Pencil Kings | Inspiring Artist Interviews with Today's Best Artists

The freedom of a freelance art career can help you see the world and get involved with all kinds of exciting opportunities. In this interview, acclaimed Canadian illustrator, Derek Stenning, talks about traveling through Europe, living in Iceland, and getting to work with concept art legend, Scott Robertson. He also reveals why building up a regular client base and collaborating with other artists is the key to a fulfilling and successful creative career.

It's not easy making a graphic novel, yet this seem to be the number one goal for so many artists. In this interview, we're going to look at the mindset behind your creative projects. And, if you've ever wondered how to make a graphic novel, this advice could end up saving you years of time by really thinking deeply about how you approach your creative projects. Today's guest, Patricio Clarey, has created 3 graphic novels - and his first one was over 200 pages!

Like everything worth doing in life there's hard work involved, and today you'll learn how Cathleen McAllister made the most of her time in art school when she made the decision to get serious and take things to the next level. If you're in art school, or thinking about going... this is the perfect place to start and see a real example of what it takes to go from wherever you're at right now to actually getting a job as a full-time creative.

In this interview, Jonas Koffler, co-author of New York Times bestseller, Hustle, reveals exactly how artists can leave the cliche of the starving artist behind and propel their careers forward in new and exciting ways.

Creating your own comic book or graphic novel is the big goal of many artists, but very few actually make it to the finish line. In this podcast, you'll hear from Alex Banchitta, founder of Fright Comics, on how he's working to create his own comic books by focusing on being the writer and then hiring out to different people to get the whole thing made. And, if you've been wanting to make your own book, we hope this really gives you some insight into what the actual process looks like and how trying to do everything yourself may be the biggest thing holding you back from getting your book published.

It's one thing to create a beautiful work of art that's rendered to perfection, but it's an entirely different challenge to express complex ideas with your art. Today we talk with Dorian Vallejo and explore how he approaches his paintings and the thought process that goes into applying deeper meaning to your art. We'll also touch on why being comfortable in a career can hold you back, and what it really means to live a fully-engaged life as an artist.

Consistency is one of the best ways to improve as an artist, but how do you make time in your busy day for practicing your drawing and painting skills? In this podcast, Pencil Kings founder, Mitch Bowler, shares his own methods for staying on track and seeing a project through. And, if you can incorporate these into your busy schedule like he does, you should start to see real improvements in your creativity and art career too.

The independent animation industry is changing the way movies are made. In this podcast, former Lucasfilm and Disney artist, Spyros Tsiounis, explains how new technology is making production more affordable for artists, why this is such a good thing for creativity, and how you can get your own animation project off the ground.   Visit www.pencilkings.com/podcast/ Email: mitch@pencilkings,com

Struggling to figure out how to make a go of your freelance career? In this podcast, acclaimed Assassin's Creed artist Fred Rambaud shares some incredible insights on how to build a career as a successful freelance concept artist. Listen as he holds absolutely nothing back and explains exactly what it takes to get your career off the ground. And, if you think that means busting your butt to be the best in the world - well... that's only 50% of the battle. Amazingly, there's a whole other side to being a successful artist that you may not have been aware of before. And it's thanks to the sharp business mind of Fred's wife that he discovered this invaluable insight too!  So if you're really serious about developing your creative career, you'll want to listen to this episode over and over again (Yes... it's that good). Because Fred reveals why producing outstanding paintings is only part of the challenge, and outlines the key simple steps you can take to get your career off the ground...and never have to hustle for work again.

Thinking about giving up your day job in favor of a creative career? In this podcast we cover the things that you need to consider before making the leap and how you can take small steps to minimize any risk you might face. Steve Riederer had a career as a counsellor, but he found that his day job left him feeling drained and unfulfilled. However at night when he would spend time working on his art he'd feel full of energy and happy. This got him thinking... what if... What if I made the change?