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#37 Anime and Pottery w/ Summer Whiteside
29 Plays3 years ago
On this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nic Torres we had Summer Whiteside on. Summer makes some incredibly detailed anime mugs. you will learn a bunch from this episode
Top 3 value bombs:
- How to make anime mugs!
- The Value of taking breaks and how it actually improves your workflow
- Why making what you actually like to make will transform your business.
and so much more.
Go check out Summers amazing pottery on Instagram @summers_ceramicarts
Have questions about pottery send them to Nic on Instagram @nictorres_pottery
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
If you love pottery and want to take your skills to the next level, you're in the right place. Find your own pottery style right here on Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Let's get started.
Guest Introduction: Summer Whiteside
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome to Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Today I have Summer Whiteside and I am very excited about this interview because she makes some awesome anime mugs and I love anime.
Tattoos and Pottery: Finding Parallels
00:00:26
Speaker
Summer
00:00:27
Speaker
How are you today and what is something you love other than pottery? I'm good. I'm really excited to talk to you too. And something I love other than pottery right now especially is tattoos and like tattooing in general. I have a bunch and it's kind of my like current addiction slash obsession. I just think the whole field is really cool and I am constantly spending too much money on them.
00:00:56
Speaker
Does having like tattoos kind of inspire your work a little bit? I definitely think so. I think, you know, in a weird way, I kind of look at like the way that I put my illustrations on mugs is kind of like tattooing the mugs. And I definitely, you know, the work that I have on me is a lot of anime stuff. And so it's just kind of my way of like fully embodying my work and what I love about it. That is awesome. So now
From Failure to Fame: Anime Mugs
00:01:23
Speaker
Would you mind telling me the story how you started making your anime mugs? Yeah. So, you know, I was thinking about this before and I realized that it coincided with a shop restock that I had had around Christmas where I was selling just like my old carved work. And the shop restock was a big flop. I sold like three pieces and was feeling really defeated and really bored with what I was currently making.
00:01:50
Speaker
So just for fun, and just for myself, I made like a handful of these anime pieces. And, you know, in doing so again, I just thought this just for fun, it's just kind of break out of the mold for right now, but it isn't anything I'll keep up with. But they were so fun, and I really loved it. And as soon as I started posting them, they started getting a ton of attention, and suddenly people wanted them. And so it kind of fell into place then. And I just
00:02:16
Speaker
kind of quickly threw away everything else and moved forward with the anime stuff. What did this do to your business? How did it transform it?
00:02:24
Speaker
It basically transformed it in every way. It kind of was like night and day. Because all of a sudden, not only did people want these, but they were like willing to like wait for them and like line up and like, you know, kind of like begging me for them, so to speak. So like I very quickly had to quit all my other side jobs, like I was teaching and I was working for a couple of other potters.
00:02:48
Speaker
And it very quickly became obvious that if I was going to fulfill this many orders, I had to go full time. So I transitioned to being a full-time artist. And I mean, it really, again, it was night and day. And it's still been crazy because it was so fast, too. It was like out of the blue all of a sudden. It was a huge thing. But so, yeah, it changed it completely.
Avoiding Burnout: The Importance of Breaks
00:03:18
Speaker
What would you say has been your biggest challenge since you've been making these anime mugs?
00:03:23
Speaker
So truly, I think it would be different for each person, but for me personally, it's been like saying no and setting boundaries and not overworking myself. With how fast all of this happened, I kind of felt like saying no or taking a step back or slowing down felt somehow like giving up this amazing like stroke of luck that I had gotten. So I felt like I needed to be
00:03:53
Speaker
just cranking out orders and taking on tons of customs and opening really long wait lists and doing all these things and in the process was burning myself out. And that's still currently my biggest challenge is just not overworking myself, which again is partially a personal thing. I have a tendency to be that way with anything in my life. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but that's definitely been the hardest thing for me is like knowing when to take breaks.
00:04:21
Speaker
So how have you kind of controlled yourself to tell yourself to really take breaks when you need them?
00:04:30
Speaker
It was partially just an understanding. I had just a moment where I realized I just have to. I just have to take breaks. And part of it was my body was starting to project how much I was working, that I started to have really bad neck pain all the time, almost constantly. And I started having to look into going and getting massages and chiropractors. And I was like,
00:04:52
Speaker
This is this is too much. They're like, you know, I'm only 23. My body shouldn't be feeling like this. I'm working too much. And so it kind of became this idea of like, I just have to and I remember I got a message from someone on Instagram. I don't remember who was just one of my followers who made the comment to me that they were like,
00:05:08
Speaker
if you burn yourself out or you hurt yourself then nobody gets mugs because you hurt yourself and you have to take a long break so like you need to rest because it doesn't help anybody if you burn yourself out um which was kind of a realization it was like yeah that's true nobody can get the mugs if i can't make any because i work way too hard so um you know it's kind of been like
00:05:32
Speaker
At first it was forcing myself to take a break and now it's kind of become ingrained in my routine a little bit. So now it's a little bit easier. But the first step was just to put my foot down and tell myself I had to. That is great. For those that are listening, it's okay to take breaks. You need breaks in order to be more productive.
Anime Inspirations: Favorite Shows
00:05:51
Speaker
Now that we got this, what is your favorite anime?
00:05:56
Speaker
So this question is so hard, because for one, it kind of changes. But I kind of have a few that are like my favorites for different reasons. But I'm always quick to say Beast Stars, even though it gets a lot of hate. People kind of, it's kind of like the, you know, like
00:06:14
Speaker
people to tell you you're a furry if you watch that but it's not. The story is really great in there and the art and the manga I really love and then of course like the classics like Naruto is so good and will always be so good it's like you know kind of like one of the one of the top ones and will always be
00:06:31
Speaker
And then I also really love Demon Slayer. I think, you know, I know that's one of the ones that's like hot in the community right now. But the show's focus on empathy is so good. And I mean, you know, ignoring everything else, the art in it is incredible. As we all know, I mean, they've outdone themselves with the animation. And so that's one of the animes I get really inspired by just watching just from the visuals alone. That is great. I love this because I like anime a lot too.
00:06:59
Speaker
So now could you walk me through how you make one of your anime mugs?
Crafting Process: From Throwing to Glazing
00:07:07
Speaker
You know, it would take me probably forever to do like start to finish every single step. But so like the, you know, the making of the actual mug itself, I do throw everything. So they're wheel thrown and then, you know, trimmed handles attached to all that kind of stuff. I kind of consider that like a making my canvas, so to speak. And then once that part is done, they all get smoothed out really nice so that there's no blemishes or anything before I sketch on them.
00:07:34
Speaker
And then they get their sketch, which I have a lot of information on this on my Instagram, but it's kind of a mixture of using a printed out image as a stencil and free handing. And then I use a stylus tool to just gently press the lines into the clay, just barely. It's like almost not even visible. Then once that is done, then usually I block in colors first with my underglaze. So like every color other than black, I'll block that in.
00:08:01
Speaker
And then after that's done, then I move into the black details and the black line work. From there, they get their first firing. And then when they come out of kiln, then they get any glaze details that are real glaze and not under glaze.
00:08:18
Speaker
They get those and then I use latex and I use wax depending on like what exactly I'm covering. Mostly these days it's latex. So I paint latex over the designs, then they get their exterior glaze. I peel the latex off and clean up the whole thing and then they get their second firing. That's kind of the shorthand version, but that's basically that.
00:08:45
Speaker
So you make your pieces like they have so much detail. Could you explain a little bit further how you get that detail?
00:08:52
Speaker
Lots of tiny paintbrushes is kind of the thing. I was a painter before I found pottery. That's what I originally wanted to do was like illustration and illustrate children's books. So I've kind of had my hands on a paintbrush a lot longer than I've had it in clay. So I kind of attribute my ability to get those tiny details from that.
00:09:15
Speaker
But a lot of it is taking it really slow. Those kind of details, you just can't rush them. And then there's lots of little tips and tricks. The right brush is really important. Having the underglaze be just the right consistency is really important. If it's too runny, then the moment your brush touches it, it's going to move where you don't want it to. If it's too thick, then when you try to pull a line, it's going to drag. So it's kind of like all these things intermingled together.
00:09:45
Speaker
I also think that like I paint on greenware.
00:09:48
Speaker
and only green ware, I never paint on bisque ware. And I think that makes a big difference too. The paintbrush tends to glide a little bit better over unfired clay, at least in my experience than fired clay. But yeah, kind of just like taking a long time. And I do, I paint really close to the mug too. Like usually I'm like leaning in and it's like inches away from my face. So kind of like, almost like I'm using a magnifying glass and just like itty bitty teeny tiny little things.
Tools and Techniques
00:10:16
Speaker
What is a favorite tool or tools that you have besides the paintbrush?
00:10:21
Speaker
So one of my favorite tools that I use for a few different things is the L1 tool from Diamondcore. It's their needle tool, basically. It has a stylus on the other end as well. I love all their tools, really. They have great stuff. But that tool in particular, I really like the needle end of it. I use sometimes, if I do happen to go outside of a line a little bit where I don't want it,
00:10:47
Speaker
I can use that needle end and just like ever so slightly gently like scrape that away, basically. And if I'm gentle enough with it, it's almost unnoticeable. So it's kind of my little like cheat.
00:11:02
Speaker
as far as the painting is concerned, which is another reason I paint at the greenware stage compared to Bisware, because I couldn't do that if it was Bisware. But yeah, definitely that tool. You know, you said other than paintbrush, but I do want to say that I have one favorite paintbrush that is so old. I think I had it from
00:11:22
Speaker
when I painted watercolor that the number on the side of it to tell me like what size it is has been completely rubbed off. And it's just my one magic brush. I don't know what I'll do when it finally gives out. It's been full of love. Yeah. But yeah, the L1 tool is great.
Design Considerations and Glaze Choices
00:11:38
Speaker
So when you are glazing your pottery, not the underglaze, but the glaze, how do you approach it so it kind of matches the design?
00:11:46
Speaker
Well, you know, I think, for the most part, when I think of a character, my brain has like an almost immediate association with a certain color, like Naruto and like yellow or orange, and like Tanjiro and green, and Gojo and purple. They're kind of like, they come to my mind immediately.
00:12:04
Speaker
I think part of that is, you know, it can be something as straightforward as like the color the character wears most of the time or like, you know, the color that their like power is when it's animated. But sometimes too, I think it's like the overall like vibe or theme of the movie. If the color is kind of common, like with Howl's Moving Castle, there's kind of like lots of blue and all different shades of blue. So that's my biggest thing is just what color do I think will fit this character as far as the characters like,
00:12:34
Speaker
vibe. But then you know I'm also always considering the artistic side of it so like if the design has a lot of black with a lot of solid black or just a lot of really dark colors I'll usually try to steer away from some of my darker glazes like my black and my dark blue because it can kind of take away from the detail because it's just too much it kind of will blend into the background.
00:12:56
Speaker
But that being said, there's exceptions to that too. But yeah, for the most part, just kind of like what my mental association is with the characters.
Advice for Aspiring Potters
00:13:06
Speaker
So if you had to give three pieces of advice to someone kind of looking to make pottery like you do, what would what would those advice be?
00:13:15
Speaker
Um, so, you know, I thought about this question for a long time, so I was really trying to think and some of them, some of these answers are more broad and so could probably help people making other kinds of pottery as well, but some are more specific. Um, but the first one that's very broad is like, just start. Um, like I feel like you hear that all the time and it's, it sounds cliche, but you know,
00:13:37
Speaker
don't think that you need to wait until you have learned enough or think you're good enough or think you're ready to start. You just need to start. The only way you're gonna get better at making them is if you're making them. And that's kind of, you have to be putting the work out to be improving.
00:13:56
Speaker
And that kind of goes hand in hand with like, don't go into it expecting, like having a solid outcome in your mind and thinking if it doesn't look like this, I failed. Because I mean, you know with pottery and any potter knows with pottery, lower your expectations in the beginning, especially until you solidly know what you're doing. Don't bet too much on success because you have to become okay with failure.
00:14:25
Speaker
But then I would say the other thing, and I think this is a big thing, with these kind of illustrations, that you need to consider the entire piece, whether it's a cup or a bowl or whatever, and how your design is going to fit on that piece and work with it, not against it, because it's a 3D object. I think, you know,
00:14:49
Speaker
with any potter of that design, you know, you have to think about the whole thing. But I think if you're just like, you know, carving a pattern into the mug, it's naturally going to work with the mug because you're just following the shape of the mug. But with I think with an illustration like this, you need to think from the ground up, like, it's why my pieces have like straight walls is so like other than maybe the occasional ramen bowl. But you need to think about how it's going to lay on the mug.
00:15:15
Speaker
and work overall as a composition of the entire thing. Yeah, I'm trying to think anything else about that particular point. It's just you want the whole thing to look cohesive. You want it to look like they belong together, that mug and that illustration kind of thing.
00:15:36
Speaker
Oh, and then number three, and this is a big one with all pottery, but especially this kind of stuff, to really get to know your glazes. So for like my kind of work where I might spend 13 hours painting the design with underglaze, I don't want to risk that getting just absolutely covered up and ruined by glaze and the kiln. It would be like a devastating loss of time.
00:16:01
Speaker
So that being said, I've really gotten to know my selection of glazes that I use. And so I know that it won't run as long as it's the correct thickness or all that kind of stuff. But definitely do that early on in your venture to make illustrations like this. Any kind of illustrations that are going to take you a really long time, you need the glaze to stay off of. And that can just be fairly simple tests. You just need to know what's going to run and what's not going to run.
00:16:30
Speaker
I wouldn't, you know, wouldn't want people to get into this and make a bunch of illustrations. And then at the end, just have them all be covered up by glazes. And glazing is one of the harder parts of pottery anyway. So definitely just yeah, get to know your glazes. That was very powerful. That was super good. So when someone buys a piece of pottery from you, what do you want them to kind of feel when they pick it up and start drinking out of it?
00:16:55
Speaker
You know, I thought about this one for a long time too. I think a big thing that I want, I want them to feel like I did the character justice and feel like I, I like captured that character's like essence and like personality in the mug, whether that be from just the design itself and the use of colors and all of that. I want them to feel like a little bit like I brought it to life like in physical form. And that kind of comes hand in hand with like,
00:17:23
Speaker
I love the idea that people can use these. I know not everybody who buys my work does. Sometimes they get put on a shelf and looked at. But I love the idea of people using them because I love that like you know you'd open your cabinet in the morning and even if you didn't grab that mug and use it that day that seeing it might have put a smile on your face that morning that you wouldn't have had had that mug not been in your cabinet kind of thing.
00:17:47
Speaker
I know you really like anime. I think the anime community as a whole is really great. And I think that a lot of these shows have their people's comfort shows or they've helped people through a rough time. And so I think being able to give them a reminder of that that they can use in their daily life is really meaningful to me. That's such a great way to look at this. I really like that.
Daily Routine and Finding Inspiration
00:18:14
Speaker
When you are getting ready to just make pottery in general, what does your routine look like? For example, I always go poop and listen to music before making pottery. I have a home studio, so I try to change out of pajamas because I know that I'll be more productive if I don't stay in my pajamas all day.
00:18:37
Speaker
Um, so that's what I try to do in the beginning. And then, um, I, you know, I brush my teeth and get ready basically. Um, and then I make a cup of coffee and that's like one of my favorite parts of my day. Cause I do have quite the mug collection. And so I enjoy going and like picking out which mug I'm going to use for the day. That alone is a little bit of inspiration. Um, and then I come in and I sit down at my desk where I paint, but when I first sit down, I just drink that cup of coffee and I usually check Instagram.
00:19:06
Speaker
So I check my notifications and I also, you know, watch the stories of my like favorite artists on there and things like that. And I feel like usually it like gives me some inspiration, usually checking my notifications gives me inspiration of like seeing the continual support of all of my followers and kind of like this idea of seeing
00:19:25
Speaker
Oh yeah, there's people who like are waiting for new work and want new work and love what I do. And it's like encouragement to do it. And then also, you know, all the great artists on Instagram, it's just kind of inspirational and it like wakes up that creative part of me. And then I get started. That is great. So if you had to give one piece of advice to someone kind of looking to find their own unique style, what would that be?
00:19:51
Speaker
So again, I feel like this is cliche and the answer that most people give, but I think to have fun, to genuinely make what feels fun, and to not think about it too much when you're trying to find a style. I spent a long time
00:20:10
Speaker
analyzing other people's work and thinking about what do I want my style to be? What should my style be? What should I be making? Even thoughts like what can I make that will sell? What can I make that people will want? I would say try to avoid those thoughts completely and just make what you love to make and what's fun for you to make and keep doing that and your style will come from that.
00:20:36
Speaker
You know, like with my stuff, my favorite thing when I first got into pottery was carving. I love to carve deep surface texture on pots. That's what I was doing before the anime mugs, but they weren't really selling. They were pretty, but people, you know, it was just kind of like it's a carved pot kind of deal.
00:20:56
Speaker
But when I started making the anime mugs, which I also loved, it's, you know, anime is a big portion of my life and a big obsession. So bringing that into it was because I knew it would be fun. And then eventually I found a way to still incorporate some carving, which like I do on the bottom of the pots. And you know, each of these things kind of came separately. But it was like, just as I went, I kept being like, I really love this. So I'm going to include it. And I really love this. So I'm going to include it. And then
00:21:22
Speaker
After making so many of them, a style has emerged. And I can tell, I mean, it's still changing because I've only been making these since January. But I really believe that if you like what you're making and you just keep doing it and you make as much as you can, that your style will just naturally form. That is great. So those are listening. I'll give a little recap. It's make what you want and have fun doing it and keep on making and making and making pottery.
Embrace Creativity: Overcoming Challenges
00:21:52
Speaker
So as we're wrapping up here, could you tell the audience one thing that you want them to take away from this interview? Let's see. I think, you know, if you're just starting out with pottery, don't let it discourage you to see how many people are out there making pottery. I know Instagram is like, you know, just full of potters now and all that kind of stuff. Just kind of put your head down and
00:22:20
Speaker
make what you want to make and enjoy it and everything else will fall into place. Don't think too much about how you want to stand out or any of that stuff and don't let yourself be discouraged if your first few sales don't do well. Just keep trying things and keep making stuff and it will all fall into place. That is absolutely amazing.
Connect with Summer Whiteside
00:22:43
Speaker
Summer, where can my audience go and find your pottery and just check your workout?
00:22:49
Speaker
My Instagram is the best place and the username for that is summers. So my name with an S at the end, underscore ceramic arts. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Do you have questions about pottery that you'd like Nick to answer? Send them to us on Instagram at Nick Torres underscore pottery. We'll see you next time.