Art Department Podcast

Interview with Simon Lee

We're back. It's been a while, a lot has happened and we're here again to talk about it!

For this episode we have legendary artist and designer Craig Mullins as our guest. He shares with us how he navigated the commercial art industry throughout the last three decades, what drives him these days and where he sees himself and the industry going in the near future.

You’ve probably noticed that AI generated images are all the rage again these days in artists circles. Social media is full of it, some looks good (great even!), some not so much! New technologies see to emerge on a daily basis. In a follow up to our previous AI episode we examine the technical, moral and legal implications for commercial artists.

Come on a journey with Marceau Nakayama and us from his beginnings in Michelin starred restaurants to Minecraft, from start up companies and ultimately concept design and art direction.

Do you work very long hours? You can’t stand not checking your emails? You feel guilty when you’re not in front of the computer? If you can answer any of these questions with yes it might just be the case that you’re suffering from a modern day addiction called Workaholism.

It took a while but we’re back! Join us for an exlusive ‘making of’ of Emmanuels short film ‘Giselle’ that he did for the Epic Games Unreal fellowship and subsequently released online. Apologies for the bad audio, some technical issues made the original audio feed unusable to we had to use the backup. :(

During the pandemic, a lot of us have been quitting our jobs. Searching for new opportunities. Asking ourselves what is the meaning of it all. Is the work I do the right one for me? Join us for an honest and open look at our jobs, our art and the changes we want to make in our lives. We are joined by Neal Spackman, the CEO of Regenerative Resources Co and Artist, Director and Dog-Aficionado Saiful Haque.

Mieke Hutchins is currently an Art Director at Niantic. In this episode she takes us on a journey through her career as graphic designer, matte painter, concept artist, art director, artist, creative and mother! Join us for another great interview!

Kevin Baillie had an incredible start into a Hollywood film career, being hired out of high school into the Lucasfilm art department. From there on the path was set. Follow us along through an incredible journey full of motivation and inspiration that is far from over!

Darek Zabrocki is a well known concept artist who has worked on numerous big projects. Not only does he share stories and advice about he managed to amass a huge following online, but also how he started a hugely popular art podcast and lately art school!

In this episode, aptly titled “The Productivity Myth” we break down our daily tasks, schedules, routines and habits. Is being productive, prolific and efficient really the best thing to aim for? We think creativity can’t be forced, but how can we still deal with daily deadlines in the entertainment industry.

Dan Luvisi tells it how it is. The amazing (and ongoing) true story behind the creation of Last Man Standing. The stories of the never ending trials on the way to make your dreams come true have never hit closer than with this episode. Essential listening! :)

The episode we all need right now. Listen to Armand’s incredible story of success, loss, hardship and a dream come true. Inspirational advice for everyone wanting to tell their story.

As a follow up to our popular episode “Feeling Lost” we discuss the various ways we can cope with severe burnout and what to do when a regular break doesn’t seem to help anymore. How to escape productivity hell, peer pressure and invigorate your creativity again!

To celebrate 5000 subscribers on our Youtube channel we’re doing a special Q+A episode. Over the last week we asked our audience to send us their most burning questions. We go through career advice, mental health strategies and some funny and odd stuff as well!

Alex Mandradjiev is a professional illustrator currently working with Disney/Marvel. He has inspired countless movies with his incredibly engaging, story driven and cinematic illustrations. He shares with us his struggles finding his voice as an artist and what his plans are for the future.

This week we’re talking to Peggy Chung and Robert Simons, the co-founders of creative studio Gadget-Bot. They share with us how they met and started their own studio as a husband and wife team, the many struggles and failures involved in creating and launching your own IPs, and ultimately what it takes to run and scale up your own company.

Wayne Haag is a veteran Australian artist in the movie and entertainment industry currently working out of Sydney. His career spans back to the Fifth Element, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and much more. Go with us on a journey of self-discovery, perseverance and inspiration!

Jacob Martin is a lawyer working out of LA specialising in copyright and lately NFTs in the entertainment industry. He gives us an insight into the challenges that NFTs bring when it comes to not only using other people’s intellectual property in your creations but also when you have defend your own ideas.

Nicole Letaw is a Hollywood veteran and currently a Senior Concept and Development Producer at Weta Dev. She shares with us stories from the hiring side, what she is looking for when putting a Concept Art team together, what are the big mistakes artists make, etc

Brian Matyas is the brain behind the Mandalorian’s amazing costume and character designs and a ton of other Star Wars properties that are currently in the making. On this weeks episode he shares with us his experiences, concerns and plans.

This weeks guest is none other than Aaron Haye. A Hollywood veteran with more than 25 years of experience, Aaron is currently a Production Designer. He has worked on the biggest sci-fi and period era shows, blockbusters and Oscar-winning motion pictures. We’re chatting with him about his journey so far.

Whether creatively or in life, we are bound to feel lost at certain times in our lives. The recent experience with NFTs have been a trigger for a lot of artists to question their artistic voice and their place within their respective industries. We share some of our personal experiences and how we dealt with it.

A question that as is old as humanity (or almost) … what is art? More importantly … what is good art? We dive into how to make sense of the traditional and digital art market and how we navigate through it as artists.

Colie Wertz is an industry veteran having worked in Hollywood for over 20 years. Today he shares something little know to most people - learn about his fight with injuries that could have cost him his career, his battle with addiction and how he turned it all around.

Annis is a true creative, having explored a multitude of different genres and positions. Join us for the truly remarkable talk about introspection, finding your inner voice, navigating hardships and how to emerge on the other side with a clear focus and creative drive to tackle even the most daunting project.

Our inboxes are flooded, the (art) world is going crazy. The crypto art/NFT fever has spread. In this special we answer all the burning questions: What is it? Where and how do I get in? How to fund your wallet. Where do I promote myself. Also how to deal with the mental health aspects and the environmental concerns.

The next big thing - or potentially the biggest thing ever in digital art is happening right before our eyes. We chat with Ben Mauro who has been at the heart of the CryptoArt/NFT scene early on about what it is, what it means for digital artists and where its heading. Of course we also touch on his upcoming graphic novel Huxley and his travel exploits.

James Paick - a man of many talents. Artist extraordinaire, creative director and found of his own concept design studio and co-founder of wildly popular design school Brainstorm in Los Angeles. Join us as James shares his journey, advice for younger artists struggling to find their place in the industry and students looking to become tomorrow’s most talked about artist.

We’re all guilty of posting one of those at least once during our career. “Speedpaintings” - sounds cool, gives us a lot of likes and attention and we get to show off how awesome and fast we can produce a piece of artwork. But is it really that awesome? What implications does it have on how others see us? Followers, students, clients? Let’s talk about it!

Throughout an incredible diverse career Gavin Rothery has done everything from graphic, concept, production design, art direction, running a design studio, taking on advertising clients, writing scripts, pitching ideas and much more. Recently his directorial feature debut Archive was released.

We’ve all gone through hard times. Depression, anxiety, isolation. Recent tragic events have led us think more about ourselves and the role we play in this industry and this world. We called upon an expert - clinical psychologist Dr Jody Echegaray.

From Matter Painter to CEO. Maxx Burman, one of the masterminds behind the wildly successful company Kitbash3D shares all about his journey and knowledge. Whats really behind the transition from artist to entrepreneur, the pitfalls of the business and what he misses the most from his artist days.

We introduce our favourite strategies and tips for talking to clients the right way. How to prepare and approach feedback sessions, identify and extract the most valuable information from the client brief and references boards. What does the client really mean, how to read between the lines and much more!

We’re back with our inspiration series and are looking at something near and dear to our hearts: Cinema! Whether its the cinematography, the stories or characters - we talk about movies that touched and influenced us throughout our lives.

We’ve often mentioned mentorships as one of the best ways to advance your career in any field. But what’s really in a mentorship? Are you a good mentor? Are you a good mentee? In this three way conversation we sit down with Scott Gessler who has been mentored by Emmanuel in the last 18 months and who just landed his first major Hollywood gig.

It's been an interesting month and an even more "interesting" year. The first of our monthly reviews where we go through the biggest entertainment news that we thought worth discussing. Also what did we learn in 2020 and what have we planned in 2021.

Jason Scheier is a Production Designer at Netflix. He shares all about what it takes to get into the animation industry in the US, working for big studios like Dreamworks and Warner Brother and how to become a Production Designer.

How much ART is there in ARTificial Intelligence? Should we as creative professionals be afraid of the impending doom that machine learning brings? These questions, Simpsons, Terminator and much more in this episode!

To celebrate the 20th episode we invited none other than Sparth to share his thoughts on how to stay strong and motivated as an artist in a career that spans more than two decades.

Among us is an imposter and you’re having the feeling that its you. But is it really? We often hear the phrase impostor syndrome within the artists community and we wanted to shine some light on what it is and how we cope with it.

You got that email from HR, from the dream company you always wanted to work for. But you have no idea how to approach the job interview. Maybe its your first, maybe you’ve had a lot but it never turned out the way you hoped? Now its time to level up and improve your interview skills!

Our top ten tips for artistic growth! Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a budding junior artist chances are that you have experienced bumps, hurdles and plateaus in your career and creativity. We share our experience how on to deal with them and emerge on the other end as a stronger artist!

We all have gotten them: Rude client emails with weird requests and odd hours ... But how do you deal with them effectively? How should we respond? Is there anything to learn from them? And how can we repair broken work relationships?

The second part of our inspiration series is all about Design. Which designers from which disciplines have influenced the most? How do you take inspiration and inspirational stories and apply them to your own creations? This and more in today’s episode!

In this new series we’re showing our audience what inspires us as designers, artists and as humans. The first part is about a passion of ours. Photography. Hear the stories behind our personal history with the medium and how it influences us to this day.

Social Media is part of our everyday lives. As artists we are even more exposed to the vicious cycle of likes, shares and comments. How do we personally navigate the modern social networks and what do we recommend to people just starting out?

In this episode we’re sharing our favourite projects we had the pleasure of working on. How did we get the opportunity in the first place, what happened and why do we have such fond memories of it.

We’ve all been told: “You’re so lucky you’re so talented!” And if we’re honest, none of us likes it. What about all the hard work we put in! But is there such a thing as talent after all?