artist motivation Archives - Liron Yanconsky

The #1 Way to Stay Motivated as an Artist | Liron’s Podcast Episode 129

In today’s episode I’m talking about the main problem I see that causes artists to lose motivation over the long run, and how to solve it (fairly easily).

Vision, Goals & Tasks

I believe many artists have a vision of where they want to be and what they want to achieve.

The fun part about being an artist is that there are basically endless possibilities.

Aside from having this vision, it’s important to connect it to smaller goals, and tasks. These are all extrapolated from the main vision.

The Disconnect

What I’ve seen happen many times is a disconnect between the mundane, daily tasks, and the grand vision.

Very often I can’t feel how what I’m doing at the moment will help me get there, and that’s a problem I know others face.

The key is to understand where the disconnect stems from, and squash it.

One option is that the daily tasks indeed AREN’T related enough to your vision and aspiration, and maybe you need to set up smarter, more efficient and effective tasks (and perhaps even goals).

Another option is that YOU don’t see the connection, despite it being there.

Make the Connection!

That’s the main idea of today’s discussion – make that connection!

The easiest way is to write your vision out, in a way that CLARIFIES without a shadow of a doubt how your actions today lead to your goals tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy this one!

Here’s how to contact me online (:

Instagram – @LironYanIL

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky

Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky

Twitter – @LironYan

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

People Didn’t Want Me to Become an Artist | Liron’s Podcast Episode 97

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Today I’d like to talk to you about the start of my journey of building a business around my art, and some of the resistance and negativity I experienced on the way.

This is a topic very close to heart. Making the right decisions in that context can ENSURE you’ll have the potential to succeed.

Making the wrong decision? You’re done before you even got started.

When I Started My Business…

I started this art thing towards the end of my military service. I actually got started by writing and publishing books independently on Amazon.

That went well and I think it was a combination of skill and LOTS of luck too.

Resistance and Negativity

I encountered A LOT of pushback from family and friends when it came to pursuing a career in art, and building a business around art.

A lot of it was definitely not ill-intended. Many times people have your best interest in mind (or at least that’s what they think).

But you have to understand that they don’t have your vision, wants and needs. They have no idea what makes you happy, or how important something is for you.

People Just Don’t SEE You

A mind-boggling thing I mention in the episode is how – nowhere between 5-17 was I ever “Huh, you’re actually really good at this art thing, maybe you should do something with it!”.

It’s amazing to really think about it this way, as I was doing quit a good job even when I was around 6-7 years old, copying drawings from one of my Dr. Seuss books.

For some reason I was pushed to learn physics and computer engineering. I found those somewhat interesting, but only to a very limited extent.

Again, I can’t really blame anyone for this. Art isn’t the obvious career path, and computers and sciences were and are still on a pedestal.

But I do think the world will be a MUCH better place if people would at least notice others’ gifts and mention something. A simple compliment can go a HUGE way.

The Positive Note & A Word of Warning

Despite the pushback / resistance / negativity / limiting beliefs – my vision was clear enough for me to follow through. These clouds never really blocked it for me.

But I’m afraid SO MANY people don’t have that clarity, or aren’t as positive to see a way. I’m scared people will allow their dreams to slip away due to negative feedback from their environment.

And THAT’S what I want to make sure you avoid.

If you give up – you’re done. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Conclusion

I know I’ve been all over the place with the TEXT version of the episode. But I want to keep it like that, in it’s raw authentic form.

I hope you got something out of this episode.

Please feel free to let me know – in any of the ways below…

Take care and we’ll talk soon!