Creative South Podcast

This special bonus episode was recorded live at Weapons of Mass Creation. Dylan Menges joined me in the balcony of the State theater lobby for a short conversation about being a competitor in ink wars and the importance of drawing with your hands instead of just the computer.

My guest this week is Catherine Moore. Catherine is an Atlanta-based Illustrator and an Assistant Professor of Art at Georgia Gwinnett College, she has done work for Men’s Health and Atlanta Magazines, as well as, Emory University and the University of Tennessee. We talk about how she went from getting a BA in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin to an MFA in Illustration from Savanah College of Art and Design, why she wanted to teach, and where her love of art and illustration came from.

This special bonus episode was recorded live at the Dribble Meetup during Weapons of Mass Creation. I had the opportunity to talk with Mitch Shepherd of Humbly Made, Mike Sulick from Fan Brandz, and Mr. Wongface himself – Jordan Wong about life, work, and automatic drawing.

My guest this week is Jason Ratner, a designer with Disney Design Group. We walk about growing up in New York, getting started with an internship at Disney, what it’s like to work at Disney, becoming a parent, and much more.

This is a special bonus episode of the podcast recorded live at Weapons of Mass Creation during the Dribbble Meetup. I sit down with two Stephanies — Steph Squared if you will — for short conversations about life, work, and a ton of random stuff.

This past weekend I was in Cleveland for Weapons of Mass Creation, and I had the opportunity to record the podcast live from Vendor Village. I recorded a series of short 15 minute interviews while I was there and at the Dribbble meetup afterward, with some incredibly talented people. So, for the next several weeks we’ll be posting those interviews on Thursdays as bonus episodes. And speaking of WMC fest, my guest this week – Carlos Basabe, was the Emcee of Ink Wars at Weapons of Mass Creation. Carlos is a talented illustrator and designer, who runs his own company, Four Six Six studios, based in Washington DC. We talk about his early life in Havana, Cuba, growing up in Florida, his path to becoming an illustrator and designer and much more.

27: Dustin Lee of Retro Supply

My guest today is Mike Jones, co-founder of Creative South. This episode is a little different, Mike and I sat down in my living room to talk about Weapons of Mass Creation, building relationships, and tons of great food in Cleveland.

My guest this week is Aaron Sechrist, better known to the design world as OK Pants. Aaron has worked with clients like Disney, House of Blues, and Patton Oswalt; as well as having his work featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We talk about growing up in Cleveland, his blue color work ethic, getting his start out of college designing ads for escorts in the local arts and leisure newspaper, his love for stand-up comedy, and his involvement with Weapons of Mass Creation.

My guest this week is my friend, Johnny Gwin, co-founder of Hummingbird Ideas, Deep Fried Studios, and Container Yard – a co-working space he founded with his wife, Stacy Wellborn – that opened last week. Johnny and I sat down in front of the mics in his podcast studio to talk about his career path, and how a PoliSci major ended up the co-founder of an ad agency, a podcasting studio, and a co-working space.

My guest this week is Bethany Heck. Bethany is currently a creative lead for Microsoft’s Power BI team. Her work has been featured in New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Wired, Smashing Magazine, Uppercase Magazine and several other international publications. In addition to that, she runs Eephus League, an online shop dedicated to the fringes of baseball, and freelances under her company Heck House. Bethany and I talk about, growing up the child of a design professor, her love of baseball, the difference between being a designer and being a creative director, and much more.

My guest this week Is Bryan Garvin, from Weapons of Mass Creation. Bryan and I get into the nitty-gritty details of why you should come to WMCFest. We cover everything from speakers like Stefan Sagmeister and Mark Brickey of Adventures In Design, the incredible workshops on topics like How to Start and Build a Profitable Design Business or Sign painting, the entertaining podcasts, the Cleveland studio tour, and the amazing meet and greets and parties that are planned. If you head over the WMCfest.com between now and July 10th you can get two tickets for the price of one. That’s right, Buy One Get One free. So, bring a friend and head to Cleveland the first week of August for Weapons of Mass Creation!

My guests this week are Drew Hill and Bob Ewing of Inch X Inch. Drew and Bob are life long friends, and currently Art Directors for Element 3 in Indianapolis. After hours they run Inch X inch, a monthly subscription button club. Inch X Inch features different artists each month and donates all of the profits to charities focusing on art in schools. We talk about the birth of their friendship, why the chose the charities they donate to, and their relationship with Busy Beaver Button Co., French Paper, and Mama’s Sauce.

My guest this week is my friend, Scotty Russell. Scotty is an illustrative hand lettering artist, and motivation creative coach, in his spare time he holds down a day job as an in-house creative for an industrial manufacturer in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Scotty and I met last year when he came to Mobile to speak at an AIGA portfolio review. I was truly floored by his story and the message behind it. This year at Creative South he presented a version of that same talk and was greeted with a standing ovation at the end.

Antoinette Carroll is the CEO of Creative Reaction Labs, a non-profit based out of St. Louis, dedicated to using design for social innovation and to improve the human experience. She is also the president of AIGA St Louis, she created and serves as chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Initiative at the local level, and at the national level, she is the Chair of AIGA’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.