Liron Yanconsky

STORY TIME – How I Became an Artist | Liron’s Art & Creativity Show

Today I want to share with you how I became an artist, as well as my history in the art world from childhood, and finally – what works financially for my art business.

Let’s get to it!

My Childhood & Art

I’ve been drawing and sketching ever since I can remember myself. My very first memory is of sitting at my grandparents’ porch and copying an illustration from a Dr. Seuss book.

I’ve been doodling on the side all through elementary, middle and high-school, and have once sold a sketch of a pokemon 😂 (for 5 shekels, the equivalent of about 1.2 USD back then.

I do want to mention that painting and working in color is something I got to much later in life.

Young Adulthood & Art

During my military service I quit art almost completely. I spent so much time working and barely had any life.

However, in my 6 months of service I started figuring out what I want to try to do in life. And that’s when I got back to art.

I started a blog with drawing lessons, and later published my books, started my YouTube channel, Instagram, courses and so on.

From Existing Platforms to MY OWN Platforms

I got started selling stuff mostly on Amazon and Udemy.

Amazon is where I independently published and sold my books, and Udemy was where I created my courses.

But where I really started seeing some success was when building my own platform.

This is when I started to build my own website, marketing and sales funnel and courses.

This meant no one was taking a serious cut from my earnings, and I have to do the marketing.

Art Business Revenue Streams & What Works Today

With time, additional avenues started popping up.

Among them is selling my paintings (through the local art fair, galleries and directly). Another one is selling the foreign language rights of my books to various publishing houses. And others are Patreon / donations, YouTube ads revenue and more.

Here’s what works for me today…

The numbers are fairly inaccurate, but do give some kind of a picture as to what the main income sources of my art business are.

About a third-half of my income comes from my various how-to-draw books.
Another third comes from the courses
The rest is divides fairly equally between the other sources I described.

Conclusion

So this is where I’m at right now.

I have a long way to go still, when it comes to pretty much everything – Improving my artistic skills, business development, personal growth.

Perhaps in another decade I’ll create a similar post and we’ll see where I’m at 😉

And if you want to reach out, you know where to find me…!

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan

Why Painting is SO Hard | Liron’s Podcast Episode 101

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Today I want to provide you with an encouraging perspective as to why painting accurately can be SO HARD, and talk a bit about the process of improving over time.

Painting Should Be Hard!

When you really think about it, the act of accurately putting to paper what you see is incredibly impressive!

Being able to portray a 3d object / scene in a believable, realistic or even INTERESTING manner is an amazing achievement!

With that in mind – of course painting should be hard!

Any small success should be greatly celebrated.

One of my favorite things about painting is that I may mess up 80% of the painting, but there’s a 20% I was able to REALLY nail down!

And that’s part of it.

The Learning Curve

Improving in painting is a long process. It’s not something that happens in months, but rather in years.

You can see great improvement within months, but true understanding and competence usually take longer (if you’re an anomaly – congrats!).

Here are some of the stages in my experience:

Learning the basic techniques and control of the medium
Learning to see things as accurately and cleanly as possible.
Learning to go beyond what you see verbatim, and make every subject YOUR personal impression of it.

That last stage in the list is where I’m currently striving to be.

It’s about turning the painting process into an interaction between you and the painting subject.

And that wraps up today’s episode!

Here’s how to reach out to me!

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan

What I’m Grateful For in 2019 | Liron’s Podcast Episode 100!

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Today I want to share with you the things I’m grateful for in 2019!

I believe gratitude is a very important asset for achieving success. The ability to be grateful for what you have, is what enables you to ultimately have more of it.

A good example is people trying to build their online presence and social media accounts, complaining about having only 400 followers.

A surefire recipe for getting to 4000, is to actually care about your 400.

Here are some of the things I’m grateful for in 2019:

Our crazy New York month-long vacation and meeting some of my followers there, and ESPECIALLY seeing up close the impact my content has on people.
Taking responsibility for my personal finances and being WAY more organized than in the past.
Teaching watercolor private lessons consistently.
Publishing 2 articles in the Leisure Painter magazine, and the really positive experience I had around that.
Getting started with TikTok, and consistent content publishing
My book “How to Sketch” being picked up by a Russian publishing house.
Getting my deviated septum fixed and being able to breath fully!!!
And some more…

I cannot stress enough how key gratitude is. It’s the thing that enables me to follow my vision clearly.

I practice it every single morning. It doesn’t have to be huge. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Practice appreciating the small things.

And let me know what you’re grateful for, in one of the following places!

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan

Expanding My Artistic Horizons & Painting Beyond What You See | Liron’s Podcast Episode 99

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In this episode I’m sharing my thoughts on the trajectory I’m planning on taking with my paintings and drawings, in order to expand my artistic horizons and create more, and evolve my AUTHENTIC creation.

Authenticity is Key!

The key here really is authenticity.

I want to create in a way that’s authentic to my artistic vision.

Think about it – why do some people simplify their work? Why do others paint hyper-realistically?

Why do some people go for abstract?

Technique and approach are SECONDARY to your authentic vision. If the vision is abstract – perfect! If it’s realistic – also perfect!

My Artistic Goals

I want to go beyond techniques, methods and “approaches”, and improve my skill of CONNECTING WITH THE REFERENCE, and seeing it with fresh and clear eyes.

I know it’s a bit “woo-woo”, but hopefully this makes sense!

Let me know your thoughts in a comment below, and feel free to reach out on any platform (:

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan

ARTISTS – You Are ALLOWED to FAIL | Liron’s Podcast Episode 98

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Are you failing in painting / watercolor / art? In this episode I’m talking about failing and why it’s an inevitable part of success and the artistic journey.

What’s Failing?

My perspective here is that failing is very subjective.

You may not like your painting, while others may LOVE IT. So – did you fail? That will depend on who you ask the questions.

I think another component is whether the end result matches the vision you had in mind for it. And you are the ONLY person who can say the result didn’t match your vision.

So you’re pretty much the only person who can declare a painting as a “failure” (;

Let’s Get to The Point – Failing is Inevitable

If I had to sum up this episode, I’m simply talking about how failing is an inevitable, inseparable part of the artistic journey.

There’s no learning a new skill, growing and improving without it. It’s just not going to happen.

So you better start getting used to the idea of not getting the results you want.

One fascinating thing I came to realize recently is that we fail at ALL levels of skill. In fact – your skill level is irrelevant.

You’ll fail as a beginner, as an intermediate and as an advanced artist. Even with lots of experience and fantastic work to show for. That’s simply the nature of creativity.

To Conclude Failing

The only purpose of this episode, as well as the original YouTube video, is to provide some mental support for you to KEEP GOING and KEEP PRACTICING regardless of the result.

If you love what you do, see potential in it or simply want to do it! – Don’t let the feeling of failure stop you.

I hope you enjoy this one, let me know your thoughts in a comment below, or feel free to reach out through these places…

How to Reach Out / Learn More

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan