Creative Pep Talk
059 - Make Them Care
(upbeat music) Hey y'all, just a quick heads up. The episode you're about to listen to is eight to 10 years old. Now, these episodes were intended to be evergreen, and I still believe there's a lot of good information in these early episodes, but I do wanna let you know that some of my ideas have evolved over time. Times have changed since we made these episodes, and ultimately, I'd like to think I've grown a lot as an artist and a human, and that these don't necessarily represent my best work or the best of the podcast. If you're new around here, I suggest starting with the most recent episode, or at least go back to around 300 and move forward from there. Enjoy the episode. Hey everybody, it's the Creative Pep Talk podcast. With me, commercial artist Andy J Miller, this is part two of Make Them Care. This episode is talking about learning to take your inspirations and the things you're excited about and translate them with your art and get other people to be excited about 'em. Not just like taking a quick snapshot and throwing it up there on Instagram, but how do you translate it so that other people can see what you're seeing and get excited about what you're excited about? And so that's what this episode's about. We're gonna jump right in. It kind of picks up right where we left off from last episode. If you haven't heard that one, go check that one out. Thank you guys for everything. You can check this out on illustrationage.com/creativepeptalk or on soundcloud.com/creativepeptalk or on iTunes. Thanks for your support, enjoy the show. (upbeat music) Find the things that you're inspired by. But also bear in mind that there's an audience with their own thoughts and feelings that they're bringing to the table in respecting that so that you can gain attention for what you're saying. So number one is just plain and simple, which is just include your audience. You know, recently I kept drawing this little skull that I was like super enamored with, loved it. I couldn't, you know, I couldn't get over it. It was like just a part square, part circle, very simple. And I was just totally obsessed with this and I thought, man, I would love to have a t-shirt with a skull on it. But it just, my experience said that if I just make a skull t-shirt, it's gonna sell maybe five or six t-shirts. And, you know, I wanted a bigger response than that. And so I took that thing that was inspiring me and exciting me. And I thought, okay, I can either sell a t-shirt to this outdoor company in the UK called Howies, or I can do a cotton bureau. When I did that, I thought, okay, for Howies, I could turn it into a bike t-shirt and I could, you know, do like a ride or die thing or something where I'm tapping into the cycling market and I'm getting to do my thing. And if I'm gonna do it on cotton bureau, I thought, who's the audience on cotton bureau? Most of them are designers. And so I thought, all right, I'm a designer and illustrator, freelance guy. I know something about those struggles. What kind of thing can I incorporate this cool skull that I'm into? What can I incorporate into a t-shirt design for that crowd? And so I came up with something about chasing late outstanding invoices. And so I'm probably gonna make that into a t-shirt, but it was a way of like taking that thing that was inspiring me and not just taking a screenshot of it, not just taking a pic of the cloud and being like, isn't that cloud amazing? But figuring out how do I transfer this interest, this passion, this thought, and this feeling into something that this audience is gonna care about? I actually think that we're in this heightened time of this and I don't know if it's because things have changed or just because we have more feedback. But I think, you know, 10 or 20 years ago, people were a lot more happy to look at people on stage and worship these heroes, these musicians, these artists, these comedians. We were happy to look at those people and think, oh, aren't they amazing? I'll never be that awesome. And I think that now things have shifted and we're not happy with that anymore. We're not happy with that level of involvement. We wanna be more involved. And I think you see this everywhere. I think a great way you see it is on late night TV. You know, it used to be Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, these cocky guys who are really witty and funny and all this good stuff. Coming out with these great jokes and everybody's excited and talking about them. And I think if you look at now, you've got these people like Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, who so much of their act is audience participation. You know, Jimmy Fallon will put out these hashtags and he'll find these funny things from people on Twitter. And you look at Jimmy Kimmel and a lot of his stuff is like YouTube videos, he will prompt something, but the content will actually be user-generated. And so I think we're in a time especially where the audience is refusing to take a passive role. And I think why should they? I think it's actually, it's pretty fantastic that we're in a time where people aren't gonna just sit back and say, let those who are much better than me get all the fame and glory. And I think as an artist, it's very inclusive and respectful to include your audience and various audiences in your work. I'm a believer in the idea of dressing for the job you want, not the job you have. And I have applied this to my creative practice too, which means if you want professional results, you need to present online like a pro. And that means going beyond social media and having a professional website that reflects your style and looks legit. I rebuilt my site this year with Squarespace's Fluid Engine and was so happy with how easily I could build my vision without coding that when they approached me to support the show, I jumped at the chance because I love and use this product. So go check it out, squarespace.com/peptalk to test it out for yourself. And when you're ready to launch your site, use promo code PEPTALK, all one word, all caps for 10% off your first purchase. Thanks goes out to Squarespace for supporting the show and supporting creators all over the world. Hey, in case you don't know, we have a monthly live virtual meetup every last Monday of the month with supporters of the show from Patreon and Substack. We have so much fun on these calls and they are the warmest, most encouraging creatives that I have ever met. And we also talk real creative practice stuff. We have authors, illustrators, lettering artists, picture bookmakers, fine artists, musicians, and folks that work in video and film as well. And we have people that are just starting out, people super established in their creative careers and everything in between. For the rest of this year, we're gonna chat through our new "Journey of the True" fan series, exploring questions and ways to apply these ideas to your own creative practice so that you can leave 2024 stronger than you came in with more visibility, connection with your audience and sales. Sign up to whichever suits you best at either patreon.com/creativepeptalk or antijpizza.substack.com. And I hope to see you at this month's meetup. (upbeat music) And so, I think just the first thing that you can do is just be intentional about including your audience. The second thing that I think is really important is help me is don't vomit translate. So take your, take your inspiration, the thing that's getting you excited, the thing that you care about most and take that thing and don't just, again, don't just take a snapshot and throw it up on Instagram and just totally vomit, I like that thing, I put it down on the paper, you should like that thing. Don't just vomit the inspiration out, translate it. And so, I think back to when I was in middle school, if I came and I said, I have this amazing dream, it was this, this, and this, isn't that amazing? And they're like, no, it's not amazing, it's not even interesting. I think in that same way, it's like, of course, it's not interesting because what was amazing about it for me was getting to experience at first hand. And so, that's just me vomiting my experience, just regurgitating. You know, you're just regurgitating that feeling of seeing that giant cloud in the sky, but they weren't there unless they're there, they don't care, right? And so, just reiterating my dream is a very, very different thing than drawing my dream, you know, letting them experience at first hand. And then let's take it a step further, what if I recreate the dream in an art gallery, and now it's an immersive experience, and now they're getting to experience what I've experienced, and all of a sudden, instead of just talking, we're communicating, and we're transferring these thoughts and these feelings. You know, one of the ways that you can learn to translate, instead of just vomiting, is working on your craft, you know, working on your storytelling, like learning this story or this inspiration, whatever this thing is that's exciting me, how do I take that thing, and how do I, or what platform would this story be best told? So maybe that little skull thing that I got excited about, maybe it doesn't translate perfectly to a t-shirt, but actually, it would make a better kids book, which it wouldn't, that's a terrible idea to make a kids book about a skull, I don't know, but maybe that's not the best way, maybe that's not the best way to transfer this thought, this inspiration, and this feeling. So, one of the things you can do is, you know, I have this obsession with dreams. In my latest experiment, I haven't finished it, I don't know if it's gonna work out, but I did a dream journal a few years ago, and you know what, that kinda worked a little bit, but it was still kind of just like vomiting, it was kind of just like regurgitating this excitement, it wasn't really immersive. And so now, I'm trying to write a kids book, I'm trying to learn a new craft to translate, you know, into language that people are already interested in. Like, there's already an audience of people that like kids books, that like kids stories, and if I can learn the craft of telling those stories, all of a sudden I can transfer this excitement through a field that actually gets other people excited. And so I think that's one of the ways that you can really make people care. Another way you can make people care is sheer wow factor. You know, I think, I heard this great quote, I don't know where it comes from, my friend Andrew and I are told me it, and he said, I think he said one of his teachers said, "If you can't make something good, make it big. "If you can't paint, paint something big, "because just the wow factor of scale "will get people's attention." And so I think one of the ways you can take this and do something, you know, if dreams really, really excite you, do some crazy piece that takes you thousands of hours. And just by sheer wow factor, you can gain their interest. Do something that, you know, one of the definitions of delighting people is taking more time and energy and care in something that's inconsequential. So putting all kinds of passion and interest behind little tiny details that other people wouldn't be willing to focus on, all of a sudden you're delighting someone 'cause they're like, oh, I never would have thought to take so much time and energy on this little thing. And they're gonna look at it in a different light that they haven't seen it before. And so another way is just like baking in wow factor by if that thing moves you, push into it like crazy in ways other people wouldn't be willing to. And for me it shows up like, you know, jogging. Jogging is not interesting, right? Like tons of people jog, nobody's really bothered. Nobody's that interested in it. But if you jog for long enough, if you put that extra mile into it, kind of that was kind of like a pun, I didn't mean it to be. But if you put that extra mile into it, right? All of a sudden you get all kinds of people caring that never would've cared before. And I think of Forrest Gump as the example. Nobody cares if you go out for a little jog. But if you jog to the other side of the country, all of a sudden everybody's like, why are you doing this? What's the purpose? Are you doing it for to fight AIDS? Or are you doing this? You know, whatever. If you go the extra mile for this passion and you put the wow factor into it, all of a sudden you're gonna start getting people's attention. And you're not gonna be just talking. You're gonna be translating and communicating. The last one is about your vision for what you're making. I recently revisited this fantastic talk called The Shape of Design by Frank Chimero. I think you can say his name a lot of different ways. So if I'm wrong, go ahead and check it out and prove me wrong, but he did this fantastic talk. It's on Vimeo, it's called The Shape of Design. And one of the things he talks about is with design and illustration, you can actually warrant a physical response from someone. You can make someone actually cry. You can make someone actually laugh. And I'm a big believer in this idea that you should shoot for the stars. And if you don't make it, at least you land in the clouds. Whereas if you shoot for a puddle and make it, you're still in a puddle, right? So I think shooting for a specific response, a vision, like when I make this illustration, when people see it, I want them to burst out with laughter. Even if you don't get there, even if you just get a smile, that physical response connects people to your work and you're now transferring your thoughts and feelings to them. Oh, the holidays are here. You've got to find a unique gift for Uncle Derek and your sister Catherine, and her kids, Jetson, and Jeddon, Jerfry, and Jagab, and another two Jay kids. There's so much thinking, so much searching. Plus there's the ethical thing, you've got to shop small, just, it's a lot. But it doesn't have to be. Uncommon goods makes all of this simple and straightforward, for real. The site is chock full of unique and interesting gifts that also support small businesses. My fam loves advent calendars. I think Sophie would like the Stitch-a-Day advent calendar and 12 days of hot sauce is definitely shouting my name. Sorry, that wasn't me. That was the 12 days of hot sauce calendar shouting. Seriously, we had tons of fun browsing the site for ourselves and kids and family to get 15% off your next gift. Go to uncommongoods.com/peptalk. That's uncommongoods.com/peptalk for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer, uncommon goods. We're all out of the ordinary. Have you ever had a vague idea of what you wanted to say in a presentation and you decided to improv it? I've done that in the past and it's, I've gone down in complete flames terribly. I was like, I kinda have an idea of what I wanna say when you get up there and you ramble and say all kinds of different things that mean nothing. I think that that's kinda like when you make a piece of work but you don't have a specific vision for how you want people to respond. It can often just be this vague response. I mean, in that face of uncertainty in people looking at your work, people can be underwhelmed and you're not going to grab their attention. I think it's the difference between being a pro and being an amateur, being a one hit wonder, being able to consistently warrant physical, emotional, visceral responses from your work is a game changer. And so I think thinking before you make, what do I want people to feel or think when they interact with this piece of work and then purposefully, strategically, going into that and planning for that and trying to make that happen? And so that's pretty much all I've got today. You know, I think the difference between success and failure in these terms is make or break in your career. And if we go back to people like Joanna Newsom and this one of my favorite artists who has had grown more in self-indulgent in their work over time. And again, I'm not using self-indulgent as a disc because I think their work is better than it's ever been. I just think it's also more challenging than it's ever been. And I think that if Joanna Newsom put out the record that she just put out, if that was her first record, I think she'd have a really hard time gaining people's attention because it lacks, there's no chorus on any of these songs, right? And that's extremely challenging for music listeners. But early on, her earlier work, her first CD had, you know, they were three minute songs, classical pop structure. And I think that my point is this, unless you've got a giant wad of cash in the bank, you need to be thinking about your audience. In this show, we always talk about thriving financially as an artist, but also being creatively fulfilled. And I think the best way to do that is to take some from the Venn diagram, the some from the side of you and some from the side of the audience and finding that place where you overlap and that's your sweet spot. Not chasing trends, not just chasing the audience, but also not just getting, not just getting totally over obsessed with your own little interests and not bothering to translate it for anybody else. You know what I mean? I think if you fail to do so, especially when you're starting out, you're gonna, your art is gonna fall flat and you're not gonna gain any attention, you're not gonna gain any traction. But if you're successful and when people interact with your work, they laugh or they smile or they cry because you've transferred those feelings, people are gonna share it, people are gonna be interested, they're gonna tell other people about it and that's how you end up getting the good work. And so my call to action for you is to start thinking deeply about what things excite you, what things get you, when start noticing, being observant about when something strikes you and makes you have a physical response. And then think about how can I bring that to another audience? How can I bring that into the world and not just say, hey, I saw this cool thing, but how do you give them the same experience that you had? And I think if you can do that, that's when things really start to get interesting. And if you can do that systematically, that's when you become a real pro. And so that's all I've got today. This was a weird experiment doing the Periscope thing. I don't know if I'll do it again, it was fun. And I might try it out from time to time, but I hope generally that you got something out of it. I hope you loved it. I wanna thank you guys so much for all your support, for the podcast, all of your interest, your reviews. Yeah, it is a little distracting to do the Periscope thing with your little comments, but it was kind of fun. So I might do a balance. I might do some Periscopes and some podcasts and maybe some overlap, but we'll see. Thank you guys for listening and participating. Thanks for the reviews on iTunes. They really do mean a lot to me and they help other people find the show. Thank you guys for sharing it on social media. Thank you, just thank you. I love doing this. I love having a place to share the thoughts and feelings that I'm having about my work and about being a creative person. Thank you, Illustration Age, for being great syndicates, for sharing the podcast to thousands of people. You can find the podcast on illustrationage.com/creativepeptalk. Thanks guys, and until next week, stay Pepto. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) Hey y'all, one more quick thing. Earlier this year, I rebuilt my website using Squarespace's new fluid engine and I was so pumped about how it turned out that I have been really thrilled to find as many ways to partner with them and tell you about what they can do and bring you discounts as possible. With social media going haywire, I think having a site that feels as unique as your creative work is essential to building trust with your target audience or your clients. I have had several clients point out how cohesive and fresh my site looks lately and if you wanna check that out and what I was able to do without any code, check out AndyJPizza.com. If you wanna test it out, go to squarespace.com/peptalk to test it out yourself and when you're ready to launch use promo code PEPTALK for 10% off your first purchase. Thanks Squarespace for supporting the show and for supporting creative people. - I'm Whit Msildine, the creator of This Is Actually Happening, a podcast from Wondery that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future family with one choice, to a woman that barely survived her roommate, we dive into what happened and hear their intimate first-person account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Follow This Is Actually Happening on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts or listen ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app.