Tag: Artists

The Secret Mindset for Painting Beautifully | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 35

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Hi there, today I want to talk to you about a magical mindset for heightened creativity.

I’ve been painting for 3 years now, and I noticed that whenever I produce beautiful results I like – I find myself in that state.

The Child-Like Creativity Mindset

It’s worth mentioning this state of mind had nothing to do with outside inspiration.

In fact, it felt like the opposite most of the time. It felt insular. Almost like it was BLOCKING outside inspiration, in order to self-generate it from the inside.

When I hit that mindset, it feels like I’m slowing down naturally. I’m focusing more on the small space where I’m working. I’m very present, and enjoy the movement of my brush across the paper.

It truly is magic, so let’s talk about how to generate it!

How to get into the Child-Like Mindset

Here are several things that work for me. Try them out and see what happens (:

#1 – Developing your skills.

This is probably the most important stage. You want to have mastery over the basics of the medium. If you can hit that intermediate level, it makes things much easier.

I had this happen a few times when just starting out, but it’s not the same. Having skill and knowing what you’re doing is actually VERY important.

#2 – Embrace freedom.

This involves understanding that you don’t HAVE to do anything. You don’t have to paint things exactly as you see them, or use one technique only.

You can “re-invent” yourself every day.

#3 – Let go of the outcome.

A well-known concept. This dictates that whenever you are able to let go of the outcome, it becomes better.

If you can avoid obsessing over a specific result, or trying to control every step of the way, you can become much looser, and have a lot more fun when creating.

This one and #2 are easier said than done, but that’s life (;

#4 – Paint what you love.

This isn’t a sure-fire way of “triggering” that state of mind, but it can surely help.

#5 – Patience.

And that’s the real key. Building skills take time. This is especially true with watercolor. It has so many “moving parts”, and things you need to do in a certain order, and sometimes FAST.

So have patience and keep working on those skills, and applying the rest of the advice here. With time you’ll see that occasionally you start hitting that mindset / state of mind.

I hope this helps. Now let’s move on to the Artist Corner!

Artist Corner

Today I talked about Ray Balkwill.

I highly highly HIGHLY recommend you check his work out in these APV video:
1. Capturing Coastal Moods
2. Capturing Estuary Moods

Ray is a British watercolor painter that works in mixed media. He has this incredible technique of working with graphite for preparatory sketches.

And then he works with watercolor, chalk and gouache for final paintings. The results are stunning and realistic too.

You can read more about him here: Ray Balkwill

And Here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

And this is it. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I’ll talk to you again real soon!

– Liron

How to Draw Courses & Sales Funnel Update | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 34

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Hi there! In this episode I talk about my sales and marketing funnel, through which I share my online video course on drawing and sketching.

Valuable Information for Artists

I think there’s not enough information out there about marketing and sales for artists. This is one of the white spaces I’m trying to fill up with my work.

As I’m very business oriented, and enjoy recording videos and podcasts, and writing – I try and leverage these skills to share my business insights.

Sales Funnel for Artists

My sales funnel is essentially a website. The goal of the funnel is to lead potential customers through a purchase process.

I sell several products using my funnel.

A funnel is a must. It’s a system that’s meant to automate as much of the sales process as possible.

I want to grow really big and reach and positively impact as many people as I can. One of the best ways of doing that is actually getting many students into my courses. A system like that is a must if you want to be well-organized and achieve some significant level of success.

Can You Sell Art?

It doesn’t really matter what you sell. The most important part is doing the proper research work. You need to know your market and customers really well.

You need to do audience research, competitors research and much more.

The New Course I’m Adding to my Sales Funnel

I’m currently in the last stages of working on a new, third course to include in my funnel. The course will go for 97$, and customers will be charged after a 7-day free trial.

This course is really meaningful, because it’s where I plan on finally getting some profit margins (for example when compared to my first course that goes for 24$).

Want to Learn More About Sales and Marketing?

I’m starting to talk about these topics a little more on my YouTube channel, as part of my Business Monday series.

If it interests you be sure to tune in to that. Here’s a Playlist of all the episodes: Liron’s Business Monday Show.

Let me know here / on YouTube if there are other topics you’d like me to talk about. I want to make this useful and practical.

And this is it for today, I hope you liked this one!

Artist Corner

Today I talked about Shari Blaukopf. She is an amazing artist from Montreal, Canada, and her urban-sketching style has a special place in my heart.

The reason is that this is what got me initially into watercolor painting. I fell in love with urban sketching, and the loose painting style that is so often seen alongside it.

She is an incredible painter and graphic designer. She actually had the opportunity to learn from Edgar Whitney, who is a master of the medium.

Shari also teaches as part of the Urban Sketchers organization.

You can learn more and see her work in her websites:
http://www.blaukopfwatercolours.com/
https://shariblaukopf.com/about/

Here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

And this is it. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I’ll talk to you again real soon!

– Liron

 

Interviews With Other YouTubers and Artists | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 32

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Hi there! In this episode I want to talk to you about my desire to make interview other artists, and build connections in the watercolor community.

Things I KNOW I Should Do

I got this idea after brainstorming. I felt like, at the back of my head, there are many things I know I should be doing, but don’t.

So I made a list and 2 main things popped:

  1. Do LIVE videos!
  2. Interview other artists and collaborate!

So I took the 2nd one to hear, and decided to do just that.

Steve Mitchell / The Mind of Watercolor

I already started applying this change. I recently contacted Steve Mitchell of The Mind of Watercolor channel.

He is an amazing artist and I really appreciate his work. I also learned a lot from his videos. He was the first person I wanted to interview.

Luckily he was so cool and friendly about it and immediately said yes. The interview should be out this Thursday on my YouTube channel, and next Tuesday on the podcast as well (:

Benefits of Interviews of Other Artists

I have all the reasons in the world to do this. First – I think this will create AMAZING content for mine and the interviewee’s audience. I want to ask the less obvious questions. I want to open a window into the PERSON I’m interviewing.

Another huge advantage is building a more personal connection with the watercolor community.

And lastly – this will really help our channels grow, by increasing exposures.

Other Artists I Want to Interview

I’ve been thinking about some of the “purer” watercolor artists on YouTube such as Patrick Ley-Grieves, Nitin Singh and Teoh. I hope to reach out to those soon.

But then the more I thought about it the more I realized it doesn’t matter. I can interview ANY artist I want! The content will still be relevant – especially with visual artists (the medium is of less importance).

This is it! Now onto the Artist Corner

Artist Corner

In this episode I mentioned Richard Bolton, a watercolor painter who lives in New-Zealand and has a name sounding like a Game of Thrones character =P

He is an incredible painter, and an author of several books such as Texture and Detail in Watercolor (affiliate link, you pay the same price and I make a small commission).

I highly recommend you check out his artworks. You can do that on his website: http://www.richardbolton.com/

And Here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

And this is it. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I’ll talk to you again real soon!

– Liron

 

Business Monday – How to Build a Successful Art Business | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 27

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Hi there! In today’s episode I want to present to you my new show – Business Monday. The show will deal with how to build a successful art business.

Business Monday – My New Show

Next week I’m going to start a new show on my YouTube channel.

Business Monday will be a show dedicated to the art business. I will talk to you from my own PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. I want to share my insights regarding how to build a successful art business.

Why I’m Starting This Show

My current content attracts a lot of older audiences, which is great! Sometimes, later in life – people find more time to create art and paint.

However, I’d also like to help younger audiences. I’m talking about young artists that are HUNGRY for success.

I feel like this is something I can share my knowledge about.

How I Got the Idea

I wanted to talk about topics related to art and business for a LONG time now. In fact, I’ve been doing that to some extent for a while now.

I would occasionally talk about topics such as business, marketing and so on. But it was always at the “fringes” of my content. It was something I always did “along” the way.

a few days ago I was talking to a friend about this. Suddenly he told me: “Why not just make a show dedicated to that?”

I immediately felt how on-point he was.

Content Pillars – Building an Art Business

I have many content pillars in my YouTube channel (and on other places such as Instagram). I talk about watercolor, sketching, The Paint Show, and I also have my new series – Painting Masters.

Having these as content pillars, or “headlines”, helped me significantly with brainstorming a multitude of ideas for videos, posts and so on.

But up until this point, I haven’t had an organized content pillar for BUSINESS. And now I do (:

My Intentions with Business Monday

Sharing ONLY What I Know

My only intent with this show is the share my insights. I will not pretend to know everything. I want to talk about the things I am experienced at.

I’ve been working on my art business and personal brand for the past 4 years, and only now feel like I start to reap some of the rewards.

And so, I also feel like I have a lot to teach.

Detailed, Specific Talk

Another thing I intend to do is to go DEEP. I want to show you the exact things I’m talking about. I want to show you my actual sales funnel, my Facebook ads, my autoresponder. Everything!

There’s plenty of general information out there. Frankly, it helps almost nobody. It’s been commoditized.

I want to give you what I did, specifically. That’s the best type of information, in my experience.

Conclusion

So now that you know about this new show, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel, if you still haven’t.

The first episode will be up on Monday, the 7th of May.

As always, feel free to comment and let me know if there are any topics you want me to cover in the show, podcast, or anywhere else!

And now, let’s wrap up with the Artist Corner.

Artist Corner

In this episode I wanted to talk to you about Alexander Votsmush.

Alexander is a watercolor painter. He creates surrealistic works that are simply astounding. He seems to have complete mastery of watercolor, and even realism. I believe he distorts reality as a style choice. I wouldn’t be surprised if he can draw realistically, or even hyper-realistically.

By the way, I read that Votsmush is a nickname, a play on the letters of his original last name – Shumtov.

Check out his Instagram here: @Votsmush

Check out these websites for an awesome view of his works:

LivingDesign – Alexander Votsmush
LinesAndColors – Alexander Votsmush

Here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

And this is it. I hope you enjoyed this episode!

– Liron

Inspiration Sources For Artists | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 25

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In this episode we’ll talk about different inspiration catalysts and sources, and how to hone inspiration using them!

Inspiration Catalysts

I recently meditated on the idea of inspiration catalysts. These are events, places, and “things” that make us feel inspired.

After visiting Italy last week I arrived at several insights regarding these catalysts that awaken the flame of inspiration, and I’d like to present them here.

Novelty, Quirks & Subjects

Novelty – This is anything that’s new / foreign to us. I realized this while I was traveling around the beautiful Florence.

I found myself thinking – why is THIS inspiring to me, and not my hometown? What’s so attractive about this place? And I immediately answered – because it’s new and foreign to me.

Novelty can play an important role in creativity and inspiration. When something’s new to us, we see it in a purer manner. It’s a little like a baby that experiences the world for the first time.

Quirks – It’s funny how this word is the particular one I felt to best represent this idea. Quicks are anything specific you like, visually speaking.

For me, that would be strong contrasts and a multitude of colors (mainly reds, yellows and greens).

For you it’ll be different things.

Subjects – Here I’m referring to specific subjects that interest you. This is something I mentioned in one of the earliest podcast episodes, when we talked about dealing with lack of inspiration.

I mentioned how some subjects can spark inspiration for me. Those are mainly cars and buildings (and architecture in general). I love painting things with well-defined, geometric shapes.

It All Connected In Florence

While preparing for this episode I realized how all three of these connected for me in Florence.

I had novelty (a new place I’ve never visited before). I had the interesting contrasts and light conditions (especially in Florence’s narrow streets, that create interesting light angles). I also had my favorite subject – architecture (and European at that!).

This can probably explain why my sketches from the were so inspired. I felt this especially in the first day visiting. I immediately sat down to sketch, and loved every minute of it. This particular first sketch happens to be my favorite from this trip.

And that’s all I wanted to share today. I hope you enjoyed this! (:

Artist Corner

Today we talked about Nita Engle. Nita is an American watercolor painter. Her work is amazing in my opinion.

She combines realism with atmosphere. She is probably one of the only artists I’ve seen that can do that so well.

She allows the water and paint do what they want, and really exploits it to create realistic effects.

I highly recommend her book: How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself

If you want to see a review I did of this book, you can see it right here.

And I’d also recommend watching this video of hers.

Here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3