LIA Cast 37 - Chipping and Adapting

Dandd
Having found ourselves in a situation where our professional and personal pursuits are colliding, we spend some time this week talking about the importance of adapting to situations, or keeping loose knees on the deck of the boat. While we explore how prioritizing, chipping away at projects, and learning to delegate (when possible) can help one adjust to the constant pressures of a creative lifestyle, we face the inescapable conclusion that the terror never ends. But maybe we can adapt to it.

Oh, and some fun talk about our old D&D characters!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

(download)

LIA Cast 36 - Preparedness, Pt 2

Empathy_map
In this follow-up to LIA Cast 34, Rob takes Jerzy through some more practical examples of how diagramming, spreadsheeting, and mood mapping can help you sort through and prioritize the many creative projects that can line up to demand your time.

Also: What should we call the LIA Cast listeners? Let us know via Twitter or G+!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

(download)

LIA Cast 35 - Artisanal Entertainment

Thats-the-joke
Should visual artists think of themselves also as entertainers? Can the work speak for itself, allowing the artist to stay behind the scenes? What about a little of both? And what does it even mean to say one is an entertainer?

We walk around these questions this week and examine some well-known entertainers to see what they do to foster engagement with their fans. We also spend some time looking at what benefits such engagement brings, from networking to audience building to having more fun at public events.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

(download)

LIA Cast 34 - Are You Ready To Buy The Car?

Dealership
Spreadsheets are sometimes the symbol of numbness-inducing number-crunching to creative types, but in this week's audio-only Lean Into Art Cast, Rob walks us through how they can be used to make better choices in our creative lives. As it happens, it's a lot like buying a car!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

(download)

LIA Cast 33 - The Applause You Deserve

Lia_applause

Please RT! Check out and "Like" my FB page! How about a +1? Give my Kickstarter a mention, why don't ya?

The gatekeepers (publishers) have been removed from your path to getting your work seen, but does this then make the public itself the gatekeepers? If so, how do you reach out to them and share your work? If we agree that we all have to do our own marketing and publicity, how do we do it in an effective and pragmatic manner?

Are the social media experts right, and we simply need to cajole the more famous members of our fields to mention us? Remind our constuencies to re-tweet, like, and +1 our stuff? We all want applause for the work we do, but how does our thinking change when we rephrase the question to getting the applause we deserve?

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

(download)

LIA Cast 32 - 5 Tips

It's a massive 2-hour video episode of the Lean Into Art Cast as Rob and Jerzy take on the common misconceptions surrouding cartoons for kids. We address the following five criticisms leveled at these kinds of shows:

  • Two-dimensional characters
  • Simplistic or hack writing
  • Nonsensical worlds or premise
  • Based on toys or games, commercials
  • Preachy, pro-social drivel

And land on the following five responses, which also serve as great tools to improve your writing!

  • Vibrant characters
  • Clear storytelling
  • Imaginative internal logic and the Integrating Discipline of Kid Logic
  • Playability factor as limitation to inspire creativity
  • Well-defined intent

So whether you love cartoons or not, this episode is packed with great discussion on topics we visual storytellers struggle with constantly. And you just might pick up on a few tips to help with your next project!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]

LIA Cast 32 - 5 Tips

It's a massive 2-hour video episode of the Lean Into Art Cast as Rob and Jerzy take on the common misconceptions surrouding cartoons for kids. We address the following five criticisms leveled at these kinds of shows:

  • Two-dimensional characters
  • Simplistic or hack writing
  • Nonsensical worlds or premise
  • Based on toys or games, commercials
  • Preachy, pro-social drivel

And land on the following five responses, which also serve as great tools to improve your writing!

  • Vibrant characters
  • Clear storytelling
  • Imaginative internal logic and the Integrating Discipline of Kid Logic
  • Playability factor as limitation to inspire creativity
  • Well-defined intent

So whether you love cartoons or not, this episode is packed with great discussion on topics we visual storytellers struggle with constantly. And you just might pick up on a few tips to help with your next project!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

(download)

LIA Cast 31 - Art Automation

Lia31_art

We find ourselves facing another audio-only episode this week as we dive into a discussion on how to make our illustration or storytelling lives easier through automation. Chances are, most of you work extensively with a computer to make your art. And if you've ever found yourself performing any repetitive tasks, there is most likely a tool you can use to take the effort off of those tasks so you can focus more on your creative work!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

(download)

LIA Cast 30 - Ready for the Surprises

It's another episode where the topic emerges out of riffing on our recent expereicnes in this audio-only episode of the Lean Into Art Cast. After wondering about when we know a project is done, we walk around the idea of how a readiness (or even eagerness) for the unexpected can bring about those moments of real creativity we crave in our projects.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

(download)

LIA Cast 29 - Drawing Challenges

It's a playful episode as we present each other with some interesting drawing challenges in this video edition of the Lean Into Art cast. Together we demo some tricks we've picked up to conquer some of the more difficult or puzzling aspects of illustration such as costume design, hair, dramatic up-shots, and "the other eye."

Upcoming Workshops for March 2012

Absolute Con-Sense: 50 Strategies to Double Your Fun, Triple Your Contacts, and Quadruple Your Profits at Your Next Comic Book Convention 

Links mentioned in this episode:

Social Networking

(download)