Shadowing Practice: How To Side Hustle With Your Art - Learn English Speaking with Video

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I've always wanted to be an artist, ever since I could remember.

My mom, however, had other plans for me.

She wanted me to achieve all these great things.

Deep down, I had my own ambitions and dreams.

And when she found out, she wasn't very happy.

She was concerned about my future.

Being an artist meant financial instability.

And somewhere I'd struggle to make ends meet.

I mean, she made a lot of good points.

But times have changed.

Things are different.

And I believe if you have the talent and pursue it, it can take you far enough to make a decent living.

So here are some practical tips on how to side hustle with your art.

Before I begin, I want to show you my drawing essentials.

A sketchbook, drawing papers, my pack contains a pencil, a comic pen, a brush pen, a felt pen, another brush pen, a fine tip pen, black ink, pencil sharpener, and an eraser.

It's not something I can easily fit in my pocket.

But imagine if I can.

This is the Galaxy Note 20.

It comes with a built-in stylus and has single-handedly replaced my drawing essentials.

Special thanks to my sponsor, Clip Studio Paint.

You can enjoy a 6-month free trial through the Samsung Galaxy Store, and the sign-up is really simple.

I was able to activate it right away.

Clip Studio Paint is available on other platforms like Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.

And it took me less than a day to learn how to use it.

Alright, let's get started.

Something that has helped me tremendously is using a tripod.

It kind of works like an easel.

It just makes creating on the go easier.

I can work just about anywhere.

An important skill that can help your art is marketing.

Small things, like creating your own stickers, can get your art out there.

You have printers now that can print and cut out your own stickers.

I personally buy a lot of stickers from illustrators that I discovered through Instagram.

You can imagine that if those stickers are placed on a phone or laptop, it's basically free marketing for your art.

So let's take it to the next level.

A brand contacts you, and they commission you to create content for their social media.

There's different types of content you can make, like photos, videos, but I know one thing for sure, brands love art.

They can use your art in their emails, website, social media, and even print it on merchandise.

So these stickers here were commissioned from an artist that once did an illustration of my brand and tagged me.

And that was actually how I discovered her work.

And still to this day, I work with her.

Try creating things for brands or creators, and if you can tag them, hopefully they reach out and collaborate.

And stickers are just the beginning.

Your art can be used on all sorts of things.

Clothes, bags, in this case this illustration was made for, can you guess?

Blotting sheets.

But this can also go on a book, an album cover, whatever.

If you think about it, just about any consumer goods you see out there had some sort of design applied to the product.

And I know tons of people who bought something just because the packaging was cute.

So if you learn packaging design, imagine what you can create and make better.

But let's say you're more into digital art, like GIFs that you can use on Instagram stories or Twitch stickers.

This is a useful skill to have.

I've commissioned an illustrator to make stickers for my own brand, and I love seeing other people use them on their stories.

Stickers can give your audience a creative way to engage with your brand.

And if you want your own branded stickers, first, you need a verified Giphy account, which isn't hard to make.

Once you have that, upload your GIFs and make sure the background is transparent, and it should take a day for it to be approved.

After that, it's ready to use.

Another useful skill to have in your back pocket is storyboarding, especially if you're in production.

This helps the director tell a better story.

And there's a reason why this technique is used in movies, animation, commercial shoots, just about anything that requires sequential storytelling.

And if you happen to know someone in production, just let them know that you can storyboard any future shoots.

Even a makeup video like the one we shot here needed a storyboard.

And because of the storyboards, we were able to get all the shots needed for the video.

Speaking of makeup, this is something that has helped me as a beauty creator.

Instead of applying makeup on face charts, I just paint directly on a photo to create the look.

It's kind of like storyboarding but with makeup.

I've had times when I do a lot of makeup trial

and error and my skin gets irritated after removing and reapplying over and over again.

And trust me, that's no fun.

So doing this saves me a lot of time.

So if I like what I see, I'll recreate the look.

This was a test look I was practicing for a new collection.

Personally, I like to practice my look first before a shoot so that I can save time on set.

So I'm holding here my first computer drawing.

This was made from a very old black and white computer.

And I'm really glad my mom kept all these for me.

She actually saved all of my childhood drawings in this giant notebook.

And when I was much older, she surprised me with this.

honestly my most cherished gift.

And I forgot how much I drew as a kid.

There's something I want to stress on is always keep your drawings, even the ones you think are bad.

Because one day when you're older, like myself, you can always look back and see how much you've grown.

And it's kind of crazy because I remember my dream was to be a fashion designer, then it changed to a manga artist, and then a character designer for games.

I ended up being something else, but I'm still able to create and that's what matters.

Speaking of being a manga artist, I found out later how much work goes into it.

So not only do you have to write the story, you have to draw everything and this, add screen tone.

So whenever you see a shading or texture in a manga, that's a screen tone which is this.

You peel it off, you stick it on and honestly I don't even know if I'm doing this right.

And with the razor, you have to carefully cut out the excess screen tone and wherever you don't want it to be.

This is kind of like the equivalent of a select tool.

Then you have to peel it off and there's still more and I'm not done yet.

I still have to remove more.

So I'm butchering this demo but you get the idea.

It's a lot of work and it took me around 20 minutes just to do this.

This isn't even a full page.

So manga the old school way may not be for me but that doesn't mean I can't make one.

I was able to play around and create a page

so Clip Studio Paint already has templates ready to go and

if you select a panel you can sketch things out and you don't have to worry about drawing outside the lines.

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If you're a storyteller, bringing it to life visually just brings a new dimension to your work.

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As an artist, creating a story like a comic, manga, or webtoon is another great way to get your work out there.

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There are tons of manga and webtoons that turn into huge anime series and live actions.

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So there's definitely a chance.

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And you can even collaborate with other creators and build a team.

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One can do the drawing and inking, the other can do the coloring and speech bubbles.

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You never know until you try, and there's tons of tutorials on how to start one.

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So the time it took me to make that one cat drawing the traditional way, I was able to finish this entire page.

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Time is the ultimate currency in production, so you want to save as much time as possible.

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But of course, I always appreciate the human touch.

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Nothing can ever capture pencil and paper, but we're getting pretty close.

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This stylus has a sensitive pen pressure that makes it feel realistic.

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In the comic world, a g-pen is reliable because it can create thick

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and thin lines depending on how much pressure you apply.

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You can find the exact g-pen here and notice the line quality is reflected by my pen pressure.

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Pen pressure is super personal and you can calibrate your pen pressure so that it feels as natural as the real thing.

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When I started to draw digitally, I struggled.

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There was definitely a learning curve and I preferred my paper and pencil, but what helped me get better was drawing as I normally do,

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then scanning my drawing or taking a picture and importing it into the program and re-inking it digitally.

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And if you want to create the cleanest line art, I recommend inking in a vector layer so that you can reshape your line with ease.

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That way, if you want to go to print, your line art will come out cleaner.

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And if you mess up, don't worry, you can always just undo and try again.

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I used to be really insecure about my art, and I compared myself to other illustrators.

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As I've grown, I've come to realize that we all have different styles, and we can always improve and evolve.

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If I want to get better, I just gotta draw more, practice, and be open to learning new techniques.

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And there's tons of tutorials you can find online.

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I personally like to watch speed paintings because I can learn a lot through their process.

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And is it just me, or is coloring therapeutic?

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I know they sell those adult coloring books, but coloring this way is way more satisfying.

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Plus, you can create so many cool things.

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If there's anything I've learned on this journey, it's investing in yourself and the right tools.

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You never know what hidden talents you have in there, and it starts by trying.

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There's always something new to create, a new story to tell, a new memory to cherish.

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If you do what you love, you'll never work another day in your life.

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Good luck.

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About This Lesson

In this lesson, you will practice English speaking through the shadowing technique. By listening to the transcript of an artist discussing their journey and practical tips on how to side hustle with their art, you will learn to improve English pronunciation and develop your fluency. This exercise will not only enhance your vocabulary but also familiarize you with common phrases used in creative and entrepreneurial contexts.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

Side hustle: A secondary job or business, usually pursued in addition to a full-time position.
Financial instability: The uncertainty regarding one's financial situation or income.
Marketing: The action or business of promoting and selling products or services.
Commission: A request for the creation of artwork or design for a payment.
Illustration: A visual representation or drawing that helps explain or decorate a text.
Consumer goods: Products that are bought for personal use.
Packaging design: The creation of the exterior of a product, which includes the design, structure, and graphics.
Free marketing: Promotion that occurs without direct costs, such as through sharing on social media.

Practice Tips

When utilizing the shadow speak technique for this lesson, try to follow these tips to make your practice more effective:

Imitate the speaker: Listen carefully to the cadence and emotion in the speaker's voice. Repeat after them to practice the rhythm and intonation of English sentences.
Focus on specific phrases: Pay special attention to the key vocabulary. Repeat these phrases multiple times to embed them in your memory.
Record yourself: As you practice, record your voice and listen back. This will help you identify areas in your pronunciation that may need improvement.
Control the speed: If the video plays too quickly, use the playback setting to slow it down. This will help you focus on words and phrases before attempting to match the original speed.
Seek feedback: Share your recordings with a language partner or teacher who can offer constructive feedback and help you refine your English speaking skills.

By engaging in these practices, you will not only enhance your fluency but also feel more comfortable discussing creative and entrepreneurial topics in English.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if I like what I see, I'll recreate · If you do what you love, you'll never
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've always wanted · have changed · has helped
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	are placed · were commissioned · can be used
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	people who bought · tone which is

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How To Side Hustle With Your Art - Learn English Speaking with Video

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About This Lesson

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

Practice Tips

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?