Artist Academy

Simple Photography Tricks That Make A Big Difference with Justin Cardoza This week’s episode features photographer/cinematographer Justin Cardoza. This interview was a little different, and not just because I was interviewing a photographer instead of painter, but rather because Justin lives in the same city as I do so we just both sat down in my studio and pressed play. This was the first time we...

Being multi-passionate is amazing!!! Until you’re knee deep in one project and everything is going well and then BAM you get the itch to try something new and exciting because your current route isn’t quite as exciting as when you started it. Now, I don’t want to come off as a know it all on this subject because I’m definitely NOT but I do want to share my personal experience with being multi pass...

This week's episode features art marketing expert, Maria Brophy. This is the first guest that is not an artist herself, but rather someone who is an expert on the marketing and licensing side of art. Maria played a key role in developing her husband's art career, Drew Brophy, into the highly profitable brand it is now. I'm a huge fan of both of the and have listened to her audio book twice because...

Do you live in a city where it seems like people don't really care about the arts? Buying art might be a foreign thing to the people in your area so it's hard to image being able to charge what you deserve. Trust me, I feel you! I grew up in a town with a total population of 370. Yep, that's 370, not 370,000... just 370 total. I currently live in a relatively "big" city if compared to my hometown...

This week’s episode features Arkansas based artist, Tram Colwin. If you take a look at Tram’s Instagram, it’s pretty obvious why anyone would be drawn her to style. Specifically speaking of her 100 butterflies she recently completed in the first 100 days of this year. We did a similar 100 day challenge in the Artist Academy with the purpose of making yourself sit down and just create every single...

This week’s episode features now Missouri artist, John Whytock. Now, before we even started this interview I knew exactly what I was going to title this episode. “Learning from a legend.” When I first started painting for Bass Pro, I knew who John was through the grapevine. I hadn’t met him yet, but his reputation for being one of the top artists in the area proceeded him. It actually took several...

This week’s episode features Oklahoma based artist, Dionne Woods. I’m so excited for you to listen to this episode because Dionne has been such an inspiration to me this past year. We randomly met on Instagram about a year ago and at one point I reached out to her and asked, “hey, is this teaching other artists thing really all it’s cracked up to be?” And after she told me about her amazing member...

This week we are switching it up a bit and I’m showing you a recent FB Live I did inside the Advanced Membership with our very own Jennifer Halterman. Jennifer joined the group when it first opened and she was one of the first members I ever virtually met. She is actually a part time artist, full time life coach, and I was just thinking one day “ya know, I bet she has a lot to offer this group if...

This week’s episode features Arizona based artist Andrew Lee. Andrew reached out not too long ago to talk about all things art and business since he too just started coaching aspiring artists! Yep, someone else is out there paving the way for the upcoming generation of amazing artists so they too can thrive without the hassle and guesswork we all had to go through. I think it’s amazing what Andrew...

Along with “what kind of paint do you use,” this “how do you price your art” question is one of the top questions I get weekly on my Instagram and in the Artist Academy Facebook group. And for good reason. Pricing is difficult! Even for me still somedays. I’d say probably 90% of the projects I get I immediately think “uhhhh what am I going to charge them? What’s fair? Yet, what’s profitable?” I do...

This week’s episode features Branson based artist, Mary Evelyn Tucker. I first met Mary Evelyn about a year ago through Instagram and I wanted to have her on today because in just a year, she has gone from a few commissions here and there to completely booked out. This girl is busy! Not to mention, she sticks within a very specific niche. We talk about how her meeting just one person was the resul...

This episode features UK based artist, Laurence White. Laurence started out in a career in film, mostly behind the camera, but is now stepping out in front of it with his art. You’re going to hear a little background noise in this episode so please excuse that. We recorded this mid-day at 2:00pm UK time, which was 8:00am central Midwest, and Laurence was kind enough to take a break from filming to...

First off, I have to remind you that art is a long-term game. If you can stick with it and be consistent and keep putting yourself out there, the money will come. It may just take a while to really get going and for the money to come rolling in. Okay, now that I stated the obvious, let’s get in to my 5 ways to make money TODAY… For this exercise, I really sat back and thought, “Okay, what if I had...

This episode features California based artist, Casey Lynn Hancock. Casey tells us all about her leap of faith into the art world and how making the jump from part time hobby artist to full time was one of the scariest things she’s ever done. I think almost every artist can relate to that, right? We talk about pricing and how she started out basically underpricing herself to stay busy but quickly f...

This episode features London artist, Louise McNaught. If you are not familiar with Louise’s work I want you to pull up Instagram and type in “Louise McNaught,” so you can see exactly what we are talking about in reference to her work. She does this super unique drip technique where she actually turns the canvas upside down to drip and then right side up to finish the painting. Louise has recently...

This episode features Miami native, David Lavernia. Dave talks about getting his start as an artist and part of that story is why he now tells aspiring artists the importance of slowly wading into the art world, rather than ditching your side job to just jump in head first. Dave also surprised me by talking about his volunteer side projects that included bringing murals into low art budget schools...

This episode features Alaskan artist Susan Watkins. Susan is yet another amazing artist I met on a Bass Pro job site and even though we’ve worked together several times, I never knew her story of how she got started in the art world until this live interview. Susan entertains us with her plein air tips, artist residency experiences, and many wilderness stories living up in Alaska. Let me know what...

This episode features muralist, Melvin Lovejoy, an artist I’ve worked alongside for several years while painting the many Bass Pro Shops all over North America. Melvin served as a sort of mentor to me in these early days when I was just figuring out what to do and how to do it. He really helped push me out of my comfort zone and on to bigger things. He was also a Bob Ross certified instructor whic...

Adam Wolken is my first male artist on the show and he set the bar pretty high. Adam and his brother, Aaron, painted a large part of the famous Wonders of Wildlife Museum which was recently voted America’s BEST aquarium. These guys know what they’re doing with a paint brush and if you don’t know who they are, a quick google search will show you plenty of examples of their highly impressive work. I...

This week we have Lindsey Kooyman interviewing LIVE. I was drawn to Lindsey’s vibrant, psychedelic, trippy, style of painting animals. It’s kind of similar to my own rainbow style animal paintings, which probably explains why I love her art so much, but I think it’s so interesting how two different artists in two completely separate cities are drawn to the same kind of style, yet we both put our o...

This week’s interview was a little different than normal meaning, due to some time constraints, I actually recorded it live inside a turkey blind. Not just that, but Brooke was in the middle of a residency in Vienna, Austria, so being that far away there were a little hickups on the audio side. I could’ve edited the audio imperfections out, but my philosophy is that “done is better than perfect” a...

Prepare to be inspired by this week’s guest, Kassie Voisin. Kassie talks about how her overnight viral video jumpstarted her career as a muralist, and the important tips and tricks she’s picked up since getting that start. Towards the end of our chat, Kassie also gives us the story behind her Canvas for Kids project and I promise it will tug at your heart. But don’t just take my word for it, take...

This week I get to talk to Alyse, aka A Million Tiny Lines, about overcoming obstacles, living life on the edge, and how she turned to art, first just as a way to escape boredom, but how it soon became her full-time career. Hearing her talk about her upcoming artist residencies will inspire you to book the first plane ticket out of here and go exploring. Let me know what you think about this week’...

This week I have Houston muralist, Whitney Hayden, on the show to chat about all things murals. She lets us in on how starting with a couple nursery projects propelled her to be the ultra-busy, and ultra-talented I might add, artist she is today. You’re going to fall in love with her southern accent and charm, so let’s get to it.

The first ever Artist Academy Podcast guest is muralist, Emily Million. Emily and I have completed several projects together in the past 5 years, all over North America, and it all started on a Bass Pro Shops job site. Emily was painting for Bass Pro for about a year before I came on the job and ever since I showed up, we would constantly get confused for each other. We look nothing alike except f...