Leaving the Comfort Zone and Reinventing Yourself with LeUyen Pham

Episode #307 | Art by Lee White

Want to reinvent yourself? LeUyen Pham joins Jake Parker and Sam Cotterill to share her journey of continuous evolution and artistic expansion, and how you can effectively transform your life and art, too.

SHOW LINKS

LEUYEN PHAM: leuyenpham.com, @uyenloseordraw

As I Dream of You graphic novel

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Experience breeds confidence. Put mileage in your sketchbook to build confidence in your final art. 

• Design your career based on your priorities, not expediency. 

• Each project is a stepping stone to somewhere else; accept work that challenges you in the direction you want to go.

• Agitation = growth. Don’t let frustration derail your progress; it’s an indication of improvement.

• Stop focusing on accolades and approval; take the work that resonates with your creative goals.

• Pushing your own borders is the key to staying fresh, inspired, and relevant.

SUMMARY

LeUyen Pham is a prolific children’s book illustrator and author with more than 140 books to her name. Born in Saigon, South Vietnam, she received her Bachelor of Arts from the Art Center College of Design in 1996. She worked as a layout artist at DreamWorks Animation for several years post-graduation before quitting to illustrate children’s books full-time. Leaving DreamWorks—an enviable job with great pay—was a daring choice, but Uyen was determined to continue growing artistically, even if it meant sacrificing security. In all aspects of her creative career, she has pushed herself to leave the familiar and forge outside her comfort zone, plumbing the depths of her potential. 

The last word you could use to describe Uyen is complacent. With every book, her style evolves (much to the chagrin of early agents and the delight of current publishers). She views every project as a stepping stone, something that helps her grow and prepare for the next opportunity. With this in mind, she takes full advantage of the work in front of her, reinventing her style to keep things fresh for herself and for clients. 

Uyen advocates for growth—the real, messy, un-Instagrammable kind. If your sketchbooks are picture-perfect from start to finish, she declares, you’re not improving. Like diaries, sketchbooks are private places for your eyes only to express yourself, experiment with ideas, and fail. They’re a place to put in mileage, allowing you to create with confidence when it matters most. They’re for practice, not performance. 

Uyen encourages illustrators to focus not merely on what seems expedient to advance professionally, but on what will further their goals. She is a living example that success comes not from a job title or prestige, but from following the dreams placed in your heart and having the courage, work ethic, and determination to bring them to life. She is proof that you can reinvent any aspect of your life, from your art style to your career path, so long as you do the work to get there.