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[Announcement] The Future Of The ArtCast, Artistacon & Dream Machine!

By Chris Oatley

The Album Art for 'The Visual Storytelling Podcast.' An elegantly designed, abstraction of an orange tree. Art by Maike Venhofen.

Hello, my friends!

Chris Oatley here with a few time-sensitive ArtCast Announcements!

In this recording, I’ll provide updates on:

  • Dream Machine my new Social Media course for Artists.
  • My upcoming presentation at Artistacon 2019 (plus a discount code).
  • …and what to expect as we begin re-branding The ArtCast!

Here we go!

Listen To The Announcement:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/oatley/ArtCastAnnouncement-March2019.mp3

[ download the mp3 ]

Read The Transcript:

What follows is a complete transcript of the audio announcement linked above.

I also provided links to the resources mentioned.

Apply for ‘Dream Machine’

Intricate illustration of a clockwork owl. Album art for Chris Oatley's new course called Dream Machine: Social Media Strategies To Upgrade Your Art Career! Artist: Ejiwa Ebenebe. Applications for Dream Machine are now open!

If you are interested in working with me, Loish, Orbit Books Creative Director Lauren Panepinto and Alison Mann, VP of Talent at Illumination, to develop a focused and effective Social Media strategy to upgrade your art career, sign up for the Interest List and follow the directions that will arrive via email.

You’ll get an invitation to our upcoming Interest Meetings where I’ll share all of the details about the course and answer your questions.

You’ll also get a link to our application form. Applications are due before 11:59pm on March 31st. Class starts on the first week of April.

Let’s Connect At ‘Artistacon’

A 4x photo grid featuring headshots of the Artistacon Guests Of Honor. Clockwise from top-left: Chris Oatley, Lauren Panepinto, Jake Parker, Jon Schindehette.Speaking of Lauren Panepinto, she and I will be Guests Of Honor at Artistacon 2019!

The conference will be at Moore College in the inspiration-rich city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania March 22nd-24th.

Lauren will give a talk about the business aspects of a successful art career. Jon Schindehette will be there to talk about self-publishing and Jake Parker will close the conference via livestream with an interactive Q&A.

On Saturday night, I’ll host a Q&A panel with Lauren and Jon that I call: “If You’re Gonna Be My Artist: We’ll Tell You What We Want (What Your A.D. Really Wants)”

…and immediately before our panel, I’ll do a solo presentation called: “You’re A Better Artist Than You Think You Are.”

Here’s the blurb:

In this deeply emotional and inspiring presentation, you’ll learn:

  • How Chris almost destroyed his own animation career before it even got started (and what to do if the same thing ever happens to you).
  • The best way to harvest oranges in Southern California (and what that has to do with maintaining a successful art career).
  • What a great mentor can do for you that you probably can’t do for yourself.

…and the one, major mindset shift that will improve your art instantaneously.

If you’re in or around the American Northeast, it would be great to share this experience with you!

Go to Artistacon.net to learn more and register.

Use the discount code OATLEY11 to save $11 on the price of admission!

The Future Of ‘The ArtCast’

The Album Art for 'The Visual Storytelling Podcast.' An elegantly designed, abstraction of an orange tree. Art by Maike Venhofen. Before I go, here’s an update on the upcoming ArtCast re-brand!

Last year, as the 10 year anniversary of The ArtCast drew closer, and after much consideration and conversation with my team and students, I decided to refocus and re-brand the show with a more accurate name, logo and soundtrack.

The show began in 2008, during the dawn of podcasting, as Chris Oatley’s ArtCast.

It was basically a stream-of-consciousness audio journal. Sometimes I talked about working at Disney. Sometimes I talked about breaking into Animation. Sometimes I shared video tutorials.

…and sometimes I had no idea what I was talking about…

As it evolved into The Oatley Academy ArtCast, a more consistent style evolved along with it.

Throughout that decade, we tried producing multiple podcasts concurrently: The Paper Wings Show, Stories Unbound, The DIY Animation Show and several other shows that never got past the pilot stage.

Of course, each project has its own story, but my point right now is that we got completely overwhelmed and had to simplify.

The Paper Wings topics could be covered on The ArtCast, the hosts of (Lauren and Jess) took total ownership of that project (which you can still find at DIYAnimation.show), and we decided, along with host Shawna Tenney, to put Stories Unbound on hold while she focused on her art career and family. In the meantime, it made sense to merge the Stories Unbound archives with The ArtCast archives.

Fortunately, all that struggle brought unprecedented clarity and focus. One of our many revelations was that all of the shows had a common theme: Visual Storytelling.

…when I decided to refocus and re-brand The ArtCast, the new title seemed obvious: The Visual Storytelling Podcast.

I’ll talk about the new logo and album art on a future episode because that’s an entire lesson in itself.

After deciding on the title, I reached out to Seth Earnest who composed the scores for several of our courses: The Storytellers’ Summit, First Flight and the new Magic Box.

(In case you’re wondering, the new Magic Box is not open yet. Join my email list for updates on that.)

Because it didn’t seem right to create a new score for The Visual Storytelling Podcast without the help of Storybook Steve – the musician who composed and plays The ArtCast theme, I invited him to collaborate. Steve generously agreed to perform the guitar parts and assist Seth with the composition.

You’ll begin to see changes in the podcast feed very soon.

The album art and show title should update automatically within your podcasts app and new episodes should continue to appear just like they always have.

Many aspects of the show will remain relatively unchanged. For example: The format will continue to develop as it always has. The content and editing style will remain consistent and I’ll continue to host the show.

I’ll close this announcement by playing, for you, our gorgeous new score by Seth Earnest with Storybook Steve!

[ THEME FROM ‘THE VISUAL STORYTELLING PODCAST’ PLAYS]

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Disney Visual Development Artist/ Illustrator Chris Oatley helps Artists and Writers find healthy, fulfilling careers in Animation, Games, Comics, Film and Illustration.

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Comments

  1. Randall says

    March 13, 2019 at 10:09 am

    Awesome! So glad! You guys are ever inspiring as usual! #AnticipationHigh

    • Chris Oatley says

      March 13, 2019 at 10:55 am

      Thanks, Randall! We’re excited!

  2. Elly Medeiros says

    March 13, 2019 at 10:26 am

    So glad to see you pop up in my inbox, Chris!

    If the convention wasn’t so close, I would’ve definitely gone up to see you up in Philadelphia!

    Can’t wait to see what you’re gonna bring with this new podcast!

    All the love to ya and the team!

    • Chris Oatley says

      March 13, 2019 at 11:03 am

      Hey, Elly!

      Yeah, they are very focused on developing community within the Northeast, specifically. I’m sure some attendees will be flying in from outside the Northeast, but I get the impression that it’s a very locally-focused event.

      Would be great to hang out though! Maybe you and the family can take a vacation to the Northwest this summer 😉

      And we’re excited about bringing new life to the podcast! I’m glad to know you’re looking forward to it!

  3. Carolyn says

    March 13, 2019 at 11:11 am

    I’m glad I saw this in my inbox. Been struggling to fine tune things as I fall in between gigs and wanting to take things up to the next level. Glad that you guys and gals are evolving! It is really inspiring.

    • Chris Oatley says

      March 13, 2019 at 11:16 am

      Thanks for the encouragement, Carolyn!

      To be honest, it has been incredibly challenging to see clearly and find a path through the struggle.

      …but I’m glad we learned the value of committing to constant improvement, prioritizing quality over quantity and thinking of failure as a creative collaborator.

      Thank you, again, for sharing.

  4. Dawn Lawson says

    March 13, 2019 at 12:40 pm

    Can I just listen to the new theme on loop? XD It just gets the imagination going. This is exciting! I finished only 7 months worth of the Magic Box course a few years ago now and it significantly impacted my approach to making art for the better. Hearing about that course evolving is exciting to hear. Looking forward to Dream Machine updates!

    • Chris Oatley says

      March 13, 2019 at 12:56 pm

      Haha. I’m with you, Dawn! I listen to that track over and over and over… It’s amazing. Seth and Steve at the top of their game, IMO.

      The new Magic Box will launch in waves (to avoid the impossibly overwhelming experience I had back during the launch of Magic Box 1.0). It’s entirely new and infinitely better.

      As for Dream Machine – just join the interest list at http://ChrisOatley.com/dream and after confirming your email address, you’ll receive an auto-response that contains the links for the Interest Meetings and the Application Form. If you already joined and didn’t receive both the welcome email and the email with the aforementioned links, just email us – [email protected] and we’ll send it manually.

      Woohoooo!

  5. Lizzy Person says

    March 13, 2019 at 12:45 pm

    This is all so exciting! The new theme sounds great. Can’t wait to hear new episodes of “The Visual Storytelling Podcast” 🙂

    • Chris Oatley says

      March 13, 2019 at 12:57 pm

      We’re excited to start releasing them! Thanks so much, Lizzy!

  6. Poila Pan says

    March 13, 2019 at 4:46 pm

    Thanks for the update. Fascinating to know the history of the podcast and how it evolved to a form having more structure. Think might have already applied for Dream Machine. I’m in Asia now, so I am unable to go to Artistacon. Looking forward to next update.

  7. Adam Glazer says

    March 13, 2019 at 7:07 pm

    Artistacon 2019? Wow. I never knew about this even though it’s so close this month. Since I’m from Vermont, maybe next year? I got family in Philly so it’s been years since I last stepped foot there.

  8. Bryan N says

    March 13, 2019 at 11:50 pm

    I’m very excited to hear The Visual Storytelling Podcast is in the works. The ArtCast led me to First Flight, and First Flight changed my life and put me on a path of redemption and a way out of art jail. The journey continues of course, but I’m proud of what I have accomplished and look forward to where I am going, all thanks to the things I discovered and learned from you, Chris. I appreciate what you do for the art community and see you as a role model. So…a very big Thank You!

  9. yusef shokry says

    March 14, 2019 at 9:50 am

    Really considering applying to your course, Artistacon sounds like fun to!

  10. Mike Pouch says

    March 14, 2019 at 10:17 am

    I was so thrilled listening to the podcast and hearing that Artistacon is in Philly (where I live)! I managed to arrange some babysitting and ordered my ticket for Saturday! This is my first art convention, so I’m very excited!

    Will there be an OA meetup? Moore is walking distance from the Art Museum and the Rodin…

  11. Captain Dutz says

    March 14, 2019 at 5:08 pm

    Yay! Congrats and awesome news! Really digging the new score too, so much energy 🙂
    Excited for all the new content and so proud of the team, ready for more!

  12. Melissa Peterson says

    March 18, 2019 at 3:50 pm

    Thank you, Chris, for keeping us motivated! We appreciate all that you do!

  13. Neru says

    March 20, 2019 at 9:51 am

    Man I just wanna grab my backpack run- face in the wind- and launch myself over a fence( with pencils in hand of course) 😀 Great score!
    I’ve loved every show of the OA Team. And I was sad to see Shawna goooo TT^TT Where’s Edge? But we’ve always been wowed every time you guys “come back” Always newer, more focused, more streamlined, and really DEEPER. I can tell how serious you guys are about Dream Machine. And that’s what I appreciate about OA, you’ve never been fluff.
    Anyhow. Thanks Team 🙂

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