NYT Bestseller Gavin Aung Than on Taking Risks to Live the Life You Want

The Taylor Blum Project

Gavin Aung Than (@zenpencils) is a New York Times bestselling cartoonist, illustrator, and author. Gavin is a cartoonist based in Melbourne, Australia. After working in the corporate graphic design industry for eight years, he quit his unfulfilling job at the end of 2011 to focus on his true passion, drawing cartoons. Gavin launched his website, Zen Pencils, at the start of 2012, a cartoon blog which adapts inspirational quotes into comic stories, and hasn’t looked back since. Zen Pencils has been featured by The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Slate, Mashable, Upworthy, Buzzfeed, Gawker, The A.V. Club, Brain Pickings, Comic Book Resources, National Geographic, ProBlogger, and The Design Files. It was named one of the best 100 websites by PCMag and there are two New York Times bestselling book collections of Zen Pencils comics currently available. Gavin's most current book, CREATIVE STRUGGLE: Illustrated Advice From Masters of Creativity is also out wherever books are sold.

In this episode, we discuss how Gavin got started in his journey to become a bestselling cartoonist and the struggles that he overcame in getting to there, especially starting out. We talk about his creative process and what it takes to make Zen Pencils comics and books. Gavin also dives in to what he learned by taking risks in his career and starting his own company and brand. Gavin provides some great stories, advice, and tips for everybody, no matter what industry you're in. Enjoy!