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143. 12 MORE Branding lessons from professional creatives that every artist can learn from

Episode 143 • 30th July 2025 • Brand Your Passion • Maker & Moxie

A lot of the time as creatives, we are trying to figure things out on our own. We are working individually, trying to make decisions, trying to do the right things in our business, and it can be difficult to know if we are doing the right thing, if other people are feeling this, if we are going in the right direction.

All of these things are just happening inside our own heads all the time, and that's why I think it's so helpful to hear what other creatives have learnt in their journey. It's a huge part of why I do this podcast in general, but also why I want to do this specific episode because it makes us feel a lot less alone.

It helps us to see how other people navigate the things that we are struggling with, and it saves us from making those same mistakes ourselves. So when I do interview artists and makers on this podcast, I always ask them, what is the biggest lesson you have learnt about branding your passion? And while those answers are so helpful on their own and alongside each artist's story, I also thought it would be really fun to compile those answers together and see what we can learn from the commonalities, the differences between them, and just get one big dose of inspiration, motivation, and lesson learning altogether.

So let's dive in and hear from a bunch of different artists on the biggest lessons they have learnt about branding their passion.

Ruby Jones

Firstly, we're going to start with Ruby Jones.

Ruby is an illustrator based in Wellington, New Zealand, who likes to make art that shines a little bit of light on everyday moments and reminds us what it means to be human.

"I think, I don't necessarily sound like a negative one, but I think I've learnt that if you do work that appears really soft and feminine and caring, people often think that you'll happily work for free. And I feel like businesses often want to use that to their advantage. So I guess I've just learnt to be wary and to actually just remember to hold on to what your work means to you and not let people take you for a ride, if that makes sense.

Lame as it sounds, I think at the end of the day, remembering what the work is that makes you happiest and what you love making, because the minute you try and feed into what you think other people want or what the algorithm wants, I feel like you're just going to end up kind of miserable, and I feel like that can also come through in your work. If you are not loving it, people can tell that, you know?"

Daisy Braid

Next up, we have Daisy Braid, also known as DIY Daisy, who is a content creator, textile artist and author. Daisy is a self-taught sewist known for her colourful, creative style that combines handmade clothing with thrifted and secondhand fashion.

"I think my advice would be to spend time figuring out who you are. It's so easy to look around and see what everyone else is doing, and it's so easy to copy people or to be influenced by what they're doing. But I think if you want to have your own brand and you want to stand out and be unique in some way, you have to know who you are, like deep down inside of your soul.

You have to always be yourself in a way. So it does take time to develop your own look and feel and brand and voice, and it just comes with time. And mine has developed so much as I've gotten older and made more and met more people. And it doesn't come from just being all alone. You have to go and experience things.

But I think if you are trying to be yourself and be honest and authentic, then your brand all makes so much more sense to people. But if you are trying to look or create content or make the same things as other people, it will always feel like someone else. You can evolve. Your brand might not look the same as it did 10 years ago. It's okay to evolve and change. Like if I still had my original logo, I would hate it. It's okay to change and try new things when you are working towards your brand. It takes time to get to the one now, but right now I'm like, this is my branding and it feels so authentically me. It feels so much like who I am right now, that I think I could probably use this for the next five to 10 years and it would still work.

I can change the colours, but I feel like this is going to be with me for a while and it's going to feel like it fits. So I think it's okay to change and evolve."

Meg Lewis

Now let's hear from Meg Lewis. A designer, comedian, and performer working to make the world a happier place with design, comedy, performance, education, novelty fonts, and so much more.

Meg specialises in transforming serious corporate worlds into delightful intentional playgrounds.

"I think my favourite thing is to stop looking to see what other people are doing. We're constantly, I think we're taught so early on to like, if you want to do something, go out and look to see what the successful people are doing and then do what they're doing.

But my goodness gracious, that does not work. That formula works for them. It's not going to work for you. And we all need, like, I have to constantly stop myself from looking at Pinterest, for example, if I'm trying to get inspiration, because then I am just as guilty as anybody. If I do that, I'll make work that looks like those other people.

And so it's like we and again, talking about portfolio sites. I think what we all do is we go and we look like what is a portfolio, what does that look like? So we go and we look at other people's, and then we kind of just do that, but with ours, and it's just, that's another way in which we all just end up conforming and becoming the same person.

And it's another way that we kind of just become beholden to trends, which, you know, trends exist in order to sell more things like trends exist so that we feel discontent with how we look and what we're doing with ourselves so that we feel like we're behind all the time and we need to buy more things to catch up.

And if we're constantly just looking at what everybody else is doing and just doing that too, we're just part of that trend following cycle. And so if we can figure out who we are that's separate from other people and find a way to communicate who we are as individuals visually within ourselves, and to communicate our personality and our lifelong points of inspiration that don't have anything to do with trends that are happening right now. If we can figure out how we can just create a career and explore that and share it visually with other people, then we can show the world that we are doing something unique and interesting. And we'll probably end up becoming the people that everybody else looks at and studies what we're doing, but they shouldn't.

But we know that the people that are actually changing culture and actually catalysing this wonderful, beautiful change in the world, are doing things that are unique, that are refreshing and incredible and unlike anybody else. And the rest of everybody is just sort of trying to conform because they feel like they're not good enough. And that's so sad. So I think that that's my one thing, is to just try and find a way to figure out who you are outside of what the world's telling you you should be like, or who you should be, and try to identify who you actually are. And try, it's very, it's the world's hardest thing.

Most people can't do it. But try to be as loud as possible with whoever that is."

Jessica Hische

Next up Jessica Hische. Jessica is a lettering artist working in branding, film and television, book design and advertising. She's also a New York Times bestselling children's book author and illustrator, and recently opened two physical stores in Oakland, Jessica's and Friends and Drooling.

"I think the biggest, I mean, I get real philosophical about this. Okay, because my feelings about your personal brand or whatever. I dive super deep into sort of almost like spiritual stuff where I have no idea what happens at the end of this life. You know, like it'd be super cool if we all ended up in some happy place or whatever, you know, like whatever positive message is out there about what happens after you die, great.

I mean, that'd be icing on the cake, but I know that if nothing happens, the only thing that you have is the impression that you've left in the world. You know? That's the only, that's like, if there's no way to live on, because it doesn't exist, you will live on by the things that you've created and the things that you say about yourself or post about yourself or create or whatever.

And so I'm very conscious of that and I think that that's why I approach all this stuff with trying to be as genuine and true to myself as possible. Not everyone does that because they're able to really compartmentalise like who they are from who their work is, and they don't need those two things to be aligned all the time.

And that's fine. It's a completely fine approach, but I think for me, I just think like if someone was trying to get to know who I am as a person in the future, what evidence would they be looking at? And I always want that evidence to be a reflection of my truth. And so I'm very curatorial about what gets said and whatever.

And so my brand is like me. I just want people to know me. I want if people unearth projects that I've made or things that I've written or a post that I've done, I want them to feel like they're getting a sense of who I really am and I think what you can approach it from two ways in terms of branding your passions or passion projects or whatever.

But that's the approach that I have and I feel like it works for me and my values. But just do whatever feels the most true to yourself and what you want. If you're someone that does not want the world to know everything about you, that's definitely totally valid as well.

But I just think of it as like if people meet me, does their expectation of me align with the real me and I want it to, and that's sort of how I approach it."

Elizabeth Hudy

It's Elizabeth Hudy time, AKA The Peach Fuzz, who is a loud mouth illustrator and crafty little bitch trying to make socialist business practices and resource sharing the new norm.

"The only way you will fail is if you stop. That is the one that I give most often. Because it's true. Like eventually, statistically speaking, you know, you will take off. You will. Growth is supposed to be exponential. The more people that know about you, the more people that can tell their friends about you than tell, like, you know, on and on and on.

So the only way that that doesn't happen is if you quit chasing it. That's my big thing, is just you have to keep going. You have to know that it will get better."

Eliza Williams

Now for Eliza Williams. Eliza is a multidisciplinary creative who, like many of us, struggles to narrow down what she does.

But if you happen to make her write it down in a form for your podcast or something, she will say that she specialises in illustration, animation, and design. Her work takes on many different forms, combining digital and traditional mediums to create a colourful little world to escape to and explore.

"Gosh, that's such a hard question to think my number one piece of advice for people would be as cheesy as a sounds, be yourself and put the work out that you want to put out, and then people will come and people connect with that. I think that's the main thing, as long as you're being yourself and being consistent. That's all. Just be you."

If you're enjoying learning from other creatives, you would love the Brand Your Passion Collective. In this community for artists and makers, you will connect, collaborate, and celebrate with your fellow creators as you build your brands together.

You'll learn from each other, support each other, and also have me on your side for questions, feedback, cheerleading, and anything else you need to make your dream creative business happen. If you've been looking for a community of creatives, you have found it. Come and join us at brandyourpassion.co, or head to the link in the show notes.

Now, let's get back to the show.

Ellie Compton

Let's kick this second half off with Ellie Compton. Ellie is an architect and artist who runs a Christchurch based art studio called Maker of Chaos. She collects people's life stories and weaves them into chaotic and whimsical worlds of art that encourage imagination and discovery.

"I would first actually touch on what kind of language you want to be speaking in. And when I say that, I mean if I was to think about how I want my brand to be portrayed, I want it to be like your best mate. I want it to be a bit sassy, a bit edgy, like fun, but kind and approachable. So I would probably suggest come up with five or so words that are descriptors of how you would want to be portrayed or how you want someone to describe you and your business. And then out of that, I think a lot of the design elements can kind of come, like, you know, your logo, whether you create it or someone else creates it, they've immediately got a framework of how it's going to be portrayed. Your colouring often will come from your art itself or your business anyway.

But yeah, I would start with the language that's probably. I would start and that kind of gives a whole personality to your brand, immediately."

Itzel Islas

Okay, next up is Itzel Islas. Itzel's work is inspired by Mexican culture, vibrant colour palettes and playful elements of everyday life. As a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, her mission has been to create a positive bicultural impact through design.

"The biggest lesson learnt, definitely try to be your most authentic self because really resonate with that. I think if you're trying to, if you're pretending to be someone you're not or you're trying to follow certain, I don't know how, but people can tell. And so I just always try to encourage people to just be genuine with the work they do. Try to think of what makes you your middle school, high school self and try to go back and pull from that for experience and inspiration. I have found that that has been the biggest lesson for me of having people resonate with my work, and I think the other thing would be to be nice. Being nice has taken me so far. It seems something like something so simple.

But just being nice and being patient because obviously growing a following or building a brand or getting anywhere takes a lot of work and a lot of patience and time. It's taken me since I started 10 years, over 10 years, to be the designer that I am today. So I always like to remind people to try to be patient because nothing happens overnight."

Kassy King

assy King Designs until early: 2024

"Don't let the noise of social media stop you from sharing what you want to share. I think it comes back to that authenticity. Don't, you know, I don't know if you get those videos where they're like, do this and, you know, I made, I reach this many accounts or do this and I reach this many accounts.

Don't chase the algorithm. You'll never beat it. You'll never understand it. Even Instagram doesn't understand it. Post what you like and you will find your people, I think. And yeah, just be yourself. I love that. No one else can be you. You might sell the same thing as someone else. You might make a similar thing as someone else, but what the other person doesn't have is your personality."

FLOX (Hayley King)

Next up we have FLOX aka Hayley King, a New Zealand artist and business owner currently in her 20th year. She specialises in hand painted commissions, large scale murals, and producing seasonal luxury bag and personal stationary collections.

"That's a hard one. I think not to look too far ahead, you know, how we were talking before about the baby steps and, you know, setting some goals and not, but not too many, you know, just, yeah, baby steps.

And also I think, in the beginning, prepare to do the mahi, you know, you're going to have your fingers and some pies, and I think it's really good to keep doors open. I've always said to students that I've worked with in the workshops and this question comes up a fair amount. You know, it's good to keep doors open and if, for example, if you are studying fashion design, that doesn't mean you have to be a fashion designer.

It's going to give you a whole bunch of skills that you are going to be able to cross over into pretty much any other artistic discipline you want. So I just feel like you know, you don't have to have a career or a single career these days. Everything really crosses over and it's okay to put something down and start something up again because I feel like, you know, nothing ever goes to waste in certainly in the creative sector.

And I think that a lot of the skills that you can learn from one course or from one part can, you know, translate completely across to a number of different disciplines. So, fingers in the pie. Yes, definitely. Be prepared to do the mahi and yeah, just write some goals and be kind to yourself."

Sophie Holt

nce setting up Studio Soph in: 2015

"Oh wow. To, yeah, to keep playing is a big one. I really have to take an advice myself a bit more lately. I've been really, you know, doing lots of repetitive things, and I miss it. So I have to take my advice, you know, like just with different materials and mediums and stuff. Yeah, I found that's important. Otherwise it becomes such a, the same thing every day. I don't know. Keep it close to yourself. Like, when I'm doing my branding, I'm always like, well, I used to choose my own art on everything. And, yeah, be proud of it to share it."

Kell Sunshine

Last but not least from our latest episode, we have Kell Sunshine aka Kelly Spencer, a muralist, letterer, and illustrator who spent 17 years creating vibrant work that celebrates the interconnectedness of all living beings. Her distinctive style features lush, retro inspired colour palettes and flowing curvaceous forms, often centred around soil sorcerers, protagonists that embody the earth's wisdom and magic.

"It's probably a cliché, and it's probably a cliché for a reason, but being your own voice being, it's just, it's kind of the only way to be good at being a human, and it's kind of the only way to be good at being an artist is to not try and be someone else's voice, and that's freaking hard these days.

Especially, like I said, there's a lot of noise, there's a lot of information available. Too available. But always trying to come back home to that. Okay. No. Yes, that works. Awesome. Yes, I'd like to draw like that, but I don't, I draw like I draw. Yes. And just trying to, you know, trying to always kind of lean back into your own voice.

I'm sure that you've had so many other guests say the same thing for good reason. It's just, yeah. Working out what is important to you. And doing that. And that's, that's when I feel, uh, the most balanced. Like the pendulum swinging in the nice, in the middle there. It's like, okay, this is me. This is what's important.

And then you're fuelled by that and your best work will hopefully come out. Not always though. Sometimes it's just shit. Yeah. But that's part of the process too. Absolutely."

Okay. Wow, how incredible. How amazing to hear from all of these artists all together. If you did enjoy this episode, I have done this before for the first time a couple of years ago in episode 87. There you can hear what lessons have been learnt by creatives like Pepper Raccoon, Whitney Manny, and so much more. So scroll back and head to episode 87 to listen to that. Otherwise, I hope you have really enjoyed this episode. Enjoyed getting a dose of inspiration. As I mentioned, if you are enjoying learning from other creatives, you would truly love the Brand Your Passion Collective. All the details are in the link below. We would love to have you and it truly is the coolest, best community of artists and makers you will ever find. So head to brandyourpassion.co or check out the link in the show notes. Until next time, keep being creative and I will see you later!

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