Shadowing Practice: days in my life making art ✏️ gouache paintings, packing september mail club, illustrating - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I'm
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going to
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go to the next video.
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Hey everyone, it's Lin again, and today I'm going to be taking you through my day in life, making art, very fun.
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There's so many times where I'm doing a lot of admin work or logistics,
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you know, trying to do the business side of things and all I want to do is sit down and make stuff.
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Today is finally one of those days.
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Even if I start my day off late, I like to do things for myself at the beginning of the day.
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The only time I jump straight into work is when there's really urgent deadlines and I'm stressed.
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Easing my way into the bigger projects, it's better for my workflow.
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I start with gouache studies typically.
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I try to do two a day.
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I've kind of fallen off because I've had friends visiting town.
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I've been launching the Patreon and so I'm gonna finish a gouache study that I started and hopefully do one more.
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I usually spend around like 90 minutes on these and
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while that's happening I am going to keep printing my address and stuff on the mailing envelopes.
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It's kind of a slow process I realized.
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I need to outsource it for the future
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but I already bulk ordered over 2,000 envelopes so I will keep printing on them until I use them all.
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I'm
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going to go.
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I'm
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going to
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go to the next episode.
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Oh, Jesus.
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I'm
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going to
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go to the next one so
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yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
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yeah I'm gonna come back for 2 minutes Wow. So good.
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Okay, so I finished my gouache studies for today.
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I really like the first one.
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It's vivid and bright and it came together so well once I decided to add the black.
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And then the second one, it's just okay.
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I feel like I rushed through it because I underestimated how much detail the background has, but I did not want to spend that much time on it.
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These are just practice paintings for me, so they're not going to be sold or posted anywhere besides here.
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And I also printed a ton of envelopes and you can probably still hear the printer going in the background.
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I'm a little bit more behind today.
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That's the theme of the day being a little bit behind
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because I found out that Dolly Parton passed on that she died and I'm like, oh my gosh I had to call my mom immediately
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because she was a huge huge huge Dolly Parton fan Well still she she still is
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but she was in love with Dolly Parton and her music
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and her philanthropy since I was a young kid And
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so I had to call her and tell her about it
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And then I also helped her with some technological issues and troubleshooted her phone because her iMessage wasn't working.
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Anyways, I'm behind, but it's okay.
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I do have a concert to go to tonight.
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I'm going to see Eli.
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Real work things I need to finish.
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I have to illustrate some of the drawings for my Patreon letter.
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Okay, so yesterday I got the stock of stickers for September Mail Club,
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which thank you y'all so much for selling out pretty much within the day.
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I'm super grateful and I did not order enough to expand the mail club
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but for October I'll make sure to open pre-orders for long enough so I can gauge how much I order from there.
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I went through and separated each one A grade from B grade examined for any imperfections.
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In the mail club you're getting a sticker sheet
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if you ordered early enough you're also getting this huge freebie
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and then a postcard and I still have to write the actual letter.
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I'm also gonna put some webcomic-esque panels in there so I'm gonna illustrate and write that, format it, and then I have some sticker ideas, vinyl sticker ideas.
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So we're gonna try to at least knock those out before the concert tonight.
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Yes.
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So the idea is that, you know, you're like...
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Like a car.
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Like a duo.
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Like a car.
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Like a duo.
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Okay.
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It was possible for today.
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Yum yum, you're gonna finish it for me.
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I'm sorry.
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The Oh,
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my God.
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I'm sorry.
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I'm sorry.
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Hello everyone, it is a new day and I have finished designing the Patreon letter.
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I'm very very happy with how it turned out, but I originally planned for it to get printed on blue paper.
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The paper I bought I think is a little bit too thin, it's 20 pound.
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So I should have bought something thicker because I'm used to printing on this white paper.
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I decided it still looks good on top of the white
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but then I realized that the way I formatted it was the incorrect map.
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My stickers are 5 by 7
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and the idea was I was going to wrap the letter to encase the goodies inside
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but this is 7 inches lengthwise not not 5.
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So I had to go back reformat it.
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It's not as cute in my opinion.
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Something about this long size it feels like lady whistle down you know you the size of the pamphlets
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and the gossip papers in Bridgerton.
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But now I need to trim the edges off of all the letters and continue printing.
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I need to print at least 150 to 175.
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Here's the problem though.
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Here's the problem.
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The problem is I needed a new paper trimmer
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because the current one I have is the sliding one
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and the one I used to use at home was pretty small
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so I was like I'll get a bigger one i'll get something you know industrial sized
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because that's the option i thought looked the best online this box came in it's huge i'm gonna open it
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because it's supposed to only be 24 by 24
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so it can't actually be this big right
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but nothing pays me more about online shopping than getting something
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and then having to do returns that's enough to like make me anti-consumerism
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but hopefully i don't know i'm gonna open it and see how it looks and if it's too I'll return it.
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I'm scared.
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Oh my god, it's so heavy.
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Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
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Oh, it's huge, but it's not that huge.
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Wait, this is a lot more reasonable, right Kayla?
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I am going to start packing the envelopes today.
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I'm just going to put on some YouTube videos, maybe some music.
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I got my two drinks.
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Got sparkling water.
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Water.
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Cheers.
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Thanks.
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Start.
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I'm not sure what I'm doing.
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Start... so I'm
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sorry.
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I'm sorry.
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After lunch, I finish packing up everything for September Mail Club.
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So all that's left to do is to see go undress them.
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And now the only thing I want to do today is to start new projects, new illustrations, and mostly digital.
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I have ideas for stickers, specifically die cut stickers, and I'm also getting ahead of the curve brainstorming for October.
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I'm getting used to making everything two to three weeks in advance, which if you know me, I love to work up to the last minute.
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with manufacturing time and getting the proofs back you know
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and then approving them there's a long process in the case
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that it gets delayed so I might have just finished September
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but it's like straight into October so we're just gonna sit on my couch
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because I like to change locations throughout the day and draw away I'm sorry.
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I'm ready for bed.
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I recently got this huge backup hard drive setup and I'm going to start migrating my data onto here overnight.
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And it's the end of the vlog.
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I'm going to say goodnight.
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Right cute little meow.
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Thank you for watching.
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I love sharing what I'm making with you.
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Let me know if you want to see more of this in the future.
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Hopefully by the time you're watching this you've gotten some rest or you're about to get some rest because I'm tired.
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so I'll see you in the next one love y'all see you good night Kayla say good night
Who Will Love This Video?
This video is perfect for intermediate English learners who want to practice english speaking practice with real, casual conversation. If you’re aiming to sound more natural in daily chats—talking about work, hobbies, or unexpected moments—this is your match. The speaker’s relaxed tone and mix of art-related tasks and personal updates make it ideal for shadowing (repeating phrases aloud to mimic rhythm and pronunciation). It’s great for anyone who wants to move beyond textbook phrases and into the kind of speech you’d use with friends.
Words & Idioms to Add to Your Toolkit
- Fallen off: Stopped doing a habit. Example: “I’ve fallen off my daily painting routine.”
- Outsource: Hire someone else to do a task. Example: “I need to outsource envelope printing.”
- Rushed through: Did something quickly, without care. Example: “I rushed through the second painting.”
- Troubleshooted: Fixed a problem, especially with technology. Example: “I troubleshooted my mom’s phone.”
These phrases pop up in the video and are super useful for talking about daily tasks and challenges—perfect for shadow speak practice!
Nailing the Speaker’s Natural Accent
The speaker uses a casual, conversational tone with lots of pauses and “ums” (like “you know” or “anyways”) that make speech sound real. To practice, try shadowing with a shadowing app—pause the video, repeat her lines, and focus on:
- Intonation: She rises slightly at the end of questions (e.g., “it’s just okay?”) and drops on statements.
- Reduction: Words like “gonna” (going to) and “kind of” are shortened—imitate these to sound more fluent.
- Pacing: She slows down when talking about emotions (e.g., the Dolly Parton news) and speeds up when excited. Match her rhythm to make your speech feel natural.
This video is a goldmine for shadowspeak practice—you’ll learn to sound like a real person, not a robot!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.