Tag: succeed as an artist

Making More Time for Creation – April 2020 Recap | Liron’s Podcast Episode 117

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Hi there! In this episode I’m recapping my April 2020, and talking about taking more time to create “quietly” 😉

Let’s get to it!

Creating Over Sharing

I’m an artist who naturally gravitates towards sharing my art, processes tips and techniques. It’s very easy for me to fall into the “trap” of sharing at the detriment of creation (aka instead of focusing FULLY on the artwork, I’ll take breaks to take pics and share).

In addition, lately I’ve been feeling the potential and the long way I have to grow as an artist, compared to where I’m currently at.

This gap annoyed me and I decided to close it.

All of the above led to me taking more time for pure creation, drawing, painting, practicing etc. – As opposed to sharing.

This meant a slight decrease in posts in many channels.

I’m NOT Going Anywhere Though

Some channels I’m adamant about, and have kept very consistent on:

– YouTube
– IGTV
– Weekly Podcasts
– Weekly emails

And, I believe I will go back to the more regular consistency of content pretty soon, once I feel like I gained what I needed (:

What I’ve Been Creating

Here are some of the skills I’ve been practicing in quiet:

– Watercolor
– Anatomy
– Gesture drawing
– Manga
– Digital drawing &painting
– Storyboarding

Videos I Posted / Am Working On

I recently posted a video I think you’ll love, about 3 unique watercolor painting exercises.

You can check it out here:

In addition, I’ll post a vid on Saturday on DRAWING, showing a quicker VS slower approach.

PencilKings.com – Interview with Mitch Bowler

About a week ago I was interviewed by Mitch Bowler from PencilKings.com (which is an excellent resource for concept and drawing, I highly recommend you check them out). We talked about the artistic career, creative growth and much more.

The episode should be out in a few weeks, and I’ll keep you updated on that one. I had a fun time and Mitch is a great guy!

And this is it for today! If you want to reach out – you know where to find me 😉

Take care, and stay safe!

– Liron

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My Artistic Goals for 2020 | Liron’s Podcast Episode 104

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In this episode I’m sharing with you my artistic goals for 2020!

Here’s a quick list of them (the order is very fluid haha):

  1. Improve the quality of my paintings
  2. Improve my teaching skills
  3. Sell a painting for a PREMIUM price
  4. Innovation
  5. New and BETTER products

The Quality of My Art

I think at the heart of this is my art. This is the basis for everything.

It’s what charges me up with energy and what I enjoy doing the most. If I want to continue providing value for people in the long run, I HAVE TO work on my art.

Then comes the teaching, selling and so on…

A Premium Watercolor Course for FREE

Another thing that’s really been on my mind is creating an amazing product and giving it away for completely free.

Update: I’ve brainstormed several ideas and I think I’ll go with Simplifying in Watercolor.

I want to, once and for all, solve this mystery for people.

I see many struggle with this concept of how to simplify, reduce clutter and paint what matters.

So let me know if you think that’s a good topic.

I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you want to reach out – you know where to find me 😉

I hope to hear from you!

TikTok – @Liron.Yan

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

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

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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.

More on that in a moment…

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

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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

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Instagram – @LironYanIL

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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