Lean Into Art

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 audio-only episode this week! Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Greg Horvath David Armantrout DADO Ashley Knapp Jonathan Wornson This week's 2 Minute Practice Brainstorm some people in your life who helped you get to where you are, and find ways to express gratitude to them. Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

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 Stone-Bush Becca Hillburn SOPHiE LAWSON Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

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 Dayton Chris Watkins This week's 2 Minute Practice Brainstorm ways to express more gratitude towards others Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

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 workshops Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: A Web Whiteboard Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Mike White Stephen Stone-Bush Dave 'Sri' Seah David Armantrout DADO This week's 2 Minute Practice Analyze some compositions in existing art and render them simply Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

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 to sites mentioned Becca Hillburn's tweet on hustling Art Soundoff Sponsors for this episode Science Comics: Rockets This Panda Needs You Lean Into Art Workshops Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Mike White Stephen Stone-Bush Dave 'Sri' Seah David Armantrout DADO Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

Instead of our usual exploration of visual storytelling and thinking about creative process, this week we have a brief yet important message to share. Our message is that we’re here to love, care, and support our black community and do our best as non-BIPOC do to be better at helping more by listening, being affected, and committing to an ongoing active awareness and ongoing supportive action to get rid of systemic racism. Black Lives Matter. The ongoing system of repression and discrimination must end. So much murder and death of black skinned people is such an obvious symptom of the discrimination. Murders by the police of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson, and so many others. We are in the midst of an uprising of super brave action from the black community. This is a place and time to dig in for systemic change. Let’s make it all our job to end systemic racism. I’m looking at us white folks as I say this. People who are BIPOC have no choice but face that job. Our work is to help one another become as strong as possible. So then what are we/us two doing to help more and in better ways? For Jerzy, that is: Following and supporting black artists, finding and supporting more businesses owned by people of color. Casting a wider net for guests and creative works to highlight. Donating more often, for this week that was donating to the Community Split Bail Fund. I will use my agency as a co-organizer for comics festivals to bring attention to diverse voices. For Rob that is: Awareness and listening deeper: For years awareness and immediate attention on justice for the black community is an event. Occasional and inconsistent. Now I’m working make it an every day practice. Making it a real project to be continually informed black voices. With that, I follow more, listen more, read more, share more black voices in my feeds and media. Donating more often, for this week that was donating the Campaign Zero Project. Scheduled a recurring task for this evolving project in omnifocus app, that works for me as a habit to keep a project going. Supporting, raising, celebrating voices that need to be heard like that of the black community must be an ongoing way of life. Where you can, when you can, support black creators and causes. The black community has been forced to bear this systemic racism load every day for over 400 years. We are privileged because it’s a choice for us to face it. Let’s not forget that. Let’s explore ways to bring in more diverse voices more often on the show. We want potential guests to reach out. Leanintoart.com/contact We’re here to learn with all of you. What are you doing for your awareness, commitment, and ongoing action? Tell us your stories, comments, questions, thoughts (through our email, social feeds, contact form). I know we’re in good company to make things better because Leaners aren’t weiners. Brave protesters thank you, our society owes you. Thank you all for listening and learning with us. Love to you all. OK Bye.

Rob and Jerzy like to remind themselves to make space for reading, watching, and playing. Join us for an exploration of media we engage with for relaxation and inspiration and even refueling. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Bomberman '93 Four Million Years Later Skull Fist The Tiny Chef Show Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Greg Horvath David Armantrout DADO Ashley Knapp Jonathan Wornson This week's 2 Minute Practice Visualize prompts from last week's word cloud! Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

The tools we use to make and share our art change a lot. Individual tools wear out, digital tools change company hands, business plans change and tools get decommissioned. As makers we are often in the position of picking a new tool, sometimes to replace the old, sometimes because we need to change something about our work and a new tool offers new possibilities. The Lean Into Art podcast is soon to be 9 years old and we’ve offered both video and audio versions of our show for most every episode. Lately we’re digging into how we can level up with video streaming and Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) is a tool pointing us toward so many interesting new possibilities. Join us to learn along with us we share what we’re learning so far about streaming and recording with OBS! We’d love to hear from you in the chat whether you’re an OBS pro or just getting started. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: OBS Virtual Cam Plugin Up Deck EpocCam MultiCam Logitech R400 Presentation Remote Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Greg Horvath Rachel Ross Becca Hillburn India Swift Keri Goble Billick This week's 2 Minute Practice Create a word cloud of stuff you're thinking about lately Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

Join Jerzy and Rob as they explore creating projects and works that are inclusive, think through ways to detect and avoid toxicity, and celebrate practicing/working to be both sensitive and patient. Sponsors for this episode Boulder and Fleet: Adventurers for Hire This Panda Needs You Lean Into Art Workshops NEW SPONSOR - the 7" Kara webcomic and the 7" Kara print edition Thanks to our top 5 Patreon supporters Cameron Callahan Katherine Sugrue Chris Watkins Spencer Hallam Tim F Links Mentioned More Science Behind Shaping Player Behavior in Online Games Why You Think You're Right–Even if You're Wrong Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Twitter Rob on Twitter Lean Into Art on Twitter Support the show via Patreon Lean Into Art Patreon

Back in episode 230 we talked with Jon David Guerra about taking on big projects and hiring collaborators. Jon returns to reflect on his experience and what he learned in creating Nightmare Pro Wrestling: The Belly of the Beast, a comics anthology in which he hired different artists to draw different chapters. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Nightmare Pro Wrestling NPW on Instagram Jon on Instagram Jon's appearance on LIA Cast 230 Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Sophie Lawson Rachel Ross Stephan Black Stephan Stone-Bush Shauni Redfearn This week's 2 Minute Practice Follow the Sketchamania Prompts to create an interesting wrestler pose! Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

Continuing our exploration of virtual events begun in the last episode, Rob and Jerzy are joined by cartoonist, narrative designer, and DM of the Big DunJen Show, Jen Vaughn. Together they’ll look at the upcoming Very Very Shopping Network event to see if we can find some new approaches to creating online events. Sponsors for this episode Nightmare Pro Wrestling Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: The Very Very Shopping Network The VVSN Twitch Channel The Big DunJen Show - YouTube Jen on Twitter Jen's Workshops Popmuertos on Twitch Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Brandon Dayton Gail Buschman Becca Hillburn India Swift Good to be Curious This week's 2 Minute Practice Sketch a 3 to 4 panel comic strip that ends where it begins Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

Practicing safe behavior during a global pandemic means the cancelation of more and more mass gatherings. Many events and institutions have turned to video conferencing and streaming to pursue their missions. But how do you adapt an event or mission that relied on physical spaces to a more virtual approach? Join Jerzy and Rob for an exploration on making virtual events that serve a mission and its constituency. Sponsors for this episode Nightmare Pro Wrestling Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Artist Alley Online Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Mike White Stephen Stone-Bush Dave 'Sri' Seah David Armantrout DADO This week's 2 Minute Practice Write a conversation between two things in your home Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

What kind of inspiration do we choose to surround ourselves? Join Jerzy and Rob for a conversation about taking a look around the home creative space, asking what things are there in the background until we look closer? And how are the things close at hand helpful as joyful reminders or useful reference? Sponsors for this episode Nightmare Pro Wrestling Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Jonathan Wornson Gail Buschman Brandon Dayton Katherine Sugrue Keri Goble Billick This week's 2 Minute Practice Create one drawing, 2 minutes at a time Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter

Minicomics are a favorite topic on the Lean Into Art Cast. As Jerzy and Rob have expressed in many episodes, they’re a great format for testing out new ideas or proving to yourself that you can ship a project. But even though the format is small and intended to be low risk, how do you know if your story or project is ready to begin? This time Jerzy and Rob share some of the signals they look for in a project to know whether or not it’s ready to draw. Sponsors for this episode Science Comics: Rockets This Panda Needs You Lean Into Art Workshops Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Myrjam Espree Devora Shauni Redfearn Kelly Ishikawa Angela Mitchell Links mentioned in this episode LIA Cast 212 - Sticky Note Writing LIA Cast 245 - Setting Up Projects for Whittling Jerzy's Minicomic Thumbnail Template The Black Hole Equation minicomic Jerzy's Amazon Author Page Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter Support the show via Patreon Lean Into Art Patreon

Jerzy and Rob are joined by Steve Hamaker, creator of Plox, collaborator on The Pathfinders Society, and colorist of the graphic novels Hilo and Bone. Together they look at how color helps tell a story, and explore some digital coloring techniques. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob and Kate's coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Plox The Pathfinders Society Table Titans HiLo Bone Steve's Twitch Channel Thanks to our top Patreon supporters Nate Marcell Jesse Kauffman Jonathan Wornson JS Taskis Gail Buschman This week's 2 Minute Practice Connect with Jerzy and Rob Jerzy on Instagram Rob on Instagram Lean Into Art on Twitter