date in the future to start."

You Should Totally Get an MBA: A Comedian's Guide to Top U.S. Business Schools by Paul Ollinger

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J.A.W. Cooper is a talented artist who was born in England but was raised all over the globe in countries such as Ireland, Sweden and Kenya. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California where she creates her fine art and works as a freelance Art Director for Print/Motion/Advertising companies, a print designer for fashion companies, and an illustrator for advertising.

-Where she gets her inspiration for her unique style.

-Her upbringing travelling around the world.

-One of her earliest creative moments in which she learned about repetition in order to get better at drawing.

-Her advice for anyone who might be older and is afraid to start something new because they are afraid that they are going to be bad at it.

-How it is almost a gift to be dissatisfied with your work because it means that you are able to see where you can continue to grow.

-Fear and the balance of having enough of it to keep you sharp, but not too much to paralyze you.

-How the only thing you can really be proud of are the steps you take to improve your art from piece to piece.

-The idea of keeping a specific kind of "self-analysis" journal to get a better sense of your interests as an artist.

-How she balances "work-work" with her passion projects and personal art.

-The power in creating deadlines for her to complete her personal work in the form of solo shows and gallery shows.

-What art and creativity brings to her life.

-Her love for Alan Watts recordings and nature.

"It's okay to feel like your work isn't living up to your expectations. It's okay to feel the fear that you're a big phony and everyone's going to find out."

"Dissatisfaction is a factor of you knowing that you have a greater potential and you're just not quite reaching it."

"For your whole career, you will feel forever dissatisfied and you kind of have to be grateful for it because the dissatisfaction drives you to continue to grow. The moment that you're happy with your work is the moment that you stagnate and stop learning and pushing. So you almost never want to feel pleased and satisfied."

"The main way that I get through fear is just to keep making work, and to keep challenging myself to make different work."

"I didn't imagine it would be so wonderful."

Alan Watts

Website / Blog / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

Steve Ferrera is a sculptor from Berkeley California whose work crosses many disciplines including film, television, stop motion animation, children's books, and collectible toys. Often inspired by mythology, religion, cartoons, and make believe, his curious and absurd creatures exist in their own cosmic events, lurking on the fringes of fairy tale and folklore.

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

-Where his inspiration for his creatures comes from.

-His recent residency at the de Young Museum.

-Having to deal with distractions while working on your art.

-The idea of getting in the "zone" while sculpting.

-The power of getting up early and getting to work as quickly as possible.

-Some tricks that he does to keep himself focused during the entire day, like obsessing over the amount of time he has left in the day.

-The idea of rewarding yourself after you've gotten work done.

-The power in trusting your instincts.

-His best and worst creative moments.

-His advice for people who are considering transitioning from a full-time job to becoming a full-time artist.

"It's hard to do something and then put it down and pick it up every ten, fifteen, twenty minutes. It really breaks the creative flow."

"I try to get up early and get into the studio as fast as I can and get to work."

"I have all these weird little things to mentally trick me into staying focused."

"You've just got to trust your instincts."

"Just do it and move on, because if you second guess, things can just drag on forever."

"Sometimes making mistakes is better than doing it right, because then you've experienced the other side where you don't want to go."

"It's almost like a game for me."

Website / Instagram / Tumblr / Twitter

John P. Weiss is an artist, cartoonist, and writer. He writes a weekly column for Fine Art Views, an online art and marketing site. He studied landscape painting extensively with Scott L. Christensen, and he was a staff editorial cartoonist at three newspapers. His cartoons have appeared in several volumes of Charles Brook's "Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year." He is also a police chief with over 26 years of law enforcement experience.

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

-How he is able to balance so many creative pursuits while still having a full-time job as a police chief.

-His love for political cartoons and a decision that he had to make regarding them.

-How you sometimes have to make a choice as to what pursuits are most important to you, and then you have to let the less-important ones go.

-The impact that Minimalism and Essentialism has had on his life.

-The concept of batching and how it can help to make much better use of your time.

-What he writes about on his blog and for "Fine Art Views."

-The difference between writing for his blog and writing for "Fine Art Views," considering the large audience and deadlines.

-The power in reading broadly so that you can find unique connections to the art world that nobody might have made in the past.

-How lack of time is something that can always hurt creativity, and how to make the best use of what little time you do have (and maybe add some more).

-Picking only three major tasks to accomplish for the day.

-His experience discovering how much he loves landscape painting with Scott Christensen.

-The idea that nothing is wasted, even if you switch or evolve your creative passions from one thing to another.

-Why he decided to retire early to pursue his creative endeavors.

-The value of mentors, but also the danger of bringing in too many mentors.

"For me, it really came down to learning to say "no," learning to cut out things in my life that weren't essential, and leveraging my time."

"I'm kind of a Renaissance cop."

"In some ways, conventional life smothers creativity."

"I realized that creative passions are like oxygen. Without them, we suffocate."

"Time is always the biggest struggle."

"Nothing is worse than having a great idea and then you forget it because you didn't write it down."

"Personal expression is a gift that keeps on giving."

"If I don't have time to paint and to write, then I get cranky."

"What quickens your heart? What is the thing that makes time stop for you?"

"Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg McKeown

"Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World" by Cal Newport

"H is for Hawk" by Helen Macdonald

Blinkist

James Clear

Scott Christensen

John Singer Sargent

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Youngman Brown is angry. Angry enough to go solo in this episode to try to get you to forget those negative comments you received about your creative outlet that have kept you from really pursuing it with confidence. This episode is all about remembering your unique taste and forgetting any harsh criticisms that you might still be holding onto.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/133

-We hear Ronnie Allen (from Episode 29) tell us about a teacher who publicly ridiculed her writing abilities and how it stuck with her throughout her entire career.

-JT Ellison (from Episode 53) recounts her thesis advisor telling her that she will never make it as a writer, which caused her to not write for eight years.

-Christina Bothwell (from Episode 131) shares how her parents told her that she was not good enough to make it as an artist.

-Youngman Brown shares what gave him the confidence to start to take writing seriously.

-Laura Baumeister (from Episode 129) offers her opinion that you have to be your own motivation if you don't have a supportive teacher or mentor.

-We discuss the idea of feeling what is right and wrong with your art and how that intuition is your signal that you have a unique voice.

-We discover that your unique style is correct for you, so it doesn't matter if one of your teachers, parents, or peers deems it to be "incorrect" -- it simply doesn't match their style.

-We remember that it is important to still determine the areas in which you genuinely need to improve, while making sure to never let go of your unique voice and style.

"Progress comes from practice."

"You need to keep grinding. You need to keep practicing. You need to keep fucking up. But you always need to stay true to yourself, and what feels right to you."

"Pursuing your creative passion is what life is all about."

Brendan O'Connell paints everyday America at this moment of transition. Dubbed by the media as the Walmart Warhol, he paints the everyday through retail, focusing on interior architecture, people, and brands. Brendan has been profiled in the New Yorker and on Sunday morning CBS, a guest on the Colbert Report, and featured in Time magazine. His work is in the permanent collection of the High Museum in Atlanta and the Ga Museum in Athens.

He has recently begun another series which captures America's transition through its people and their private spaces. He is using Airbnb and couchsurfing the country, interviewing the people he stays with and painting their portrait to accompany the dialogue.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/132

-His new project in which he stays with various people from airbnb.

-How he got started with his paintings of Walmart and the people there.

-His goal to make something artistic out of the least artistic place in the world.

-The stigma that is sometimes attached to having the moniker the "Walmart Warhol."

-His earliest creative moments and the idea of creating a self-mythology.

-How quitting drinking and drugs gave him more free time to start pursuing his creative passions and writing a novel.

-The ways in which Resistance began to enter his creative life after a few years of having no distractions whatsoever.

-How some people need to set the bar low so that they are able to ease into their creative habit with short periods of time every single day.

-How timers can really help to keep you focused.

-How many people play basketball or tennis knowing that they will never be a professional, yet the opposite is often true with creative practices.

-Some of his "best" worst moments.

-What happened to his career after being profiled by The New Yorker.

-His experience on "The Colbert Report."

-Serendipitous events and how you can't plan for them.

-His formula for balancing time and also staying organized.

-The idea of limiting the amount of "talking" and "reminding" that goes on in your head so that you don't waste your creative energy in the wrong places.

-Every Artist Live and what it is doing for young people.

"We don't want our mother-in-law to come stay with us, but any stranger with 100 bucks can have the guest bedroom. We feel safer because it's a transaction."

"If I could make art out of the least artistic place on Earth, I would be doing something in my mind that felt significant."

"I quit drinking, doing drugs, and smoking cigarettes and that gave me a lot of free time. There's something about free time that allows you to explore your creative outlets."

"For someone who is prone to addictive or obsessive patterns, finding a working way to hammer out your redemption through an artistic practice is very significant and important to me."

"You're actually doing a service to humankind to engage in your creative outlet because quite frankly you become a better human by entering into that place of fear, overcoming it, and just doing it."

"If you choose a creative path, life will kick you many, many times, even when you think it won't."

"Failures are much more funny and entertaining than successes."

"I won the equivalent of the lottery by getting profiled in The New Yorker."

"The first phone call I got was from The Colbert Report."

"I always thought creativity was like a virus and to systematize it would somehow anesthetize it."

"Creativity, in my mind, is the most important human resource."

"Between the bookends of birth and death, what are you going to do with your time that gets you up and inspires you on a daily basis?"

"An artist needs three things: A long term vision, something that inspires them to get up and do it today, and enough cash to keep going."

Everyartist.me

David Allen: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free-Productivity

The Colbert Report Interview

CBS Sunday Morning - Art Inspired by Retail

Brendan's Ted Talk

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Christina Bothwell is a sculptor who studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before teaching herself how to work with ceramics, and then cast glass. She has had eleven solo exhibitions of her work since 2006 and her sculptures are in public collections around the country and around the world. She is drawn to the processes of birth, death, and renewal, and she is fascinated by what lies below the surface as she tries to capture the qualities of the "unseen."

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

-What the "unseen" is that she tries to capture in her sculptures.

-Why she likes to work with glass and how it has an otherworldly quality to it.

-The idea of casting figures inside of her figures to suggest the soul and also pregnancy and birth.

-How much of what she learned with her glass work was due to trial and error and "being a detective."

-The story of her first creative moments.

-How art is supposed to come from a place of joy rather than anything else.

-Her advice for getting back to a place where the work is enjoyable and doesn't feel like drudgery.

-Comparing yourself to other people and getting past that.

-The simple fact that there is only one you and the more you you put into your work, the better off you will be.

-The genius of Louis CK.

-Some of her hardest moments along her creative journey.

-An incredibly synchronistic story in which she "manifested red dots."

-How you have to treat your artwork like a stage mother treats her child. You have to support it.

-If you are creating something unique, people won't have anything to compare it to, and therefore might not support it the way that they should.

-The creative experience of becoming a mother.

"I just believe that we are much more than our physical bodies."

"It can do all the same things that ceramic can, except it transmits light."

"It has kind of an unsubstantial otherworldly quality to it."

"When you teach yourself, you have to be a kind of private detective. You have to learn through trial and error."

"There is only one you. That quality that can make your work special is that quality of you-ness that goes into the work and nobody else has that."

"The more you are true to yourself and express what is unique to you, the more universally appealing your work will be because people will be able to relate to the work more because it will resonate with them."

"If you are consumed with wanting something really badly in your life, I think it's because you're meant to have it."

"If you have a unique vision, that means that people aren't going to be able to compare your work. They're not going to have a context for it."

"If art is the main thing that brings you joy, I think you have to keep doing it."

"Persistence is more important than talent."

Website / Facebook / Instagram

Stephanie Law is a watercolor painter whose work is an exploration of mythology mixed with her personal symbolism. Her art journeys through surreal otherworlds, populated by dreamlike figures, masked creatures, and winged shadows.

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

-Where her vision for her surreal underworlds comes from.

-How the things she paints have been on her mind her entire life.

-How she became interested in dance and how she merges and incorporates it into her art.

-The differences between visual art and dance.

-Working for companies such as Wizards of the Coast and trying to maintain her own style at the same time.

-The incredible shift that the Internet has provided for artists.

-The story of her first creative moments.

-Her realization that she did not want to live a life without art.

-Her advice for balancing a non-creative career and a creative passion.

-The power in setting a timeline for yourself with an actual specific goal as to where you want to be.

-How she tries to achieve small specific goals with each painting.

-Becoming a mother and how that affected the decisions she has made in her career and her life.

-Trying to constantly be aware of the art that you are doing and making sure that it is in line with what you believe and want to be working on.

"I've always been fascinated by fantastical imagery, mythology, and folklore."

"The movement and rhythm that I feel in my body when I'm dancing, I try to pull that out as I'm creating visual art."

"But after a while, I started to realize that the vision for a lot of these games was not the vision that I wanted pursue for my own art."

"I was never really bored. Just give me a pencil and a piece of paper and I was happy."

"I realized that art needed to be a central part of my life and I could not just do it on the side."

"Be open to all the paths that are branching out around you because there's a lot more to the world than you initially see."

"There has to be a conscious plan of action."

"It's tricky to constantly be aware of what you're doing and why you're doing it and making sure it is the art that is honest and authentic and something that speaks to you."

"When you decide to let go of the concept that time is precious and that it has to be used only to make masterpieces, then you are freed up to take chances and risk. And that is where inspiration comes from."

Website / Blog / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Tumblr

Laura Baumeister aka "thatsjustlaura" is a talented 16-year-old artist from Germany who has nearly six-digit followers on Instagram, in which she shares her art, mostly geared towards fashion. She also has a YouTube channel in which she shares art-related videos and tutorials.

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

-How she got started in art.

-The experience of getting featured in a magazine with her fashion designs.

-One of her influential teachers and the lessons he has taught her, including the fact that art has no rules.

-An opportunity to be a part of an art exhibition that led her to create her Instagram page and also join an art association.

-Criticism and "haters" and how to deal with them.

-One of her worst moments when she was challenged to draw bigger than she had ever done, and how she overcame that challenge.

-Her most triumphant moment, when she was featured in her first exhibition.

-How drawing is a part of her daily routine, and how if you love to do something, how can you not find time to do it?

-How the people that are inspired by her work continue to inspire her.

-How various social media sites as well as movies offer her snapshots of inspiration.

"Art has no rules, so you can do whatever you want."

"When you're just starting out with art, you're always insecure with what you can do and what you can't. But you can really just do whatever you feel like."

"The more followers you get, the more haters come along."

"No matter how many people are criticizing a piece of art that you made, there will always be at least one person loving it in exactly the way it is. Usually it is the other way around."

"If people like my drawings, they are my motivation. They make me keep going."

"If art really becomes a job, it might not be that much fun anymore."

"You have to have the courage to start."

Instagram / YouTube / WeHeartIt