Episodes

This episode is for you if: 1. You’re sick of the best jobs going to the most connected this episode is for you. 2. The algorithm and the extreme pace and demand of online culture is killing your creative spirit. 3. Your creative practice isn’t giving you the full depth of what you’re after creativ…

How did an artist whose primary medium is drawing, go on to collaborate with a legendary rapper like Kendrick Lamar, choreograph a ballet for the Boston Ballet and even being invited to give a TED talk? From this conversation, it seems the answer is to defy how people think about what you do. When…

Do you ever feel like you’re doing a MILLION THINGS but it all AMOUNTS TO NOTHING? You’re running in a million directions and getting nowhere? You feel pulled to post and create and make and launch 80 different things and it all seems in conflict with each other? In this episode I want to share …

Have you ever been swimming and lost your sense of up while underwater? It’s incredibly panic inducing. This feeling is something I experience in the creative process sometimes too. Nothing makes sense. You have no sense of how to make any choices within a piece of work. It all looks wrong. If thi…

The best students I ever had really had a clear sense of their influences. In the old days really studying and imitating your masters was seen as an essential part of the creative path. But what happens when you get stuck in this phase and can’t seem to break out into something that feels more tru…

If you’re stuck and waiting for something to give in your creative practice, do not wait any longer! Listen to this episode. Nearly every major creative career breakthrough I’ve ever had came from a moment when I knew exactly what I wanted to do but no one would give me a shot. In this episode I …

If you’re overwhelmed and can’t seem to make progress, it may be time to revisit your creative models. When’s the last time you stopped everything and reconnected with your true north? One of the most centering tools is taking a fresh look at who you’re currently learning from creatively. In this …

If you’re in need of a quick jolt of creative pep this episode is for you. We have incredible guests best piece of creative advice. Today I’m joined by Zak Rosen the creator behind The Best Advice Show podcast. The Best Advice Show is a super short podcast where super interesting people show up to …

If you’re a creator, chances are you have a legit relationship with sad songs. This probably isn’t news to you. But did you know this well of melancholy might be a secret well of hidden creative power? In today’s episode I sit down and chat with Susan Cain, author of the INCREDIBLE book “Bitterswe…

The biggest wins in my creative journey never fit squarely into the whole “just follow your passion and everything will work out” philosophy, but they were never pure pragmatism either. For this reason, even after nearly 8 years of making a podcast that tries to strike the balance between the magic…

If you ever wished you had a deeper or more meaningful relationship with your work, or wished you were able to make your work more you so that people like you could more deeply connect to your art, this episode is for you. Even if you’re not interested in making ultra revealing super serious art, …

Do you feel overwhelmed by the amount of incredible creative work out there? Scrolling through an endless stream of creative genius on every platform day in and day out is enough to make you want to give up for good. Today’s episode is an antidote to that feeling by means of identifying the surpri…

You wouldn’t get very far as a basketball player, if you played by the rules of soccer. Can you imagine? Trying to play without touching the ball with your hands? It’d be ridiculous! Actually impossible! And yet, in your creativity, you let other people’s creative rules and values make you feel dis…

How does someone from Indiana with parents with normal jobs become a full time artist living and working in France? Today on the show we deconstruct Jessi Raulet’s (aka EttaVee) creative journey to find out just that. In this episode we will:- Debunk the myth that you must transform and find yours…

Have you ever put something out into the world and were just devastated by the results? This is pretty much par for the course when it comes to posting a new piece, publishing a book, or launching really anything as a creator. The more failed and disappointing launches I had in my career, the mor…

Is there an area of your creative practice that you just can not seem to make progress in? Do you second guess every new piece and project to the point of doing nothing at all? In this episode we explore the two competing forces within you that are pulling your creativity apart, and how to get th…

Sometimes the adventure chooses the hero and other times it’s the other way around! Both are valid. The only trouble? Most of us have a default that we get stuck in, it’s helpful to recognize when we need to switch things up. In this episode a classic flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pantser (Zac) and go…

We’re living through some hard times – but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have the opportunity to really, really matter. In this episode, we’re going back to THE CURSE OF ART ISLAND from Episode 202! For me, the creative career path is a roller coaster. There are so many circumstantial and em…

Have you ever fallen out of love with your creative practice? Maybe you got stuck and couldn’t reach your goals. Maybe you reached your goals and they weren’t as fulfilling as you thought they’d be? Maybe the creative process itself has become too fraught with expectation and pressure that you can’…

Ya ever pour yourself into something and people essentially respond with “meh”? It’s so demoralizing! If you want a few ways to bake in more potent layers into your work that don’t necessarily just mean trying harder. This episode is for you! We explore: – How to use patterns no matter what art di…

At some point you may notice that putting more time and effort into your work isn’t making the work any better. This overworking results in the ceiling of diminishing returns. What do you do when you want to level up your work, but just trying harder isn’t cutting the mustard? If this is you, it’s …

It’s very tempting to get obsessed with WHAT you’re making, but have you given much thought about the WHERE of your creative work? Where you make stuff. Where your head is when you’re making that stuff. Where you publish stuff! These spaces really really matter. Don’t just take it from me. I…

Today on the show we have two of my dream guests ON ONE EPISODE!! Welcome New York Times Best Selling author Mac Barnett and Caldecott Honor Winning author / illustrator Carson Ellis!! These two were both essential inspirations in my creative journey, and it’s no wonder why. They both exude artis…

Do you ever fully “find your style” for good? I don’t think so. It’s a living document.  I’ve done episodes on the topic. Taught whole classes on it. But, I’ve stayed on the hunt for over a decade, and I still have breakthroughs that surprise me. In this episode, I want to share some new thoughts…