Alright guys welcome back to my channel! It has been a long time since I last did a
Q&A so I thought since we have now passed the big milestone of 250,000
subscribers on this channel- I think that's the first time I've said that out
loud, but how amazing is that!- I thought that since there are
quite a few new people here it'd be great to answer some of your questions.
So about a week ago, I asked on Instagram if you had any questions for me and
quite a few came in so I'm just gonna basically go through as many as I can
and I will link below the previous two Q&A s that I've done just in case the
question that you asked was answered in that. Also if I don't get to a question
don't worry, I will probably use those questions as ideas for videos anyway so
if you asked a question and you're really curious about - hopefully I'll
cover it there and if you didn't get to ask a question then you should be
following me on Instagram- shameless plug now- I'm gonna link it
below just in case you are not following me already. So let's get straight to the
questions. I'm gonna be looking down at my phone probably quite a bit because
that's where I have them all saved. Right and we're just gonna go through the top
comments first, I'm guessing that the ones with the most likes are the ones
that most people are interested in finding out about. So I've got a really
interesting question here from Alanna mccade who recently made the decision to
make art her main focus and is hoping to earn a living from it in the coming
years and they want to know if YouTube is a viable option as an artist, is there
a demand and what future do I see as an artist on YouTube. So in my opinion I do
think that there is potential for artists on YouTube. Something that people
have been saying a lot recently is that the platform is oversaturated which I
couldn't disagree with more honestly. I think there's always room for more
creators because everyone has a unique voice, everyone has something new to
bring to the table. I think it's oversaturated with a lot of
people doing the same thing but if you're going to bring something new,
something different, your own spin on things and absolutely I think if it's
something you want to do then it's definitely worth doing. What future do I
see as an artist on YouTube? I don't necessarily see a future as an artist on
YouTube, I like making YouTube videos and I want to be an artist but I wouldn't
say that I put those two together. I see more of a future for myself as an artist
rather than as a youtuber but I will continue to make videos for as long as I
like making videos and I don't see that
changing anytime soon. This is a good one. Mitch Oliver said 'what do you do to keep
your work area so clean and tidy? Any tips would be greatly appreciated, love
for Minnesota' Well I have a few tips and tricks for
that. So the main thing for me, I think I've touched on this before, but what I
do is; anything that I'm gonna be using regularly, I keep within reach, everything
has a place so if I take something from there I can put it back, if I take
something from there I can put it back, everything goes away nicely and you know
the things that I'm going to be the most are the easiest to get to just so I
don't end up leaving things out when I'm done with them, it's very easy to just
pull open a drawer, put something back. So that would be my main tip for keeping
things organized but also with keeping things clean, one of my main things is I
always have a loo roll right by my desk and my absolute saving grace is a pack
of Dettol wipes- I also use the wilkos own brand wipes because they're only 50p
but just any cleaning up wipes, once I've done some painting and I just want
to quickly you know clean up my desk- I usually use these before and after doing
a painting just to clean my desk off and it gets rid of most things pretty easily
if you haven't let them dry there for too long. I've got a lot of questions
about social media and building a following and also I think a lot of
people- a LOT a lot of people- quite a common thread between these comments was
feeling disheartened with not having as many followers as you would like, not
knowing if you're doing things wrong and feeling like maybe your art isn't good
enough. What I like about this one is the kind of follow-up question of 'how do you
get past feeling so dependent on other people's validation?' and that really hit
a chord with me because that is something that I've struggled with a
huge amount over the years. I am the kind of person where I really need people to
tell me that they like it so I feel like I'm doing something well and doing
it properly, but recently I have switched my focus to more of a place of enjoying
the process of making things rather than putting all my worth on how the finished
piece is going to look. I really enjoy being an artist, I really enjoy making
art and being an artist isn't necessarily about this picture or that
picture or the amount of followers you have.
It's about getting up in the morning and making art and building up a real
collection of things that you are proud of. So as long as you can make art and keep
making art and enjoy it and make art that you're happy with that should be
your main focus. And post it everywhere you want, do all the annoying social
media things that you have to do; the hashtags and the sharing and the SEO and
any other things that you can do your research on and find out about because
they're changing the algorithms all the time online so it's good to keep up with
what each platform wants from you but the main focus should be making art that
you really enjoy and really like and building a community, really appreciating
the followers that you do have already. A lot of people say 'I don't have many
followers' but 50 is a lot of people and 100 is a lot of people and you have to
look it in that way where that's people that are interested in what you're doing
and that's only gonna grow. So that would be my advice on that one, I feel like I
rambled a lot... so weird not preparing for a video and just talking but hopefully
I've been clear on that. Tahlia Fast said 'what is your favorite
podcast?', my favorite podcast at the moment is probably Lore, I really like Lore.
It's just a nice, spooky, almost hypnotic in the way that the guy talks. It really
like draws me in, it's the kind of thing I like to listen to you when I'm doing
watercolor paintings or ink. I don't know why, it just really works well together
so I'd really recommend Lore and other than that I listen to all the really
obvious ones, This American Life, 99% Invisible I think it's called? um I don't
know, I've kind of gone off podcasts recently just because I've been
listening more to like Disney soundtracks and stuff while I work but
Lore and This American Life are probably my top two. Sketchy G
says 'I'm constantly battling with what sort of art style I want to develop or
what mediums I want to specialize in, do you have any advice? Thanks a lot love
your work', thank you! I think that's something that a lot of
people seem to worry about as well, just trying to land their 'thing', their style,
what they use, their colors, and I think the best way to figure it out is to just
keep working, doing you like doing, whatever you're naturally
gravitating towards, just keep doing that even if one day it's realistic stuff and
the next day it's cartoony. Do what feels right in the moment and whatever you're
enjoying and every once in a while it's good to kind of take a step back and
look at the things that you've done and think about what you feel represents you
best and what you got the most out of. But also remember that you don't
just choose that thing and then that's it for the rest of your life and that's
all you're gonna do. It's really a journey with your art, so don't put too
much pressure on yourself to figure out what it is that you want to be doing and
how you want to do it because I can guarantee that this time next year
probably you'll be doing something different. You don't need to know right
now what it's gonna be because it's probably gonna change anyway. Okay Mads
Lacey said 'how do you want your career to shape out in the future, for example
do you want to create a book? PS I love you and your art so much, I've been
watching you for years and it's great seeing you turn art into a
career', thanks Mads! Well that is a really really really good question, it's
something that I've been thinking about so much recently. Obviously if you
remember the beginning of the year when I was having my existential crisis I
would I spent a lot of time thinking about what I am gonna do with my art and
how I would like it to develop and what kind of career I would like out of it
and I don't think that you necessarily have to know but I do feel at the moment
that what I want to focus on is making travel journals and you know just like
travel books almost, maybe not like travel guides but just books of
different cities and different stories of places that I've been to. Like my
Mexico travel journal was probably my favorite thing that I did last year
and it was great to look back on that and think 'yeah that is what I want to
keep doing' so I'm hoping- and well by the time you watch this I will be leaving
for Lisbon in like a day- so I'm hoping to document that in a journal and you
know if I can turn that into something print-worthy then that would be great
but it's just great to be able to record those memories for myself. But yeah, I
would love to do more kind of Illustrated journals that I would I
guess sell and maybe used to inspire people to travel
and go to these places as well. Samar Saeed says 'what is the hardest thing
about being a freelancer or building your own business?'. The hardest thing for
me at the moment is kind of legal stuff and finances, taxes that kind of thing. It
can get really overwhelming when you kind of step back and realize that I'm
just- I'm just a normal person and I don't know about these things and
they're really serious and you know I'm signing contracts and agreeing to things
and not really knowing if I'm doing it properly so it can be very daunting at
times. There's so much information on the internet and there's so many books and
things that you can refer to but when it comes down to it there will always be
little seeds of doubt in your mind where you don't feel experienced enough or
knowledgeable enough to be making particular decisions. Clara Gold studio
said 'how do you urban sketch? maybe this can be a different video or you can just
give quick tips', I actually have a series called Travel Journal Tips, I think there
are just three episodes in that where I have one on urban sketching so that
could be quite useful for you but other than that there are quite a few great
urban sketching youtubers on this platform so I will leave some links
below to some of my favorites. 1,000 years in summer says 'what are your
favorite Netflix shows and what are your favorite things about living in England?'
Favourite Netflix shows, I really like Outsiders where the people all live in the
mountains and they drive quad bikes and stuff. I don't know why I just really
like it. I don't watch much else on Netflix other than Drag Race and films.
I always watch like a scary film every once in a while and then favorite things
about living in England... I don't know about England as a whole because I'm
really bad at traveling around my own country but my favourite things about
living in London are; travel around the city is so easy, I
can get anywhere I want to get within you know 20 minutes most and there's
just so much to do, so much going on at all times even just locally there's just
so much going on at any given time, different festivals, different galleries
all sorts. So yeah I just love the vibrancy and life of it and I also love-
what a lot of people complain about- but I love that everyone just keeps to
themselves. I love that I can get on the tube and no-one's gonna talk to me and I
can get on the bus and no-one's gonna look at me.
That's my kind of city. Al Nosel says 'where do you think you would be today if
you had decided not to pursue arts as a career? I absolutely love all that you do.'
Thank you so much! Where would I be today? Honestly today-today
I would probably still be at Sainsbury's, the supermarket I used to
work at just because I was kind of gonna be there indefinitely, it was a really
good in-between job, a really good 'figuring out what I'm gonna do with my
life' job, I had friends there, I had really flexible hours as well so I
could you know find time to work on my own things in the mean time but also if
I needed money I could you know get in as many hours as I wanted, it was a great
little job so I probably still be there and it's only like round the corner
from my house as well so just perfect. Right well my camera stopped recording
for a little while there so let's see. We're about half an hour into taping so
I will probably just do a few more. artheart12 said 'hi Minnie, I was wondering
how do you keep track of all your ideas for your art?' and I would say if it's a
really visual idea then I will quickly do a little thumbnail sketch either
digitally or in my sketchbook just something really small, really simple to
get the basic idea down and then maybe write notes on it because those little
rushed sketches can be quite confusing to look at like in retrospect. If it's
more of a conceptual idea or maybe an idea for a project then I will note it
down in Trello which is like on the computer and on my phone.
But I discovered through Lavendaire and Lauren Fairweather who are also really
creative people and they use it in really unique ways as well. It's just a
great way to note down ideas and organize things in different lists
different categories and not lose track of all the different things that are
going on in your head basically. I will leave links below to both of their
videos on Trello and just in case you want to check that out and see how you
might be able to use it as well. James Gill said 'do you ever regret becoming a
self-employed artist? I'm looking to become one myself and I'm pretty excited
but slightly afraid about the risks coming with it.' Well James if you are
excited about it then I would 100% recommend
you do go for it. I understand the fear but it is so worth it in the end and I
think that you once you take that leap you'll see it for yourself.
But honestly there was a time back in November I think when I was really
struggling with kind of motivating myself and feeling good about my art and
also feeling about good about my career and what I was doing and where I was
going and I remember one night going out with some friends and just saying guys I
I've had enough, I'm gonna quit YouTube, I'm gonna quit
doing art. I want to go back to Sainsbury's, I just want to make art for
fun again and I want to go to a job where I can just clock out and come home
and not have to think about it anymore, you know just be able to switch off. I
was really just stressed and overwhelmed at the time and it was great to just
kind of get that out and say that but obviously my friends are like 'You're
crazy and that's not gonna happen, you have a great job and you're
great at it and you love it. It might be really hard
right now but you'll come out of it' and I have come out of that and they're
absolutely right you know I'm so lucky to have the job that I have and I
absolutely love what I do I really couldn't think of a better way
to be spending my time and to be living my life, it's like ideal. So it definitely
will get hard but honestly if it's what you want to do it's just so worth it
like the the highs are well worth the lows so really good luck to you James if
you decide to go for it I think that it will be incredible for you. Whatercolor
Gal says 'how long did it take you to teach yourself video editing? that's
the only thing that's stopping me from making my own videos to be honest.' Don't
let that stop you- not a good enough excuse. If you want to start doing it you
need to start doing it, you learn as you go. Take a look- oh my god I can't believe
I'm saying this- but take a look at my first video. I filmed it with my phone, I
put my phone up on a water bottle on the lid of a water bottle and just filmed
down like that and I used the music from the YouTube music library and that was
it that was where I started and you know I gradually learn a thing or two as I go
along. I was editing with Windows Movie Maker back then and you know the whole
thing is trial and error. Now I'm at a point where I'm still learning different
things, I'm still making really silly mistakes, so if you think that you're
going to start out and already know what you're doing, it
doesn't work like that. Just get started. You can do it.
Stop overthinking things. Make a rubbish video. It'll be fine. Okay we're gonna
finish off with a few quickfire questions so Dora Braddock says 'how old
are you?', I am 24, I'll be 25 in a month- two months?- end of June. It's Aaron says
do you have any-... It's Air-One... sorry I know someone else called Air-One. It's Aaron
says 'do you have any unique customer experiences? like has anyone walked up to
you on the street or anything out of the ordinary', well I think I might have told
you the story about when I was at a music festival last summer, in a hurry
Ozzy threw our trainers out with our rubbish so we had no shoes, we went to go
and find them and the girl that dug our shoes out of the rubbish was actually a
subscriber and she was really cool and she was really nice so if you're
watching, thank you for saving my trainers! MadlyPenned so 'do you believe
the pursuit of a creative career is viable in this era of oversaturated
creative media?' A million percent, I think being in the creative industries is the
best thing you can do for yourself in this era of- not even over-saturated
creative media- but you know a world that is going more and more towards valuing
creativity and innovation and creation of things. Art comes in so many different
forms and it's more and more useful nowadays where you know a lot of jobs
that people would have thought were really stable and now almost replaceable
with robots and new technology but you can never really replace an artist of
any kind so I think a million percent that are is a viable career option for
the future. I think it's really one of the best ways to go. Inessa says 'do you
have a go-to snack when you are doing your art and what's your favorite type
of music?', favorite snack to go to, I love green olives with feta cheese, love that!
I just had the earlier today! I also really like salted popcorn.
And favorite music, I listen to a little bit of everything but
mostly garbage. Alright we're going to leave it at that because we have
actually been recording for almost an hour now! I'm going to try
to edit it down to something that is a little bit easier to watch, I've probably been
talking a bit too fast. Today is boiling and I have a lot more to do with the
rest of my day so apologies for that. Thank you guys so much for watching,
remember to follow me on Instagram if you do want to take part in the next Q&A,
that is where I always ask for my questions for those and yeah but the
next video or next video or two that I post, I will not be around I'm gonna be
in Lisbon so I won't be able to respond to your comments then but I will talk to
you when I get back! Thank you guys so much for watching, bye!
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