Lironyan, Author at Liron Yanconsky

DOING Is Better Than Thinking – Artistic Life Lessons | Liron’s Podcast Episode 112

In today’s podcast episode I’m talking about why I believe DOING is always superior to thinking and planning – when it comes to learning a new artistic skill or creating.

The Real Way to Learn

Like sports, music and many other endeavors – the only real way to learn in my opinion is to DO.

I had that experience with learning watercolor. Very early on I realized that I can spend hours watching videos and reading tutorials. But it was ME who had to learn how to control water and paint.

If I wanted to learn how to paint, I had to experience the challenges of mixing, applying the paint, failing with the timing and so on.

Writing My Story

The reason this topic came to mind was that I’m now experiencing this all over again with the story I’m writing. There’s no substitute to actually WRITING.

Then I can improve and fix mistakes. But I need to have something written first. You can’t really re-write what’s in your head only.

Planning & Learning Has It’s Place

I do believe it’s important to think, learn and plan. But I always believe they’re overestimated.

I had to do a lot of research for my story, its historical settings and so on. But every hour spent in research, in my opinion – should be backed up with 3 hours of creation, if possible.

At some point, you can fall into the trap of over-information and wanting to feel like you’ve accomplished something – by listening and watching videos.

So again – it’s all in the balance.

This is mine – find your own.

Now IS The Time

I think for many people – now’s the perfect time to create, with the Coronavirus crisis. So many people are stuck at home, being forced to take time off.

If that’s you – now’s the opportunity to write that novel you wanted, to work on that painting you had in mind, or to practice yoga (haha – whatever it is!!).

NOW’S THE TIME. Go and do (:

And this is it for this one.

I hope you found it helpful and thought-provoking.

Here’s where you can get in touch with me online:

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan

New Watercolor Breakthrough – Holistic Shapes | Liron’s Podcast Episode 111

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Hi there! In this episode of the podcast I talk about a watercolor breakthrough I anticipated I’ll be going through soon.

Watercolor Rough Patch

I’ve had a challenging 2 months or so when it comes to painting. I didn’t feel like my work is connecting the way I’m used to, and the results were hit or miss. Got some great ones, but also some subpar ones.

This isn’t necessarily bad. It usually means you’re going through growth and raising your standards.

Sergey Temerev & Looking at Shapes

I gained an interesting insight while, by pure chance, stumbling upon a video of Sergey Temerev painting a spectacular cloudy skies scene (his speciality, it seems).

Here’s an example of a similar one by Sergey Temerev (you should really look into his work – it’s SO GOOD!!).

And here’s the specific process video I watched:

While watching it I felt like there’s something I want to try when it comes to the painting process. And that thing is looking at shapes a little differently, and dividing the subjects into shapes a little differently from what I’m used to.

The result was this small painting of the Bourges Cathedral in France.

I’m highly pleased with it.

I think it will be a bit hard to explain the exact mental shift I went through, so I do plan on addressing it in a future YouTube video.

But it does seem to be connected to wet-in-wet, and making the most out of every part of every wash.

I hope that makes sense, and that you enjoyed listening / reading.

And with that, I’ll wish you lots of good health in these challenging CoronaVirus times. Stay safe and healthy!

And I’ll talk to you again soon,

— Liron

Here’s where you can reach out to me (:

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan

My BIGGEST Mental Challenge So Far | Liron’s Podcast Episode 110

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In today’s episode I’m venting a bit, and sharing what is probably my biggest mental challenge so far, in my artistic career.

The Rocky Road

Any road leading towards a worthwhile goal is going to be rocky and challenging.

I have experienced quite a lot of external and internal challenges and roadblocks so far.

And this is further exacerbated when you’re building something of your own, and are basically the only person to blame, haha!

The Challenge I Currently Face

I experience a combination of multiple challenges that make up the current one.

Here are some recurring themes:

Too much time for content creation, not enough time for artistic creation. I refer to QUALITY time for experimentation and celebration of art, without the need or even willingness to share and document. Selfishness in a good way.
Realizing that the road to greatness is longer than expected.
Adding in MANGA creation to my list of tasks.
Going to bed too late and waking up too late.
More personal responsibilities eating away at my time.
Lack of motivation and connection to the larger vision.

All of these together, make a formidable challenge for me to conquer.

You Are Not Alone

If you’re in a similar position, I want you to know that this is something experienced by many, If not everyone.

These challenges can be a little frustration, however, we should view them as a guiding light. They are here to teach us a lesson we don’t know yet.

Looking at it this way, I hope you’ll see the positive in them, and learn to overcome them.

I will do my best, and share the developments.

I hope you found this episode encouraging, or at the very least interesting and entertaining (:

I’ll talk to you again soon,

— Liron

Here’s where you can contact me online (:

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan

— Liron

Progress on My Manga (Skills)! | Liron’s Podcast Episode 109

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In this episode I want to share with you my MANGA creation journey, the progress I’ve made so far and where I’m headed.

So let’s jump into it!

Some Background on My Manga Project

A few months back I rekindled my manga fire, and in particular a desire rose for me to create one.

I’ve been reading manga for many years now, and love this genre. I grew up on many anime series too, before even knowing what manga was.

So inevitably, manga raises strong emotions of nostalgia with me, as well as a strong creative desire.

And so I decided that now is a good time to start planning out creating my own manga.

Jumping head-First Into Manga

I got started by writing a few quick stories, then taking one of them and starting to draw a draft for it (what you call a “name”).

In the process, I realized just how much more I have to learn, and decided to take a step back, and work on some other things.

Digital Manga Tools & Techniques

I plan on doing this entire project digitally, as it makes SO MUCH more sense. I also recently bought the Huion Kamvas Pro 16, and planned on using it for that purpose.

As I was working on my first story, I slowly realized how I have SO MUCH to learn when it comes to the DIGITAL tools, with the main one being Clip Studio.

This software is AMAZING for making manga, comics and illustrations.

So I started doing studies of mangas and illustrations I love and admire, to get the ropes of clip studio – drawing with different tools, screen-tones, effects and so on.

The newest project I created was translating a scene from The Witcher TV series into a manga page. You can see some of the result at the top of the page, but here’s the full page (read from right to left like a traditional manga).

I’m especially proud of the 2nd panel, which is the result of my researching what an old crossbow’s trigger looks like, and my hand used as reference.

Drawing Manga People

The next challenge I encountered, that also made me want to take a step back is drawing people.

The challenge here is twofold – there’s the aspect of drawing relatively accurate (and often detailed) anatomy, and then there’s translating it into the manga style.

This is why you saw me sketching LOADS of figures recently. I’ve been turning real people into manga characters, but more often reconstructing and drawing manga characters with the anatomical knowledge I gained (so instead of just drawing what I see, I actually built the anatomy of the character, layer by layer, and only then add clothings.

Here are some examples of figures & manga figures.

As you can see, Naruto and Bleach had a serious impact on me 😉

Writing a Story is HARD

THIS. It’s the biggest challenge I’ve had so far. I’m so new to creating a setting, plot, characters, dialog etc.

It’s simply hard for me to imagine my characters coming to life, and acting on their own.

But I assume that’s just how it is when getting started, and I’m pretty sure it will improve with practice.

I already dove really deep on one or two stories, fleshing out the world, plot overview and characters, but I sometimes feel like it’s TOO MUCH for the point I’m at, lacking any experience in actually drawing and creating a manga!

Which brings me to my next point…

Where I’m At Now With Manga

My goal for the next 2 months is to come up with many short / quick stories, and create few pages of them. I mean really short – 1-2 page long stories, scenes and scenarios.

I want to practice the entire process, and drop the perfectionism of writing down EVERY single detail of the story.

I want to get accustomed to creating simple characters, drawing facial expressions, working on panel arrangements and so on.

I think it will be a very useful step, as a preparation for writing a slightly longer and more serious story.

And I hope this process will interest you too! As I will share some of it.

Thank you for tuning in! 😊🙏🏼

And as always, here’s where to find me online:

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan

— Liron

How to Improve FASTER in Your Art | Conscious Effort & Focus | Liron’s Podcast Episode 108

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In this episode I wanted to share with you a way, an approach, for improving MUCH FASTER in your art.

Conscious Effort & Focus

The idea here is to go BEYOND the norm, when it comes to practicing your art and craft.

Some examples I provide:

Instead of directly drawing figures from reference – try reconstructing them from simple 3d shapes.
Try drawing the head from multiple angles using reference, and then drop the reference and try to rotate and draw the head from your imagination.
Rather than paint a scene once, how about painting it multiple times, with a different goal in mind each time? Once – focus on values, then – temperature. The try to add or remove elements from it, make stuff up.

The idea here is to take our practice sessions to the border of our comfort zone. Not too hard that you get frustrated fast. Not too easy.

Right on the border.

These ways of practicing really require CONSCIOUS EFFORT, and you will feel tired afterwards (that’s how you know you do it right!).

Repetition

I want to give you another good example for conscious effort and pushing through the comfort zone.

I recently sketched the exact same figure 4-5 times until I got it right.

In the past, I would have moved on to a different one after the first attempt. This is better than giving up completely. But how about trying again and again until you get it right? This will REALLY help you push through and learn something important, I find.

Time is Limited

Many people don’t have a lot of time to practice. You may have a day job, a family, responsibilities.

This way of practicing will make you far more effective.

So if you only have 15 minutes a day – why not make them work like 30 minutes?

I hope this makes sense, and I hope you’ll give it a try.

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out exactly what to do to practice this way. If you’re drawing and painting, I gave you some solid examples. But if not – do your proper research and figure it out.

You will not regret it.

Good luck!

— Liron

Here’s where to find me online

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Instagram – @LironYanIL

Twitter – @LironYan

— Liron