The SneakyArt Podcast

"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.

I speak with Vienna-based researcher and illustrator Oliver Hoeller about the field of science illustration, and what he finds in the practice of urban sketching to make him a better illustrator, a more patient observer, and a happier person. He tells me about his path to a scientific career, and how he leapt at the opportunity to make his first science illustrations. We talk about where good ideas come from, and the ways an illustrator can and must build a mental library of reference material. We also speak about how he used observational drawing at a difficult time in his life to catalogue his memories and deal with adverse circumstances. Check out Oliver's work on his website, or find him on Instagram. Find SneakyArt on Instagram or visit my website for a summary transcript of this conversation. ☕ 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, giveaways & other privileges) I share my best ideas from the episode in The SneakyArt Post - my free email newsletter.

In this episode, I speak with Amsterdam based art-educator Koosje Koene about how she used the restrictions of COVID lockdown to "discover an extended version of the artist" in her, with a simple philosophy of doing what's fun. How much can be achieved by doing what is fun? Can it spark new ideas? Can it help us accomplish big, important goals too? Koosje used this period to write a book and discover a new creative outlet in abstract art, and we talk about both of these interesting projects. Koosje has been an educator and art-entrepreneur for a decade, and we speak about that with relation to her journey at Sketchbook Skool and her successful YouTube channel. We talk about the unique task of being an independent creative - the burdens and responsibilities of such a job title, and also the unique opportunities it offers in today's landscape. ☕ 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 and other privileges) This episode comes with a bonus section exclusively for SneakyArt Insiders. Insiders receive bonus material from various podcast episodes - Ep 15 with George Butler and Ep 28 with Tomas Pajdlhauser. Best ideas from the episode in my free email newsletter. Transcript of the conversation on my website. Find links to Koosje's work here.

I speak with Ottawa-based Tom Pajdlhauser (aka Captain Tom) about his years of work in the animation industry. I ask him about the many responsibilities of an art director, and the hierarchy of workflows involved in the creation of an animated show. We talk about how he sees the relevance of traditional drawing skills in the age of digital art. But as a career illustrator, what does Tom gain from the practice of urban-sketching? He tells me about a motorcycle trip through SE Asia when he arrived at the intersection of travel and art, and how it changed everything for him. We also share our respective experiences self-publishing books of our art, with reference to Tom's excellent Palestine Sketchbook, and my SneakyArt of Eau Claire. 🔥🔥🔥 This episode has ~45 minutes of bonus content, available to all SneakyArt Insiders. Subscribe to become an Insider and access bonus content + other privileges! 🎨 Follow Tom's work on IG, or visit his website. ✒ Follow the SneakyArtist on IG, or visit here for a transcript. This show is 100% independent and runs on the generous support of listeners and patrons! ☕ Like this episode? Buy Me A Coffee! (+ get into the SneakyArt Discord server!) 🌟 Special offer: Enjoy a 7-day free trial of Insider content. 📫 Read and discuss ideas from the episode on my free Substack newsletter. 🙏 Apple Podcast listeners, if you liked this episode, please leave me a review!

In the new episode, I speak with NYC-based artist and urban-sketcher Katie Woodward. Katie has made paintings that are both very large and very small. As a scenic artist for the theater she has worked on backdrops spanning several feet, and as an urban-sketcher she makes tiny watercolor cityscapes just a couple of inches wide. What's it like to make art for the theater? What is inherently different about painting big and small, and what is strangely similar to both? Working in stage design demands a wide array of crafting skills, and Katie shares wonderful stories of some of her memorable work. We also talk about her upcoming book - Understanding Light - where she brings together the art and ideas of her favorite artists across different media. Follow Katie's work on Instagram. To pre-order her book, visit here or find it on Amazon. Find a summarized transcript to this conversation on my website. To support this show, and get an invite to the SneakyArt Discord, buy me a coffee. To signup for the free weekly newsletter or subscribe to the premium content, visit my Substack page.