'If you keep showing up, you can't NOT get better' - an interview with Sandi Hester

We've decided to play around a bit and do some INTERVIEWS. Ooooh. 

First up is artist and YouTuber Sandi Hester, who recently moved from the US into a 100-year-old fixer-upper house in the UK.

Katie (gently) grills Sandi about what it’s been like moving country and keeping her creative practice alive through chaos, health challenges, and renovation dust.

Sandi shares how painting has become her lifeline, why perfectionism is joy’s worst enemy, and how she’s learned to quiet the “blobbity blob” of negative self-talk that plagues so many creatives.

Nice.

💬 In this episode, we talk about:

The big move from America to EnglandHow painting became Sandi’s release and restful place during years of illnessBuilding the “muscles of creativity” to keep making art no matter what’s going onThe “blobbity blob” of self-talk and why you can’t judge your art in the momentGoing back to her older, more figurative painting style after moving to the UKRunning a YouTube channel as a full-time job and how it replaced the gallery routeWhy being messy and human built more trust with her audience than a polished version ever couldThe unseen workload behind one 20-minute YouTube video (and why she can’t start a Patreon!)How perfectionism stops us from creating and why “the best you can do today” is always enoughWhy creatives should enjoy the journey instead of chasing the destinationLearning to separate your self-worth from likes, follows, and algorithm robots 🤖Her advice to artists: stop stressing, stop comparing, and just enjoy the paint sliding across the page

🕰️ Episode Timestamps

00:00 – Introducing Sandi Hester and her big move
 02:00 – Creating through renovation chaos and hard seasons
 05:00 – The “blobbity blob” of mental chatter
 07:00 – Letting go of perfection and learning to just play
 09:00 – Returning to figurative painting (and why everyone thinks England “transformed” her work)
 10:00 – Choosing YouTube over galleries and showing real life online
 12:00 – Filming through health struggles and letting people see the messy truth
 15:00 – The hidden full-time workload behind one short video
 17:00 – Lowering the bar so you can actually make things
 19:00 – Teaching thought process over technique
 21:00 – How the YouTube algorithm punishes missed uploads (“Feed the beast!”)
 24:00 – Doing good work without being salesy
 27:00 – Staying the course even when you feel like bubblegum under a chair
 29:00 – Why the journey is the fun part
 33:00 – Re-training your inner critic
 35:00 – Final encouragements and gratitude

🌈 Links mentioned

Bits of an Artist’s Life – Sandi’s YouTube Channelsandihester.com@sandihesterart on InstagramBits of an Artist’s Life on Substack

Byeeee for now!
 x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) 🚢🎨

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙