Ink Artist Will Thompson: From Self Taught Novice to Full Time Pro in 3 Years!

Will Thompson (AKA The300ChickenNuggets) joins Nerdy Mewzings to talk about his self taught art journey, striving for mastery with zero formal training, and turning it into a full-time career in only three years!

He explains his no pre-sketch process (straight to permanent ink!), how songs create 15-second mental videos he pulls images from, and the two piece a day/2 hour time limit rules that helped build his skillset in record time.

Will covers commissions for Maya Kurita's book, why white space and high-contrast ink clicked for him, and going full-time once the numbers increased made sense. He also teases upcoming work, including a Trace 3 skate deck, the Blood of Gods zine, and upcoming collabs with Joshua Striker.

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Follow Will: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the300chickennuggets

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Timestamps

0:00 - The 300 Chicken Nuggets handle

2:30 - Maya Kurita character work

5:00 - No sketches, song snapshots & two-hour pieces

10:00 - Kim Jung Gi parallel & consistency struggles

12:00 - Divorce, lost shop & starting art as an outlet

18:00 - Copying for muscle memory, then original work

22:00 - ADHD, learning by doing & big paper

28:00 - Ink as the click (white space & contrast)

34:00 - Artists he follows & art history roots

42:00 - Social media habits & going full-time

48:00 - Galleries, management & what’s next

55:00 - Commissions, sliding scale & where to reach him

1:00:00 - Outro