So excited for you and am now listening to our podcast. Always love talking with you, and am honored to be the first episode in the new chapter of Sneaky Art. Thank you for all you do, Nishant!
Can’t wait to get my book when it ships next week! Best of luck with the launch and the book tour… oh, and thanks for starting a new season of your wonderful podcast!
I love this, Nishant! I'm also in that quiet and weird pre-publication space – I feel your pain! I will definitely order your book, and Samantha's – I can't wait to see them both.
I related to your podcast conversation with Samanta. I feel like a sneaky artist myself, sketching my adventures. But there's a specific reason that has happened to me. I'm an American living in Portugal and although I've been a street photographer for many years, I am now living in a farming village and I want to be respectful of my neighbors' privacy.
But I also want to tell the stories about the interesting things that happen every day here. So during last year's rainy season, I decided to get out my pens again. I started to sketch these adventures, knowing how bad I am at drawing people, that drawing them would definitely protect their privacy, as opposed to taking photos of them. I also wanted to have my Substack look different than the other Substacks about being an expat or foreigner living in Portugal.
Inadvertently, I've fallen in love afresh with sketching, even though it's been decades since I was doing it. To my surprise, these quirky little sketches and stories have attracted a lot of subscribers and thousands of followers, and even some commissions. Had it not been for that rainy season, this might never have happened.
And now, to find your Substack (and Samantha's), this is just the encouragement I need to keep going. Thank you both!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story, Kristin. I am so glad to have you as a reader. In addition to my own anxieties, I am also thinking of my subjects' right to privacy when I draw them. I want to be respectful, and not discomfort them. I also endorse your thought about drawings vs photos, I think photography can be so "extractive" sometimes. Whereas a drawing demands that we give both time and deep attention.
I think you will really enjoy other episodes of the Podcast, and I would love to keep hearing your thoughts!
Congratulations. You have nothing to be nervous about, the hard work is over. The book is done. Just be genuine and above all, be you! Thank you for what you do.
Hi Nishant, I was at Wild Wonder, and it was fabulous! I’m relatively new to the organization, discovering it through a colleague of mine. I attended your session and enjoyed watching you working with new tools. I also took the workshop that you and Samantha did in Brooklyn the other year, was part of a challenge and have taken your online class. I am curious to hear a bit about how your book is different than what I might have learned from you so far. I ask this not as a challenge, but rather as an opportunity for you to share more about your book with a very direct and specific question that may invite others to consider it, particularly if they have a significant background with you in your work. I look forward to hearing your answer!
That's a great and thoughtful question, Jill. Especially as someone who has been part of so many of my classes, it is a valid ask!
My short answer is in two parts, one from your pov and the other mine. First, yours: how we process information has a lot to do with how it's presented, and our affinity for the medium. There are ideas that absorb best when heard, and others when read. Words (on the active, imaginative mind) matter so much more in reading, and seeing involves various other sensory inputs. In the book you will find me leaning on words to do an important part of the work, so they are words I don't use in my classes as much.
The second, my perspective: every class I do, I only have a short half page of notes. Nothing is prescribed. Everything is organic. I find that I function best that way, so every session is entirely created bottom-up in the moment. Writing this book was a chance to reflect on several years of classes and online sessions, and edit and re-edit the words and arguments. So there are many insights I was able to put in that often don't make it to every single class.
I guess this isn't a very short answer, but I will certainly also write a post on the subject. Thank you for this excellent prompt!
Thanks Nishant! As a visual practitioner and the US trainer for bikablo, I answer questions, similar to what I asked you, all the time—people who already have a style asking why they should consider learning another style/add to their repertoire, or having learned the basic skills of the methodology— which serve them well —why they might want to take the advanced class, or with those in the field for years, they often wonder what coaching might do for their professional work in the field. There’s always more to learn— either broadening or deepening one’s skills. I will be purchasing your book and hope to catch you on your book took in NYC!
So excited for you and am now listening to our podcast. Always love talking with you, and am honored to be the first episode in the new chapter of Sneaky Art. Thank you for all you do, Nishant!
I hope people enjoy listening to our conversation, it is always wonderful to speak with you. ☺️ Glad to start the new season this way!
Can’t wait to get my book when it ships next week! Best of luck with the launch and the book tour… oh, and thanks for starting a new season of your wonderful podcast!
Yay! 🥰
I love this, Nishant! I'm also in that quiet and weird pre-publication space – I feel your pain! I will definitely order your book, and Samantha's – I can't wait to see them both.
I related to your podcast conversation with Samanta. I feel like a sneaky artist myself, sketching my adventures. But there's a specific reason that has happened to me. I'm an American living in Portugal and although I've been a street photographer for many years, I am now living in a farming village and I want to be respectful of my neighbors' privacy.
But I also want to tell the stories about the interesting things that happen every day here. So during last year's rainy season, I decided to get out my pens again. I started to sketch these adventures, knowing how bad I am at drawing people, that drawing them would definitely protect their privacy, as opposed to taking photos of them. I also wanted to have my Substack look different than the other Substacks about being an expat or foreigner living in Portugal.
Inadvertently, I've fallen in love afresh with sketching, even though it's been decades since I was doing it. To my surprise, these quirky little sketches and stories have attracted a lot of subscribers and thousands of followers, and even some commissions. Had it not been for that rainy season, this might never have happened.
And now, to find your Substack (and Samantha's), this is just the encouragement I need to keep going. Thank you both!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story, Kristin. I am so glad to have you as a reader. In addition to my own anxieties, I am also thinking of my subjects' right to privacy when I draw them. I want to be respectful, and not discomfort them. I also endorse your thought about drawings vs photos, I think photography can be so "extractive" sometimes. Whereas a drawing demands that we give both time and deep attention.
I think you will really enjoy other episodes of the Podcast, and I would love to keep hearing your thoughts!
Thank you, Nishant, I can't wait to delve into more of them.
Btw, here is one of the illustrated stories from my village ~ https://portugueseinterlude.substack.com/p/nao-faz-mal-one-of-the-most-useful
Great Podcast
Thank you!
Congratulations Nishant. Wishing you all the best for the book tour. Keep shining as the talented artist you are.
Excited to listen to your convo with Sam! Just ordered your book and the Wild Wonder video pass.
That's wonderful Kelsey, you will absolutely love the book as well as the pass.
I’m excited for you!!! It’s going to be great 😊
Thank you Amy! Will you be able to make it to the book tour??
NYC is the closest - five hours from me - but I would love to!
It's a big ask, but I would love to see you there!
Congratulations. You have nothing to be nervous about, the hard work is over. The book is done. Just be genuine and above all, be you! Thank you for what you do.
Thank you for the kind words, Nichole!
Hi Nishant, I was at Wild Wonder, and it was fabulous! I’m relatively new to the organization, discovering it through a colleague of mine. I attended your session and enjoyed watching you working with new tools. I also took the workshop that you and Samantha did in Brooklyn the other year, was part of a challenge and have taken your online class. I am curious to hear a bit about how your book is different than what I might have learned from you so far. I ask this not as a challenge, but rather as an opportunity for you to share more about your book with a very direct and specific question that may invite others to consider it, particularly if they have a significant background with you in your work. I look forward to hearing your answer!
That's a great and thoughtful question, Jill. Especially as someone who has been part of so many of my classes, it is a valid ask!
My short answer is in two parts, one from your pov and the other mine. First, yours: how we process information has a lot to do with how it's presented, and our affinity for the medium. There are ideas that absorb best when heard, and others when read. Words (on the active, imaginative mind) matter so much more in reading, and seeing involves various other sensory inputs. In the book you will find me leaning on words to do an important part of the work, so they are words I don't use in my classes as much.
The second, my perspective: every class I do, I only have a short half page of notes. Nothing is prescribed. Everything is organic. I find that I function best that way, so every session is entirely created bottom-up in the moment. Writing this book was a chance to reflect on several years of classes and online sessions, and edit and re-edit the words and arguments. So there are many insights I was able to put in that often don't make it to every single class.
I guess this isn't a very short answer, but I will certainly also write a post on the subject. Thank you for this excellent prompt!
Thanks Nishant! As a visual practitioner and the US trainer for bikablo, I answer questions, similar to what I asked you, all the time—people who already have a style asking why they should consider learning another style/add to their repertoire, or having learned the basic skills of the methodology— which serve them well —why they might want to take the advanced class, or with those in the field for years, they often wonder what coaching might do for their professional work in the field. There’s always more to learn— either broadening or deepening one’s skills. I will be purchasing your book and hope to catch you on your book took in NYC!
Hope to see you in NYC, Jill! 😊
Just pre-ordered the book from Europe! Can't wait to read it and improve my journalling :).
I'm excited for you to receive it ☺️