491 - Determining Your Current Creative Stage and Shifting Focus with Illustrator Chris Piascik
Feb 5, 2025
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Joining the conversation is Chris Piascik, an illustrator and YouTuber with nearly 100k subscribers. He shares his transition from daily drawing to focusing on his YouTube growth. The discussion highlights identifying your current creative stage to channel energy effectively. Parenthood’s impact on creativity, balancing personal passion with societal expectations, and navigating significant career shifts are also explored. Chris emphasizes the importance of authenticity and community in shaping one’s artistic journey.
Recognizing your current creative stage is essential for determining the appropriate focus and strategy for your artistic output.
Creating art driven by personal passion rather than external expectations enhances authenticity and can lead to more meaningful audience connections.
Deep dives
Understanding Your Creative Season
The podcast emphasizes the importance of recognizing the current season or stage of one’s creative process. Identifying this season helps determine what focus is necessary at different times, whether that be pushing through with quantity or curating quality. It is argued that no single approach is universally applicable; instead, the right strategy depends on the unique phase an artist is in. Knowing which stage one is navigating can help align efforts with the most relevant priorities.
The Transition from Daily Drawing to Curated Content
Chris Piasik shares his experience transitioning from a daily drawing routine to producing more curated content, which included YouTube videos. He discusses how this shift was not just a personal choice but was largely influenced by changes in his life, such as becoming a parent. The conversation highlights the challenge of transitioning from a long-established practice to a new creative venture, while also recognizing that this transformation opened doors to new opportunities and modes of expression. This process illustrates the broader theme that growth often comes from being forced to adapt and embrace change.
Drawing What You Love
A key insight from the discussion revolves around the power of creating art based on personal interests rather than attempting to conform to market demands or expectations. The focus here is on the value of authenticity, as drawing what you genuinely love leads not only to more enjoyable creation but also resonates more deeply with audiences. When artists create from a place of genuine passion, it enhances the uniqueness of their work and can attract the right opportunities organically. This principle encourages individuals to reflect on their personal preferences and use those to inform their creative output.
Choose Your Creative Adventure
The podcast concludes with a creative call to action for listeners, encouraging them to choose their adventure based on their current stage in the creative journey. For those starting out, the suggestion is to simply create art about things they like, fostering a personal connection with the work. Conversely, more experienced creators are urged to revisit and potentially reimagine old pieces of art, exploring how their style and techniques may have evolved. This dual approach aims to inspire listeners to engage with their creative practice intentionally, aligning their actions with where they currently stand in their artistic journey.
What should you focus your creative energy towards right now? It helps to tune into the creative stage you’re currently in. Today on the show we chat with Illustrator Chris Piascik about how he went from a daily drawing practice to shifting gears and focusing on building his YouTube to nearly 100k subscribers.
If you’re feeling out of sync with your creative season or need inspo for reigniting your personal work, this episode is for you!
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