Podcasts Round up!

A few years ago I started listening to podcasts, mostly at work and I LOVE THEM!! Its like storytelling without the pictures and I completely get the appeal of radio shows now!  Usually they're more interesting than what's on TV and you can find one of just about any subject.  Usually I start listening to them when I need to get some work done that's more technical--like in-betweening or working on digital painting and illustration, basically--it keeps me in my chair working for at least an hour straight and I can usually get into the mood of animating or drawing after an episode or two.  If I'm working on something like planning a shot or composition or coming up with ideas I usually find podcasts too distracting (and know that's not the time I should be turning one on!!) but sometimes when I'm tired from working my day job but still need to get some animation done and will turn one on until I can get into my project.

Here's a few that I'm really enjoying right now!

ANIMATION ADVICE & INDUSTRY:

• Animated Journey by Angel Entzminger
  • This is a great interview animation show about how different people got into and made their way through the animation industry.  Not only are the podcast interviews really interesting but Angela also goes over events happening in animation right now.  Especially good if you want to feel like you're not alone in your weird-meandering journey of animation!
• Ink & Paint Girls by Cassie Soliday
  • This podcasts interviews women working in the animation industry.  The interviews are from a wide variety of women working in all aspects of animation from large studios to very small and veterans in the industry as well as new comers--interviews are always super informative and interesting and especially good if you want to learn about different positions and career routes in animation
• The Art Side of Life by Iva 
  • Another excellent interview podcast--she interviews more well known artists and always has a very positive spin about learning and developing your craft in animation.  Especially good if you're feeling a little down about getting into the industry and need a positive outlook
• The Art Corner by Anoosha & Vicki
  • This one only has six episodes and seems to be on a break but I was really excited every time it updated!! Part advice-part interview, it was a new podcast that was developing its structure and was always refreshingly informal and gave really good, specific advice about the industry and being an independent artist.  I recommend their two part series on having an online store --it was a really in depth look about it and super informative from two people who have a lot of experience with it--(psst--come back!!)
• Cartoon Saloon Podcast
  • I LOVE this podcast! Its super unique in that the head of the studio set out to interview everyone at the studio about how and why they got into animation.  Cartoon Saloon is a studio in Ireland and it was so interesting to hear different perspectives about art and the industry from another country--they seemed to have a much better work-life balance and outlook in the Irish industry and I loved that almost every one I listened to had come from a different career and started animation 'later in life'  --this one is especially good if you're feeling like you're a little too late/a little to old to get into the industry....or are feeling a little jaded about animation

Right now I'm also really into adventure podcasts!! (I could seriously list a million podcasts for you to listen to but here's a few good ones for when you're maxed out on animation info!)

ADVENTURE & COOL PEOPLE

• Dirt Bag Diaries Want to hear about death-defying, crazy and life changing adventures?? This podcast is for you--its done storytelling style rather than interview for the most part and guest talk about their wild experiences and adventures in the outdoors.  Especially good if you're feeling like an adventure but can't leave your desk right now.
• Out There  by Willow Belden--This one pretty similar to Dirt Bag Diaries--about people traveling outdoors and getting out of their comfort zone.  I liked this one because most of their guests were women.  Its also told storytelling style and good if you want to get lost in someone else's adventure.
• Real Talk Radio with Nichole Antionette -- Nicole interviews interesting an inspirational women (and some men) from all different careers and walks of life.  Its always interesting to hear how someone else built a career, over came obstacles or does crazy stuff like ultra running.

Links I'm Lovin' !

Hi Again! Here's some more links I'm SUPER into and why I love 'em 

• Figure Drawing (some Nudes) -- Here's a YouTube Channel of figure drawing poses. I had completely forgotten about that until I was searching through my link file.  I will probably try this out tomorrow, I have really been feeling like I need to get back to basics!
• Bobby Chui -- Drawing Exercises - Composition -- Here's a video where Bobby walks you through an exercise! This is something I will be revisiting later as well! I completely I forgot that I saved all of these resources for when i was 'stumped' unfortunately anytime I've been stumped I didn't think to open this page!  
• Toniko Pantoja -- Intro to Breakdowns-- I love his youtube channel, even though the posts aren't super frequent.  This one in particular really helped me to understand how breakdown poses work and how to get varied action and change the timing/feel of your piece with just the breakdown pose. I struggled with breakdowns and inbetweening until sometime last year.  They just didn't make sense to me! 
• Animation Desk Tumblr - Storyboarding Response -- Here's a response from a boarding artist that was reblogged by the Animation Desk Tumblr.  Usually you hear the same advice over and over again (because its true!) but I think this response really got what the person was asking.  And is good advice I think for anyone (like me!) going--okay I know drawing is important and learning the film terms, etc. but how do I get a better understanding and level-up faster.  This artist recommended watching youtube film critiques and other stuff about film making (in addition to watching actually movies and drawing of course!).  That wasn't something I had thought of and is a good way to absorb information when your brain feels full at the end of a long week at your day-job or school or whatever.

Art & your demon

The talk also encouraged us to draw our own demons, here's mine -- EVIL Amber!  Always tellin' me not to do stuff, post stuff or talk to people about animation...stop that!

Before I left for my vacation, I listened to a live lecture by Lucy Bellwood and Jessica Abel about fear, making art, and freelancing as well as  creative life and all the craziness that goes with that.  A few points in the talk really resonated with me.  One of the most obvious ones was a poll that opened at the start of the talk.  Jessica started a poll with the audience before the talk began, asking "What does your demon stop you from doing?" and while I checked all of the above, mine actually stops me from FINISHING work most often.  I have thousands of tiny sketches but the thought of finishing and being judged by the work is terrifying, it might be 'wrong' or have errors and then everyone will know that I am a hack --or that's what my demon keeps telling me anyways.

The talk was excellent and gave me a lot to think about.  In the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about how I want to present myself after graduation and how to go about making the transition into a creative illustration or animation career.  This talk really identified SO many of of the ways that I had been struggling and helped me to see that EVERYONE feels this way, even professional artists and its more about showing up, doing the work and putting it out there than it is about being the 'perfect artist'.  It made me feel better about publicly presenting myself as an artist, especially online.  Lucy stressed that online presence is so much more about PROCESS and building a community of your peers than it is posting perfect work to attract the illustration/animation 'Gods'.  Lucy also suggested that the audience read 'Show Your Work' and 'Steal like an Artist" to help those struggling to either put themselves out there or get started (or BOTH!).  I read "Show Your Work" over my vacation because at the moment I'm most interested in how to get over the fear of posting finished work (err...well finishing it at all)!  It was an excellent (and short!) read.  Many of the points it makes were actually mentioned in the talk but the book is able to go into more detail and helped to put working as an animator/illustrator into perspective.  You don't need to be perfect, you just have to let people see how you work and let them into the process of what you're making and why.  

You can see a recording of the talk here.  And equally as awesome but unfortunately I probably can't link back to it is--Lucy Bellwood hung out after the talk to answer remaining questions! I was left with so many thoughts about realizing my animation/illustration dreams when I left the chat room and hopefully I can begin putting some of those things into practice soon!

Here's a few ideas I went through when trying to figure out what my demon might look like.  At first I thought it might be 'Evil Hershey' (one of my cats) because some days he's my nemesis and he likes to stomp all over my artwork with his brother smokey! I realized that I'm really more of my own worst enemy that Hershey is...and he probably just wants a hug anyway.

Links I'm Lovin'

Hi! So I've had a list of links I love on my computer for over a year, I've always meant to share them with you but it kept falling to the wayside, so! I'm going to post a few each week for you to enjoy! I hope you find them as helpful as I do.  (some of these are older because they've been lurking in my folders of inspiration for a while)

• Show & Tell (Megan Hunt) -- Megan Hunt published her maker's manifesto back in 2016.  Written as an excercise for herself, she explains what she wants to achieve in her illustration and why.  Its beautiful insight into the thought behind what she makes and I saved it as something to do myself later (another blog post??) because int he past I've struggled to explain what I'm trying to achieve with my stories and not being able to articulate it I think hurt the stories in the long run.  I think if I had event old myself what those stories were about and what I wanted to achieve, I'd have done much better.  Things floating around in your mind are never as helpful as those that you put on the paper.
• Studio Moments (Allen Ostergar) -- While this hasn't been updated in a while, Allen Ostegar illustrated life working in the studio through funny little quick sketches,  It was a fun glimpse into what being in a studio would be like.  And I love studying his quick sketches!
• Frannerd! (Fran Meneses)  -- I think Frannerd is an excellent example of building a brand and I love watching her Youtube videos and checking out her blog and Instagram.  She is very personable on camera and comes across genuine as well as gives great advice on how to get started as an illustrator (I should take some of it!)
• Lucy Bellwood Demon's Kickstarter (Lucy Bellwood) --I have been following Lucy for a while and she gives great advice on creative content and managing your business as a creative.  As well as working on some really interesting boat and adventure projects! She just launched a kickstarter that over funded in less than 12 hours I think..Crazy! ...she must be doing something right!