Sneaky Artist

A decade (or so) ago I was writing in a coffee shop when a man with a sketchbook approached me with questions about how to survive as an artist without formal training. I answered as best I could.

Now that man has a global following of over 300,000 Instagram followers, over 20,000 Substack subscribers, and at every stop on the tour for his new book the rooms are full to overflowing. All because he risked going off on a tangent.

In reading the introduction to Make (Sneaky) Art, I was struck by how we both left promising careers (him in neuroscience, me in nursing) for far more uncertain pursuits. And as I continued to read, I was struck by how although he is a graphic artist and I am a typist, and although our backgrounds are divergent, our mindset and determination overlap. We are both the product of benevolent mentors and happy tangents. How lovely it is to recall this man speaking his dream that day in the coffee shop and see him living it now. Congratulations, Nishant Jain.