Haley Newsome a.k.a LavenderTowne is a comic book artist, a Ravenclaw, and a little sleepy.
I write and draw two comics, Unfamiliar (a story about some wee witches) and Disasterpiece (a comedy comic about my life at art school.) I also make some Youtube videos and do lots of random art on the side! I love making things and I spend almost all of my free time working on my comics and my Youtube channel.
Join Evolve Artist Program, the world’s simplest art training method with results guaranteed!
★ Use my coupon code to get a special discount
Move your creative journey forward with Skillshare, an affordable online learning community with hands-on classes for creative and curious people.
★ Click below to get a FREE Month of Skillshare
Learn from my easy-to-follow online classes such as Making Money as an Artist, Color & Light, Color Palettes, Perspective & Composition, Instagram for Artists, and more!
She is doing pretty well on Patreon and as she puts it: ” … Patreon is a stable income, which helps me relax and keep working on my comics and videos without having to worry! I sprinkle rewards all throughout the month, and Patrons hear first about new projects!”
Get in touch with Haley
- YouTube: LavenderTowne
- Patreon: Haley Mewsome
- Facebook: haleybot
- Comics: Unfamiliar (a story about wee witches) and Disasterpiece (a comedy comic about her life at art school)
Key Takeaways
“Whatever it is you want to do, just start today, it doesn’t matter if you are not good enough, if you start, things will turn out to be fine, you will learn and you will go places!”
- She attended Alberta College of Arts and Design in Calgary – she was looking at Canada for universities because she had heard they have high quality education lot cheaper than in the US, compared to like CalArts
- She likes to make her art available as much as possible because of young artists who don’t have tons of disposable income to spend
- She plans by thinking couple of years into the future and visualizing it
- On selecting projects, she tries to think about if it’s gonna negatively impact anything that is going on right now – YouTube or ‘Unfamiliar” (her comic) – if it does, she turns it down, because she wants to stay loyal to people that got her where she is now
- Her weirdest inspiration is stuff she doesn’t like – boring movie or a show, because it always makes her want to improve it …
Resources mentioned
- Everything comics related
- Smack Jeeves – webcomics hosting
- Tapas.io – webcomics platform
- Twitch – live streaming video platform
- Idols
- Rebecca Sugar and Pendelton Ward – Cartoon Network animators
- Art tools
- Copic markers
- Cintiq tablet – high-end drawing tablet
- Intuos tablet – lower end drawing tablet
- Adobe Creative Cloud – Photoshop
- YouTube resources
- iMovie & Final Cut Pro for movie editing
- Blue Yeti professional microphone
- Arts online game: Passpartout: The Starving Artist – Will your art end up in the Louvre or on your parents’ fridge?
- Movies by Wes Anderson are very aesthetically appealing and the composition is just perfect
- Book(s): Harry Potter
Special thanks to Haley for joining me today. See you next time!
All artworks by Haley Newsome, used with permission
Episode Transcript
Announcer
Creative, artistic, happy! That’s you. There are endless possibilities for living a creative life. So let’s inspire each other. Art Side of Life interviews with Iva.
Iva Mikles
Hello, everyone and welcome to the next episode of Art Side of Life where it’s all about how you can turn your creative passion into a profession. My name is Iva, and my guest today is super talented comic book artists from United States. She studied storyboarding at Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. But in the end choose to follow her dream of creating comics. She published her first webcomic when she was only 14. She’s most known for her two comics and familiar story about we which is Anna disasterpiece comedy comic about her life and art school. She has very popular YouTube channel where she talks about different topics concerning art and art industry. So please welcome Haley Newsome, also known as Lavender Town. So let’s jump to the interview, which were the biggest decisions you had to do when you want it to be like professional artists, if you can take us to that moment.
Haley Newsome
So I think the like there were a couple of big critical points for me, before I started taking it really seriously, I think the biggest one for me was when I did a, it’s called an ELA at my school, I was in high school. And they basically let you study whatever you want for the whole semester, and they will set you up with a professional, local professional in that field. And I met this, this professor from the University. And basically I started meeting with him and he helped me like, realize that comics can be a real job and all these different things. So that was huge. And then actually deciding to go to art school was a big critical moment, because you’re putting in like, a lot of time and money. And you have to really decide if it’s something you seriously want to go for. But yeah, and then the final thing was, with deciding to actually start putting my comics and my videos online. That was around August, I believe, of last last summer. So yeah, that was, and it’s been it’s been just snowballing ever since. So yeah, that’s kind of
Iva Mikles
when you decided to go for the for the uni, it was there someone advise you to go for the this special university or, you know, because you have so many options, you know, to like study online or do the like actual brick school? And if you can kind of touch upon that, like what is maybe good about each and what did you enjoy the most.
Haley Newsome
So I was encouraged, I was encouraged by that. That person that I met through that, that high school program, he encouraged me to go. And I asked for specifically going to a CAD which is I went to Alberta College of Art and Design. And I decided to go there because I was touring around Canada, looking at the universities up there, because I heard that they had really good quality schools for a lot cheaper. Because, yeah, like Cal Arts and stuff. Like, it’s so expensive. And I really wanted to go to a school that was focused on the industry. So that’s how I picked a cat is really industry focused. I actually thought I was going to end up being a storyboard artist when I first applied there, but then I sort of gradually realized that I could go straight for my like my life goal, which was which was comics. And yeah, there were there were a lot of good things about art school. The the main thing was just like being surrounded and other artists all the time, and being being surrounded people who take it really seriously. Like I think a lot of artists struggle with people around them not understanding that this is like a viable career and something that you really, like if you if you apply yourself that you really can do so that’s not present at all at art school, which is really great.
Iva Mikles
Yeah, because you mentioned in some of your videos that your family supported you a lot with art.
Haley Newsome
Yes. Yeah.
Iva Mikles
So like, when you start developing?
Haley Newsome
Yeah, no, they were hugely supportive. My both my parents and my, my sister as well were, like, they really thought that I could do it. And yeah, that was really nice. There were a lot of kids at my school who did not have that kind of support. So I really appreciate them being like that for me. That is really nice. Yeah.
Iva Mikles
And so basically, when you started doing the comic, you were really young, you were like 15 Right? And then then you were just sketching and and later on you started to publish it or or posted online. How did you find like some of the online tools or, or who told you where you can do it?
Haley Newsome
So So yeah, actually, my Yeah, my first my first webcomic that ever posted was I think I was yeah, like 14 or 15. That was a different comic than this one. But yeah, I, I don’t I think I learned on DeviantArt I was I was active on DeviantArt. And someone I had a friend from, from Denmark, who was posting her comic on smack Jeeves, which is a very old, old comic hosting website. And so I just kind of followed her there. And I started posting my own comic. And yeah, I really got a taste for like, for the whole, like audience interaction, like every single page, you get to interact with your audience, which is really cool. And it’s something that I think is really special about web comics, in particular. So yeah, that’s that’s kind of how I ended up doing that. Tattoo. pastic was actually something I only found because someone commented on a YouTube video that I should put it on there. I had never heard of it before. But I’m really grateful to that person, just because it’s a much more viable website these days. So yeah, yeah.
Iva Mikles
Because I don’t know, either. I mean, I just found out through you, because I was like, oh, like comic books? Yeah,
Haley Newsome
yeah. Yeah. It’s still it’s still it’s still a niche. It’s definitely still a niche community. The whole web comics thing is still pretty, pretty niche. But yeah, it’s definitely yeah, it’s a much bigger site than this vector uses.
Iva Mikles
They have also books or it’s also, I mean, only comic books, or like, full novels, or,
Haley Newsome
yeah, they also released, they also released written works as well, which is really cool. They’re branching out quite a bit right now. They’re doing a lot of like rebranding and trying new projects, which is really cool.
Iva Mikles
And can you describe it for for listeners, or like, people watching? How is it different from Patreon? Because you’re also on Patreon, right? Yes. And
Haley Newsome
yeah. So tip to pastic is specifically it’s, or I guess it’s called tapas. Now, tapas is specifically for publishing your whole comic and like it’s released to everyone. So unlike Patreon, where I’m doing putting certain rewards behind a paywall to pastic is a place for you to actually like publish all of your comics, like sequentially, and like a nice sort of setup, so it’s easy to read. And then you can get tips and you can get ad revenue from that. So that’s one one way that I make income on my art. Whereas Patreon I try to use to show people like sort of behind the scenes stuff like concept art and things that other people aren’t getting to see. I like to make most of my art and projects and stuff just free for anyone to see because I want to be able to reach younger people who might not have a ton of disposable income to spend. But yeah, Patreon is really, it’s really nice in a lot of ways. For supplementing your income a little bit. Yeah, most of my most of it is completely based on ad revenue, because I like to just sort of give stuff away for free.
Iva Mikles
It’s really good, because then it’s nice when you offer like different levels or different ranges, you know, because some people kind of decide maybe to give you like a coffee, right? So they can like, a small amount, because just I appreciate what you’re doing. I think that’s amazing. And, you know, when I saw like, there was this website, I think it was called something with the coffee. I don’t know, maybe you know it already. Have you heard about
Haley Newsome
that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, some some webcomic artists, I No, actually use that one. It’s similar to Patreon. But it’s more like just, it’s more like just a tip for whatever you’re already doing. Whereas Patreon, you’re supposed to put out specific rewards just for it. But yeah, I haven’t used that one. But I’ve heard it’s good. But yeah,
Iva Mikles
because they just kind of stumbled on on Patreon. And I was like, Oh, this sounds actually interesting, but I didn’t have time to check it out yet. And so like when we’re talking already about different incomes, and so how do you combine your incomes? What is your your main income if you can share with the people?
Haley Newsome
Oh, sure. Yeah, my main income is definitely from YouTube. And then my main income within that is sponsorships. They make a huge difference. Which, yeah, it’s I know, it’s sometimes annoying for people. I try not to do too many, but like, yeah, between ad revenue and sponsorships on YouTube, it’s, it’s actually like, a really viable like, way to support yourself, which is great. The comics thing so far is this like, it’s, it’s much it’s much less, but like, I love doing it so much that it kind of doesn’t super matter to me. I mean, it’s like my passion. So yeah, the originally I was planning on just having YouTube be a way for me to tell people about my comic and that kind of thing. And it sort of turned into its own creature after a while. So that was yeah, that’s super interesting.
Iva Mikles
Well, I mean, when you mentioned as well, like we the money of course, like most of the artists, they don’t like you know, make art to make money, but you need to make money to be able to make more Yeah, so I don’t think you’d ever should feel bad about like looking for sponsors or you know, all of these things. Yeah, you know, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to do it for people. So yeah,
Haley Newsome
that’s what I’m what My professors had a really good mantra about this, which is like, draw to live live to draw. So it’s like, yeah, if you’re, if you can support yourself by drawing, you basically never have to stop, which is like really great. So that’s kind of how I look at it. Yeah, exactly. And how
Iva Mikles
do you find sponsors? Or do they contact you? Yeah, they usually
Haley Newsome
contact me. I’ve actually never like gone out and asked for them specifically. And sometimes I turned them down. But Skillshare was like, Skillshare was a huge one for me. They reached out to me multiple times. And so that was that was super good. And yeah, I haven’t I haven’t done a ton of sponsorship stuff. I know. You can look them up through. I don’t remember that was. But yeah, there’s there’s a couple different websites where like, people, advertisers will post opportunities, and then you can reach out to them and see if they’ll take you up on that. So yeah, it’s it’s definitely something you can do. You don’t need you don’t need like millions and millions of subscribers to survive on YouTube these days, just because it’s such an active platform, which is really cool. Yeah.
Iva Mikles
It’s really great. Because then people, whatever they are doing, they can start their own channel, and they can always find their crowd.
Haley Newsome
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so I
Iva Mikles
yeah, what would be like maybe the best advice and the worst advice you ever received when you started your career?
Haley Newsome
So the best advice was basically just like, like, at least for me, the best advice was just to like, like, realize that it’s possible. I think that was my biggest struggle. When I was starting out. I felt like it was like too good to be true. It’s not a thing that people can actually do. You have to be like, the best in the world or something. But I think the best advice was just like to look at it as an actual, achievable goal, and just make steps towards it every day. And like that, it worked for me. So that’s, that’s a, that’s something I really appreciated that that advice. And the worst advice I ever got, was from one of my design professors. He told me to stop drawing in my style, and that I shouldn’t draw comics anymore. It’s just like, Yeah, I think that I think that would have really ruined me if I had taken that advice. So I think that’s probably the worst. Yeah, I know. It’s like, oh, man, that was a little tough. But yeah, most of my teachers were really nice. It was just that that one was, well, it was a little rough. But
Iva Mikles
how did you overcome these what was going through your head?
Haley Newsome
Well, it was it was kind of it was something I thought about for a bit. I was like, trying to, you know, I tried to listen to all my professors as best as I could. But I realized after a certain point that like, you, like, if I, if I had done art in the way that he had sort of thought was best for me, I wouldn’t really be achieving my dreams anyway, like it was. So it was it was taking me so far off the path that I went here for that, like, I might as well just be in a completely different job. So it became a situation where I was like, Well, I can’t listen to him. Like I have to, like, at least try really hard to make my actual dream come true. And then maybe, if that really doesn’t work out for years and years, then maybe I’ll try something else. But yeah, I don’t know. It never felt like an option to me to like, stop drawing in that kind of way. And I’m just yeah, I’m really glad. I’m really glad I did.
Iva Mikles
That. That’s really great. Yeah. So how do you do it with the, with the setting up goals? Some people maybe draw their like dream life, or they write it down in the diary, or they set like, specific date, like, okay, by this date, I want to do this, how.
Haley Newsome
So I actually, like, it’s a little bit of a lot of those different things, a lot of the time, it’s like, just me thinking, like, a couple years into the future and like trying to picture where I want to be. And yeah, it’s just a lot of like, like, visualizing that. And then also, I do also, like, try to I try to just involve myself in projects that have, you know, like, sort of a timeline where by which they have to end like my comic, for example. And then it gives me something to sort of just constantly be working on which helps me like, I don’t know, I never lose momentum, because it’s like, there’s always more work to do on it. So until it’s finished, and then that’s super great, because then you have a finished product. So yeah, I don’t know, I I don’t really I don’t know I’m not like I never used to be super organized but schedules and stuff, but recently actually have been like I have a calendar and like to do lists and stuff. Just to make sure that everything comes out on time and that kind of thing.
Iva Mikles
And how do you do it? Do you do it like with like a physical diary, or I mean, the calendar or something digitally or something you can recommend to people?
Haley Newsome
Yeah, yeah, it’s interesting, because I do almost everything digitally, right. So like, I draw digitally and I you know, all my video editing and stuff. But like when it comes to scheduling, I always use an actual physical calendar like I literally yeah, like I literally have and I have like a little notebook and I just like keep it around. The time and just yeah, check stuff off. And I don’t know it’s very it’s very old fashioned, which is weird for me. Because yeah, everything else I do is so technological, but maybe you really balance it out. Yeah, probably. Yeah. So
Iva Mikles
talking about the tools because I saw some of your videos that you also like use tablets, and then you try different ones. And you also use traditional tools. Can you kind of recommend people will do like the best or what is your favorite?
Haley Newsome
Yeah, so for me, for me, I’ve been drawn to tablets since I was like, like, 1415. So tablets are where I’m most comfortable. And the one I like the most is my super old Intuos four, which I don’t think they even sell anymore. So I don’t I don’t know if I think yeah, really? Oh, man. Yeah. And like, okay, so like, it’s so I got it so long ago. It’s like, covered in stickers. And like, there’s like, super worn down. Because I Yeah, and I still use it even though I have I have like a Cintiq which is like technically a better tablet. But I still use this one a lot, because I just, I don’t know, I’m super fond of it. So. Yeah, I don’t know. I do. I would recommend it. If they still sell them. I’m not even sure if they do. But it’s yeah, it’s super sturdy. It’s a good, good, good tablet. And then yeah, outside of that I just I mostly just draw with like ballpoint pens and stuff. It’s not really, I don’t use anything fancy when I’m doing traditional work usually microns sometimes if I’m going to be like putting watercolor over the top. But yeah, I’m pretty. I’m pretty chill with art supplies outside of the computer.
Iva Mikles
In from software. Do you use Photoshop?
Haley Newsome
Yes, yeah, I? Yeah. It’s super, it’s super functional. I like Photoshop a lot. It’s kind of hard to learn at first, but once you do is like super, super quick and easy to like, make stuff that would be really hard to do outside of the computer. So yeah,
Iva Mikles
from traditional, I think I saw as well that you’re using markers sometimes as well.
Haley Newsome
Yeah, I sometimes use Copics. I used to be a huge fan. But I’m not I’ve not been using them a lot anymore. But they’re if you’re gonna use markers, you gotta use Copics. That’s how I feel. Yeah,
Iva Mikles
really nice colors. And also, you can just get like pastel colors and full range balls or anything. Oh, yeah, no. Talking about the different projects and things to do, how do you decide what to say yes and no to kind of innovation?
Haley Newsome
Well, yeah, I’ve had a recent experience having to say no to something that I kind of really wanted to do. But basically, the way that I decide is I try to think about if it’s going to negatively impact any of the things that are going on for me now. Typically, my problem is that I just don’t have time for everything. So like, for example, I can only have 10 Commission slots a month, I can’t do any more than that, even if I would really like to. And then yeah, if there’s any sort of agreement that someone’s trying to start with me that would cut into YouTube negatively, or cut into unfamiliar negatively, that’s something I pretty much automatically have to turn down regardless of what it is just because I want to be loyal to the people who like got me be where I am now. And I don’t want to sort of slack off on projects that are not finished. So yeah, that’s basically how I design.
Iva Mikles
And when you mentioned as well that you do commissions, can you advise to younger young people or they which are just starting, you know, with these things? How do you approach it.
Haley Newsome
So I would say the best like the best thing to do, first of all, you should be probably using PayPal, I think that’s like the best way to do it, it’s like really hard to convince people to pay you otherwise. Because it’s like very, it’s a very simple setup. And then I would say, if you’re going to do a commission for someone, there’s a lot of problems with people, when you make art for someone and they never, they never pay you or something. So I would say make sure that you’re getting about half before before you start so that you at least know that this is not someone who’s going to just like run away with your art and never talk to you again. That’s like my number one advice for it. And if they’re not willing to do that, like typically that means that they might never have been intending to pay you with half that’s good because then you’re still you still have motivation to like finish the commission if that’s you know, obviously, you don’t don’t do commissions if you can’t finish them, but But yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I guess that’s my main advice, like make sure make sure that the receiving the commission does not happen before there’s like any like money because that’s, that’s super dangerous. Like you can’t you’ll get scammed.
Iva Mikles
Yeah. And how do you find new paid faith projects or because now you mentioned as well that you have already like income streams, but maybe before that, how, how do what did I want you to say, basically, how do you get both these
Haley Newsome
Good. Oh, okay, so, so getting noticed was actually something that I like, I like, I actually figured I kind of figured out what the problem was for me, because for a long time, I didn’t have any internet presence at all. And in fact, last summer, I didn’t have any internet presence basically at all. Like I had, like, I had, like, 20 people following my Instagram I had like, like 100 people may be tops on my Tumblr, and I was like getting really stressed out because I realized how important it is to have an internet presence. So I think the secret really is to just like post similar quality content, like quite a bit of it. And then just post regularly. And eventually, that’s just going to that’s going to start bringing attention to you. I mean, just just post stuff you’re passionate about. And like, make sure it’s similar, because that was my biggest problem. I was experimenting too much. And that’s super good to do, you should definitely do that. But when you’re trying to create like a brand for yourself, you need to like stick to like similar content and styles for a while so that people know what you’re actually all about. It actually makes a huge difference. And it’s something that I didn’t figure out for a long time. And it really hindered me. But yeah, once I like because I can do, I can do many different styles, but I kind of try to stick to one usually, because people like to know what they’re going to get when they subscribe to something or whatever. So that’s what I would recommend. It’s kind of a weird, kind of weird thing that really helped me a lot though.
Iva Mikles
Definitely makes sense. Because also I have I kind of had that save on my account on Instagram as well. I was like, oh, yeah, I do this digital art. And I do this like scribbly doodle thing that I don’t know what that everything looks different. Yeah. So when you mentioned as well, like the brand and kind of vision for your art, how would you describe all your creations? What is the thing you are communicating?
Haley Newsome
Yeah, well, usually, like my general aesthetic is like cute Halloween. It’s like, I really like things that are just like, slightly creepy, but like, not too much. I don’t know. And as far as like my stories, I usually try to incorporate like, characters that are sort of, they all have like something a little bit wrong with them, but like, it just sort of makes them more endearing. Which that’s sort of my, my approach with a lot of that. Yeah, I don’t know, I like, I like characters and like, I like things that are like a little imperfect and a little, you know, they’re a little off kilter, but like, still lovable. So I guess that’s kind of what I’m going for. Yeah.
Iva Mikles
That sounds really fun. Because you have a lot of like, funny stories that I’m sure like a lot of people are asking you as well. Like, how do you come up with the stories and, like, kind of the main inspiration? Or maybe what is the weirdest thing you get inspired by?
Haley Newsome
So the weirdest, this is a sad, I don’t know if this might this might sound weird, but I’m gonna guess it should because that’s the question. But the weirdest thing I get inspired by is like stuff that I don’t like, which is such a weird thing to say. But like when when I watch a movie that’s like boring to me, or I watch a show that like I that I don’t like, for some reason. It always makes me want to make something because I start thinking about like, Well, why don’t I like this? Like, what’s the problem here? And then I’m like, How would this you know, how would this actually appeal to me? Because obviously, my taste doesn’t represent like, what is inherently good. But like, I can make a version of something that does appeal to me more, and it makes me want to create, like, I actually feel less inspired when I watch stuff that’s like really super good. Because I’m just like, whoa, like, Okay, you made the perfect thing. Like, I don’t need to do anything here. But yeah, with stuff with stuff, like sometimes, like I watch action movies, and they’re like too many action scenes, and I get bored. And I start thinking about, like, what these characters can be doing instead. And that makes me want to draw on great stories and stuff. So yeah, I guess that’s
Iva Mikles
super amazing advice. Because I mean, you can always look at stuff how would you kind of not only like improve it, but how do you bring yourself to that story? Yeah, that’s amazing. Yeah. Even like a lot of companies they want these when they are employing new people how they will improve their product. So it’s really good way to look at things.
Haley Newsome
Yeah. And I would
Iva Mikles
like to know as well like, Is there something you wish you knew before you started your career?
Haley Newsome
Um, I think well, that’s tough because like, I feel like I just started you know, like, I started I think I started making enough money to like survive off of these things in November so like, this is this is just beginning for me but I would I think the main thing I would say is just like I wish I knew that this was possible earlier because I would have been working towards it earlier. I spent a lot of time trying to like learn editorial illustration and storyboarding and things that I thought I had better job prospects and and I think I would be making better work if I had gotten serious about YouTubing comics earlier. So I guess I kind of just wish I wish I just started earlier on those things.
Iva Mikles
Yeah. And now when you’re like you continue working on the are both of the comics right the wonder about your artistic life. And what about the witches? Yeah, what are the like maybe other exciting projects which are coming up or something you’re working on now, which you would like to share?
Haley Newsome
So, so there’s, there’s a lot of stuff that’s just barely starting. Just like, right, right, right at the at the very beginning. There’s another, there’s another comic that’s on the horizon. I don’t know when it will be released. But I have been working on it sort of sense for like, half a year now. So that one’s that one I’m really excited about, I just don’t know when I’m gonna be able to do it properly. And then there’s, there’s a, there’s a children’s book as well, that I’ve been working on a little bit here and there. And yeah, I don’t know if there’s, if too many projects. That’s the truth. I’m also I’m also planning if, if my internet connection will work well enough, I’m planning on doing more Twitch streaming. That’s something I was experimenting with earlier. And I want to do it more because I feel like it’d be a nice way to connect with my audience more directly.
Iva Mikles
Can you explain a bit more about the Twitch streaming? How is it different from other networks for maybe someone who doesn’t know?
Haley Newsome
Oh, sure. Yeah, well, Twitch is the biggest like streaming site. Currently, YouTube’s trying to do a bit. But the thing about Twitch is like, with streaming, you can actually like basically hang out with a person while they’re doing something. Usually it’s playing games, but in my case, it would be drawing so like, it’s a more it’s a more sort of intimate and friendly kind of way to spend time with your audience. Because you can, like directly talk to them, and they just sort of hang out with you while you draw, which I think is really appealing. So yeah, it’s something I want to want to do more out for sure.
Iva Mikles
Yeah, because I think that’s really cool. It’s getting really popular as well like now with the Instagram stories and all the Facebook life where you can now on Instagram stories I think you can also put links you know, when you are for example doing course right then you can actually promote it right on the live video and this kind of thing. Can you do it also on the Twitch streaming?
Haley Newsome
I’m not actually sure. I’m not sure. I know. I mean, I think that should be possible. But yeah, I’m actually pretty new. I’m pretty new to streaming it was. I’ve only done it like once properly. So I’m definitely gonna have to like be on a pretty steep learning curve when I start doing that again. And so
Iva Mikles
you are playing also this game the new what is it called the thriving thing? Yeah,
Haley Newsome
yeah. Perfect. Do you Yeah, no, that was really fun. I’m glad that came out. Because that was I’d wanted to play an art game for a while on my channel. And that was really it came out of the perfect time. So yeah, that was really fun.
Iva Mikles
It was really fun. I was like, Okay, I should try this.
Haley Newsome
Yeah, it’s great.
Iva Mikles
And so we were also like mentioning games and movies and books. So can you recommend something which is like must read or must watch something you will? Present?
Haley Newsome
Yeah. Um, so like for my personal taste, I’m a huge fan of West Sanderson when it comes to films. So I would say like, Grand Budapest Hotel, or Moonrise Kingdom or some of my like absolute favorite movies, like aesthetically, it’s just like, those movies are like perfect for me that they’re just like, the colors and the composition, you’ll even see a little bit. I think, hopefully in some of my illustrations of like, how much I like that aesthetic, as well as for books. I mean, it’s kind of a pretty basic answer, but like, I’m super into Harry Potter. So if you haven’t read Harry Potter, if you just watch the movies, or if you haven’t done any of that, I really think you should give it a try. Because it’s a whole nother whole nother thing. But yeah, I don’t know. And I yeah, I like to read quite a bit, but a lot of that really doesn’t have a ton to it’s like I don’t know, I don’t know, man. I really I really, there’s there’s honestly like, if you become friends with me, I’m recommending stuff constantly because there’s like too many things there’s too many things that I like
Iva Mikles
good because like we should never stop learning and you know Yeah, so yeah, so whatever you’d like whatever new comes to your mind that just let me know I will put it in the show notes for this interview. So people know what they can you know like check it out and share Yeah. When you mentioned the the Harry Potter I was talking about it as well with one of the other guests in the interview because I don’t maybe you’ve been to Portugal to Porto but there is this like library where she was apparently writing this like most of the books in the library looks like Hogwarts Castle. So you like not exactly but you have yeah crazy staircases which are like, like all twisted and books and now you can actually like sit there and have a coffee and stuff like that. Because before there was a coffee place right in the library. But now as it became so popular, people go there and it’s like overcrowded, but I think it’s really nice place to see in Porto so if you ever get a chance that I think that’s you would like it. Yeah, I
Haley Newsome
know. That sounds amazing.
Iva Mikles
Yeah, because there is also another cafe in that, like downtown. We which also looks like one of the the movies or kind of the same things from the book. So it’s like, if you’re in love those in those movies, then you’re like, Oh my God.
Haley Newsome
Yeah, no, that sounds amazing.
Iva Mikles
And so and I would like to just will ask about the some product or services which you bought, maybe which simplifies your life.
Haley Newsome
So I don’t have tons of stuff like that other than outside of like my very basic art supplies. And then like, programs, I mean, I use I use iMovie and Final Cut for video editing. And then the one of the bigger purchases that was really valuable to me was actually my microphone. When it comes to YouTube. I think where a lot of people get a little messed up is like not not investing in a microphone right away. I think it’s super important. Because yeah, like crackly kind of audio is really tough. So that was a purchase, I guess that really was important. And it it does help things a lot. Like you’re not having to cut out like extra noise and stuff. Like you’d have to with a with this, like less expensive microphone or whatever. I mean, it’s kind of painful to like spend money on something you don’t know if it’s ever going to make money. But if you want to be serious about YouTube, you should definitely try to get a microphone of some sort. So I just have the Blue Snowball microphone. It’s only like 60 bucks. So like it could be it could be a lot more expensive. Like there’s much better ones, but like, I feel like just even if you just get a mid range one like that, it’s like find at least it has been for me, I don’t know. Yeah.
Iva Mikles
To try some of different microphones are just like getting me like recommended from someone. So yeah, we’re saying some other men.
Haley Newsome
Yeah, other things is just like, like, I don’t think you need a specific one. But I do recommend, like getting like a an agenda that like I just bought this one actually haven’t even used it yet. But like getting an agenda that you can actually like, sort out all your, all your stuff in whatever your projects are. I think if you get into a habit of doing that, you’re more likely to actually get everything done on time, which is super important. When as like as an artistic person, like whatever, whatever it is, you’re supposed to be doing, like coming off as professional and not flaky will significantly improve your chances of getting rehired and just having a better career in general. So I definitely recommend that. Even if you’re not typically an organized person, like trying to do that is really good. Yeah. I don’t know. Nothing much more than that. I’m looking around my room trying to see I honestly Yeah, I don’t I don’t use a lot of fancy stuff. I mean, yeah. Just just just this old tablet and my computer, basically.
Iva Mikles
So how long were you? Like, how long did you wait until you like both the microphone? How many subscribers did you have? For example?
Haley Newsome
I’m trying to remember. So originally, I used to use my sister’s because she was she was doing YouTube stuff before me. And I would just borrow hers when she wasn’t using it. But I bought my own I think when I hit probably like, probably 50 50,000 I think was where it was like, Oh man, I needed start taking this seriously. Like this is I like was sort of in disbelief about it for quite a while. So like, I didn’t, I didn’t invest in it early enough. I didn’t take it seriously early enough of but at a certain point it finally clicked that I should I should take it more seriously. So yeah, that’s around the time,
Iva Mikles
do you because, you know, like, you never know, like, what is the time because most of the people just talk about like, Yeah, well, I got it at some point. But it’s the mark where you maybe should start taking it seriously or? Yeah.
Haley Newsome
Well, I think it’s okay to start taking it seriously right away. If you if you want. I think that’s the best way to ensure that you’re giving yourself the best like shot at actually doing it. So I would say like as advice like whenever it’s possible whenever you’re like in a position where you can invest in your I mean, if even even just as a hobby, like investing in it is not a bad idea. So yeah, when whenever you’re comfortable spending that money, I think is the best is the best time. It really does make quite a difference. So yeah, don’t wait, don’t wait as long as I did. It doesn’t make sense.
Iva Mikles
Yeah. How do you design your day? Or how what do you do daily maybe which contributes to your success.
Haley Newsome
So I try to work. Like, I mean, now that I’m out of school, I have like the whole day to serve to whatever. So usually, I try to work a bit in the morning for like a couple hours just on usually it’s like audience engagement stuff like answering comments and just keeping up on all of that. And then later in the day, I work better. So that’s when I do either comics or recording. And the other thing is when you’re living with other people, it’s better to record late at night so you’re not picking up weird sounds of people walking around and stuff. So yeah, I work. I work pretty late at night, and I just work until whatever it is is done. So yeah, usually in the daytime, I’m sort of just like He’s sort of just living my life. And then at night, it’s like, it’s like crunch time. So that works best for me. I’m a super night owl. And when everything’s quiet, no one’s around. It’s really ideal. But yeah, that
Iva Mikles
you work like seven days a week, or do you kind of strictly separate weekends,
Haley Newsome
I pretty much work seven days a week. The thing is, it doesn’t feel like work. So it’s very, like, it’s weird to think about, honestly, because it’s, these are the things that I did. Like in high school and middle school, these are the things I did once all my work was done. So like now that this is my work, I kind of just do it non stop. I have to like, force myself to take breaks to a certain degree. So like, yeah, I work pretty much seven days a week, unless there’s something going on. Like if I, you know, am going to go somewhere, then obviously, I’ll make sure everything’s done. And then just like, take a complete break from it. And I only like sketch a little bit. So yeah, I think breaks are important. And that’s something I need to work on, actually. Because, yeah, it’s it’s easy to become a workaholic, when like your your work is your passion. It’s like, yeah, it’s a little tough, but it’s like the best is the best problem to possibly have, I guess. Yeah,
Iva Mikles
but it’s still important to say you don’t hurt your hand or something. Yes,
Haley Newsome
yes. Oh, my gosh, yeah, that’s okay. Well, number one advice. My number one advice to everyone who drives do look up? I think they’re called ulnar glides. And do them because like, yeah, you do not want repetitive stress injuries on your wrist. That is super bummer. Not good. So yeah, definitely, definitely do this and do take breaks, because it’s really important. Yeah, because an injury injury can totally mess you up. And like, that’s super sad. You don’t want your story to end like that. Yeah, yeah.
Iva Mikles
And whenever you’re talking about those as well, like networking, and you were saying, like making friends online as well, do you go for a live event, as well?
Haley Newsome
Um, so Well, currently, I’m living in kind of a small town. So there’s not a lot of stuff going on. In regards to that. I am hoping to go to VidCon. sometime in the near future, that would be super great. Even though I heard they had problems this year, but I went before and it was, it was cool. So one day, I’d like to go again. And yeah, I don’t I haven’t gone to like, I want to also go to like a indie comics convention kind of thing. I think that would be really great. But yeah, locally, there’s not there’s not a time going on around here. So I haven’t done much of that.
Iva Mikles
For people who don’t know, maybe VidCon is the one with the videos, right? YouTubers? Yeah.
Haley Newsome
Yeah. It’s a YouTube. It’s a YouTube convention. Yeah. And I’ve never I went once before, but that was before I was doing YouTube. I just went with my sister. And yeah, so it would be interesting going now that I am a YouTuber as well. Yeah. Yeah, that’s something. Yeah.
Iva Mikles
Maybe they could invite you, you know, you could be great.
Haley Newsome
That would be great. Oh, please invite me somebody. Yeah, that would be super great.
Iva Mikles
But it’s worth it to research and maybe you can just contact them. No, yeah. No, that’s, that’s,
Haley Newsome
I would love for that to happen. That would be really cool.
Iva Mikles
And so if you think about the future, what would you see yourself maybe in five to 10 years if you kind of a complete your old dreams, and this is like what you are just doing?
Haley Newsome
I hope Okay, so like my dream scenario is that like, like, I somehow have the time to like, work on like, like three projects, maybe at the same time. And it would be like working on like, I think one of my biggest streams is like working at like running a show on like Cartoon Network or something like that. Doing cartoons is something that like I’ve always kind of wanted to do. And I’m not super great as an animator, but like, if I could sort of take like the Pendleton Ward, Rebecca Sugar sort of job where you’re like doing story stuff, and character designs and everything and then sort of running a show for a while. That would be super cool. The only problem with that is I don’t think I want to live in like, in like, a super busy city in California, but, but I would do it for I would do it for that. Alternatively, just continuing to work on everything that I am would be I’d be super happy with that. So actually, I don’t know. It’s a it’s all a dream, to be honest. Like, this is all this is all a dream to me. So as long as I’m still doing art and doing fine. Like it’s, it’s all good.
Iva Mikles
But you know, like when you set up your goals, and you know, yeah, so yeah,
Haley Newsome
yeah, it’s true. It’s true. It’s true. Yeah.
Iva Mikles
I would like to have like maybe the last question about the future, which would be like what would you like to be remembered for in 100 years?
Haley Newsome
Well, if I’m if I remembered 100 years, I really would hope that it’s just as like, as someone who made made stuff that made people happy. Honestly, if I could just be that for somebody or be like, or inspire like another person to like start drawing that would be like my dream like that’s, that’s just like That would be so great. And like already like that. Those are the kind of comments that like really, like touched my heart when people are like, Oh, you inspired me to draw or something like that. That’s, that’s all I want. So yeah, I don’t, I don’t mean anything bigger than that. Honestly, that would be great.
Iva Mikles
But I think that sounds amazing. I mean, just all the people help each other. And it’s just the best message ever. Yeah. Yeah. So I want to thank you so much for being here. And like sharing the inspiration how to do it, basically, or how to progress in your career with others. So thank
Haley Newsome
you so much for thank you for reaching out to me, this was really fun.
Iva Mikles
And if you have like, final tip or advice for people, you can share,
Haley Newsome
okay, sure. Um, well, I would just say I would just say like, whatever it is that you want to do, just like start just like start today, just start working on it right away. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think you’re good enough. Because eventually if you just start, I promise you things are gonna turn out fine. And it’s the best way to learn. So yeah, just just go for it and believe in yourself because that’s super hokey. But it actually it’s really important and you’ll you’ll go places. So yeah, that’s, that’s my advice.
Iva Mikles
Thank you so much. And thanks, everyone for joining and see you next time. Hope you guys enjoyed this interview. You can find all the resources mentioned in this episode at artsideoflife.com. Just type a guest name in the search bar. There is also a little freebie waiting for you. So go check it out. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on iTunes, hopefully five stars so I can read and inspire more people like you. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to Art Side of Life podcast, because I post new interview every single workday. If you want to watch the interviews, head over to artsideoflife.com/youtube. Thank you so much for listening. Don’t forget to inspire each other. And I will talk to you guys in the next episode. Bye.
Announcer
Thanks for listening to the Art Side of Life podcast at www.artsideoflife.com
Hi, I am Iva (rhymes with “viva”). I am a full-time self-taught artist behind Art Side of Life® and a Top Teacher on Skillshare. I have 15 years of experience in the creative field as a concept designer, illustrator, art director, and now freelance artist, content creator, and art instructor. My goal is to help you get your creative groove on with Procreate and make awesome art through practical classes, tutorials, Procreate brushes, and guides on art tools, supplies and resources. About me »
