Work In Progress with Clara Lieu

Bestowing The Brush

Need some serious encouragement today? Listen to this conversation I had with with Clara Lieu. She is the founder of Art Prof, which is a free online resource for learning visual arts! She was an adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she taught in the departments of Foundation Studies, Printmaking, Painting, and Illustration. She’s done many other things in the “art world,” but now she and her team create a huge online library of instructional materials for anyone who wants to learn how to draw, paint, illustrate, sculpt, and more!

We touch on some really helpful points, like:

• Being intellectually diverse
• Giving yourself “little sandboxes” to play in
• Scoffers and snobs
• Being willing to learn, over and over again
• You don’t have to have it all figured out
• The importance of getting good feedback early in your process
• Failure is critical–bad drawings are REQUIRED
• “Imposter Syndrome” and other unhelpful mindsets

Clara’s thoughts on these matters are so heartening. You’ll keep coming back to this episode when you are feeling down about your art practice or skills.

Art Prof’s Curricula & Resources

Artists mentioned:

Stephen Hillenburg - Spongebob illustrator

Robert Lang - Turned from science to origami

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Episode intro/outro music: Dansu- All You Got, MusicBed