Mitch Bowler is the founder of Pencil Kings, an online professional art teaching institution that provides top-flight instruction at an affordable price to those who are unable to attend traditional art schools. Formerly a 3D technical artist with work experience on top film and game projects, his focus is now on building and growing the Pencil Kings brand to provide art training and support to enrolled artists.
In this episode, Mitch discusses:
-A bit about his creative history and what led him to create Pencil Kings.
-More details about Pencil Kings and what it offers to his members.
-How one of his biggest messages is to DO SOMETHING instead of continually just absorbing information.
-How the Internet has brought us a wealth of knowledge and teaches us how to do things, but the important thing is to actually do something with that knowledge.
-The power in setting a goal of making a new habit for 30 days.
-One of the most profound things he has learned through the Pencil Kings podcast — finding a space where your competition isn’t and dominating that space.
-When he finds it difficult creating, simply remembering what enticed him to draw and create in the first place — what was fun.
-The power of outsourcing.
-How mind maps can help you to organize a large amount of information or ideas.
-Finding the things that are pain points for yourself, and being able to hand them off to someone else.
-The importance of looking at “outsourcing” as building a team.
-The ebbs and flows of balancing his own creative projects with the Pencil Kings project.
-How art and creativity (and Pencil Kings specifically) is like a puzzle box that he is constantly trying to figure out.
-How if you hear a recommendation two or three times, it is a signal that you must look into that.
Mitch’s Final Push will inspire you to establish the good and bad things that can happen on your path to pursuing your creative passions.
Quotes:
“I wanted to create a resource where people could connect with professionals and distill the knowledge and also bring people together so they could support each other.”
“It’s scary to post your work and have haters.”
“You can listen to a podcast, but when you go and do something, that’s when the magic happens.”
“It’s hard to get the ball rolling in the beginning, but if you start to look at where the competition isn’t, it’s not as difficult.”
“I think this is the key: No expectations.”
“It’s like this balance of having fun and building skills. But you should weight it more on the fun.”
“Where I see so many people get outsourcing wrong is that they hand it off and expect it to work on the first go.”
“Sometimes if you are unsure of your direction, life will give you signs.”
Links mentioned:
“The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho