40 Videos Later, how I TikTok’d my way through Covid-19.

7 min readJul 6, 2020

In mid-April of this year, I was invited to participate in the TikTok Creative Learning Fund to create educational and inspiring content for the 10s of millions of students that either lost schooling or are now enrolled at stay at home education.

As an artist and lover of Education Technology. This was the most awesome invitation for something positive I’ve had in a while. I was so excited to get started.

But it wasn't as easy as I thought it was… Here’s why.

The requirements of the program were to create 40 videos within the time span of 7.5 weeks.

I’ve been on TikTok for over half a year now, and creating a video a day is just unreal.

(I ain't doin’ the renegade on Thursday afternoon, you trippin’) 🙅‍♂️

I spend a lot of time with my videos, coming up with compelling educational tone, filming, editing, and more. To slam out this quantity of content would nearly take up my entire day.

And while working a full-time job, I had to figure out how to do it.

Week 1.

I had a pretty simple game plan, create a full piece of art using a specific medium. Start to finish 5 videos 15s long each. Easy right?

I started with an explanation of Watercolor paper, then how to make a wash.

The final piece was how to do Black Ink illustration on Watercolor Paper. This double feature explained the importance of material, how to use washes properly, and how to create a dynamic background for your illustrations.

The Final Piece

Week 2.

With week 2 following, I thought keeping the same format was good. This time, I wanted to focus on Gouache. Unlike the first week, where I explained the materials. While working with gouache I found a couple of rad techniques. So I explained.

What is Gouache and why is it special.

How to set up your station. And a little exercise for painting Atmospheric Perspective (That's when mountains get lighter in the distance)

For the Final Piece, I painted Mega Man. What was cool about this is I used Water to Erase and produce Highlights.

Week 3.

By the time Week 3 had come around, I was burnt out. 10 Videos down 30 to go. How was I gonna pull this off?

This week I only got 4 videos, and the final project was nothing like a series. I was short on time and ended up jamming everything into 3 days.

The final project was a watercolor pencil piece with Jessica and Roger Rabbit.

Week 4.

Week 4 is here, we had a legit protest/riot happen outside of my studio. With Tear gas filled streets, and the fear of my studio windows being smashed in. The last thing on my mind was TikTok.

Across the Street, some kids lit a cop car on fire…. 🙇‍♂️

Being burnt out with Work Work, I didn't post. I went on strike. Forced in the studio, when the outside barricaded and cops at my doorstep. We ate Pizza Hut and watched.

I didn’t post.

Week 5.

Ok, now its week 5, protests and riots are all over twitter. I have this extreme obligation to make TikTok’s when my mind is completely drained from the world…. Ending.

I had to find a way to channel that energy. So we did a shoot, and I painted some badass leather jackets and decked out my studio in the post-apocalyptic cyberpunk theme.

Let’s paint some Leather Jackets!

What's more empowering than a fierce woman in a handpainted leather jacket?

Mind you the world is burning down from humanitarian issues and financial collapse. I must press on.

Week 6.

At this point, I started to get some energy back, not all of it. I bounced to Utah for a week. I was behind around 20 videos and I needed to get the ball rolling.

I decided the least hanging fruit way to shoot would be to just go fully digital. Record drawing techniques on my iPad. Digital Illustration is my strong suit, so it made sense. In the course of a week, I cranked out 10 Procreate Tutorials.

How to Trace your Favorite Cartoons
(This video went viral… “TRACING IS sTeALiNG”, Kids on TikTok are hilarious)