14 Artists Told Me What Separates PROs From The Rest

Patreon - / manumercurial
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I sat down with some of the best artists in the world (Pro Illustrators, Animators, Concept Artists, Painters that have worked with companies like Disney, Riot Games, KZbin, DC Comics, Netflix, DreamWorks.. and asked them the questions that, not only gave me a ton of value, but in a way, I really needed to hear their answers.
Combined, they have over 8 million followers and work with the biggest companies in the world. It was truly eye opening to see all these amazing artists go through the same struggles as us, beginner and professional artists. Thank you for allowing me to interview you!
Recorded during Lightbox Expo 2022 #LBX2022 #LightboxExpo ‪@LightBoxExpo‬
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Artists featured in the video:
Proko ‪@ProkoTV‬
/ prokotv
Ross Draws ‪@RossDraws‬
/ rossdraws
Sinix ‪@sinixdesign‬
/ sinixdesign
Marco Bucci ‪@marcobucci‬
/ bucciblog
BaM Animation ‪@BaMAnimation‬
/ brent_noll
/ art_of_maximus
Nathan Fowkes ‪@nfowkesart‬
/ nathanfowkesart
Hozure
/ hozureart
Fortune K.
/ misfortuneee
Tony Bancroft
/ pumbaaguy
BearTheMighty ‪@bearthemighty‬
/ bearthemighty
Luis Gadea
/ luisgadea
Juffles
/ juffles
Nimnoraa
/ nimnoraa
If you want access to the 30 minute extended edit of this video consider checking out my Patreon and its perks:
/ manumercurial
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DISCLAIMER: This video is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something, we'll receive a small commission.
Remember: "Every line you draw, you are one line closer to your dream!"
Thanks for watching!

[@ManuMercurial]

How I Failed at Art and Still Became a Pro Animator kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2GUoJp6erJ9b7M Links to the Featured ARTISTS’ pages in the video description. Thank you so much for your time, for allowing me to interview you, and for being an inspiration to us all! If you want access to the 30 minute extended edit of this video consider checking out my Patreon and its perks: www.patreon.com/ManuMercurial Thanks for being here!

[@ProkoTV]

Thanks for the talk! Great tips from everyone in here.

[@ManuMercurial]

Stan! Thank YOU for your time and everything you do for the art community!! It was such an honor talking with you Truly appreciate your advice!

[@Misti997]

It seems incredible to me that in all the people who speak in the video at no time do they say "you have to learn to stop drawing ugly" or something like that, rather they comment that it is more a matter of avoiding self-sabotage than anything else.

[@ManuMercurial]

Yesss Mysti! That was eye opening for me. We truly are our best ally, yet our worst enemy in our personal art journeys. I loved seeing that! Thanks for watching the video!

[@Rin-dl2gz]

As someone who watches Art youtubers, I appreciate Sinix for telling people about vulnerability. Because other than it’s relatable, art journey becomes less daunting. Sometimes, it feels scary seeing so many skilled artists out there who don’t appear to have some troubles in their art. I don’t know how to explain it very well. Thank you for this video! ❤

[@ManuMercurial]

Whole-heartedly agree! I was surprised by his answer (as you can tell in the video) but it was really reassuring. Made me aim to be more vulnerable in my upcoming videos, let's see how it goes! Thanks for watching!!

[@guardianeatos]

I love to watch Marcel from Draw like a Sir. He is the best to motivate me because he makes it feel like you can get where he's at. He showed his old drawings which were really really bad and give advices which applies to all levels.

[@fidboi2715]

Marco Bucci and Proko are the GOAT and no one can tell me otherwise

[@ManuMercurial]

Absolutely 👊 I'm happy to confirm they are incredibly friendly too!

[@hithisisandreas]

Dayum, Manu, this is fantastic! The production, audio recording quality, everything's on point! 100% agree with Sinix's take as well, vulnerability is everything!

[@ManuMercurial]

Really appreciate it Andreas!! And you can see in the video I also completely agree with Sinix haha!

[@marcobucci]

Thanks for stopping by!

[@ManuMercurial]

Marco! Thank you for your gracious time and sharing your knowledge!! Truly appreciate what you do for all of us artists here on the youtubes!

[@parkersimpson4023]

Thank you for taking the time to do this video, it was super encouraging to hear from the pros at Lightbox! I especially appreciate that you added the gratefulness question too. Gratitude typically doesn't get enough focus, but it is so integral to helping us keep a healthy outlook in our creative journeys. Thanks for being such a genuine guy Manu! Congrats on 30k, looking forward to what the future holds for your channel :)

[@ManuMercurial]

Thank you so very much for the encouragement Parker!! Truly appreciate your support and your kind words. Hope I can keep making every video better than the last and I wish you lots of success in your creative journey!!

[@SevenSinshu]

Ty for this , sometimes its hard getting through the grind of trying to get better but im glad you we’re able to give me an inside look on what it takes to improve. Love your content as always and keep up the amazing work

[@ManuMercurial]

Thanks so very much for being here for this wild ride dom! truly appreciate you taking the time to watch my content. Wish you the best of luck with your art journey! LETS GET IT!!

[@BobbyChiu]

Great video! It's so nice to see everyone again here

[@ManuMercurial]

Bobby! Thanks so much for all your hard work! Both to you and your team. This was my first in person LBX (last year I gave a panel with Wacom) and I had a marvelous time!! I think you can tell, but this was edited with a lot of joy, tons of good memories. Thank you for building such a wonderful event for us artists!! Hope to see you next year!

[@jeiasafck]

I wonder why this video has smaller views, this was SUPER inspirational!! thank you

[@lloydkuijs]

You are creating some really quality stuff! Keep going.

[@ManuMercurial]

Much appreciated! This was a lot of fun so happy to keep making em!

[@teteotolis]

Great questions ! All of them are awesome :)

[@angelocast]

Muy inspirador! y seguro tu le pusistes esos STRINGS al final del video en la parte de GRATEFUL FOR! Grande Manu, nuevo follower aqui. allow ourselves to do art is a huge healing process...and on the way, we support the healing process of others.

[@hoz5055]

Awesome video dude, super cool to see everyone's perspective on stuff!

[@ManuMercurial]

Thank you for your time and your insight brother! So happy I got to meet you!!

[@TheSeeking2know]

Great video again!

[@1Chitus]

Awesome video dude

[@GarredHATES]

You're videos have really helped me alot.

[@ManuMercurial]

Thank you for being here from the start Derpiocy, really appreciate it!

[@butbunwin3107]

The biggest success of everything is : always always don't listen too much. Careful select your goal and plan well than act immediately. Pratice is key and listen is annoying.

[@JuanCarlo8675]

this video was great :0

[@prettyspectrum6371]

Always happy for a new video. I've found out you have an animation course, could you explain more about it ? Don't even need a video, maybe do it in your community part of the channel, I'm rather curious about it

[@ManuMercurial]

Its a 5 hour tutorial on using CSP as an animation tool + some other thingies. I made it for the company Graphixly, which distributes CSP. You can see a breakdown of the video course in their webpage!

[@Troygdesign]

Great idea for a video , super well executed

[@ManuMercurial]

Thank you so very much for your kind words! So glad you enjoyed!!

[@H1dront390]

This really inspired me! After watching your latest vid every youtuber, they all went through the suffer through the same thing which gave me hope that I will be the artist that I want, an animator who tells stories, an artist that will bring impact to even the smallest amount of people. I want to be an artist and an animator who will tell stories, inspire people, and help them. But still, I get help to those who are more experienced than me, you said that community matters that I don't need to be alone in this progress. Even if this is a pre-recorded video I know that you support us artist. I am my own story after all. A character that is relatable, a character that develops very slow but fun same time challenged. We thank you. You really brought my hopes up high even if you are still learning, we are going the right direction, as you and the film said "were not aiming for the truck"

[@ManuMercurial]

I wish you the best of luck in your journey!! 💪

[@H1dront390]

@@ManuMercurial thank you!! I might have not started to animate, I started to animate just at 9th grade, I'm bad at it but I accepted that I would be an idiot especially as a noob animator. I stopped for now so that I would learn how to draw the proportions of a body (specifically the hand). Currently I took a break since I'm on an art block, so after a break I can look at my drawings with a fresh eye. But a question: how do you stay focused or self motivated? I mean I want to be animator for a reason, but I just can't get myself to pick up a pencil, and maybe giving myself guilt for not practicing. I have been down that every artist I know can draw for hours, and I can't even get past a 10min drawing warm up.

[@Fuwita]

This is great inspiration ♡ ama fan myself of them

[@ManuMercurial]

SAME. This was a dream come true HAHA

[@emanuelretamales1485]

Gracias por el video. Es increible que pudieras conocer a todos esos artistas

[@ManuMercurial]

Gracias por sacar el ratito para verlo!

[@reddaneali5997]

Nathan Fawkes is a living legend ! Marco Bucci saved me in color theory and light and shadow comprehension ! Thanks for the good stuff ☺️

[@ManuMercurial]

Same! Learnt so much from all of them over the years, I still can believe I got to talk to them haha!

[@Eric-yd9dm]

Those two leaves on Sinix made me unable to not think of psych2go =P

[@Kairegi]

Hey Manu, you promised to do a video "compositing for animators" in CSP

[@ManuMercurial]

Working on the post production video! But last week I was in Lightbox and I wanted to put this video out first! Thanks for your patience

[@madwolfdrawing]

First comment manuuuu loving your content 😁

[@ManuMercurial]

Legend! Thank you for checking it out!

[@alexmccaleb2152]

Tony Bancroft?! You got O.G.s up in there?

[@sefatsilverlake3816]

Manu y Luis Gadea son ticos?! Me sonaba latino pero saber que son de acá! PV otro nivel de verdad!

[@ManuMercurial]

Esa es! Vamos con todo!!

[@aaronrodriguez5779]

Where’s the post production video 😭😭

[@SoapyWaffles101]

I LOVE YOU

[@este_marco]

what' with the sound??

[@RinnieRoo]

👀👀👀👀👀👀 did- did u say someone from riot games was there 👀👀👀👀👀👀 (Also: great video!! I was all eyes and ears to what each artist was sayin' 👀👂✨)

[@ManuMercurial]

Hehe thanks so much for watching the video! Funny story is I met Hozure 4 years ago, before he had started working for Riot. He's always been so incredibly hard working so about a year later he did some freelances, and then BOOM he got picked up and relocated to Los Angeles. And this was the first time I got to meet him in person. It was my first time meeting Fortune K. She's the nicest, most caring person I talked to the whole week for real! So cool!! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@RinnieRoo]

@@ManuMercurial hello again. I was curious if you were planning on making another Art A.I. video since a lot has changed and happened since... or perhaps you will talk about another topic ..?

[@ManuMercurial]

@@RinnieRoo Hi Rinnie! The whole A.I landscape is changing so rapidly I'm kind of watching from the sidelines for now. I do plan on making a video later this year when my original video turns 1 year old and compare how much everything has changed and which predictions turned out true! That will be interesting. Thanks for reaching out!

[@noirlavender6409]

proco and ross are overly ovverrated, I wish you could have talked with people like Artgem and Mike Inel instead :c

[@someuser4166]

i woudnt call proko overated. he has by far the highest production value and hes one of the OG KZbin art teachers.

[@odelynedoodles]

Nice to see a lot of faces from BBLand

[@dotdotdotdotdash]

is this guy portuguese ? He has a very cool Portuguese accent