Your Creative Push

We lost a dear member of the Your Creative Push family. Nathan Carson aka Streetarthustle passed away a few weeks ago.

In this update, Youngman pays tribute to the artist that made him rethink what it means be open and honest, yet still wonder why not open up?

Rest in peace, Nate. You were an incredibly talented artist and a wonderfully kind person.

YCP Episode 54: When the path disappears, PIVOT PIVOT PIVOT (w/ Nathan Carson)

YCP Episode 100: The Universe wants you to be alive! (w/ Nathan Carson)

Matthew Miller is an artist in Tallahassee, FL who likes to paint natural beauty and human activity from life. Creating live paintings at sports events, music venues, and more, he paints with an energy that can be seen in the final product.

Matthew started painting seriously three years ago because it makes him feel at peace and confident. "I started self-medicating with art therapy," he says, "and ended up getting addicted." Matthew is currently finishing a PhD in Philosophy at Florida State University, where he is writing a dissertation about the role of flow states in a good human life. In his free time, he can be seen playing outside, usually without shoes.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/304

-Moving to Tallahassee to finish the PhD program that he had started a few years ago.

-How jumping into art full-time jeopardized how special art was to him and it became a stressor.

-How he was letting other aspects of his life go to the wayside when he started pursuing art as a full-time career.

-His experience working on athlete's art at sporting events and the stark contrast of working alone in the studio.

-Dealing with personal struggles and the need for art to be therapy

-Pursuing plein air painting and how, since it is a new pursuit, he is able to think less about where the painting is going to end up and more just about pursuing excellence.

-How live painting is similar to a triathalon because it forces him to find a zone and to also not get preoccupied on mistakes.

-His decision to honor the sacredness of the creative process by not defiling it with excessive process pictures and Instagram stories.

-The power of flow states and the challenges of our environment in this technological age.

-Wanting to start a podcast.

-His increased interest and experimentation with cold exposure (and how it sets a base line for what is actually "hard" to do).

-Determining the ways that he wants to express himself with his upcoming ideas.

-The way that he has been communicating with his friends.

"Going full-time in art and putting myself in that position jeopardized how special art was to me because I was taking it too seriously."

"Art will always go better if I have my other ducks in a row."

"I don't want to contribute to people vicariously living the artist life through me, I'd rather people just do it themselves."

"I think today in order to live a fully good human life, we need to develop new types of virtues that enable us to manage all these new technological forces and preserve, protect and be stewards of our own brains and attention span."

Matthew Miller on YCP Episode 238

Website / Facebook / Instagram

Miss led : Website / Facebook / Instagram

Polly Guo is a storyboard artist, currently working for Dreamworks. She has previously been a storyboard artist for Adventure Time, and she has produced varied personal works such as Gawain's Girlfriend and the Green Knight and Houdini & Holmes.

Polly lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend, her rat Brown, and her dog Aggie.

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

-Her creative upbringing, from drawing Pokemon in middle school to storyboarding for Adventure Time.

-Realizing that a certain style or method isn't for her and then questioning why she doesn't draw like everyone else.

-The story behind Gawain's Girlfriend and the Green Knight.

-Advice that Sam Alden gave her to draw in a very tiny space to make decisions very quickly and not be too precious.

-How art should be something that you discover as you're creating it and from as much of the subconscious as possible.

-The inspiration that she takes from Paul Thomas Anderson.

-The story behind creating Houdini & Holmes.

-How working on guilt and fumes can get things done, but it doesn't lead to a proper lifestyle or mindset.

-How incredibly important it is to complete your first personal project.

-The difference between using creative criticism to be helpful or to tear someone down.

-Valuing criticism from someone who is completely disengaged from your creative pursuit.

-The difference that she sees between personal and professional work.

-Her biggest source of resistance of trying to figure out who she is outside of her work, as she came into herself so much through her art.

-How she continues to make personal work despite every bone in her body wanting her to relax.

-The power in working with other people.

"Something I like about writing is letting yourself be taken by the process and letting yourself discover what you're writing as you're writing it."

"Who you are as an artist doesn't exist inside Pixar's 20 Rules of Storytelling or any other rulebook."

"When you get to the point where you're creating work not on purpose and it reveals something very deep about you that you didn't even know yourself, that's when people really start to relate to it."

"I feel like before you've completed your first big personal project, the wall of completion is nearly insurmountable."

"Get to the finish line by any means necessary."

"My biggest source of resistance is trying to figure out who I am outside of art and outside of my work."

"Art stagnates if you don't live your life and have new ideas and influences."

Gawain's Girlfriend and the Green Knight by Polly Guo

Houdini & Holmes by Polly Guo

Matthew Miller on Episode 238 of Your Creative Push

Website / Tumblr / Twitter

Matthew Miller : Website / Instagram

Mike Lowery is an artist and illustrator living Atlanta, Georgia. His work has been seen on everything from greeting cards to children's books to gallery walls all over the world. His illustration clients include Hallmark, Random House, Nick Jr. Magazine, Viking, American Greetings, and Disney, just to name a few.

He is also the co-founder of Paper Ghost, a gallery and studio space in Atlanta, and he is a Professor of Illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design Atlanta.

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

-The enlightening experience of a client asking him to make his final product feel more like his original sketches.

-Why he encourages people to sketch and doodle (and not throw away your sketchbooks).

-How Random Illustrated Facts came to be.

-Not telling other people your ideas and instead simply making it.

-Saving your old work and ideas.

-Keeping lists and then attacking them later, piece by piece.

-How and why he started his Kickstarter.

-Getting caught pretending to draw on his helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon.

-How Paper Ghost Press started.

-How he find the time to be a part of his band Minor Miracles.

"It was a relief because I realized that the work that I could get paid to do started looking like the work I was doing in my sketchbooks."

"I think that it's important to get out of your head when you're making art."

"Start with the little pieces. Set aside thirty minutes a day to get to your work and I genuinely think that stuff will start to grow out of that."

Stefan Sagmeister

Minor Miracles

Paper Ghost Press

Slightly Jet Lagged : The Travel Sketchbooks of Mike Lowery

Website / Instagram / Tumblr

Polly Guo : Website / Tumblr

Sara Fabel is a Finnish model, illustrator, tattoo artist and actress currently residing in Los Angeles, California.

Sara lived her early and late teenage years in Helsinki, Finland. She worked as a primary school teacher (grades 1-9) until moving to Australia and pursuing a career as an illustrator and later transferring in to tattooing. Her tattoo work is well know for it's bold lifework and fine lines.

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

-How she went from being a teacher to making her first tattoo.

-How she deals with having a large following and how it can sometimes negatively affect her relationships.

-Trying to only work with and surround herself with people who are good people.

-The difference between highbrow and lowbrow art in terms of social media followers.

-The notion of ego and how toxic it can be.

-How some A-list tattooers can abuse their power.

-How a tattoo is not just the piece of art on your body, but it also comes with the memories of getting the tattoo and having a conversation with the artist.

-The importance of tapping into other people's energy.

-Doing collaborations with Megan Jean Morris, Ryan Murray, Pony Wave and Cory Divine

-The purpose that writing served for her.

-Her advice for people who have multiple interests, to get specific and hone in on one specific niche.

-How young artists should be prepared to be comfortable being broke while they are starting their careers (and how to not let any emotions attached to that get into their art).

"I make a conscious effort to only work with people that are morally nice."

"If you're willing to get very specific, you're going to cut out 90% of the market, but that 10% is willing to invest in you more."

"I think it's important to be prepared to be really poor when you're an artist because that time is you working towards the bigger purpose."

"If you're going to say 'I can't do it,' you're the only thing standing between you and the success. You are your own worst enemy."

"Tattooer" vs "Tattoo Artist" w/ Sara Fabel & Megan Jean Morris [YouTube]

Website / Facebook / Instagram

Mike Lowery : Website / Instagram

Christina Moyer is an elementary art teacher from Pennsylvania. Her personal work includes oil painting, watercolor and paper art.

She is also Youngman Brown's sister and the illustrator of their collaborative children's book, The Adventures of Tidy, Messy & VeryMessy, a project that has been in the works for a decade.

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

-How she became interested in art.

-Starting out as an Art Therapy major in college and the decision to become a Fine Art major.

-What led her to decide to become an art teacher.

-Not getting to her personal work for a long period of time because she was so focused on developing her skills as an art teacher.

-The "false starts" that occurred while creating the illustrations for The Adventures of Tidy, Messy & VeryMessy.

-How to determine whether you are dissatisfied with your progress because it isn't right or because you are a perfectionist.

-Her breakthrough in illustrating The Adventures of Tidy, Messy & VeryMessy in which she completely changed things up and worked with a new medium.

-What was different about one particular summer in which she and her husband created more than any summer before.

-The creative inspiration that she gets from her husband.

-Dealing with a lack of confidence, especially after a long period of not creating.

"I had at least seven or eight false starts."

"You've got to find something that makes you feel good while you do it."

"I give teaching 100% of me so I don't allow as much time for myself in my own creating."

"During that period of not creating, you lose confidence, big time."

The Adventures of Tidy, Messy and VeryMessy by Michael R. Young (Youngman Brown) and Christina Moyer

Yupo Paper

Cassie Stephens on Your Creative Push

Etsy / Instagram / Classroom Instagram

Sara Fabel : Website / Instagram

Alexander Soukas is a contemporary realist painter from Denver, Colorado. His serious training in the fine arts began upon attending the Walnut Hill School for the arts, one of five high schools in the country dedicated to rigorous training in music, ballet, theatre, writing, and visual arts.

Unsatisfied with his studies, and desiring to pursue a career as an artist, he began homeschooling as a way of earning his diploma while undertaking an apprenticeship with realist figure painter Jason Polins. Soukas studied traditional painting and drawing in Boston with Polins for 4 years, where he now visits as a guest instructor at Polins' atelier, The Boston School of Painting.

After high school, Soukas studied with scholarship, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in a coordinated program with the University of Pennsylvania for a year before leaving to seek a more rigorous classical training at Studio Incamminati. While there, he worked for and studied under Nelson Shanks as one of his last apprentices.

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

-What spurred his initial interest in painting.

-The decision he had to make between painting and playing the cello.

-His experience at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and with Jason Polins.

-His experience at The Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts and Studio Incamminati.

-His advice to anyone that is unsatisfied with their education.

-Working for and studying under Nelson Shanks.

-How to approach working itself and understanding how to most effectively learn.

-The importance of play (and how to find it).

-Color studies and which types of people succeed at them.

-Attacking your weaknesses.

-Realizing the importance of enjoying the act of painting as opposed to worrying about creating a work of art.

-How he balances his time.

-Giving yourself a full line of questioning before quitting your job to become a full-time artist.

"You just have to follow your gut."

"All education is self-education."

"Trust that internal compass and seek out what you need no matter what the risk."

"You will not find the perfect school. It does not exist for anyone. Part of the education is learning what you don't want."

"I decided to attack that weakness and now it is one of my strengths."

"The struggles never end. In fact, they only get more complicated. But you get better at handling them."

"Your painting does not lie to you. It simply can't. It's a very intense mirroring of your inner life."

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path by Jack Kornfield

Poet Robert Bly

Studio Incamminati

Website / Instagram

Koosje Koene is an artist, teacher and co-founder of Sketchbook Skool. She has studied graphic design and worked as an award-winning photographer but it was her passion for drawing and painting that became her lifelong mission. Her enthusiasm as an illustrator inspired her to share her learnings online and became the basis for Sketchbook Skool today.

Koosje lives in Amsterdam.

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

-How she was encouraged from a young age to pursue her creative passions.

-Her entry and exit from the world of photography.

-How she became interested in drawing.

-How a dull job can actually make you more creative.

-The experience of creating her own first courses and then meeting Danny Gregory.

-The importance of community for creative individuals (and how Sketchbook Skool's community differs from others).

-How Draw Tip Tuesday started and how she has been able to stay so consistent for six years.

-How creating Sketchbook Skool and creating instructional videos has changed the way she makes and thinks about art.

-Some of her own creative resistances and how she gets past them.

-How to trick your inner critic.

-How to be able to determine whether you need to move onto a different creative realm or whether you are simply in a funk.

-How she manages her time.

"I realized that I was making things because people were telling me to make them instead of making things that I wanted to make."

"Every time a course comes out I learn so many things, and that really has made my art evolve very quickly."

"I loosened up as a person so my art also loosened up."

"If you want to be creative, make it a habit."

Your Creative Push Discord

Sketchbook Skool (Use offer code SBSPUSH to get 10% off!)

Danny Gregory on Your Creative Push Ep. 293

Website / Facebook / YouTube / Instagram / Twitter

Cassie Stephens teaches art at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. She spends a lot of her free time sewing wacky outfits to accompany art lessons, thrift shopping and just making stuff.

She is also the creator and host of the podcast Everyday Art Room, a podcast that offers a glimpse into the world of elementary art and offers advice, stories and ideas to improve your teaching.

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

-Going from a comfortable identity as the "weird artsy kid" in high school to an uncomfortable self-conscious lack of identity in college.

-The difference in mentality between her fine art classes and her art education classes and classmates.

-The biggest lie she was ever told and how it stayed with her for years.

-How she put so much effort into teaching art that she let go of creating for herself for seven years.

-The ways in which she got back to her personal creative side.

-The ways she tries to align her DIY creative side with her teaching side.

-How she balances her time.

-The logic and emotion behind her decision to stop pursuing painting.

-Why we should never create from a place of obligation or guilt, because the work will always reflect those emotions.

-Why we lose our childlike excitement for creativity.

"I had to decide – did I want to be an artist? Or did I want to be an art teacher? Because I was led to believe that I couldn't be both."

"Because I spent so much of my time figuring out how to teach art and trying to do the best job that I could, I completely let go of the idea of creating."

"It's like a vitamin deficiency. When you're a creative person and you're not creating, then something feels off and wrong. You're not taking your vitamins."

"I am still an epic poor manager of time but somehow I force myself to find time and to make time."

"I spent so much time letting my professors in my head and losing track of who I was and why I loved painting."

Everyday Art Room Podcast

YCP Morning Motivation: Facebook / Discord

Blog / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Twitter

Koosje Koene: Website / Instagram

Alatar is a genderfluid digital artist who creates character-driven adult illustrations. Their work includes both fanart and original content, and attempts to explore a wide range of body types, ethnicities, gender identities and sexualities (with perhaps slightly more attention paid to abs). They are also the host of the podcast Blue Magic, where they interview other creatives in the erotic field.

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/296

-Hopping universes.

-Feeling like a NPC (Non Player Character) in your own life and taking control of

-How the Miracle Morning was a game-changer.

-"Voltroning" resources or inspirations together.

-Visualization, manifestation and prioritization.

-Watching movies through the lens of your favorite character and asking, What can I learn from him/her?

-Seeing yourself doing the daily hard work as part of your montage (and even adding a soundtrack to it).

-How the "silly" and woo-woo are preferable to the serious.

-Gnosticism and how it relates to creativity.

-What to expect (and warnings) for people who are starting to try something like The Miracle Morning.

-Having "hills to die on" and deciding what is most important to you beforehand so that it is no longer a decision.

-Tips and hacks for actually waking up earlier every day.

"I close my eyes, exhaled and decided that I had hopped universes."

"The moment you start working on yourself and changing how you operate in the world, the rest of it flows from there."

"A big way that I interrogate reality is through stories and mythology."

"Imagine The Matrix, except all of us are Neo."

"Build the small victories every day."

Your Creative Push Discord Server

Alatar on Your Creative Push Ep. 232

The Miracle Morning: The Not-SO-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod

Rune Soup with Conner Habib

You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

Neville Goddard

CircleThrice

John Cleese on Creativity in Management

The Morning Sidekick Journal

Newgrounds / Instagram / Tumblr / Patreon / Twitter