Meet Yellow Sleeves

We recently connected with Yellow Sleeves and have shared our conversation below.

Yellow, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I’ve been fortunate enough to be brought up by loving, supportive and hard-working parents who set a great example for me from an early age. I’ve also developed a strong work ethic through my studies. As a design student I observed a pattern where my best results would always come from that little bit of extra work I would put in once I thought I was “done” with a project. I learned that the 10-20% more care and effort I put into something after I think it’s done is not only worthwhile, but often necessary in order to achieve the results I’m after. Reaching some of these results was very motivating and slowly, over time, it just became the way I approach any project or piece of work I do. I also like being able to take pride in my work and, unless pressed for time, I do my best to not abandon projects in a “eh, that’ll do” state.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Hi, I’m Yellow Sleeves and I’m a designer by trade and I moonlight as an indie artist and producer.

From a very early age I’ve had an artistic inclination. I’d spend hours drawing and would never miss a chance to do some singing around the house or at school. I’ve never seriously pursued music or visual art as a child, they’ve always been hobbies and things I’d do for fun.

In my teenage years I started listening to rock music and became interested in picking up an instrument. At 19 my dad gifted me my first electric guitar and I started my first band with a few folks I knew from school. The band didn’t last very long and it was always meant to be a casual pursuit, but I discovered I really enjoyed playing music in a group setting.

Not long after I decided to pursue design and illustration as a career and left my hometown in Romania and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland to study design. At this point in my life, music was just that one thing I was passionate about but all my efforts were focused on my studies and, due to the move to the UK, I didn’t even have an instrument for a long while. For many years design and visual arts were my only pursuits, both creatively and professionally.

Fast forward to 2020 and I found myself stuck at home with a lot of time on my hands. I decided to pick my instrument back up, buy a bass guitar and finally commit more seriously to learning how to play. And slowly, but surely, I set myself on the trajectory of becoming an indie artist and producer.

I released the first song I ever wrote in June 2021. I spent months learning how to write music, record it, arrange it and mix it (with varying degrees of success) and releasing this first song was a eureka moment for me. I realised that I loved making music and I wanted to focus all my spare time on getting better at it.

For the next couple of years I wrote a handful of songs, got singing lessons from an amazing local artist and, in November 2024, I released my first single as Yellow Sleeves called Rotten on all digital streaming platforms. The single was well received, getting a few radio spins on a handful of local and online radios. I then released a few more singles in several different styles and compiled them all (alongside a couple of more tracks) on my self-titled debut EP which I released in November 2024.

Since the release of my EP I’ve been making some more music behind the scenes and I started releasing regular videos on my YouTube channel. There I break down my writing, production and mixing process, talk about the album art I make for my music, show music gear and much more. As a professional designer and massive music enthusiast I feel I learned many things about both worlds that I am very keen to share with my audience and, hopefully, encourage everyone to follow their artistic pursuits regardless of whether they do it professionally or as a hobby. Making art of any kind is a human experience that I feel is not sufficiently encouraged or nurtured and I’m hoping that, in some small way, my creative journey and videos may support others in making a start and having a go or, even better, starting again, like I have.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The skills I feel had the most impact on my journey are my ability to stay curious, my communication skills and the strive to always produce work I can take pride in, and these are also the skills I would recommend to anyone, regardless of their pursuit or where they are in their journey.

I feel it is crucial to maintain a good level of curiosity and always be willing and ready to learn something new. This also plays into maintaining a level of humbleness about you and acknowledging there is always more to learn.

Communication skills are very important in all fields and all walks of life and they are skills I continuously try to hone and develop. Clear and flexible communication has a huge positive impact on all manner of relationships. And the opposite is true as well, miscommunication and inadequate communication is very frequent and often the cause of conflict. Investing in these skills can make your life much, much easier.

And, lastly, it may sound like a moot point but actively trying to produce work you can be proud of is crucial. We all fall into the trap of calling things “done” too soon. Art takes as long as it takes, and in a world that overvalues content and undervalues art we feel a lot of pressure to deliver quickly, rather than deliver good work. I’m not suggesting we strive for an unachievable perfection, as “perfect is the enemy of done”, but great results rarely come quick and never come effortlessly. So take your time and try to do the work that does you and your abilities justice. But, at the same time… get it done. With each new piece, with each new song, with each new project you will get better, so try to develop a sense of identifying diminishing returns and learn when to move on to the next thing.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I’m always keen to collaborate on projects. I describe myself as a “one man act” mostly due to circumstance rather than by choice. I enjoy collaborative work just as much, if not more, than working on my own. There is a magic that comes from bouncing ideas off of people that can’t really be replicated using a mirror.

One of the biggest constraints I believe most of us face is time and availability and this has been a barrier for a lot of collaborations in the past.

I feel the ideal collaborator would be available, transparent, flexible and keen, with a touch of resilience, given anything worth doing is likely neither easy nor quick. I’d be interested in collaborating with artists, designers, musicians or anyone in need of an artist and musician. Whether it’s complementing skills or doubling down on similar strengths, I’m always keen to have a chat about a collab.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Alex Sasu, Ori Sur

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Leadership Development
Empathy Unlocked: Understanding how to Develop Emotional Intelligence

“Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus

Productivity
Where do you get your work ethic from?

We’ve all heard the phrase “work hard, play hard,” but where does our work ethic

Productivity
Boosting Productivity Through Self-Care

When you have a never-ending to-do list it can feel irresponsible to engage in self-care,