The SneakyArt Podcast

Seattle-based artist Eleanor Doughty is an independent artist, illustrator and urban-sketcher whose work includes murals, large canvases, prints, Kickstarter campaigns, and now also a book. This conversation explores how an independent illustrator can chart their path, and find a home for their ideas in work for others and themselves. This episode pairs well with Ep 38 and 39 with Sandi Hester, Ep 32 with Emma Carlisle, and Ep 26 with Anna Wilson. Follow Eleanor’s work on Instagram. Learn more about her other work, Kickstarter campaign, and the new book. Follow Nishant (SneakyArtist) on Instagram. 🚀🚀 If you are reading this on April 22, it is Day 22 of 30 Days of Vancouver, Nishant’s daily drawing challenge. Learn more about this project here. 📭 Get the best insights from this show straight into your inbox:  https://sneakyart.substack.com. 🎙 Check out the PostScript with Sandi Hester & David Morales. ☕ Like the episode? Buy Nishant a coffee! (and share your thoughts about the conversation) 🔥 Like the show? Become a SneakyArt Insider at 20% off! (and get in line for art giveaways and members-only content)

[Re-uploaded to edit a minor overlap in the audio. Sorry!] In the second part of their extended conversation, Sandi Hester explains her creative process, her journey across various mediums and tools, and the role of observation in her art. Find Sandi Hester’s work on Instagram and YouTube. 🎁 Have you ever thought about starting a YouTube channel? This conversation was followed by a bonus segment in which Sandi shares some great ideas to help Nishant get moving on a YouTube channel. To get the Ep 39 Post-Script in your inbox (releases Apr 17), become a SneakyArt Insider. 🚀🚀 If you are reading this on April 8, it is Day 8 of 30 Days of Vancouver, Nishant’s daily drawing challenge. Learn more about this project here. 🎙 Curious about previous bonus content? Listen to the Post-Script with David Morales for free! 📭 Check out the best insights from this episode: https://sneakyart.substack.com. ☕ Like the episode? Buy Nishant a coffee! (and share your thoughts about the conversation) 🔥 Like the show? Become a SneakyArt Insider (at a special one-time discount!) 🤳🏼 Follow SneakyArt on Instagram!

Tennessee-based painter Sandi Hester shares her life’s journey with art, the ideas behind her wonderful YouTube channel, and how she keeps joy at the centre of her creative process. This episode is the first of a two-part conversation recorded over two days. Find Sandi Hester’s work on Instagram and YouTube. 🚀🚀 If you are reading this on April 1, it is Day 1 of 30 Days of Vancouver, Nishant’s daily drawing challenge. Learn more about this project here. 📭 Check out the best insights from this episode, and good ideas for a creative life: https://sneakyart.substack.com/p/113. ☕ Like the episode? Buy Nishant a coffee! (and share your thoughts about the conversation) 🔥 Like the show? Become a SneakyArt Insider! (and get in line for exclusive giveaways and bonus content)

Today’s conversation is about the many things you can gain from having a daily drawing practice. David Morales is an architect and sketcher famous for his linework style, and a daily drawing challenge he has maintained since 2018. There’s something about daily practice that pushes us to find subjects of art in ordinary situations, in ordinary places, on ordinary days. Does this make the artist a magician who can create art out of nothing? Or are they simply better able to notice the art that exists in all of our lives, hidden in plain sight? Follow David’s work on Instagram, and visit here for his prints and workshops. 🚀🚀 Taking inspiration from this conversation, Nishant is starting a 30 Day drawing challenge next month. To learn more, check out The SneakyArt Post. 📭 Check out the best insights from this episode, and good ideas for a creative life: https://sneakyart.substack.com. ☕ Like the episode? Buy Nishant a coffee! (+ share your thoughts about the conversation) 🔥 Like the show? Take 20% off to  become a SneakyArt Insider and get access to bonus content.

“The question that you should ask yourself is - why are you drawing this? What are you trying to show? And if the answer is not clear to you, it will never be clear to your audience..." - Rita Sabler. Why is this question important, and is it worth the effort of answering every time? What does the audience stand to gain from this exercise? Rita's thoughts around this become the basis of this lovely conversation. In her role as sketch-journalist, Rita covers events that she finds important and shares stories through a combination of location-art and reportage. She has covered various protests in Portland (Oregon, USA), and most recently the rallies to seek justice for George Floyd. Nishant asks also about her reportage of border-towns in Arizona, to document a world literally and figuratively divided by politics. Rita explains how she balances the arduous responsibilities of artist and journalist. In this light they consider the why of her art, and the value that urban-sketching can offer in today’s media-landscape of unlimited screens and limited attention spans. ---- 🖌 Find Rita's work on IG or visit her website to see her other fascinating projects. 🖌 Find Nishant’s work on IG or visit here for other links. ☕ Like the episode? Buy Nishant a coffee! (+ share your thoughts about the conversation) 🔥 Like the show? Become a SneakyArt Insider! (+ get access to exclusive bonus content & other privileges) 📭 Every week, Nishant shares the best insights from the podcast, and ideas from his journey of self-education to be an artist: https://sneakyart.substack.com. 🖋 Read Nishant's 5 Reasons to Write Regularly, 4 Big Ideas for Creative Entrepreneurs, 3 Kinds of Permission Every Artist Needs.  

In this episode, I speak with my good friend Donald Owen Colley, an artist based in Chicago. Like the previous couple of episodes, this one is also a Second Conversation, i.e. a chance to catch up with guests who have already appeared on the show. I share with Don some new ideas I’ve imbibed from having conversations with so many wonderful guests, and hear his plans and ideas for his work. Jump ahead to 1:22:30 to hear the Second Conversation only. Don and I met when I lived in Chicago. We immediately hit it off because we share a deep love for human activity and urban spaces. His work is characterized by a close observation of life and marked by a genuine empathy for other people. He brings sharp observation and a nuanced understanding to both his art and his arguments. I hope you will see that also from the conversation in this episode. Follow Don’s work on Instagram. To catch the best insights from every episode, and contribute to the conversation, sign up for the SneakyArt Post.

Montreal-based urban sketcher and educator Shari Blaukopf shares her journey to becoming a full-time artist, with practical tips, advice, and ideas for anyone on a similar path. In this conversation, Nishant asks Shari about the various decisions that led to her becoming a full-time, independent artist, many years after she had given up on the idea of having an artistic career. Shari explains how the first job of the artist is to ‘see’ things differently. They discuss how seeing is also a function of the art-tools one decides to use, and the personal inclinations of the artist. How does Shari bring incremental progress to her work? What are the motivations behind her daily painting practice? In the Second Conversation (beginning from 1:06:38), Nishant and Shari catch up after 1.5 years, to reconnect with each other’s lives and art practice. With the experience of 30+ conversations since their previous recording, Nishant asks for Shari’s thoughts on a set of ideas he has accumulated about surviving and thriving as an independent artist in the creator economy. — 🖌 Find Shari’s work on IG or subscribe to her blog. 🖌 Find Nishant’s work on IG or visit here for more links. ☕ Like the episode? Buy me a coffee! (+ give Nishant personal feedback about the episode) 🔥 Like the show? Become an Insider! (+ get access to exclusive bonus content & other privileges) 📭 Every week, Nishant shares the best insights from the podcast, and ideas from his own journey of self-education to be an artist, on the SneakyArt Post. Add it to your inbox: https://sneakyart.substack.com. 🖋 Read Nishant's 4 Big Ideas for Creative Entrepreneurs, 3 Kinds of Permission Every Artist Needs, and Notes from the Second Conversation with Paul Heaston.

In this episode, Paul and Nishant discuss specific ideas around being solo independent artists in the creator economy. As a Second Conversation, this episode naturally builds upon their first conversation (Ep 2 Drawing Lines with Paul Heaston). They discuss balancing work and play, and finding the ikigai, or beautiful intersection, of the two. Being a trained fine artist, how does Paul perceive the evolution of the freedoms afforded to artists, and the responsibilities incumbent upon them in today’s time? Considering that “all content is just more content”, they discuss sharing work across multiple platforms, and the impact of meme-culture to explain how we reach across cultures and nationalities to interact with a global audience. (To skip ahead to the latest conversation, go to 1:30:35 mark.) Follow Paul's work on Instagram, and check out his TikTok channel. To follow SneakyArt, visit Nishant's Instagram, Twitter, and website. ☕ Like the episode? Buy me a coffee! (+ get access to the SneakyArt Discord) 🔥 Like the show? Become an Insider! (+ get access to exclusive bonus content & other privileges) Get the best ideas from the episode straight in your inbox by signing up to The SneakyArt Post - a free email newsletter.  

In this episode, Nishant speaks with Cornwall-based illustrator and artist Emma Carlisle about her work as an illustrator, and how adverse circumstances pushed her to engage in new and meaningful ways with both her art and her thousands of fans. In this respect, they speak about the many pitfalls of Instagram from the point of view of both creatives and fans. Emma talks candidly about suffering from burnout, and how she eventually rekindled the joy she would find in her work. They discuss the various influences that helped this process - including location drawing, a renewed focus on self-fulfilment, and friends with valuable lessons to share - as a model for how to craft a sustainable and fulfilling artistic career in today's world. Follow Emma's work on Instagram, and check out her Patreon page. To follow SneakyArt, visit Nishant's Instagram, Twitter, and website. ☕ Like the episode? Buy me a coffee! (+ get access to the SneakyArt Discord) 🔥 Like the show? Become an Insider! (+ get access to exclusive bonus content & other privileges) This episode comes with a bonus Post-Script. In this exclusive, extended segment, Nishant and Emma unwind and chat while drawing portraits of each other. Emma speaks about having a creative consultant to guide her career. Nishant makes a case for why quick sketching can be a useful practice exercise. Become an Insider (using the link above) to catch this segment as well as see their portraits of each other! Get the best ideas from the episode straight in your inbox by signing up to The SneakyArt Post - a free weekly email newsletter.

In this episode, I speak with LA-based urban sketcher and educator Virginia Hein about her education to be a fine artist, her work in the toy industry, and her discovery of urban sketching. Despite intending to become a painter, Virginia found herself working in the toy industry fresh out of art school. Did she find this troubling, and how did she equip herself for the subtle differences between commercial and fine art? As an educator at Otis College of Art and Design, how does she communicate these distinctions to students today, and what skills do toy designers need today to enter this market? We also discuss urban sketching and how that once again transformed Virginia's idea of herself as an artist, when she became a sketch correspondent on Gabi Campanario's Urban Sketchers Blog. Successful careers rarely follow a pre-determined trajectory. A consistent theme running across this conversation is the idea of 'permission' - to try styles, to do things, to be a different person than we had envisioned becoming - and how we subconsciously seek it from the various influential people and entities in our world. Follow Virginia's work on Instagram. To follow my work, find SneakyArt on Instagram, Twitter, or visit my website. ☕ Like this episode? Buy me a coffee! (+ get access to the SneakyArt Discord) 🔥 Like the show? Become an Insider! (+ get access to exclusive bonus content & other privileges) I share my best ideas from this episode in The SneakyArt Post - my free email newsletter.