Katya Balakina transforms information into engaging visual storytelling - S17/E02

In this episode, Katya Balakina shares her incredible journey from drawing in her early years to becoming a journalist in Russia during a hard time for the country. She shares her discovery of graphic recording at art school and winning an art contest, which gave her the confidence to pursue art full-time. In this discussion, Katya offers valuable tips and insights from her career as a graphic recording artist.Sponsored by The Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop VideoHave you ever wanted to create travel sketchnotes from an experience you’ve had, just using the photos and memories you’ve got? In the Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop Video, I’ll guide you through my process for creating travel sketchnotes and then help you reflect on your own photos and memories so that you can make travel sketchnotes of your own trips, too!This 2-hour recorded video includes a set of downloadable, printable sketching templates and a process to kickstart your own travel sketchnoting practice. All this for just $20.https://rohdesign.com/travelRunning OrderIntroWelcomeWho is Katya Balakina?Origin StoryKatya's current workSponsor: ConceptsTipsToolsWhere to find KatyaOutroLinksAmazon affiliate links support the Sketchnote Army Podcast.Katya on LinkedInKatya On InstagramToolsAmazon affiliate links support the Sketchnote Army Podcast. Neuland Markers Procreate Adobe FrescoTipsStop overthinking. You are good enough.Simplify your work.If your drawing can be a photograph, you are not pushing.You are doing everything right.It's good to remember that you are not going to one day just create a perfect board.CreditsProducer: Alec Pulianas Shownotes and transcripts: Esther OdoroTheme music: Jon SchiedermayerSubscribe to the Sketchnote Army PodcastYou can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube or your favorite podcast listening source.Support the PodcastTo support the creation, production, and hosting of the Sketchnote Army Podcast, buy one of Mike Rohde’s bestselling books. Use code ROHDE40 at Peachpit.com for 40% off!Episode TranscriptMike Rohde: Hey everybody, it's Mike Rohde, and I'm here with Katya Balakina. Katya, it's so good to have you on the show. Thanks for coming.Katya Balakina: Hi, Mike. Thanks so much for having me. That's very exciting.MR: Yeah, I've seen your work around mainly on—not Instagram, I think LinkedIn, actually. And really liked how clean and simple, and clear your work was. We were talking about this before we started recording. How did I find you? I'm not totally sure. I suspect it's the algorithm on LinkedIn that sees other graphic recorders and visual thinkers and puts them in our feed.KB: I guess.MR: I'm not totally sure, but I'm really happy I did because you seem like a really fascinating person with really nice work, and that's the kind of person that fits really well on the show. So, thank you for being here.KB: Thanks so much, Mike, and thanks for your kind words about my work. and I guess I didn't waste my time on LinkedIn if it helped you to find me.MR: Yeah, for sure. For sure. So, the way this podcast works is we first understand who you are and what you do, and then we go right into origin story, sort of bring us back from when you were a little girl and your experiences that brought you to where you are. I think in those origin stories, which I love we can learn a lot about you as a person and how you got where you are, but also, I think it can be beneficial for listeners to think, oh, I'm so different. I can't do that. And then you hear the origin stories and think, oh, wow, you know, Katya actually has a lot of similarities to me, and she's doing it, so maybe I can do this, right? So that's the thinking around origin story. Let's just jump right in. Tell us who you are, what you do, and then go right into your origin story.KB: Sure. As you mentioned, I'm on LinkedIn, so I do graphic recording, visual notes scribing. I dunno the right way to call it. They're just old terms we use.MR: Yeah, yeah.KB: I've been doing that for, I would say, about eight years. Maybe I can say 10, but exclusively more than eight. I've been working as a graphic recorder here in the States for last two years. And before that, I used to work with Scriberia. Your audience probably knows about that company.MR: In the UK, yeah.KB: In the UK. Yeah, they're very inspirational. Their work, I would say it's what defines word scribing and graphic reporting for many people. And a lot of people start learning about scribing from like Googling Scriberia stuff. And before that, I graduated art school back in Moscow. And that's where I learned for the first time about graphic recording from my art teacher there. So that's kind of my journey from just hearing about graphic recording and being full-time graphic recorder here in the States.MR: So, I'm kind of curious, going into your origin story, when you were a little girl, did you always draw since you were little...