I've been an avid podcast listener for the last 10 years. I discovered podcasts around 2008 when I was working on my Missile Mouse graphic novel. Much of the work was tedious, often grueling.
I had a day job for an animation studio and then at nights and weekends I'd come home and work until about 1AM, alone, in the basement. I calculated that I spent about 12-14 hours per page. At 170+ pages you can start to see how much time this book took.
After the excitement of working on a graphic novel wore off (which was like 20 pages into it), one of the biggest battles was overcoming fatigue and giving myself an instant gratifying reason to sit in a cold dark leaky basement and ink a page.
What got me down there was podcasts. I knew that an exciting/interesting/engaging story was waiting for me if I sat down and got to work.
My first few podcasts that I listened to religiously were Hard Core History, Radio Lab, and Stuff You Should Know.
These podcasts saved me!
Over the years more and more podcasts became available and they niched down to pretty specific topics like comics and children's books. Pretty soon I found myself being invited to come on podcasts and talk about my work as an artist.
(Here's a few I've been on: Bancroft Brothers, All the Wonders, Art Side of Life, Your Creative Push, Dan Blank.)
But in all those years listening and participating with podcasts, what I never thought I'd do was start my own podcast.
You see, in my mind podcasts were something that (and this is going to sound stupid)...they were something that podcasters did. Somebody who has a great voice, an ability to talk interestingly about a topic, and they had the time and resources to record, edit, and publish online.
I am an illustrator. Illustrators illustrate. They don't podcast. (see, stupid. Right?)
Then this last year I was looking for podcasts specifically about illustration and all I could find were just a small handful, many of which had ended. (Bobby Chiu actually has a pretty good one, which you should listen to if you don't already).
That got the gears in my noggin rolling. I had an idea for a podcast where you get 3 illustrators (with different backgrounds and approaches to their art and careers) and you have them all discuss a single topic each episode.
Then I realized that if this was going to happen I'd have to start the podcast myself. Sometimes if you want to see a thing happen YOU have to be the one to do it.
And here I am, doing something I never thought I'd do, PODCASTING.
I'm really pumped for this new podcast. It's called:
3 Point Perspective: The Illustration Podcast
This is THE podcast about illustration: how to do it, how to make a living at it, and how to make an impact in the world with your art.
Each episode me and my two cohosts (Will terry and Lee White) tackle a subject related to illustration from 3 perspectives. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we argue, but everytime you learn something new.
All three of us are professional illustrators and for the last 25 years have worked with every major publisher and publication in the biz. We’ve published over 50 books, and have all taught illustration at different universities.
You can subscribe to it on iTunes, Google Play, or listen on the website. (Spotify coming soon)
We've already got 7 episodes in the can. The First episode dropped Monday. It's called: My Art Is Great! Why Won't Anyone Hire Me?
That episode is well stocked with actionable advice on how to get your work seen by the right people and get hired. Other episodes get into all the other nitty gritty stuff about being a professional illustrator.
I think you'll like it. Please subscribe so that you don't miss our episodes!
My hope with this podcast is to:
a) give someone a reason to get down into their leaky basement and work on that project that seems too big to ever finish.
b) give actionable advice that could point someone in the right direction with their career in illustration.
You can use the image above so that if you wanted to share it online you'd have a picture to go with you post. I'd love it if you told at least one other artist in your life about this.
All right, thanks for reading all of this. I need to get back to work on this book cover I'm finishing up.
- Jake
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