Art journal podcast by Rob Stenzinger, sharing thoughts on his various creative projects and adventures ranging from user experience design, creating comics, making video games, to interactive design.
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Rob Stenzinger Podcasts
The Lean Into Art Cast serves visual and interactive storytellers with topics and coversation that explores design thinking, creative communication, visual arts, comics, illustration, creative coding, and more.
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Join the Art and Science Punks as they reflect on their latest art, science and tech projects, gadgets, and experiments. Rob and Kate are lifelong learners with kids exploring and sharing creativity, sometimes with great success and sometimes with great failure, but always with laughter (and occasionally tears).
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Word Turtle Island is now 1.0. Four years in the making and here it is. Officially released on Apple's App Store, Steam, Google Play, and Itch! I share what it's like now with it officially the full version, things I would and wouldn't recommend doing again looking back at the development path of WTI, and a bit about the game I'm prototyping next. …
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An intertwined creative challenge: make a more ambitious game than I've made before, make it work as a business, and succeed in marketing it well. In this Polytechnicast I focus on the marketing part of that challenge and what I've learned these past few months publishing a video every single day. Especially the adapting from being stressed about a…
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Not sure when exactly the marketing push should have started with Word Turtle Island but I do see it needs to be happening now. In this epsisode of the Polytechnicast I'm exploring the creative challenge I started to do daily video posts, while also doing more marketing, while also getting Word Turtle Island ready for it's next updates in June and …
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Two main topics this episode. First it's what I've been learning so far with making small videos while exploring topics like teaching interactive design, show and tell about Word Turtle Island, and even video blogging inspired by the old Art Soundoff creative challenge. Second it's about reaching a point of saturation in learning by researching wit…
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Last episode of the Polytechnicast I shared some projects I'd begun and was about do dive into. These are the spinning plates driving this episode. Did any fall? Are there more plates spinning? Related Links and Resources Fourthwall - Rob Stenzinger's Workshops + Creative Designs + Merch Store Word Turtle Island - The Arcade Machine - Photos From W…
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Sharing some work in progress and what led me to this point - getting back into teaching interactive design and how I've begun making a physical arcade machine for my game Word Turtle Island. In a nutshell I have a few months of ambitious work and this is my planning and thinking about it all. Outline: Starts with how I focused on making WTI for 2.…
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A question from someone who knows someone who met me at 2D Con. Every person's path is their own but it's also fun to learn how olther folks got to where they are. Related Links and Resources Word Turtle Island on Google Play Word Turtle Island on Steam Word Turtle Island on Itch (free demo available) Ask Me Anything — Blog of an Interactive Storyt…
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Earlier this summer I visited Columbus Ohio to visit my friends Anne and Jerzy Drozd. Part of the plan for our visit was to make some creative experiments together, one of them is this very recording with Jerzy. For the first time I can think of both he and I are launching products at the same time. Both projects took years of development. Both we …
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A new ask me anything form. Some example topics to ask me about like why I made a game for 2.5 years without publishing a whole lot about it publicly. And most important - it's official that Word Turtle Island is going to be available publicly as an early access game on Steam and Google Play June 21, 2024! Related Links and Resources Word Turtle Is…
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Wort and Portia from Word Turtle Island About 2.5 years. That's how long I've been working on Word Turtle Island to get it ready to publish as an early access game. It's about the right time to be getting the word out and to get myself into practice with showing up social. Practicing being more present even if it's chaotic and inconsistent. Such as…
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This is Spell, the magical cat who hosts a save place to practice spelling words. In the middle of working on my next big game Word Turtle Island, where you use words as weapons to battle creatures taking away the books of power, the idea for Spell's Spelling came to me. In this episode of the Polytechnicast I reflect on how this came about and how…
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In the overlapping circles of feasible, viable, desirable, what is the emphasis and culture practiced? I received a question via my Mastodon account about minimum lovable product vs minimum viable product. @[email protected]: "So @robstenzinger I was just reading about “minimum Lovable product” vs “minimum Viable product” because you want to ha…
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W-O-R-D up. Reflecting on game development and how it feels affirming in a way that other video game projects meet delays. I thought I'd have Word Turtle Island ready for first or even early access by now yet I also feel good about how it's coming along. Related Links and Resources Why are so many video games delayed and cancelled? - Verdict Why Vi…
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Prototype cards for my creative warm up cards game Doodle Creatures Have Needs. An update about Word Turtle Island and a few other projects I tried to finish this month. Related Links and Resources More posts and extras like coaching sessions at my Buy Me a Coffee page (coaching sessions are all sold out at the moment) Interactive Storyteller blog …
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In this episode I ask why I've posted so few things in 2022. It's a bit about what I'm currently working on and it's also something I've been trying to figure out for years. Related Links and Resources More posts and extras like coaching sessions at my Buy Me a Coffee page Interactive Storyteller blog Sign up for my newsletter Games and Classes Rob…
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This week Kate and Rob discuss what we're doing with the podcast for season 5 and how our schedule is now based literally on the full moon. We ask what do we love about our recent individual projects and what do we find challenging. Related Links and Resources Moon VR Project Scene Test - YouTube NASA and Art: A Collaboration Colored with History |…
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Episode 88: Journal of Recent Adventures and We are Back
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This week Kate and Rob discuss how we've been away from this project for a while, piecing together a little over a year hiatus. We talk about Kate's battle and overcoming/survivor-thriver outcome with breast cancer and how writing when you give no effs was a powerful outlet for her. We're starting a new season of the show, ready to explore and see …
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Whether the work that you take on is building on skillful work in the past or not, things got to the way they are for some reason. Now you're here. In this journal I share reasons to find others past work as useful research and signals to help instead of joining a narrative that it has little to no value. Even if that past work wasn't well done, it…
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Have you been part of an organization that seems to repeat projects that don't learn much from one another? It's a thing I've wondered: why do companies forget? This episode of the Polytechnicast I journal about group memory and wonder if it would be helpful to remember what different teams have tried and learned in the past. Is it because we resis…
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Any path that brings you to journaling about your art, here I share some context around planning what you'd want to get out of your journaling plus choosing and creating prompts that are a good fit for what you want. Related Links and Resources Art Soundoff Customizing Your Next Creative Challenge, join the class at Skillshare or download your own …
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Originally broadcast May 3, 2019. Jerzy’s begun a new comics project, and it’s been a while since we’ve had an art demo on the LIA Cast, so this week join Jerzy and Rob for a demonstration and discussion on designing sound elements in your comics using Clip Studio Paint. Sponsors for this episode Science Comics: Rockets Art & Science Punks Lean Int…
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Ready for another day of work, yet not feeling it. So many valid reasons to be in that situation… yet also having due dates and commitments to meet. Sometimes the work is rewarding and the outcomes too, people liking what you do, paying you for it, it’s all awesome. Yet still…sitting there, ready to write, draw, code…and Just. Not. Moving. Or distr…
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Something I'm grateful for is to be on a learning adventure together with folks I've worked with. At times I get questions from folks who listen to the show and folks I've been on teams with in the past. I'm going to include all this in a category of listener questions and make a few Polytechnicasts based on these questions. In this episode I get a…
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Working on the thumbnails for your next comic and discovered you’ve sketched dozens of pages of talking heads? We cartoonists can put the reader’s eye wherever we can imagine, so why don’t we? But how do you know where to put the reader’s eye? In today’s Lean Into Art Mini-Workshop Rob and Jerzy are going to help you find more visual interest on yo…
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Posting socially is something most independent creators need to work with. I've often been the show up when I've made something, share it, then mostly hang back and like other folks stuff approach. But I know that I can do better, reach folks who I'm here to help. It takes more than that occasional post and that's what I'm hoping to dig into with J…
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When you sit down to write a blog post is that a comfortable creative activity? Are there times when it feels like the words are stuck or just not sure how to say what you’re really trying to say? Recently Rob finished a 100 days in a row blogging challenge. That project and other writing he's done in recent years for team collaboration, manifestos…
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We’ve all been there--you start out with the promise of a new day, a reasonably curated to-do list, and a commitment to make your art. And suddenly you look at the clock and it’s the end of the day and all you have to show for it is seven or eight little piles of unfinished good intentions. This happens to all of us. Whatever your skill level, it’s…
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Frustrated that you can’t find a way to bring the big feelings you get from others’ art into your own? Maybe you just need to train your analytic eye to level up your inferencing skills. Being able to look for and identify the ideas behind the art can lend you insights to help you get back on track and feel motivated to create again. Sponsors for t…
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Clarity competes with other concerns when writing and illustrating - what’s a useful approach to get enough information and emotion into the page? When should you be going for clarity vs inspiring awe? Sponsors for this episode Boulder and Fleet: Mining for Trouble Rob's Listening Like a Coach workshop Lean Into Art Discord Thanks to our top Patreo…
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Are you in meetings in person or on screen where you’re taking notes in front of folks? When we're listening to learn from a conversation even one other person or to work in a group we use a similar style of note-taking for both situations. It’s about understanding what we're hearing and can reflect back to the people in the room. Honor the obvious…
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Every once in a while we feel like we're in over our heads, whether it’s due to the number of tasks we've committed to, ambiguity of the tasks, or just feeling a bigger-than-usual sense of friction between the tasks and us. When this happens it helps to check in with a friend, so Jerzy talks with Rob today to see where they both land when talking a…
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It’s no big reveal that time tracking and journaling can be invaluable tools to help you find the time to focus on your creative work. But how do you pick the one that’s right for you and how do you use it? We look at some options and use cases. Sponsors for this episode Science Comics Rockets Rob's Listening Like a Coach workshop Lean Into Art Dis…
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Rob feels he has a variety of advocacy ideas tangled up and thinks it’ll be super useful talking with Jerzy on today’s show - he’s been doing advocacy through comics for years! Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob's Listening Like a Coach Workshop Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Kids Read Comics The SRSLY Coalition Thanks t…
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Ever wonder what those paneling tools do in Clip Studio Paint? You’ll be surprised by how much they can speed up your work. Join Jerzy and Rob for a Mini Workshop episode where they demo 3 awesome power-ups in Clip Studio Paint. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later Rob's workshops and coaching Lean Into Art Discord Links mentioned: Cl…
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When we make things, write stories, any creative work needs input. Sometimes that’s focused research, other times it’s the indirect idea fuel of taking time to recharge, play games, watch, and read things that give us energy. Join us for an exploration of what we've been reading/watching/playing. Sponsors for this episode Four Million Years Later R…
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Ever think about participating in hourly comics day or similar comics events?Avoid entirely but think about it still?Or try and get stuck?We’re going to take the worksheet my students use in the Customizing Your Next Creative Challenge workshop. Then we’ll put it to use to puzzle out a frequent comics-making challenge. Will we go with hourly? Daily…
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