Growing up artsy in an Asian household

This week on Willful, photographer Connie Tsang talks about:
• Growing up artsy in an Asian household
• The roots of her documenting, starting with her teen obsession with typing out Casey Kasem’s Top 40 countdown from the radio
• Creatives who make from scratch vs. those who document. Can they both be artists? 
Connie Tsang (@ConnieMTsang) is a Toronto-based artist and documentary photographer whose alternately quirky and deeply nostalgic take on life that has landed her photos in galleries in Toronto, Vancouver and New York, as well as books like, Sweet & Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants and Neil Pasricha’s The Book of (Even More) Awesome. You can see her work at connietsangphotos.com.

Huge thanks to The Merchant Taps & Tavern and Mr. Greg Garson for hosting our series.

#DocumentaryPhotography #photography #Toronto #The6ix #TIFF #Urban#Cityscapes #TorontoArt #TorontoArtists #TorontoEvents#TorontoEventsPhotographer #ConnieInvadesTheWorld #ExploreTheWorld

Why artists should ditch their smart phones

Today on Willful, Toronto portrait artist Malinda Prud'homme shares:
• Her best advice for young artists
• Her thoughts on a beauty industry that profits from women’s low self-esteem
• Ditching her smart phone to increase her productivity

Prud’homme is a mixed media artist who believes in a broader definition of female beauty, regardless of age, size, ethnicity, or personal style. Check out her work at Malinda Prud'homme Art and malindaprudhomme.com

Jumpstart your day and get inspired by all of our Willful guests at WillfulProject.com. You'll make our day if you follow us here on Facebook. 

Our heartfelt thanks to Greg Garson for offering us our stage at The Merchant Taps & Tavern (181 University Ave. at Adelaide). If you drop by, Greg will hand-deliver to you his famous meat loaf. The guy does everything!

#Beauty #PortraitPainting #diversity #The6ix 
#WomenAndBeauty #RealBeauty #HyperRealism #SelfEsteem

Malinda Prud'homme's portrait art

Today on Willful, Toronto portrait artist Malinda Prud'homme on:
• how the flooded teaching market forced her to chase her real dream
• whether she believes “the staple of our generation: if you work really hard, get good grades and volunteer you can achieve whatever you want”
• Female beauty that goes against the “Disney princess ideal” (we have freckles, gap teeth, fros and more)

Prud’homme is a mixed media artist who believes in a broader definition of female beauty, regardless of age, size, ethnicity, or personal style. Check out her work at Malinda Prud'homme Art and malindaprudhomme.com

Jumpstart your day and get inspired by all of our Willful guests at WillfulProject.com.

Nick Babatsikos hits the Canadian stage

After making a splash in his first episode of Willful, actor Nick Babatsikos is back to talk about:
• The Second City Toronto Conservatory Program (“the best year of my life”)
• His first equity show after paying his dues as “coffee guy #2.”  
• Writing characters from real life and getting them on stage
• Who he is is all he has to offer ("Here I am, soup to nuts")

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post two 5-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube each week.

Follow us here or on our YouTube Channel and website, WillfulProject.com, for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson and The Merchant Taps & Tavern for offering us SUCH a fantastic stage!

#PerformingArts #Acting #Singing #Theatre #Musicals #Writing#BodyImage #BodyDysmorphia #SelfAcceptance #Greece#CenterStage #SecondCity #CanadianTheatre #Actor #Freelancer#MooseOnTheLoose
(cc. Ashley Botting)

Managing self-doubt

In Ep. 5, our last day with Mark Challen (*sniff*), Mark talks about:
• Rejecting academia and the fashion and design worlds in favour of work with more meaning and context
• Free time, the highs and lows of creative thinking, and managing self-doubt
• Restricting consumption of negative media (to protect your creativity)

Mark Challen is an illustrator, art and culture historian, and the creator and host of The Stylecooler Podcast on iTunes. Also look for his soon-to-be-launched website, StyleCooler.com.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Follow us here or on our YouTube Channel and Facebook page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson and The Merchant Taps & Tavern. We see you buzzing around in the background!

#Drawing #Prismacolor #Art #Culture #History #Style #PopCulture #DesignHistory#StyleCooler#ArtistProject #Nostalgia #MustSeeTV #HouseAndHome #BarbraStreisand @amyrrosen @Rosensbuns #SelfDoubt #Negativity #Freelancer #Startup

The art of surprise

Up your Willfulness this week with Mark Challen. Mark is an illustrator, art and culture historian, and the creator and host of The Stylecooler Podcast on iTunes.. Also look for his soon-to-be-launched website, StyleCooler.com. In Ep. 3, Mark talks about:

• Surprising people and using their reaction as fuel

• His influences: The New Yorker, The New York Times, Jeopardy and Sesame Street

• Launching the Style Cooler Podcast (with Suzanne Dimma), and using his background as a spinning instructor to shape the episodes

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Follow us here or on our YouTube Channel and Facebook Page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson, for your hospitality at The Merchant Taps & Tavern.

#Drawing #Prismacolor #Art #Culture #History #Style #PopCulture #DesignHistory #StyleCooler #ArtistProject #Nostalgia #MustSeeTV #HouseAndHome #Podcasting #Wikipedia

Leaving your job ... now what?

Mark Challen gets Willful this week. Mark is an illustrator, art and culture historian, and the creator and host of The Stylecooler Podcast on iTunes. Also look for his soon-to-be-launched website, Stylecooler.com. In Ep. 2, Mark talks about:

• How the world reveals itself to you after leaving your job
• Combatting feeling adrift by creating one thing day
• How creative ideas at birth are rarely perfect elevator pitches
• Creating Stylecooler.com, the Wikipedia of style (“Imagine if Wikipedia was fun!”)

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Follow us here or on our YouTube Channel and Facebook Page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson, for your hospitality at The Merchant Taps & Tavern.