Toby Haseler, Artist, TobyUrbansketch
As an urban sketching artist, I focus on sketching vibrant and loose drawings and paintings of scenes around me and close to my heart. I predominantly use watercolour and ink, but also a range of other traditional and digital media.
I started this part of my life five years ago, searching for the creative spark I felt I had lost. Initially, I focussed on commissions and selling originals of my work and even produced brandings for coffee shops, bakeries and schools.
But recently, my focus has changed towards tutoring on online platforms, such as YouTube. As well as being an artist, I am also a full-time GP/family doctor in London, working in leadership roles to improve services for our elderly and disadvantaged populations.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
YouTube is full of amazing creators, leaders and thinkers. If you want to learn anything, you can learn it on YouTube - and I find that amazing. Personally, I love creating and sharing with others, and I find the process of sharing on YouTube far more rewarding and fulfilling.
That someone would sit and watch/listen to me paint for 10-20 or sometimes even 60 minutes is just incredible, and the feedback people give there feels much more meaningful. Especially where someone suggests something I could improve - simple things like the audio quality or positioning of a reference photo.
If someone has gone to the trouble of providing that kind of feedback, then you know they are engaged and interested in seeing more of your content - and that's really powerful to me.
I also find the ability to produce high-quality 'evergreen' content on YouTube far more rewarding than on Instagram and other platforms, where no matter the quality of your content, it really is only going to be interacted with for a few days. But on the other hand, I made some of my YouTube videos months ago and still get 50-100 views every couple of days.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
I work, in the art space, for myself - I set goals and targets. But I try quite hard not to be too attached to them. So, I'm really motivated to push forward with an online presence, especially with the concept of producing online tutorials - which is going really well at the moment.
The most important thing is that I continue to enjoy it. And that is the main focus of my art - working out ways to make it successful whilst ensuring it continues to add to my quality of life rather than detract from it.
There are a few aspects to this - one is certainly learning to enjoy the process and not judge the outcome. Another was my decision to step back from commissions - I was finding these pressures quite high, feeling the need to fulfil other people's expectations rather than (as per rule one) just enjoying the process.
This is how I came to tutoring - I discovered a way that I could both paint, focus on the process, and help others understand the joy and inspiration behind the painting, not focus on the need to be brilliant.
In almost all of my videos and teachings, I talk about how many mistakes I make, how the finished piece doesn't look like the reference, and how this doesn't matter because it's still fun, and we're still learning. My art is supposed to be a foil to the stresses and strains of being a Doctor, after all.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
At heart, I am driven by a passion for creating, sharing my passions with others and also developing myself - at school. I was a musician and a prolific (if not necessarily high-quality) composer.
I took every holiday to make something at uni, usually out of wood, but I might also be found in the garden. Woodworking and DIY continue to this day, but art is where I found the biggest cross-over in my Venn Diagram of interests and passions.
Creating tutorials and publishing them is, for me, the 'next level' of creating and self-development - not just documenting my own progress but also helping others and providing (I hope) motivation and 'proof' that actually anyone can do this.
I really enjoy, is creating things. My art style is also intrinsically linked to my personality - I'm not very patient, I want to see things finished quickly, and I'm quite the perfectionist for the rest of my life, which is a really difficult balancing act.
In my art, I can let the last of these qualities go - I like being able to produce my sketches quickly, often in 30 minutes or less. The longest I've ever spent on a piece was about eight hours - which for many artists would be a very short period of time indeed.
I've gradually learned to let that perfectionism go and fully embrace and appreciate the beauty of something spontaneous and expressive. I guess another important part of the speed of my work is it lets me fit it around 'my other job' (being a Doctor) - I spend most evenings and weekends either being active or painting and sketching.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Definitely from my Mum - she is a very hardworking and caring GP and brought me up as a single parent. Her advice is "do something for yourself; you have to look after yourself too."
It's so relevant and powerful in so many ways - in art, I see people upset and struggling really hard all the time. They push themselves, compare themselves to others, and can't find their own way because of this. People will ask me on Instagram how to get more followers, or you read on Reddit people talking about how awful their art is because it got 'no likes'.
I always try to empathise with people in this situation, and I definitely recognise that I can get into that mindset too. But I also try to show them the value of avoiding comparison - in fact, my successes all came when I stopped being embarrassed about my style and just shared all the really wild and messy sketches I do.
Rather than trying to painstakingly produce things that I thought other people would like - we have to remember that creativity and expression are so personal; there is little value in trying to copy others, especially when it detracts from our enjoyment.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
I'm very goal-orientated as a person - I love seeing self-improvement or achieving goals. Or even micro-goals. Art has elements of this - for example, the finishing of a piece certainly provides me with a sense of achievement.
And this drive is certainly what has helped me create a mini-business out of my art. But often, the reason I sit down to paint is to remove all these thoughts from my head. The actual motivation behind sitting down to sketch is that art gives me a sense of peace; I get into the 'flow state' where time just passes - I can concentrate for two or three hours on sketching and painting without even noticing it. Unlike if I was watching a film or playing on my phone, I also feel good at the end. Productive, rather than wasteful.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
I think I'm most proud of myself for opening up and sharing my love of art with people I know. I remember a few years ago, I had an Instagram and a Facebook page for my art. But it was all branded anonymously - I was petrified of people finding out and me being laughed at.
When I did share, I was frankly amazed by so many people going out of their way to say they enjoyed what I produced. I'm also proud that I've managed to keep this level of effort going for so many years whilst also progressing my medical career and keeping (mostly) a good balance between that and my general enjoyment of life.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
I've found all kinds of art spaces on social media, really warm and friendly. I have thoroughly enjoyed chatting with people there, and although rarely meeting in person, the amount of guidance, advice, and warmth you receive in these spaces is incredible.
The fact that you can message a very busy, award-winning international artist, ask them for a tip or advice, and actually get a response - it's just amazing.
I am certainly not in that league, but whenever someone reaches out to me for a question, I try my best to give a full response to pay the community back for the kindness it has offered me.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
Persistence, dedication, and reflectiveness! To be honest, I don't feel I'm naturally talented at many things. Perhaps that's the idea of comparisons again. Still, whatever I'm doing, I see people around me in whom I recognise some kind of intrinsic talent and ability that is pretty much out of my reach.
But I do tend to do well at a lot of things - and I think that's mostly down to persistence and self-critique with a drive to improve. For example, I sketch pretty much every day with art, carrying various bits around with me - every bag has a sketchbook and some pens.
I have a few watercolour sets dotted around too, and my 'office' is really a studio with a computer in the corner to occasionally work on. But by constantly creating things, looking at them, appreciating what went well (or trying to), and then also working out what I don't like and why - well, over the years, you get an incremental improvement.
This attitude has also helped me keep art in my life and not have it pushed out by other demands. So, I'm also reflecting on what I enjoy, at the moment, about my creative pursuits - and thus gradually and incrementally ensuring that I continue to enjoy them, and indeed enjoy them more and more.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
I really wish I'd seen the value in non-comparison and in just enjoying what I enjoy. Rather than seeking to emulate artists I admire and love their work, the processes they go through to produce it just bring me little joy. This would have saved me a lot of time!! And also a lot of money!!!
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles, and why?
There are a huge number of people who inspire me out there - mostly people I see on Instagram and interact with either occasionally or in some cases; we have a kind of virtual friendship and camaraderie that's quite strong.
To name a few, Colin Woodward @woodwardswatercolours - Charlie Flinders @crmflinders - Gary Tennant @tennantgary - these guys all have very different styles, but I find a huge amount of inspiration from each of them.
Mario Lautier Vella (@lautiervella) is also an incredible artist, and attending a few of his classes years ago inspired me. He talked about his journey from a corporate career to an award-winning artist and was so warm and friendly.
He also talked about a lot of the important values I've mentioned here - like stepping back and enjoying the process. Finally, he showed us reels of famous artists and their mistakes - it really set the scene for freedom of expression.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
Outside of art, I'm a Doctor. So, I spend a lot of my time in high-stress environments. I'm particularly passionate in medicine about person-centred care and communication. And I'm a certified coach too.
All of this feeds into my desire to spread passions and knowledge and help people be who they want to be. But, outside of all of that, I love running and generally getting outside.
I try to get to Parkrun most weeks, we go for a walk every day, and I also have an academic interest in physical activity - I've authored a few academic papers on the subject of physical activity in medicine/health. It's also important to me to spend time with family - my girlfriend and my Mum in particular.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
I think a positive effect overall. Certainly, during the pandemic, there seemed to be a big surge in demand for commissions. And also, I feel like the online art space grew during that time. But, being a one-man band operation, really, the art business wasn't affected.
The biggest challenge was that before the pandemic, I really enjoyed sketching outside, on location - and I'm only now getting back to this. I did, however, adapt - but perhaps didn't enjoy the claustrophobic sketching as much as getting out and about.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
Go for it. Don't be afraid to share your work. Do what you enjoy doing, not what you think other people like.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
I think people fall into the trap of comparisons - you see someone sharing their art, getting 10.000 likes - what you don't see is the other four sketchbooks of mistakes and the 20 years of painting they've been doing to get to this point.
I think people also think they're failing if advertising your art doesn't suddenly get you loads of commissions - but it's so personal and unpredictable. When I was doing commissions, you might get seven to eight in a week, then nothing for a month or more.
And word-of-mouth, return business, and online reviews - these all take time to build up! So, it's really important to focus on yourself.
Is there a phrase, quote or saying that you really like?
"There is no must in art because art is free." - I'm not sure who said this, but it's very true!
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
Success is a feeling of fulfilment and contentment. I have learned to focus on doing what I enjoy and ensuring that I keep doing it. Whilst stopping doing things that aren't necessary, that detracts from my enjoyment!