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This podcast is a little different to our normal episodes in the fact that it’s an “Ask us Anything” Christmas Special. This is the second part of a two-parter, as we talked way too much for one episode!

You can find Part One here: Ep 50 Ask us Anything Christmas Special Part 1

For this special podcast, we invited you to ask us questions. They could be anything, art or creativity related, personal (thank you for keeping it clean!!!) or random things. And we got a bit of everything so there is a good mix and we hope you enjoy the show?

Here are the questions we answered in part 2

• What’s the difference between copyright/plagiarism/ and using an image you see on google or elsewhere for
• Is the Hokey Cokey really what it’s all about?
• What era and area would you travel to and who would you then study under/with?
• What do you do with all these random stuff we create my poems are contained easily but all these canvas tile mixed media paintings etc ? I am being overrun and don’t know what to do with it all
• What other artists do you most admire (voraciously envy the talent of) and why?
• I have a question about copyright. I understand pretty well about photos that are recent and will use sites like Pixabay or Unsplash. I will also share and share alike and give credit or use the proper licences. Where things get tricky is when using vintage photographs. I imagine, that where a photographer has been named there might still be copyright or at least credit should be given. What about where you don’ t know who the photographer is and the photo is over 50 years old? I really love old photos and would like to use them as references.
• My drawing and painting are getting better, but I still lack depth. I need more help working out tones and being able to see and use them better- can you brilliant ladies help a girl out?
• What inspired you to start kick in the creatives? It is an outstanding resource for me, and can’t thank you enough for the endless inspiration.
• If you can, should you?
• Favourite hot drink?
• Which inspires your creativity more, nature or man-made?
• Best way to deal with a cat that demands to sit on your artwork when you’re drawing it?
• Do you 2 ever have a stand-off? What happens when you do?
• What about the copyright of our art? We get to keep our name on it? I hope this makes sense…
• What do you do for fun?
• How are you able to find time for all you do, with managing KITC, your work, family, Art, etc.? (I’m in awe of how you both seem to fit everything in!)
• Where does KITC, plan to be – in 2021, and 2023?

Don’t forget to listen to Part 1 of the “Ask us Anything Christmas Special” which came out on 9h December. The normal podcast will resume on the 13th January and we also have some interesting guests coming up in the new year.

If you enjoy the podcast you can support us by buying us a coffee. We want to make a coffee froth moustache. Thank you!

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

We’ve now got a Youtube Channel where we put up a new Art Video every Sunday.
Subscribe to our channel and click the notifications bell to be alerted on all our new videos.

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This podcast is a little different to our normal episodes in the fact that it’s an “Ask us Anything” Christmas Special. Well, in fact, it’s part one of a Christmas Special. Now whether that’s because you asked us too many questions or Sandra and I talk way too much, I will let you decide. Personally, I think it’s the former. But anyway Part 2 will air on the 23rd of December, so you can listen while you slurp on a little Eggnog or snog your significant other under the mistletoe (that’s going to be a very long kiss)!

Anyway, for this, our Fiftieth episode (which we didn’t notice until after we recorded it) we invited you to ask us questions. They could be anything – art or creativity related, personal (thank you for keeping it clean!!!) or random things. And we got a bit of everything, so we hope you enjoy the show?

Here are the questions we answered in part 1

• I currently use acrylic paints, but thinking of trying oils…. I know they’re not ‘easier’ to use, but do they blend colours better? And give a better finish? Thinking for portraits
• Favourite Artist?
• Favourite Book?
• Favourite City?
• Greatest influence in your life?
• Favourite Song?
• What inspires you?
• What makes you smile?
• Who would you love to collaborate with ( alive or dead )
• Best advice given/received?
• Best advice for others?
• If you had a magic want to wave and instantly master a medium that you shy away from what would it be?
• What made you guys decide to do a podcast together?
• How do you create your videos/podcasts?

Don’t forget to listen out for Part 2 of the “Ask us Anything Christmas Special” on the 23rd of December. The normal podcast will resume on the 6th January and we also have some interesting guests coming up in the new year.

If you enjoy the podcast you can support us by buying us a coffee. We want to make a coffee froth moustache. Thank you!

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

We’ve now got a Youtube Channel where we put up a new Art Video every Sunday.
Subscribe to our channel and click the notifications bell to be alerted on all our new videos.

Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS

Today we are talking about drawing from life versus drawing from photos and which is best. And I think we know, now more than ever before, what a different skill drawing from life is since we started doing a lot more sketching trips out and about.

It’s really easy to rely on photo’s for practice, and while there’s nothing wrong with drawing from photos, it’s important to also practise drawing from life as much as you can.

Some of the things we discuss:

• How photos can distort perspective and also colour too
• That your eyes can pick up far more than a camera
• How drawing from life makes you think more about composition
• Why Drawing from life is much more challenging, but with that comes a sense of achievement when it works
• Why photos are great for manipulating and experimenting before drawing.
• How Sandra uses a combination of life and photos for her paintings
• Why photos are great for practising different mediums
• How drawing from photos gives you the confidence to go and try drawing from life outside
• How useful photos can be as a starting point/reference point for a piece of art, they don’t have to be taken literally

Sandra also tries to explain a recent issue she had when she was painting a glass bottle. Unfortunately, her choice of words for the floppy distortion effect left me sniggering in the background like an idiot (check the blooper at the end too).

If you enjoy the podcast you can support us by buying us a coffee. We want to make a coffee froth moustache. Thank you!

This week’s creative question

Q. What is your favourite colour, and how would you describe it to a blind person?

The best answers will be read out on a future 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.

We’ve now got a Youtube Channel where we put up a new Art Video every Sunday.
Subscribe to our channel and click the notifications bell to be alerted on all our new videos.

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In today’s podcast interview, we are talking to Artist Ian Fennelly. Ian is an urban sketcher who creates and sells his amazing sketches. His work mainly features buildings which are painted with splashes of beautiful vibrant colours and use lively linework. Not only is Ian a fantastic painter he is also very entertaining and tells some interesting stories in this podcast.

Se do Porto – Ian Fennelly Urban Sketch

Ian talks about

• How he got started with his art.
• How he was undecided between abstract and more realistic art until an artist who visited the college helped make up his mind (but not in the way you would expect)
• How his Art career developed
• Why he loves urban sketching and what got him started with painting on location
• His urban sketching process (we loved hearing about this)
• Tips for a beginner artist who is starting urban sketching
• Composition tips for urban sketching when you are out on location.
• How he decides what colours to use beyond what he sees in front of him
• His favourite urban sketching materials and tools

Ian also tells us about his plans for a future trip and project to paint along Route 66 in the USA

Quarante – Ian Fennelly Urban Sketch

Ian Fennelly Urban Sketch

Find out more about Ian Fennelly

You can find out more about Ian and see more of his work on his website www.ianfennelly.co.uk

Instagram  – @ianfennelly 

The Sketchbook Skool Course where Ian Fennelly is one of the teachers is Watercolor Rules!—and how to break them

The video of Ian that was shot by a student on his workshop https://youtu.be/uYbIC5dCwiQ

We’ve now got a Youtube Channel where we put up a new Art Video every Sunday.
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Today we are talking about fun things you can do with a creative friend. Art can be a solitary activity, but it needn’t always be that way. Particularly now we have the internet. More than ever before we can connect with other creative people and find fun things to do together without even having to meet! In fact, Sandra and I didn’t meet in person for at least a year. Before meeting in person, we had set each other fun challenges, like our “Does alcohol make you more creative challenge” (we talk a bit about it in the show). We had also recorded podcasts together and created the Kick in the Creatives Website and Facebook Group

We have plenty of suggestions for things you can do with a creative friend/s.

Some of the things we discuss:

• Sharing an art space/studio if you live nearby
• Taking a creative course together – either online or in-person
• Sketching trips and virtual sketching trips
• Drawing while your both online on video chat
• Going to a creative event together
• How you can teach each other things
• How you can encourage each other to experiment
• Art swaps – We have monthly postcard art swaps in our Facebook Group
• Creative collaborations
• Creating each other an art box – We talk about how we got on with the mystery art boxes that we created for each other

Plus we read out some of your great suggestions for fun things to do with creative friends

This is the website I was trying to remember where artists do collaborative painting www.collaborativepainting.uk

If you enjoy the podcast you can support us by buying us a coffee. We want to make a coffee froth moustache. Thank you!

This week’s creative question

Q. What’s the craziest creative thing you have ever done, or would like to do with a creative friend?

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

We’ve now got a Youtube Channel where we put up a new Art Video every Sunday.
Subscribe to our channel and click the notifications bell to be alerted on all our new videos.

Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS

Today we are talking about why taking a break from your art is sometimes a good thing! Around this time of year that we can start to flag a little bit. I don’t know if it’s the cold (and you want to hibernate like I do), or the fact we do so much more during the summer when the days are longer. Sometimes there comes a point where we can really benefit from a little time out of our art.

We can put so much pressure on ourselves to be productive and creative. But when you never allow yourself a break, you can deny yourself an opportunity to recharge and sometimes even face a complete art block.

So how do you recognise the difference between just not being in the mood, and when actually it’s time to take a little time out to recharge?

Some of the things we discuss:

• The difference between stopping creating art because you are feeling lazy and stopping because you are feeling burned out
• How a big creative challenge can make you want a break or change of direction
• How the time of year can affect our creative output or the type of art we create
• How you can take a break from your art without going completely cold-turkey with your creativity
• Why a break could be the perfect time to fill yourself with new creative inspiration
• Why it might be a good idea to set a time for an art break, rather than letting the time drift.

The urban sketching tutorial site we mentioned

The site I mention that I have been watching Urban sketching Tutorials on is MyBluprint. It was a site I learned about from our previous guest, Urban Sketcher Lynne Chapman.

Sandra’s urban sketch that got rained on

This was the urban sketch that Sandra did that got rained on that we talked about on the show. It formed a lovely effect.

If you enjoy the podcast you can support us by buying us a coffee. We want to make a coffee froth moustache.

This week’s creative question

Q. What subjects do you tend to avoid sketching and why?

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

We’ve now got a Youtube Channel where we put up a new Art Video every Sunday.
Subscribe to our channel and click the notifications bell to be alerted on all our new videos.

Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS

Today’s guest is Illustrator and Urban Sketcher Lynne Chapman. Lynne has had a fascinating career and lots of tips to share if you’re an aspiring illustrator. But what made us reach out to Lynne was her amazing urban sketching. As you may know Sandra and I are both working on improving our sketching on location and whenever I’d google “urban sketching tips” Lynne’s name would pop up. So if you’re interested in illustration or urban sketching I think you’ll really enjoy this interview.

Originally Lynne wanted to be a painter, but it worked out that illustration was a better fit. She has had lots of interesting twists and turns to her career. After many years of working as an illustrator, she is now lucky enough to make her living from sketch (how cool is that!)

Lynne’s urban sketching kit

Lynne talks about

• How she trained in Printed Textile Design, but then made the change into illustration
• How she moved from illustrating greeting cards, to editorial work, and eventually to children’s illustration.
• Tips for drawing things from your imagination. Lynne also has an online course for creating Children’s Characters
• The value of keeping sketchbooks (she has over 200)
• How she started urban sketching and how that developed over the years
• The materials she recommends for urban sketching – Lynne also has a fantastic book about sketching people
• How she now makes her living Urban Sketching

Lynne Chapman – Urban Sketching Mine section

Urban sketch fire engine

Lynne talking about illustrating traditionally rather than digitally

I’m always getting emails from people who want to want to do children’s book illustration. And they asked me what software I use. And they were worried because they don’t know how to use the software. And you know, they think they need to learn it. And I’m always able to reassure them that actually learning illustration is a hard enough challenge on its own, you really don’t need to layer over the top of that, learning this kind of new media if you’re not all, if you’re not already okay with it. So it’s not necessary to do it digitally. And quite a lot of illustrators actually are still not even techie that we’re a funny bunch, actually.

Lynne Illustrating Jungle Grumble

Lynne talking about when she joined the Urban Sketchers Group

…I saw people using watercolour, and I’d never been able to paint. And I’d never learned how to use watercolour. And every time you get a book on how to use watercolour, it’s all about stretching paper and laying layers down. And it’s all very complicated and, you know, slow. And I’m incredibly impatient. And I couldn’t be doing with any of that. So I never painted with colour, and then I saw this stuff. And there are all these people just they’re not doing any of that they’re just chucking paint over paper and drawing all over it. And I thought, oh my god, you can do that. It’s allowed So I started to experiment with colours.

And from the moment I joined Urban Sketchers, I started to draw and colour, either using watercolours, or the other thing I discovered was something that I still use all the time is Derwent Inktense pens, pencils. Because on a train, you can’t really be using watercolours. It’s a bit of a kind of a faff. And, yeah, you don’t want to be tipping paint over anybody or paint water. So I use these pencils, which were, they bought coloured pencils, but they’re not like watercolour pencils you’ve ever used before. They’re sort of like watercolour pencils on acid, you know.

Lynne sketching on Robin Hood’s Bay Beach

Lynne’s Textiles – crazy plastic

Find out more about Lynne Chapman

• Illustration Site – www.lynnechapman.co.uk
• Textiles Site – www.lynnechapmantextiles.co.uk
• Urban Sketching Site – www.lynnechapmanurbansketching.co.uk
• Instagram – www.instagram.com/lynnepencil/
• Lynne’s Book  – Sketching People (Sandra and I love this!)
• Lynne’s Course  – Expressive Picture Book Characters
• Urban Sketching on Merchandise 
• Detail from one of the Australian residency projects – The sketchbooks were long concertinas. You can see the full thing and other examples here: www.lynnechapmanurbansketching.co.uk/portfolio/dormant-things-2

Lynne Chapman – Very Warm Welcome

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you use the link to make a purchase we will receive a very small commission, without any extra cost to you. This will help to support our website and podcast. Thank you so much.

We’ve now got a Youtube Channel where we put up a new Art Video every Sunday.
Subscribe to our channel and click the notifications bell to be alerted on all our new videos.

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Today we are talking about the importance of going out specifically to sketch from life, and how to plan a successful trip.

Obviously, not everyone can dedicate a whole day to sketching on a regular basis. It might be that you can only spare your lunch hours at work, but we can talk about ‘snatching time to sketch’ in a future episode. Today we are focussing on arranging a dedicated sketching day trip.

We forgot to mention on the podcast that there is a website http://www.urbansketchers.org/ and Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/urbansketchers/ dedicated to urban sketching around the world. If you live near a city, you might be lucky enough to find a group near you.

Some of the things we discuss:

• Whether you want to sketch alone or with other people, including organising local sketching meetups.
• Where to sketch
• What to take with you, from art materials to something to sit on
• What sort of bag you might want to use
• What to wear
• Planning what you want to achieve
• Apps to help you plan your sketching trip – Rome to Rio, GPS my City, Find my Friends App iOS and Android 
• Getting deals on travel – Groupon, Tesco Club Card deals on Hotels.com

And we also talk about getting those warm-up sketches out of the way. In fact, every time you do a sketch you don’t like, just call it a warm-up! Oh and Sandra thinks it’s important to mention, not to forget your tampons. She doesn’t even have a weird use for them like some of the suggestions she had in our Art Tips Podcast!

If you enjoy the podcast you can support us by buying us a coffee. We want to make a coffee froth moustache.

This week’s creative question

Q. If you could go urban sketching anywhere, where would it be and why?

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

We’ve now got a Youtube Channel where we put up a new Art Video every Sunday.
Subscribe to our channel and click the notifications bell to be alerted on all our new videos.

Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS

Today’s creative guest is artist and illustrator Barbara Johansen Newman from www.johansennewman.com

Johansen Newman – Year of the Rooster

Barbara has had a fascinating career from puppetry to illustration to licensing. And now she has gone back to her first love which is painting. What is interesting about Barbara’s art is that although her figurative paintings are interesting in themselves, she builds a world around them using found objects and by painting on unusual surfaces.

Johansen Newman – Pilot

Barbara talks about

• How she started drawing in her crib (yes she was born to be an artist)
• How she initially went to a private art college, which turned out to be a bad match for her
• How she got involved in creating puppets and became a puppeteer
• How she transitioned from creating puppets to illustration and writing children’s books
• Why she has come back to her first love which is painting and where she gets her inspiration
• Her advice on doodling and keeping sketchbooks
• What inspired her to use found materials in her art
• Her tips for discovering your art style

Johansen Newman – She Who Wears the Color

Find out more about Barbara

Recent work and works in progress get shared on Instagram at  https://www.instagram.com/johansennewman/

Barbara’s website: www.johansennewman.com

Barbara’s Facebook Page:  www.facebook.com/JohansenNewmanART

Johansen Newman – Family Portrait

Barbara also kindly answered our initial podcast questions in text form which you can read by clicking below.

We’ve now got a Youtube Channel where we put up a new Art Video every Sunday.
Subscribe to our channel and click the notifications bell to be alerted on all our new videos.