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Today’s episode is all about idea generation, a topic we love. I have to try and keep Sandra under control otherwise she comes up with bizarre ideas like inflatable knickers (don’t ask!).

If you have ever sat with a blank sheet of paper not knowing what to create, then this episode is for you. You really don’t need to wait for that Eureka moment to have an idea. There are lots of different creative techniques you can try.

Some of the creativity techniques we cover:

• Mind mapping – but we put our own twist on this
• How to get ideas out of your everyday life
• How to use a random word to get ideas – we also try this live to show you how it works – yikes (we don’t even cheat by picking the random words first! )
• Freewriting – Sandra shares a scary app for this too
• Sandra talks about how you should carry a notebook at all times, but hasn’t got one when we need one on the podcast 🙂
• Idea mash-up – Its a bit like making a cheese and potato pie, but completely different
• Moodboards and White-Boards
• Poetry and Character Tear-Ups
• Oh my god I am still writing, and there are more creative techniques we shared that I haven’t even mentioned…get your coffee ready.

We also read out some of the answers to last week’s podcast question asking people what their favourite piece of art is, which reminds me of a bag of broccoli I once bought. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to answer.

This week’s question

What is the best art exhibition or creative event you have ever attended and why?

The best answers will be read out on the next podcast.

You can Tweet us your answers @KickCreatives or let us know in the Facebook Group, which by the way if you haven’t already joined, I highly recommend that you do! We will put the question up there and also on the facebook page… and of course, on our Instagram page @kickinthecreatives.

If you have any suggestions for the podcast or our challenges please feel free to get in touch.

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This week we are delighted to have Mike Young, better known as Youngman Brown on the show. Youngman is the creator of the popular podcast Your Creative Push.

Now Youngman has a lot to answer for, in fact, he is the reason that this podcast even exists. He’s the one to blame when Sandra and I are warbling on in your ear, as we met via Youngman’s Your Creative Push Facebook Group.

Why Mike started the Your Creative Push Podcast

Youngman originally started his podcast because he tried to find a podcast about pushing yourself to be more creative, but couldn’t find one. Mike is a great writer but he found he wasn’t motivating himself to write as much as he wanted to. Originally Youngman was putting out one episode of the show a day, which is quite an achievement. Finding guests, interviewing and editing a podcast takes a huge amount of time and Youngman was doing all that alongside his job of being a poker dealer.

Youngman’s creative projects and challenges

Youngman shares some of the creative projects he is working on including Words plus music http://wordsplusmusic.com/ and Creative Push. He also speaks about some of the challenges he’s taken part in. One was NaNoWriMo – a writing challenge, but Youngman put his own twist on the Challenge. Cramuary was another challenge that Youngman invented himself. The idea was that he would “cram”/do as much work on a creative project (his book) during January as he could. However, it didn’t work out quite as planned which Youngman explains more about in the podcast. Youngman offers his tips for anyone else who is considering taking part in a creative challenge.

Find out more about Youngman Brown

You can find out more about Youngman and listen to his podcast at www.yourcreativepush.com
His writing can be found at www.youngmanbrown.com and WordsPlusMusic at www.wordsplusmusic.com/
The Creative Push facebook Group www.facebook.com/groups/yourcreativepush

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As a follow up to our episode about dealing with negative feedback, today’s episode is about imposter syndrome.

If you haven’t heard the term before, it doesn’t mean you have to disguise yourself with a pair of googly eyes and fake moustache. Instead, it’s that feeling you get that you get when you feel you shouldn’t be in the position your in. That you aren’t knowledgeable enough to be where you are, even though you have all the expertise and experience that you need.

How to spot if you have imposter syndrome

• Feeling inferior amongst others in your field
• A fear of being ‘found out’… or people realising that you’re not really as knowledgeable on the subject as they’d thought
• Lack of self-confidence and self-belief
• Procrastination
• Feelings of self-doubt

Our experiences of imposter syndrome

We share our experiences of imposter syndrome. Sandra talks about having Imposter Syndrome when her art was featured on the front cover of a magazine. Tara’s art hasn’t yet achieved such notoriety, but she did once win a hamster cage, (plus a teddy bear and Star Wars model kit that she forgot to mention in the show 😉 ). PS. she was only about 7. Tara has also experienced imposter syndrome on many occasions, including the time she worked at a design agency and the most amazing designer worked there too – yikes.

How to overcome imposter syndrome

Hold on to your hats, we got some ideas for you here, hint – that was one of them, but you can hear more in the show.

Have you ever had imposter syndrome?

Share your experience in the comments

June Challenges

We give a quick mention to the three challenges we’ve got happening in June:

Copyist June

Replicate a sketch, drawing or painting by a master or from an art book, every day throughout the month. One of the best ways to learn how to draw well is to copy from other artists who are masters of their craft. By replicating their style you will learn a lot.
To find out more about this challenge click here

Cartoon in June

This is a challenge to create a cartoon every single day throughout the month of June. Your cartoon could be a single character, or an entire comic strip! You can use any medium.
To find out more about this challenge click here

Quick Kick June

For ‘Quick Kick June’ – Create a COLOUR sketch in 10 minutes or less. This challenge is particularly suitable for those who have a tendency to overwork their sketches or those who have limited time.
To find out more about this challenge click here

This week’s podcast question

Q. What is your favourite famous painting and why?

The best answers will be read out on the next podcast.

You can Tweet us your answers @KickCreatives or let us know in the Facebook Group, which by the way if you haven’t already joined, I highly recommend that you do! We will put the question up there and also on the facebook page… and of course, on our Instagram page @kickinthecreatives.

If you have any suggestions for the podcast or our challenges please feel free to get in touch.

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Today we are talking about dealing with negative feedback and we’ll be sharing some of our personal experiences. Now, I am sure if you have listened to the show before you’re thinking…’But Sandra and Tara are way too fabulous to have ever had any negative feedback.’

…That is was what you were thinking, wasn’t it?!

But it’s true, we have both had some gut-wrenching experiences – I don’t think I need to elaborate anymore other than to say the words “nose whistle” and “the teddy bear got its revenge”. It will all make sense when you listen.

Why are you receiving negative criticism?

Often it means you stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something new or stretching yourself, which is actually a great thing. It’s just that people aren’t always that tactful about giving criticism.

Tips for dealing with negative feedback

We need to try and remember that feedback, whether good or bad is only someone’s opinion. Sometimes the criticism can help us learn something and improve what we do, but other times it’s best to ignore it and realise it’s more about the other person’s insecurities, jealousy or downright tactlessness. We share how our negative feedback affected us at the time and how we might deal with it if the same thing happened now.

Ideas for ways to boost your own confidence

Along with dealing with negative criticism, we also make some suggestions on how to boost your own confidence and make yourself feel better. This does not involve eating copious amounts of chocolate, although we are open to testing if it has beneficial effects.

Our supportive Facebook Group are busy creating

We also give a mention to some of the fantastic members of our Facebook Group who are creating and sharing regular art in the group. You are welcome to join us.

Thank you for all of your answers to our previous question. It was fun reading some of them out.

This week’s question

What would be your dream creative project?

Please put your answers in the comments below or get in touch on social media – via the Facebook Group, Instagram or Twitter

We’ll read out the best answers in the next episode.

Don’t forget you can subscribe to our podcast in lots of places including – iTunes, Stitcher and Podbean

If you enjoyed the podcast please consider leaving a review on iTunes which will help us get found by more listeners and we’ll love you forever (or something like that)

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Today we share some tips on how to make your sketchbook more interesting. Plus, as usual, we go on a few tangents and talk about other things that pop into our heads, usually art related, but we can’t completely promise that!

We also mention our April Art Challenges which had just started as we recorded the episode – Abstract Art April, Imitation April and Quick Kick April. Quick Kicks are our monthly challenges that you can complete in 15 minutes or less, so most people can fit them into their day.

Making your sketchbook cover more interesting

Anyway, just like the podcast, I have already managed to divert my attention away from the main topic of sketchbooks. First, we discuss different suggestions for making your sketchbook cover more interesting. Sandra is a big advocate of this, but I prefer to concentrate on the insides. It reminds us both of having to cover exercise books when we were back at school in the dark ages. Does anyone else remember Fablon that sticky plastic stuff or is it a figment of my imagination? Do kids still cover exercise books? Do exercise books even exist anymore or have they been replaced by holograms?

Tips for your sketchbook pages

Next, we look at the inside of your sketchbook. There is something really satisfying about pre-messing up your sketchbook pages. Maybe this isn’t a very eloquent way to put it, but starting with a bit of collage or a wash on the paper can take away your fear of the blank page. We have plenty of suggestions for things you can try. Apparently rather too many as it took hours for Sandra to edit us down to a reasonable time. If that’s not your bag, we also have some ideas on how you can use different marks, borders and effects to add interest to your pages.

Ideas for what to draw

One of the problems some artist have, especially when they’re short of time is deciding what to draw. We have some suggestions here too, plus you can always join one of our challenges where we give you an optional prompt and reference each day.

Thank you for all of your answers to our previous question. It was fun reading out your answers.

This weeks question

How do you get over the fear of the blank page?

Please put your answers in the comments below or get in touch on social media – via the Facebook Group, Instagram or Twitter

We’ll read out the best answers in the next episode.

Don’t forget you can subscribe to our podcast in lots of places including – iTunes, Stitcher and Podbean

If you enjoyed the podcast please consider leaving a review on iTunes which will help us get found by more listeners and we’ll love you forever (or something like that)

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Hello again and welcome to another podcast. Today’s episode is about having a creative mentor. but within that, we are also encompassing the idea of having creative friends or allies. These are the people who help encourage you to create and improve. We also talk a little about our April challenges – Abstract Art April, Imitation April and Quick Kick April.

We love how the challenges have bought so many artists come together to share their work. The Facebook Group has been amazing, we’ve got artists of all levels who are cheering each other on offering advice and acting as mentors to each other. I think we’ve only seen positive words in the Group. It’s great to see new connections and friendships being made and people supporting each other.

Online mentors and allies

We discuss how you can find like-minded people online who can become your biggest supporters and mentors. You don’t even have necessarily to have ever met the other person. You want to find people that can be encouraging and offer constructive criticism.

Some of Sandra’s Online mentors

Tracey Fletcher King www.traceyfletcherking.com/
Nicola Mclean www.artbynicolamclean.com/
Suzanne Berry www.suzanneberry.com/
Karen Budan www.karenbudan.com/

Family as mentors

Sometimes family members can be your mentors, but it’s difficult when they are so close to you. They may be supportive, but not completely understand what you are trying to do or be worried about hurting your feelings.

Finding a Creative Mentor

We also talk about how to find a mentor including the first suggestion of joining our Facebook Group :-).

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Hello again and welcome to another podcast episode. Today we are talking about how to find your style and of course there’s a bit of arty chat thrown in for good measure. We also mention some of the fantastic work we have been seeing for our two March Art Challenges March Mixed Media and 5 Minute March. There are a few shoutouts for the work that has really caught our eyes too.

So first of all, just how important is it to find a style?

I guess it totally depends on why you are drawing and painting.

If you are painting purely for fun, then it doesn’t matter in the slightest. You can just paint what you want without considering if people will recognise that it’s your work. You don’t have to try and impress a gallery in this case either.

But, if you want to stand out from the crowd, then, of course, it’s very important to have something about your work that makes it stand out as your own… Your ‘style’.

Sandra already has the experience of finding her style

Sandra already has the experience of finding her style and talks about some of the things she has learned along the way. These include taking on a commission in her early painting career for a topic she didn’t enjoy painting, plus attending painting workshops. Sandra had a very mixed experience of art workshops, from the one that left her feeling deflated to the one that she really loved

She also talks about how her painting style has evolved over time, which is partly due to being taken out of her comfort zone at one of the workshops.

Tara is currently trying to find her style

Tara is currently trying to find her style, even though Sandra thinks she already has one. She is experimenting with different medium trying different techniques and even looking at little things like the size of paper that she likes working on. Tara has also attended a workshop. It was just a small local one which was a little too basic for her, and she kept getting told off by the teacher 🙂 for being a delinquent with her brushes.

Suggestions for ways you to experiment

We offer our suggestions for ways you can experiment and discover your own style, plus tell you about the challenges we’ve got coming up next.

This episode’s question

What subject do you least like painting and why?
The best answers will be read out in the next podcast.

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In today’s episode, we’re discussing whether or not you have to go to art school in order to become an artist. There is no right or wrong path to follow here. We’re all different and where some of us will benefit hugely from going to art school, others will only be stunted by it.

Going to art school does not necessarily make someone a good artist! And NOT going to art school doesn’t make someone a bad one either!

Sandra’s art school experience

Sandra has had the experience of both going to art school and also abandoning it and teaching herself. Art college, was just not teaching the things she wanted to learn. Her course was more about imagination and experimenting, which is important, but in Sandra’s opinion, you need to master basic drawing and painting skills first.

Tara’s art school experience

Tara also went to art college (many, many years ago) and had a very mixed experience too. There were elements she loved, but then a lot of things that were a complete waste of time. 10 years ago Tara, also tried going back to college one day a week to learn animation. The tuition was very poor and she dropped out after a couple of months.

Last month’s art and writing challenges

We also talk a bit about last months challenges, February Faces and February Fables. Sandra and Tara have been working on a combined effort for February Fables. One person writes 250 words and then passes it to the other. Who knows where this story will go, or if it will ever end!

Your answers to the last podcast question

We share your answers to our previous podcast question – Which Artist, Writer or other creative would you most like to spend a day with and what would you do…?

This weeks question

If you were only allowed to paint or draw just one subject for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Let us know your answers in the comments or via social media and we’ll read out the best ones in the next episode.

We always love to hear from you with any suggestions for the podcast, so feel to get in touch.

Enjoy!

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Today’s guest is Tracey Fletcher King, an artist, illustrator, printmaker, and teacher from Queensland, Australia.

In this episode, Tracey talks about how she grew up within a creative family and how her own artistic journey was almost inevitable.

Traceys’ Background

After leaving college, Tracey worked as an art teacher before getting married to her Golf-Pro husband. His career took them travelling for 9 years with their daughter, before they finally settled back in Queensland. She describes what it was like to start painting again following such a long break from art and how difficult it was to push past the hurdle of having to relearn her skills.

© Copyright Tracey Fletcher King

An Evolving Art Style

Tracey’s art style has continuously evolved over the years, from creating very realistic botanicals to lively paintings of household objects to the big, bold realistic watercolours that she is enjoying now. She talks about what led her style to evolve in this way.

© Copyright Tracey Fletcher King

© Copyright Tracey Fletcher King

Art journalling through difficult times

In 2013, Tracey was diagnosed with breast cancer. She talks about the art journal that she kept throughout this difficult time and how it helped her through some of the darker times. She talks about how it was also important to throw it away when she felt the time was right.

Making time for her art

© Copyright Tracey Fletcher King

Tracey’s diagnosis has also forced her to become an expert at time management. She has to fit her art in around her treatments and during the times when she feels well. Tracey talks about how she has managed to continue to produce so much work despite her dramatic reduction in working hours and she shares some of the time management tips that she’s had to learn along the way.

This is an inspiring interview about following your passion, doing what you love and making time for your art, no matter what the obstacles.

Where to connect with Tracey

Tracey’s website www.traceyfletcherking.com
Tracey’s Esty Shop www.etsy.com/au/shop/TraceyFletcherKing
Instagram @traceyfletcherking
Facebook @traceyfletcherkingartist
Tracey’s online courses www.traceyfletcherking.com/classes-1/

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That niggly voice of your inner critic

In this episode, we talk about that niggly voice in the back of our heads, our “inner critic”. It’s the voice that questions everything we do and whether it’s good enough. As creatives, we can spend a lot of time on our own with only that one voice for company… and it’s really hard not to listen! We talk about our ways of dealing with that irritating inner critic.

Make the inner critic work in your favour

We all see our inner critic as our enemy. What we need to try and do is make it work in our favour. That voice is only really there to protect us from being hurt. We have to try and use it to help us strive to produce better work, without letting it crush our confidence.

A little about Art Journal January

We also talk a little about Art Journal January and some of the art we’ve loved. As usual, we brutalise people’s names as we try to pronounce them. Plus I (Tara) talk about my experience of taking part in the challenge and trying to overcome my inner critic. Sandra, who was in the Caribbean for the first half of January mentions how she felt she was missing out by not taking part in the challenge. It was quite a hardship for her to lie by the pool in the sun and drink cocktails (PS. Can you tell it’s Tara writing these show notes!)

A mention of our February challenges

We also give a mention to our two February challenges –
February Faces, an art challenge to create a face drawing (sculpture, collage, etc) every day of the month
February Fables, a challenge to write a children’s story during the month.

We will both be taking part in February Faces. We’re also going to put a twist on February Fables by collaborating. I will write exactly 250 words, then Sandra will write 250 more until we have completed a story. Who knows what that will turn out like, but we’re sure to mention it in an upcoming episode.

If you haven’t already, you can join our Facebook Group, where you will find like-minded creatives. Plus we have some free downloadable inspiration pdfs for the challenges. They are also available when you sign up for our newsletter.

We hope you enjoy the show!