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In today’s episode, we talk about how to recognise and deal with a creative block. And, more importantly, why do we even have them?

And it comes at a good time because both myself and Sandra have been through one quite recently.

It seems that just about every Artist out there goes through this at some point, if not a couple of times a year and it is all part of being a Creative. But knowing that doesn’t always make it any easier to deal with.

Amongst our normal sidetracking chatter, including Sandra getting the completely wrong idea when I mentioned “Idea Sex” we discuss the following things.

Some of the things we discussed:

• Some of the causes of a creative block
• Warning signs that you are having a creative block
• Ideas to help get you out of a creative block
• Why you should try not to worry too much about your creative block

We both share what some of the causes of our creative blocks were and the things that helped us to get over them. Along with that, we mention some of the fantastic tips that you suggested on our Facebook Page, Group and on Instagram.

November Challenges

We also give a quick mention of some of the exciting creative challenges we’ve got coming up for November

• Linovember – A lino print challenge (or another type of printing if you prefer – got any potatoes handy?)
• Quick Kick November – Draw using a brush and ink (or paint if you don’t have ink)
• Kick Time November – Create one piece of art, writing, poetry etc, etc using the prompt during the month
• Kick Collage – Use collage every day in your work, this can be pure collage or you can paint or draw over a collaged surface.

This week’s creative question

Is Creativity something that we are born with or is it something we can learn?

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.

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This weeks guest is Joanna Penn from The Creative Penn. Joanna is an Award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She’s an independent (indie) author and has written 27 books and sold over 500,000 books in 84 countries and 5 languages. And as if that’s not enough, she’s also an international speaker and award-winning creative entrepreneur. Joanna shares the secrets to her success in multiple ways including her award-winning blog and her own Podcast for writers, ‘The Creative Penn’ (spelt with a double n)

A few of the topics we cover in the podcast:

How and why Joanna started writing

In this podcast, Joanna talks about the first non-fiction book she ever published and why she decided to publish it independently. This was well before it was commonplace to do so. Even though financially that first book was not a success, it was successful in terms of how it moved her forward in her career. She talks about how miserable she was in her corporate job and how she knew she had to make a change.

Joanna didn’t believe she could write fiction

You will learn that Joanna didn’t believe she could write fiction. It was only after someone challenged her that she had a block in that area that she created her first novel. She began writing it by taking part in the writing challenge, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Since then her fiction work has gone from strength to strength.

Goal Setting and Advice

Joanne talks about how she sets herself very specific goals, and you can tell by listening to her just how driven she is. Also, her enthusiasm and positivity are infectious. Not only will the writers learn valuable tips on how to build a successful writing career, but much of her advice is applicable to other creatives too.

Connect with Joanna

You can find out more about Joanna at www.thecreativepenn.com where you can also download her free Author 2.0 Blueprint and Email Mini-Course. The blueprint Includes tips on writing fiction and non-fiction, self-publishing, book marketing, and how to make a living with your writing.

Don’t forget to check out her podcast, books and courses too

We really hope you enjoy the show, don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review at  – iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS

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In today’s episode, we are talking about painting/drawing for commissions versus painting for joy. Within the idea of paid commissions, we are also including those “jobs” where friends or family ask you to create things for them (we’ve all been there!).

We’ve been thinking about doing this episode for a while. Sandra has done a lot of commissions this year and I’ve also done a tiny commission recently and some in the past. So we thought now was a good time to talk about it. We’ve both recently been having a creative slump too, could that be to do with commissions? We talk about that in this episode.

Meanwhile, Sandra has been continuing with our Early Rise August Challenge to get up an hour earlier to create (rather her than me). She’s been doing a thing called the Miracle Morning which is supposed to “Transform your life” (read that in a deep movie voice) according to the website. I’ve tried it too in the past. Basically, it’s about doing things in the morning  – exercise, meditation etc that set you up well for the day. It’s a great idea in principle, but Sandra has her own ideas for a twist on the theme.

We also talk about how we recently met in person, much to Sandra’s surprise. She knew nothing about it as her husband had arranged it all

Anyway, I digress, back to the art commission’s topic I’m supposed to be writing about.

Here are a few of the things we discussed:

• When to say yes or no to a commission
• How to choose which commissions are right for you
• How commissions can be good for stretching yourself, but how far should you go?
• Why you’ve got to be careful not to let commissions kill your confidence
• Things to bear in mind when pricing a commission
• What happens if it doesn’t work out, and how to do your best to avoid that

Oh, and I delve back into the furthest recess of my mind to doing a few art commissions when I was about 15. I wonder what I bought with the money, maybe it was art stuff, maybe it was a Jackie magazine or a cool cassette tape. Who knows?

This week’s creative question

What’s your favourite art or creative quote 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.

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This week’s guest is Jake Parker. Jake is an illustrator, writer, and teacher based in Utah. Jake has worked on everything from animated films to comics to picture books since 1999. He’s lived in six states, working at the best studios with some of the most amazing and talented people in the country. Now Jake freelances out of his own studio in Utah.

Jake started his professional drawing career straight out of school, and in the podcast, he explains how he got that first break which kick-started his career. Since then he has worked for many high profile clients including Disney, Warner Brothers and Google.

Jake’s work has been published countless times in way too many places to list here, but despite that, he might be best known to our listeners as the founder of the hugely popular October drawing challenge ‘Inktober’.

A few of the topics we cover in the podcast:

Talent versus learning how to draw

Jake talks about whether he thinks that some people are just born with a natural talent, or whether it’s possible for anyone to learn how to draw

Dealing with Creative block

Jake goes deeply into the kind of things that can cause a creative block and how to deal with it by filling up your creative bank account

Inktober Drawing Challenge

In the podcast, Jake explains how he started the popular drawing challenge Inktober to improve his brush pen skills and how the art challenge has grown ever since.

Kickstarter for Art Projects

Jake produces his own drawing and comic books some of which were funded via KickStarter including his latest graphic novel – The Star Seed.

Other projects funded on Kickstarter

The Antler Boy and Other Stories

Drawings

Artists that Jake admires

Two of the artists that Jake admires that he mentions in the podcast are Aaron Draplin (Graphic Designer) and William Joyce (children’s book illustrator)

Teaching Art and Illustration Online

As well as producing his own amazing artwork Jake also teaches art and illustration on the online platform he co-founded with Will Terry called SVSLearn.com. Here you can learn anything from portrait painting to children’s illustration.

We really hope you enjoy the show.

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In today’s episode, we share lots of ‘general tips’ for artists. It follows on quite nicely from Episode 15 about making the best of your creative space.

We cover a lot in this episode. Just in case you’re not aware, Sandra is an experienced oil painter who paints highly detailed still lifes. Prior to discovering her love of oils, she used to paint in watercolours. So Sandra has a wealth of tips to share, plus I throw in a few tips of my own that I’ve learned over the years too.

One of the biggest things you’ll learn is to take your bathroom cabinet out of the bathroom and transfer it to your art space. It appears that Sandra has miraculously found a use for everything in hers for painting. Even I found some of the suggestions a little eye-opening!

Some of the tips we share include:

• How to stop your paint from drying out so quickly
• How to clean and preserve your brushes, including the magic of Murphy’s Oil Soap
• How Gamblin oil paints are better for your health (also check out Sandra’s blog post about oil painting safety)
• How to stop dipping your brush in your coffee and drinking your painting water/medium
• How to stretch watercolour paper, including modern watercolour stretchers and watercolour boards.
• Some great apps for artists – including one that can replace that ridiculous wooden mannequin that would never stay in place
• A very ‘unusual’ way of removing dust from a painting!

We also include art tips shared by members of our Facebook Group, Page and our followers on Instagram.

Here’s the list of apps mentioned in the podcast

• ArtPose is an app that is a much better alternative to one of those wooden artist mannequins. With Artpose you can choose a figure, pose it in virtually any position, look at it from different angles and light it too.
• ProCreate is a fantastic app on the ipad that allows you to paint digitally, Some artists do the most amazing things with it. One of the really clever things about the app is it also automatically makes a video of you creating your art.
• Jackson’s ArtGrid lets you create an instant grid over a photograph which you can then translate onto your canvas so you can create an accurate drawing
• The ipad app Graphic – creates vector graphics very much like you would on a computer with Adobe Illustrator. Vector graphics are good as you can blow them up to any size without the quality deteriorating.
• Autodesk Sketchbook – this is another comprehensive drawing app available on desktop and tablet.
• Paper app by Fifty three – is an app for digital sketchbooks. It’s also beautifully designed.
• Adobe has a suite of apps for digital art on a tablet or phone which you can use for free.

This week’s question

What do you listen to while you create?

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.

Note: This post contains 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.

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We are delighted to have the incredibly talented artist and co-founder of Sketchbook Skool, Koosje Koene on the podcast today.

Koosje was born in the Netherlands and lives in Amsterdam. She studied Graphic Design but later went on to become an award-winning photographer.

After 10 years as a photographer, Koosje got itchy feet and her pencils began calling her. She quickly re-discovered her love for drawing and started her blog.

Koosje then began developing online classes and not only is she now a highly talented illustrator, but also an online teacher. She also hosts ‘Draw Tip Tuesday’ where she offers weekly drawing tips, encouraging people to draw every single day. She shares how she gets inspiration for both Draw Tip Tuesday and her own personal art.

In the podcast, you will hear more about Koosje’s creative journey on the way to co-founding Sketchbook Skool with Danny Gregory in 2014. She also shares her hopes for the future of Sketchbook Skool and her own creative work.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and our newsletter so you get notified of all our challenges.

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Today’s episode is all about making the best of your creative space. Now that includes keeping your stuff organised and tidy. Anyone that knows me well, will know that tidiness is definitely not my forte. In fact, my partner (who never stops hoovering) would be rolling around laughing at the thought of me giving anyone else advice on this stuff. Hands up who else has an “I don’t know where to put it” drawer?

Now if you were panicking and thinking why on earth would I listen to someone so untidy, fear not. Fortunately, Sandra, who says herself that she is a little OCD in the clean and tidy department, can help balance out my messiness.

So just like you, I will have to listen back to this episode to see what Mrs Tidypants (as Sandra will be known from this day forward ) has to say about creative space organisation.

We discuss:

• What our dream art spaces would be like
• Tips for working in small areas
• Storage ideas, Sandra has a great way or organising paint
• Easels
• Home art studios
• Lighting
• Working in less than ideal conditions – ie a shed with limited light.
• Anything else that pops in our heads (sorry)

We also include tips for making the best of your creative space shared by members of our Facebook Group, Page and our followers on Instagram.

This week’s question

What is your Favourite art or creative book 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 Danny Gregory from Sketchbook Skool on the podcast. In fact, delighted is pretty much an understatement, especially for Sandra who had to decide what outfit she would wear for our voice-only podcast.

I’m sure if you love art and drawing you’ll know all about Danny Gregory, but just in case you’ve had your head buried under a sketchbook for the last few years, let me tell you a little more. Danny spent three decades working as one of New York’s leading advertising directors. When his wife had a tragic accident which left her paralyzed, Danny started drawing and keeping a journal as a sort of therapy to help him come to terms with what happened. He has been drawing ever since. He also used drawing to help him cope with the death of his wife through another accident years later.

Danny has written several books, some of which show his beautiful journal sketches alongside his words, we talk about some of them in the podcast including A Kiss Before You Go and Shut Your Monkey.

A few years ago Danny got together with Koosje Koene to form Sketchbook Skool. Danny never dreamed he would end up teaching people to draw, but now he is inspiring people all over the world to pick up a pen or pencil and start drawing again.

You can find out more about Danny Gregory on his blog or at https://sketchbookskool.com

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.

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Our guest for this creative podcast episode is realist artist Callum Stephen, who you may remember from the BBC Big Painting Challenge. Sandra takes the reins today as she interviews Callum while I’m off on holiday in France, which funnily enough is where Callum is now living.

Starting to paint

Callum only started painting a couple of years ago. He has an absolutely fascinating story about how a book, a chance encounter and someone whispering in his ear while travelling in Australia kicked off his artistic passion.

Back home he started experimenting with a cheap set of oil paints bought from a local shop. He chose oils as it was what the old masters had used to create highly realistic pieces that he admires.

Callum taught himself to paint by reading countless books to learn the old techniques. He also watched Youtube videos and now looks at contemporary realist artists on Instagram. From the behind the scenes pictures they post, he notices the types of materials and methods they use.

Artists Callum loves

A realist artist that Callum admires is Tjalf Sparnaay, a self-taught artist. He also likes the work of Bernardi and Spence

BBC Big Painting Challenge

You may have thought like we did, that Callum applied to be on the Big Painting Challenge, but in fact, they phoned him to ask him to audition. The only problem was, he thought it was his friends playing a joke and hung up on them. You’ll find out more in the podcast about how he did finally end up on the show and how he felt about painting in ways far outside his comfort zone. It’s something that Sandra herself knows only too well from her experience of art college.

Art college versus a mentor

Although Callum doesn’t like the ideas of going to Art School he would love a mentor that he could get tips from. He likes learning in his own time and own way, but sometimes wishes there was someone he could call on to learn techniques that he is not quite sure about.

Becoming a full-time artist

It’s Callum’s dream to eventually become a full-time realist artist. At the time the podcast was recorded Callum had full-time day job as a stonemason/bricklayer (although I saw on Social media he may have just given that up). You can tell his determination to learn his craft from the hours he was putting into it, getting up at 4 am to paint before work and painting into the night after work too.

Connect with Callum

You can find out more about Callum on Facebook and Instagram @callum_stephen_

PS. Sandra also talks about our latest creative challenges coming up for July

• Kick Time July a Month Long Creative Challenge
• Quick Kick July
• 31 Printed Photos
• Draw on Junk July
• Half Past Christmas

Find more info on all the July challenges here

Don’t forget to join our Facebook Group too.

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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.