Creative projects need lots of things, different concerns to focus on. Each of those concerns takes time. Where’s the time to create? How can we be kind and realistic in our plans? If we do this skillfully, we hope it will help our future selves get the things we care about making done, into the world, and help others become aware of the stuff we make. Join Jerzy and Rob as they explore the planning and time tools they’re using to make projects and products happen. Sponsors for this episode...

Jerzy and Rob check in on their 2020 Art Soundoff journals. What themes and topics did we choose, and why? What outcomes are we hoping for with this year’s challenge? If you’re participating in #artsoundoff this year, join the live stream and share your experiences and reflections! Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob's workshops and coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Draw Stronger, by Kriota Willberg Otter.ai BandLab Art Soundoff Rob's Polytechnicast Jerzy's...

Last episode Jerzy and Rob talked about note taking on physical media, including a demonstration of taking notes. It’s a big topic, why and how you gather notes, and even how you put notes to use. Join Jerzy and Rob in this episode of the Lean Into Art podcast as they explore digital ways they take notes and make use of them for planning, project, and more. Will Jerzy and Rob clear the last level of the note taking topic? You can join the adventure in the Discord to play along! Sponsors for...

Note taking can help with gathering our thoughts and set us up to build upon ideas. Join us in this note taking and note using infused episode of the Lean Into Art podcast. Jerzy and Rob will discuss how we each make use of notes with physical tools, digital tools, and how this note taking helps with creating and collaborating on projects. This topic was inspired by #artsoundoff journal podcaster Owen Jollands in a recent episode of his journal. Art Soundoff 2020, a creative challenge to...

Whether digital or analog, favorite art tools have a timeline and a story to them. First you’re curious about a new way or something breaks and it’s time to try something else. Then you explore an option and have an impression, will this new tablet or marker be a keeper? Some tools get to stick around and reliably help you get real projects completed. A special few tools become things we look forward to using. Join Jerzy and Rob as they share a few recent and long standing favorite art tools....

2020 has asked many of us to level up our skills with online teaching, learning, and presenting. Jerzy and Rob check in to see how they’ve been thinking about using a variety of video information to tell a story, to demonstrate a technique, or to perform something they care about while talking about why they care about it. And how will this inform their approaches to teaching and sharing in 2021. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob's Workshops Lean Into Art Discord Links...

Jerzy and Rob celebrate some of their favorite spooky stories and stories featuring monsters. In traditional LIA fashion, they also ask themselves why these stories appeal to them. Join the live stream to share some of your own stories and analysis! Sponsors for this episode Jerzy's Comics Rob's workshops Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Svengoolie Luigi's Mansion Tear Them Apart Podcast Little Nightmares Come Into My Cellar The Tell Tale Heart Witch Hunter Robin Cowboy BeBop: Sympathy...

Creating for yourself, no matter your medium, has a power to it. Recently it’d been over a month since Jerzy drew something just for him. He found it invigorating and that’s the kind of thing we find fascinating to explore. Join Rob and Jerzy as they discuss creating projects because you want to, with no other agenda. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: The Dot and the Line The Last Unicorn Cartoon Crossroads...

Some projects get the bulk of our effort and attention, yet others are those side projects that get less frequent or shorter durations of time and effort. In this episode of the Lean Into Art cast, join Jerzy and Rob as they discuss whittling at those side projects as an approach to make small consistent progress. Sponsors for this episode Science Comics: Rockets This Panda Needs You Lean Into Art Workshops Thanks to our Patreon supporters We select five supporters to highlight every episode,...

This week Jerzy and Rob are joined by returning guest Gregg Schigiel to talk about the value of keeping the connections between you and your social/professional network active. Sponsors for this episode Cartoon Crossroads Columbus Rob's Store Lean Into Art Discord Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Brandon Dayton Dave 'Sri' Seah Gail Buschman David Armantrout Keri Goble Billick This week's 2 Minute Practice Draw some lines that represent how the day went! Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on...

Jerzy and Rob check in on what they’re reading/watching/playing, followed by another entry from the Obstacles series. Sponsors for this episode Cartoon Crossroads Columbus Rob's workshops Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Gods and Robots: Myths Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology The Diamond Age Holey Moley My Octopus Teacher Guacamelee! The Upside of Stress Borderlands 3 Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Chris Watkins Ashley Knapp Becca Hillburn Katherine Sugrue Keri Goble...

This week Jerzy and Rob look at the methods and rationale for hiding pieces of original art in public. Links to sites mentioned Jake Parker's Art Drops David Zinn Jerzy's PowerCon art drops Jerzy's bowling night art drops Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Brandon Dayton Shauni Redfearn DADO Chris Watkins Ben Odgren Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram

This week Jerzy and Rob are joined by returning guest Gregg Schigiel to talk about the value of keeping the connections between you and your social/professional network active. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob's store Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Art Soundoff Art & Science Punks PodcastThanks to our top Patreon supporters Ashley Knapp Katherine Sugrue Becca Hillburn India Swift Brandon Dayton This week's 2 Minute Practice Look at some of your marketing...

Jerzy and Rob look at the role curiosity plays in designing, creating, marketing, and acquiring other skills useful to communicating with images. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Guitar Fretter Lean Into Art Discord Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Becca Hillburn Chris Watkins Katherine Sugrue Ashley Knapp Keri Goble Billick This week's 2 Minute Practice Look at some of your marketing materials and see if you can trim it down for brevity/clarity! Connect with Jerzy and...

Jerzy and Rob check in and model the big question: why do we do the work we do? Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Guitar Fretter Lean Into Art Discord Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Greg Horvath Rachel Ross Becca Hillburn India Swift Keri Goble Billick This week's 2 Minute Practice Make some noise with a musical instrument Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

One way to add service to your products is to teach about how they get made. Marketing your work as an artist can be an uncomfortable second skill, though it could be more than that. Marketing your work in the best context is a service because it helps you reach the audience that needs and wants what you make. In this episode of Lean Into Art, join Jerzy and Rob as they discuss telling the story of your creative products and the option to teach the skills you use along the way as an option to...

Visual storytelling is a big theme with the Lean Into Art podcast. Also: working with what you have as a storyteller to do a myriad of things that go with not just the creative process but also presenting your creative work in a useful and usable way. Jerzy and Rob talk about useful tools to consider using even if you’re not a User Experience (UX) designer. As we make and share our works we often encounter situations where we wonder if we could have shared it better - especially when that’s...

What do you do when you’ve got a product that you can’t find a partner for? Is it time to set it aside and try something else, or is it time to hire yourself to and go it alone? Join Jerzy and Rob for a discussion on evaluating a project when influential people in the field don’t want to invest in it. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction Comics are Great! episode 95...

Is there an easy and useful way to find success criteria for projects in a technology you’re excited about? This week Jerzy and Rob talk about when it’s exciting and tempting to try a new (or new to you) art technology, especially if you have a project in mind for it. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Super Comics Challenge Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Greg Horvath Rachel Ross Metal Witch Sketchbook Project Mike...

This week Jerzy and Rob look at ways they’ve sought out more efficient approaches to drawing using digital tools. Sponsors for this episode Super Comics Challenge 2 Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Ray Frenden's CSP Brush Sale Affinity Design Apps Python PSD Tools GIMP Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Greg Horvath Rachel Ross Becca Hillburn India Swift Keri Goble Billick This week's 2 Minute Practice Draw a head shape 3-4 times and see how many different...

This week Jerzy and Rob take a look at some of the obstacles we encounter in making our art. How do we struggle with finding time for our whittling and side projects while also trying to keep refining our main jobs? And how does this friction with finding time affect our enthusiasm and morale? Note: We ran an experiment this week in streaming the video podast to Discord, which called for some new audio routing. The result was a good stream that left us with misconfigured video. So an...

This week Jerzy and Rob are joined by returning guest Gregg Schigiel to talk about the value of keeping the connections between you and your social/professional network active. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links Mentioned Kelly McGonigal: How to make stress your friend Mindset: The New Psychology of Success Thunder Punch Daily 123: 5 Years From Now Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Stephan Black Dave 'Sri' Seah Stephen...

Uncertainty, unrest, new realities, and managing a side hustle can easily lead to burnout. What do you do to navigate or manage it? How can describing the systems that lead to burnout help us? Join Jerzy and Rob and share your experiences with the subject. Sponsors for this episode Super Comics Challenge Rob's Patreon Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: The Whole-Brain Child The Upside of Stress Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Ashley Knapp Olivia Birdton Katherine Sugrue Brandon...

Join Jerzy and Rob as we put our streaming studios through some tests! Work continues on our studios evolving, a couple episodes ago we mentioned working on our studios, learning the OBS streaming/recording app. And let's also do some live drawing, what better way to have fun and see what we're liking and want to improve about our live streaming setup. Join us to see how it goes and share your ideas and questions. Sponsors for this episode The 2020 Kids' Comics Awards Rob's coaching and...

A truth for many of us is we have to hold down some other jobs while we hustle to make our art. How do we think about this friction between keeping the lights on and developing new products? Speaking of which, Rob and Jerzy are wrapping up their Art Soundoff entries and have some reflections on using creative challenges to develop new products. Is an art challenge a good chance to set aside time to make new things? How does it change your relationship and experience with the challenge? Links...