The SneakyArt Podcast

At the conclusion of the latest Special Project with paying subscribers, host Nishant Jain looks back at his journey to learn linocut block-printing, and shares five good reasons why everyone should try new things in their creative journey. In the age of virtual reality and artificial intelligences, is there something for the artist to gain from making things by hand? In this episode, Nishant expl...

Author, illustrator, and stand-up comedian, Jessie Kanelos Weiner speaks about immigrating to France, performing stand-up in two languages, and her meandering journey as a creative person. She speaks about pivoting from costume design to find work as an illustrator, making books at the intersection of art and writing, balancing a creative career with parenthood, and her latest book - Thinking in W...

Maria Coryell-Martin is an expeditionary artist and co-founder of Art Toolkit. In this conversation, she speaks about the historical importance and modern relevance of expeditionary art, and how she uses project proposals and deadlines to structure her artist-life. This episode offers inspiring advice and good ideas to practice your art in a way that resonates with your life and physical environme...

Architect, teacher, and author of multiple Urban Sketching books, Stephanie Bower does not like to be called an artist. At some point, this conversation addresses how Imposter Syndrome never really lets go of us. Stephanie illustrates the serendipitous journey of her life, from architect to illustrator and traveling the world with her sketchbooks. From one open door to the next, runs a common thre...

Illustrator, author, and former ad man Tommy Kane talks about his journey from obsessively drawing as a child to obsessively drawing as an adult, the creative business of making ads, and the role of serendipity and persistence in his fascinating career. 🖼️ Check out Tom's work + buy his books on his website: https://www.tommykane.com/ 💻 Add SneakyArt to your inbox: https://sneakyart.substack.com/...

In this episode, host Nishant Jain speaks with Amy Stewart at the Broadway Books in Portland (OR) at the penultimate stop of his book tour. They speak about creative growth, interactions with readers at book events, and Nishant's philosophies around drawing. The conversation is followed by insightful questions from the audience. 📚 Buy the book:  https://geni.us/makesneakyart 💻 Watch this convers...

Standing on stage in front of strangers to talk about your book may sound terrifying - and sometimes it can be! - but what are some good reasons to embrace the discomfort? Halfway through the Sneaky Book Tour, I share lessons from the road, and reflect on what excites me about speaking about my book with as many people as possible. 🗓️ Next stops are in Vancouver, Portland, and Seattle. Come see me...

Artist, writer, educator, architect James Richards talks about his new book - The Travel Artist - the one that he was "born to write". What does it mean to hold to your creative vision even in the face of contrary professional advice? What do we learn, and what must we unlearn, to take a creative project from ideation to execution? What are the ideas we pick up from traveling and observing the wor...

Ottawa-based artist, urban sketcher, and designer Genine Carvalheira shares sketching adventures from drawing penguins in Chile to a 21-day adventure beyond the Arctic Circle in Norway. A few years ago, when her partner offered Genine the chance to preview retirement, she leapt at the opportunity. How did this transform her art and her sketchbook practice? How does she feel about going back to wor...

If the modern world runs on the attention economy, are we simply fuel for its fires? If the modern world runs on the attention economy, can we win by reclaiming our attention spans? In this episode, Nishant recounts his experience at the prestigious Aspen Ideas Festival, where he shared his Big Idea to save the world - a cheap sketchbook and a pen. 📚 Make (Sneaky) Art is now out in bookstores and...

New York-based artist and author Samantha Dion Baker introduces her latest book - Draw your Adventures. What are good ways to think of the word 'adventure'? Does it always need to be an exotic, foreign location? Sam and Nishant discuss ways to craft a personal definition of adventure, free of other people (plus social media) opinions. Then big questions creep in! If all knowledge already exists on...

After a near 2-year hiatus, the SneakyArt Podcast is BACK with fresh ideas, new perspectives, and the same opening music. (Yay!) In this quick update: Why Nishant stopped and three reasons he decided to resume the show How podcasts are a special thing in the wasteland of the dead internet The show remains the same … but also not? Two book recommendations - Ways of Seeing by John Berger, The Story...

New York-based cartoonist and comedian Jason Chatfield talks about how the business of being an artist has changed over the last two decades. This episode is full of essential advice and our best ideas about sustaining an independent creative career. It is the conclusion of the conversation from Ep 67. 💡 Follow the good ideas and my mind-map from this episode. 📚 Buy Jason's book, You're not a Re...

New York-based cartoonist and comedian Jason Chatfield speaks about taking over Australia's iconic daily comic strip, Ginger Meggs , at the tender age of 23, and how he sees the path ahead for syndicated comic strips and the newspaper industry. Other topics include - the evolution of humour over time, not doing political comedy, Derrida, and people-watching at the MoMA. Big stuff. Also, the differ...

London-based educator, artist and author Jeff Schmidt, speaks about his book " Heart Attack - Finding hope, joy and inspiration in adversity ". This conversation is about the big and small things that can transform our life in unexpected ways, and Jeff's resolution to live inspired - by making room for the things that bring joy to his life. 📚 Buy Jeff's book, Heart Attack - Finding hope, joy and...

California-based illustrator Nina Khashchina shares the experience of daily video calls with her parents in Kharkiv, after Ukraine was invaded and the bombs fell everyday. She speaks about recommitting to the Ukrainian language as part of her war effort. A wild book list appears. This is the second of a two-part conversation. 🎙 Listen to the first part, Ep 64 Growing up in Ukraine w Nina Khaschina...

California-based illustrator Nina Khashchina speaks about her childhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, growing up in the former USSR, her lifelong journey with art, and how she documents her life through sketchbooks. . This is the first of a two-part conversation. ☕ Like this episode?  Buy me a coffee . 🔥 Love the show? Become a SneakyArt Insider (grab the summer discount!) 💡 For all the good ideas from...

Cincinatti-based Christina Wald speaks about how to live and thrive as an independent artist and illustrator. They discuss Kickstarter, Patreon, and ways to keep the creative process at the heart of your practice, and the creator in the economy. This episode is the second part of the conversation from Ep 62. ☕ Like this episode?  Buy me a coffee . 🔥 Love the show? Become a SneakyArt Insider . 💡...

Cincinatti-based Christina Wald speaks about how to live as, and making a living from, being an independent artist and illustrator. This is a conversation about how to work for yourself while meeting client expectations. It is about Christina's multiple successful Kickstarter projects, including her latest book (link below). This episode is for anyone eager to chart their own path as an independen...

Utrecht-based sketcher, illustrator and educator Ellen Vesters speaks about the design-thinking approach to life and all the things she does. After practicing as a psychologist, and getting an MA in Illustration, Ellen founded the Venster Academy to teach art and illustration. Nishant also shares the story of how he accidentally became an artist while trying to become a writer after quitting his P...

Host Nishant Jain presents the idea that writing and drawing are literally the same thing. If you can do one, you can also do the other.  This episode was recorded for paid subscribers of SneakyArt. ❤️ Love this show?  Become a SneakyArt Insider to support it! More good ideas: 💻 Read The Role of Art in the Age of AI . 📖 Learn why Nishant self-published his first book of art 🔁 Play Finite v Infi...

Host Nishant Jain takes a look at Goodhart's Law, originally coined to describe monetary policy, but applies it instead to the business of being an artist today. No matter how successful (or unsuccessful) you are at social media, here are some good reasons to  never look at the numbers . "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a useful measure." - Goodhart's Law. ❤️ Love this episode? Be...

Author, artist, and designer George McCalman speaks about making his award-winning book ( Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen ) at the intersection of twin curiosities - to learn more about black history, and to find out if he could be an artist. This is a conversation about curiosity, the importance of following your own compass, and the need for every artist to be a wor...

San Francisco based artist, naturalist and educator John Muir Laws talks about nature-journaling and the many benefits of paying deep attention to our natural environment. (00:13:50) Sketching in the wild (00:43:21) Ways to keep a nature journal. (00:59:23) John's lifelong obsession with field guides and nature conservancy. (01:24:13) They read poems to each other. Aww. (1:34:40) BREAK (1:44:21) H...

The SneakyArt Podcast returns for a new season. Host Nishant Jain speaks about his recent art residency aboard the TransLink, Vancouver's public transit system. What can be learned from drawing on trains? Nishant speaks about pushing outside his comfort zone, engaging with the public, and facing his fears. ✍🏼 Read about his experience and see all the drawings . 📺 Catch his TV segment on CBC Vanc...