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You are dedicated to your craft. You have spent countless hours honing your skills. You have a boundless curiosity for the underlying theories and structure of communicating ideas. You are the artist who finds the connections between your medium and other communications media. You are the artist who relishes in a setback; after all, it's a new opportunity to learn and grow. Inspiration is more than a haphazard mode of thought requiring constant nurturing: it is your natural state of mind.

Lean Into Art is where you go when you're ready to push yourself as an artist in new ways. As a place to learn communication arts online it combines an art-journaling approach, the best of live and time-shifted classes, and a recognition system that encourages students to finish projects, give feedback, even participate in teaching.

It's a big art challenge - that's why we put the enticing warning in the name. You have to lean into it.

Entries by Lean Into Art (157)

Friday
Sep272013

LIA Cast 86 - Character Writing is UI/UX Design?

DateFriday, September 27, 2013 at 10:52AM

Download the mp3 here!

Writing dialogue that readers can "hear" is a highly valued skill. But it's a challenge to define a character's history and backstory to the point where you fully understand them. And when does research become too much research?

How might our thinking change when we approach writing character dialogue from the standpoint of a UI/UX designer?

This episode we discuss the empathy and investigative techniques used by UI/UX designers might give us some new insights and approaches to writing our characters.

We also unlock two new Quest cards! Check out Jerzy's Insta-Cast, a series of tiny art challenges that, once completed, will set you off to creating your own cast of characters. Deadline to have your quests discussed on the show is October 8, 2013!


Links mentioned in this episode:

Connect with Jerzy and Rob

LIA Cast 86 - Character Writing is UI/UX Design?

AuthorLean Into Art | CommentPost a Comment |
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Friday
Sep132013

LIA Cast 85 - Where the Heck are All of My Art Files?

DateFriday, September 13, 2013 at 12:10PM

Download the mp3 here!

So you set up a clever file structure to keep all of your art files. The digital pencils, inks, colors and lettering are all neatly kept in a folder architecture with a foolproof naming convention on your hard drive.

And then 6 months later you discover an egregious error on an earlier page that needs a quick fix. You search your system, but you can't remember the file name or where you put it. What now?

We're joined by Anne Drozd, cartoonist and Mellon Collection Assistant at the Univeristy of Michigan Museum of Art, for a discussion on easy-to-implement techniques on managing your digital art files.

We also announce a new Quest! Check out Jerzy's Insta-Cast, a series of tiny art challenges that, once completed, will set you off to creating your own cast of characters. Deadline to have your quests discussed on the show is October 8, 2013!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Connect with Jerzy and Rob

LIA Cast 85 - Where the Heck are All of My Art Files?

AuthorLean Into Art | CommentPost a Comment |
in ,
Friday
Aug302013

LIA Cast 84 - Getting a Reaction and Showcasing Yourself with Ryan Estrada

DateFriday, August 30, 2013 at 2:05PM

Download the mp3 here!

Does it matter how often you post your content, or does it matter more what you post? How do you engage readers so that they'll share your thing, and so their friends will share your thing? We're joined once again by Ryan Estrada for a discussion on the art of creating compelling content.

Links mentioned in this episode:

We also review this month's quests! LIA Quest 8 - A Full Deck of Cards!

John Bleau's Quests: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 

Ashley Knapp's Quests: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 

Doudrious Maximus' Quests: 1 | 2 | 3 

Connect with Jerzy and Rob

LIA Cast 84 - Getting a Reaction and Showcasing Yourself with Ryan Estrada

AuthorLean Into Art | CommentPost a Comment |
in ,
Tuesday
Aug202013

LIA Cast 83 - Playing with Your Work

DateTuesday, August 20, 2013 at 11:30AM

Download the mp3 here!

If it's fun, it's not work. Is that so? Does a grueling experience prove the work's value? On the other hand, should it always be fun? And what's the difference between fun work and play? We're joined by Kate Shields Stenzinger, Play Therapist and LIA Instructor, for a discussion on the role of play. By looking at why we play and implementing strategies to create more playful experiences with our work, we might unlock more creativity both in the drawings we do for work and those we do for fun.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Don't forget about our latest Quest! LIA Quest 8 - A Full Deck of Cards! Deadline to have your quest discussed on the next LIA Cast is August 28, 2013!

Connect with Jerzy and Rob

LIA Cast 83 - Playing with Your Work

AuthorLean Into Art | CommentPost a Comment |
Friday
Aug022013

LIA Cast 82 - Where Do You Blog?

DateFriday, August 2, 2013 at 12:53PM

Download the mp3 here!

In episode 75 we deconstructed the question of whether one should blog during their creative project's development. This time we're operate under the assumption that you do wish to blog and share content, which leads to another question: Where do you put this stuff?

Blogging has changed a lot over the past 5 years. It used to be common wisdom to host your own blog and post links on social media. Blogs were for content, social media were for news about the content. But with more and more social media sites encouraging users to post richer content to their streams, the line has been blurred. Many creators are conducting their presence and content entirely on social media sites like Tumblr, Facebook Fan Pages, and Google+.

Mike Elgan issued a challenge to content creators: Blog exclusively on Google+ for the month of August. And a lot of interesting discussion has been happening on his posts in regards to the pros and cons of such a move. What if the service on which you're blogging goes all Posterous on you?

We tackle the question ourselves in the 10,000 Ft Up segment of this episode followed by some On The Ground tips on how we manage our blogging and presence.

Links mentioned in this episode: 

 We also launch a new Quest! LIA Quest 8 - A Full Deck of Cards! Deadline to have your quest discussed on the next LIA Cast is August 28, 2013!

Connect with Jerzy and Rob

LIA Cast 82 - Where Do You Blog?

AuthorLean Into Art | Comment1 Comment |
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