SKETCHY VAN PODCAST
#61 - Gary Villarreal
Gary is an illustrator, fine artist, and concept artist known on instagram for his graphite sketches.
In this episode we talk about his early successes and failures as an artist, and how they made him the person he is today. We also talk a bit about balancing his career and his personal life.
#60 - Steven Zapata
Steven Zapata is an artist, illustrator, and teacher known for his graphite pencil drawings.
In this episode we talk about the existential consequences of AI art, and why art is important to do.
#59 - Bryan Mark Taylor
Bryan is a fine artist, illustrator, and art teacher known for his plein air and sci fi paintings. He is also the founder of an easel company called STRADA.
In this episode we talk about finding your voice as an artist, the importance of doing your own thing, and the balance between technical skill and doing what you love.
#58 - Sean Ramsey
Sean is an artist and YouTube video editor for Proko. He started getting his degree in History with aspirations of being a history teacher, and then switched degrees before graduating to art because he found it more interesting. From there Sean started working on movies at production studios, and eventually landed working for Stan Prokopenko.
In this episode we talk about his path to finding a creative job, and how he's kept it sustainable.
#57 - Steve Huston
Steve is a fine artist, illustrator, and art instructor known for his dynamic figurative work and his teaching. Steve has taught all over the world at some of the most prestigious schools and studios like Art Center and Disney Animation. He's also been able to make a living as a fine art oil painter, and illustrator.
In this episode we talk about why it's important to learn technical skill as an artist, but to not take it so seriously. We also talk about learning to treat yourself with kindness, and to focus on your own mental health.
#56 - Wade and Gabbie Holm
Gabbie and Wade holm are both hiking guides who live and work in West Glacier, Montana. For their job, they take people on multiple day backpacking trips through the wilderness of Montana. In their day to day, they have to deal with bears, extreme environmental / physical challenges, and the harsh living conditions that come with living in the Wilderness of Montana.
In this episode, we talk about what it's like taking a non-conventional career path, and the importance of nature conservation.
#55 - Jisu
Jisu is an artist, and illustrator known for her pop-art illustrations. I met her at New York Comic Con when I interviewed her for a Proko episode.
In this episode, we talk about the importance of finding your own voice as an artist, and learning to stop letting other influence your work.
#54 - Ben M. Young
Ben Young is a fine artist, illustrator and instructor at the Watts Atelier. He began he career taking classes at the Watts and was invited to teach shortly after. Since then Ben has taught at the school and has been developing his career as a fine artist.
In this episode we talk about how he got his start and how he keeps it fun for himself.
#53 - Kehasuk
Kehasuk is an artist / illustrator known for his fan-art prints that he sells at conventions. How did Kehasuk go from sleeping in his car and sketching strangers to selling his fan-art prints at 60+ conventions a year?
In this episode, the artist / illustrator shares his amazing journey of building an art business from scratch and living his dream of traveling and creating.
#52 - Ryan Pallett
Ryan is a character concept artist known for his 2d graphic figures. He's worked on projects like PUBG and Apex legends designing skins.
In this episode we talk about finding your niche as an artist and how he made doing art professionally financially sustainable.
#51 - Rockentry and Sophiachalks
Rock Entry (Oswaldo Zuniga) and SophiaChalks are rock climbers, influencers, climbing teachers and meme makers. I've been following them as I've taken up rock climbing as a hobby in the past year or so. I've been super inspired by their dedication to content creation and sharing their experiences getting into climbing.
In this episode we talk about their experience moving from their corporate lives to becoming full-time content creators / running online businesses, and how they've been finding it more fulfilling in spite of making less money.
#50 - Obese to Beast (John Glaude)
John is a fitness influencer, artist and streamer known for his weight loss journey. He gained popularity from his Youtube content where he outlined his journey to getting to a healthy weight. John has also appeared on TV shows like Ellen and Dr Phil to share his story and inspire others.
In this episode we talk about what it means to commit fully to something difficult, changing your mindset and allowing yourself to do the things you want to do.
#49 - Kaveh Taherian
Kaveh is an illustrator, comic book artist, podcaster, and movie dude. I met him at Wondercon in Anaheim while wondering around, and we bonded over our mutual love of Marshall Vandruff.
In this episode we talk about his experience making an indie comic from scratch, working in films and what it's like being a professional creative person.
#48 - Alex Sinclair
Alex is a comic book colorist, fine artist, illustrator, and painter. He's worked with some of the legends of comic books like Jim Lee, and has influences a huge number of people through his art.
In this episode we talk about his experiencing pursing art as a career, and how he's managed to keep it sustainable for nearly 30 years.
#47 - Dom Lay
Dom is an illustrator, concept artist, and teacher. I've known Dom since my first classes in art school, and we've seen each other develop over the years.
In this episode we talk about his feelings about success, and the purpose art serves in his life.
#46 - Steve Michael Hampton
Steve is a fine artist, illustrator and art teacher living in Southern California. He is known for his teaching and his book Figure Drawing, Design and Invention.
In this episode we talk about the futility of getting all of your meaning from art, the subjective nature of getting better, and why it's important to diversify your skills.
#45 - Rembert Montald
Rembert is a storyboard artist, animator, illustrator, fine artist and concept artist currently working at Riot games. He is known for his work on various League of Legends / Valorant related properties.
In this episode we talk about his experience becoming an artist, doing things like moving to Croatia for a few years to be able to have the time and resources to dedicate himself to art. We also talk about why he does what he does, and how anyone can do what he did.
#44 - Ryan Benjamin
Ryan is a comic book artist, illustrator, and art teacher. He's has worked in video games, comics, and movies for companies like DC, Marvel, and Blizzard just to name a few. He began his career at Wildstorm comics in the 90's where Jim Lee mentored him to become the artist he is today.
In this episode we talk about how he learned to be creative, how he's been able to make a living at it, the struggle of balancing personal life / work, and how anyone can learn the skills to do it.
#43 - Tayler Olivas
Tayler Olivas is a concert artist, illustrator, instructor, and long time friend based out of Southern California. We met years ago at various figure drawing workshops around SoCal when we were around 19. Since then we've gone on our own artistic paths and have remained friends.
In this episode we talk about the journey we've been on, the value of art, and getting better. We also do smelling salts.
#42 - Geek Climber
Geek Climber is a calisthenics and climbing YouTuber who has gained popularity through completing physical challenges as person of "average" physical health.
In this episode we talk about his experience of building his Youtube channel, what his plans for the future are, why he does it, and where his priorities are.
#41 - Devin Elle Kurtz
Devin is an artist, and illustrator. She began her career as an artist as a teenager and from there has worked for companies like Pixar, Marvel, and Disney just to name a few. She describes herself as the "beta" for what being an artist online was going to be like going viral at a young age. In this episode we talk about dealing with creative burnout, the dangers of social media, and the realities of the hustle culture.
#40 - Flashgitz
Flashgitz is an animation duo who have been making cartoons for the past 15 years. Tom and Don began their careers at the age of 14 on Newgrounds.com where they collaborated making cartoons together. They stuck with it and have made a YouTube channel with 3 Million + subs. In this episode we talk about their reason behind sticking with it for so long, their advice to aspiring creators, and whether or not the pursuit of creating great things is even worth it.
#39 - Makenna Karp
Makenna is an illustrator, and fine artist currently attending the Watts Atelier. She's just beginning her career as an artist, but has taken several risks in order to make that happen. In this episode we talk about following signs from the universe, making your own decisions and how much it would suck to be a ball doctor.
#38 - Jeff Watts
Jeff Watts is a fine artist based in Encinitas, California. He is known by most people who watch this channel as an art teacher and founder of the Watts Atelier. His school has had a profound effect on hundreds of artists I really admire. I attended the school for about 2 years, and there I learned a ton about art, the art spirit, discipline, and hard work.
In this episode we talk about how he started the school in his early 20's, turning down a high paying job concepting for Dreamworks to pursue his dreams, the idea of art mastery, how he finds meaning in his day to to life, and creating structure as a means of improving.
#37 - Patrick J. Jones
Patrick Jones is an illustrator, educator, and fine artist living in Australia. Patrick is known for his beautiful fantasy illustration, and figure drawing skills. He began his career in advertising illustration, and transitioned into full time fine art.
In this episode we talk about the importance of pursuing meaning over money, stepping outside of safe places, the reasons why he paints so much. Patrick also talks about his experience traveling the world, his near death experiences, and living under a bridge (literally) in order to pursue his dreams. I personally am a huge fan of him, and his art and I'm honored to have him on the podcast.
#36 - Stephen Silver
Stephen is an illustrator, character designer, educator, and cool guy. He's worked for big animation studios designing characters like Kim Possible, and Danny Phantom just to name a couple, been a mentor and educator to thousands of students online, and has traveled the world.
In this episode we talk about the shallow nature of pursuing only career success, and how a meaningful life can be had with very simple means.
#35 - Alvin Lee
Alvin is an illustrator, artist, art director, storyteller, educator and game developer. He is known for his work in entertaining working in comics, and video games for companies like Marvel, Riot, DC and Wildstorm to name a few. He's also incredibly nice, and down to earth. I'm a big fan of Alvin, and his artwork.
In this episode we talk about what success as artist means, the importance of taking breaks, and learning to be creative.
#34 - Mike Maxwell
Mike is a fine artist living in Southern California known for his surreal, dreamy style on subjects like human experience, themes of religion, and sex. You probably have seen the image he created for the cover of the Joe Rogan Podcast.
In this episode we talk about what it means to find validation as a professional artist after creating iconic images. We also talk about how the audience for a piece of art does as much for determining the meaning of a piece of art as the artist.
#33 - Trent Kanuiga
Trent is an artist, indie game developer, comic book writer / artist and educator. Trent is known for his work in video games and his Youtube channel where he has taught hundreds of thousands of people about art. I met Trent through Proko, but we became friends because of a mutual friend named Kevin Kanai Griffith. Kevin and I met when I was 16 years old or so, and encouraged me to get into art. Sadly, he passed away shortly after meeting him but his love for art and community had a big influence on me. Trent’s work has had a big effect on me, especially his work on World of Warcraft. Most of you have probably seen his work in some fashion throughout the art community.
In this episode we talk about Trent's experience being a professional artist, our opinions on god, and how he maintains his love for art.
#32 - Su Lee
Su is a South Korean musician, and artist. She is known for her music about confronting loneliness, depression, anxiety and mental health. I discovered her music on Reddit when her song "I'll Just Dance" made it to the front page. Since then, I've been following her musical journey. I was a little bit nervous about this one, thanks again Su for being cool and taking the time.
In this episode I pick her brain about how she feels about her online success, and how she uses her music to express her self.
#31 - Ren and Dario
Ren is an artist, illustrator and educator from California. Dario is an Italian cyclist that was visiting me through a website called Warmshowers. Dario set aside several months to wonder around California by bike, and he met us on his way from San Fransisco to Baja California. I met Dario the day I planned to record with Ren, so we invited him to join.
In this episode we talk about the importance of adventures, travel and getting out of your comfort zone.
#30 - Tiffanie Mang
Tiffanie is a fine artist, illustrator, and educator living in Southern California. She's known for her work as a fine artist, and for her work on the film Loving Vincent.
In this episode we talk about her experience becoming an artist and how we both define the idea of success.
#29 - Stan Prokopenko
Stan is a fine artist, art instructor and entrepreneur living in San Diego. He is known for his Youtube channel, Proko, where he has taught academic art to millions of people. Stan has been a been one of my mentors for the past few years and one of my biggest inspirations for creating a Youtube channel and for being a creative person.
In this episode we talk about facing fears, how to build a Youtube channel, dealing with success, and staying consistent.
#28 - Alex Astella
Alex is a documentary film maker living in Nashville Tennessee. Some of his works include Trial By Fire, Sound of Serenity, Underdogs, and From the Wilderness. Alex's documentaries focus on the human side of people incarcerated. Trial by Fire follows inmate fire fighters who dedicate their lives to their work in spite of being incarcerated.
In this episode we talk about the realities of being an inmate, and what he's learned by making his films.
#27 - Ahmed Aldoori and Sinix
Ahmed Aldoori and Sinix are artists and art educators. They’re also really cool dudes.
In this episode we talk about the purpose of art in our lives, and going on adventures. We had some unexpected guests join us as well. They're a married couple who spent 10 years hitch hiking around Africa.
#26 - Erik Gist
Erik is an illustrator, and educator living in San Diego. I met Erik while I was attending the Watts Atelier in Encinitas. He's known for his work as an illustrator on Magic the Gathering, Hearthstone, TOR, Marvel, DC and many more. I first learned about his work at LACMA when he was featured in Guillermo del Toro's personal art collection. Erik has been one of my primary mentors, and has been an inspiration for several years.
In this episode we talk about his perseverance trying to be an artist, and what it takes to do something truly great.
#25 - Zac Retz
Zac is an artist, and educator living in LA. He's known for his work on movies like Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Invincible.
In this episode we talk about why it's important to have big goals, and why exercising is important.
#24 - Morgan Weistling
Morgan is a fine art Western painter living in Southern California.
In this episode we talk about why it's important to trust yourself, dealing with failure, god, the pursuit of money, and how much he wants to redesign my van.
#23 - Bradwynn Jones
Bradwynn is a fine artist, and instructor from Southern California.
In this episode we talk about his time working as a pharmacist while building his YouTube channel on the side. We go through the struggles of imposter syndrome, and how to get through them.
#22 - Marshall Vandruff
Marshall is an educator, and artist in in Southern California. He has had a hand in teaching many of my favorite artists and has had a profound effect on my own education.
In this episode we talk about why it's important to pursue your best work.
#21 - TJ Geisen
Tj is an artist, designer, developer, and cool guy working at Riot games.
In this episode we talk about his journey going from making tacos in Pheonix, to working in games as an artist.
#20 - Josh Sunga
Josh is a designer, educator and artist.
In this episode we talk about our thoughts on getting good at art, and how god relates to them.
#19 - Jose Vega
Jose is an artist and educator known for his work on the Netflix adaption of Castlevania, and most recently as a visual development artist on Magic the Gathering.
In this episode we talk about why it's important to work as hard as you possibly can on something, and how to find meaning in your creativity.
#18 - Sinix
Sinus is an artist, designer and educator living in Southern California.
In this episode we talk about where he finds meaning from art, and whether or not evil exists.
#17 - Katie Silva and Patrick Stannard
Katie and Patrick both work at Powerhouse Studios in Austin Texas. Katie is the lead character design supervisor on Castlevania, and Patrick is the co-director of the He-Man: Masters of the Universe.
In this episode we talk about their experience working as artists and whether or not cheesecake is a pie or a cake.
#16 - Marco Bucci
Marco Bucci is a fine artist, educator, and illustrator living in Toronto Canada.
In this episode we talk about pursuing difficult creative endeavors and what it takes to remain consistent.
#15 - Tad Retz
Tad is a fine art painter living in upstate New York.
In this episode we talk about how he started his career sleeping on an air mattress in his brother's apartment to being able to support himself selling his paintings.
#14 - FESBRA
FESBRA (Felipe Evergreen) is an artist and illustrator from South America.
In this episode we talk about what it means to pursue art as a career, and moving forward in spite of the struggle.
#13 - James Douglas
James is an illustrator, animator, musician, educator, and concept artist.
In this episode we talk about managing stress, expressing yourself, and why you should probably be in therapy.
#12 - Esben Lash Rasmussen
Esben is an illustrator and concept artist living in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is known for his work on League of Legends as a splash artist.
In this episode we talk about being true to yourself and our own experiences with anxiety. We also talk about what it’s like achieving a life long dream, and moving on from it to pursue what is most meaningful to you.
#11 - SLEW
SLEW (Sam) is a fine artist and content creator living in Brooklyn, New York.
In this episode we talk about how he started his Youtube channel, and the importance of not waiting to do scary things.
#10 - Steven Zapata
Steven Zapata is an artist and educator living in New York City.
This one gets a little weird, we talk about the meaning to life and how we both know what the answer is.
Disclaimer: The audio is comically bad, we recorded on the side of a busy New York street during rush hour. If it is so bad it makes the entire thing unlistento-able, please let me know and I'll refrain from doing that in the future.
#9 - Christina Cornett
Christina is an illustrator, and concept artist working at ZeniMax studios.
In this episode we talk about her journey going from student to working full time as an artist in a studio. We also talk about achieving larger goals, and why it's important.
#8 - Ahmed Aldoori
Ahmed is an illustrator, concept artist, and educator living in Ohio. He’s a good friend, and inspiration to me. I’m really happy with how this one turned out.
In this episode we talk about his path to where he is now, and our thoughts on anxiety, art and dealing with it.
#7 - Tyler Murphy
Tyler is a fine artist and gallery owner in Billings Montana.
In this episode we talk about what it's like starting a business with your friend and our thoughts on pursuing meaningful endeavors.
#6 - Lucas Kremer
Lucas Kremer is a fine artist and illustrator living in Minnesota. He’s also a close friend and fellow student of the Watts Atelier.
In this episode we talk about training to be an artist and how to stay on the path. We also talk about our time in art school, how it helped and what we wish was different.
#5 - Ken Yarus
Ken Yarus is a fine art painter living near West Glacier Montana.
In this episode we talk about how he finds meaning in painting and how he became to be a land scape painter.
#4 - Albin Veselka
Albin is a fine art painter living in Idaho. Over his career he has distinguished himself with awards and accolades from galleries and committees all over the country.
In this episode, we talk about how he finds meaning in painting.
#3 - Bryan Mark Taylor
Bryan is a fine art painter, illustrator, and entrepreneur living in Utah. He is primary founder of Strada Easels, and co-founder of VisionX Live and Sentient Academy.
I’m a huge fan of his paintings, and his entrepreneurial spirit.
In this episode we talk about his journey as an artist, and why art is important.
#2 - Keith Huang
Keith is co-founder of Sentient Academy and VisionX live. I met Keith in 2019 at Lightbox Expo where we quickly bonded over how much he disliked corporate jobs.
In this conversation we talk a bit about his previous life in corporate America and how he managed to find the courage to leave it.
#1 - Scott Flanders
Scott is a concept artist, illustrator, educator, and wild man.
We met at an illustration workshop at the Watts Atelier and quickly became good friends. Scott has been a champion for my ideas, and this podcast. In this episode we chat about doing scary things and dealing with failure.
