Creative Playdate Episode 19: Interview with Regina Flath

I am back from ICON with a great new episode featuring book designer and art director Regina Flath! She gives a nice overview of how Penguin Random House chooses illustrators, what they are looking for and how often they use stock images, illustration or their own photoshoots for book covers. One of her latest, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White is among her favorite recent projects.

Regina is also mom to an adorable toddler. She takes us through an epic year of getting and being pregnant as well as dealing with a host of medical issues that came up for both her and her daughter along the way. Fortunately, everyone is healthy and thriving now. Regina also mentioned that sometimes parents are the best artists to work with because they are GREAT at time management and at keeping their art directors abreast of what's happening as it relates to the timeline of the project. Go parents!

If you haven't heard yet, Creative Playdate now has it's own social media presence. You can follow the show on Instagram @creative_playdate_podcast and on Twitter @PlaydatePodcast. I've also created a Facebook Group where we can talk all things parenting and illustration and design and everything else. In the future I will be putting out a call for questions when I am interviewing a new guest, so I hope you will participate and get in some questions I might not have thought about.

Thank you all for listening and thank you to Thomas James and Jason Ritz for the theme music. Illustration Age is our proud syndicate, so check them out as well.

And of course, subscribe to the show, rate the show, review the show and SHARE the show!

Creative Playdate Episode 13: Interview with Santiago Uceda

The last episode of Creative Playdate for the year is a wonderful interview with illustrator, motion graphics artist, and designer Santiago Uceda. His work has so much character. He talks about how is illustration used to be very dark but that his family has helped to inject more hope into the work. You can read a great interview with Santiago and his partner, Jen Bell, in Family Circle about their blended family and lives.

Santiago is a Peruvian immigrant and he was very open about his experiences and feelings about the current political climate around immigration. If you want to know more about Santiago and his work, you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

As I mention at the beginning of the show, in addition to Creative Playdate being syndicated on Illustration Age, I am now going to be writing a bi-monthly column on the site. My first installment, "How I Built an Illustration Career Without Going to Art School" is up now and I should have a new one out next week.

Thank you to Thomas James and Jason Ritz for our theme music and thanks to all of you who have been listening and supporting the show!

You can find out more about myself and my work at www.michellekondrich.com and please be sure to subscribe to the show on iTunes!

I will be back with new episodes in January, so please enjoy the holiday season, stay safe, and Happy New Year!

Creative Playdate Episode 11: Interview with Andi Butler - Part 1 and 2

Interview with Andi Butler Part 1

Interview with Andi Butler Part 2

This week I've got a special, two-part episode with illustrator and surface pattern designer Andi Butler. We had a lengthy conversation about both her experience in the surface pattern design industry as well as her experience raising two boys, one of whom is autistic. I've split the conversation into two parts - the first part covers more of her work life and the second goes into parenting much more.

Andi is incredibly knowledgeable about both of these worlds and she is also very happy to talk about them and to answer questions about them. She's been at it for decades, so enjoy the wealth of information and insight!

You can follow Andi on Twitter and Instagram @andibutler and she also has a Facebook Page.

Thank to you everyone who has been listening to the show and welcome to all my new listeners! Feel free to get in touch any time!

Our wonderful syndicate is Illustration Age and our theme music was created by Thomas James and Jason Ritz.

Please be sure to rate and review on iTunes if you like what you hear.

Creative Playdate Episode 10: Interview with Britt Wilson

Today's episode was a supper fun, casual conversation with illustrator, comic artist and hand letterer, Britt Wilson. We have children who are almost the same age and we are at similar stages in our lives and careers. We jump right into the conversation with little preamble, so if you like to commiserate with other toddler parents and listen to their crazy stories you will LOVE this episode!

Britt is super open and honest about her experience becoming a mother and the financial and emotional toll that it can take. Like most of us, she had some... maybe... unrealistic expectations of what working at home with an infant would be like. I'm starting to think that there's no such thing as a child who will hang out in a play pen alone for more than 2 minutes.

Britt's work is colorful and honest and fun and you should definitely check out her books like Britt Wilson's Greatest Book on Earth. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram @britterson. Her Instagram stories of her daughter are definitely worth the follow - and so are her plants. 

Thanks for listening and don't forget to share with a friend!

Illustration Age is our wonderful syndicate and the theme music was created by Thomas James and Jason Ritz (who have a new podcast, by the way).

Creative Playdate Episode 9: Interview with Jacqui Oakley and Jamie Lawson

For the first time EVER, I've got a couple on the show! Jacqui Oakley and Jamie Lawson are both freelance creatives (she's an illustrator, he's an illustrator and designer) with an energetic three-year-old. We talk about their childcare situation and dividing up time with their son when deadlines don't always coincide with day care.

© Jacqui Oakley

It was good fun to chat with them. They are beginning to collaborate on fine art/gallery work and it makes me wish my husband and I could collaborate in that way. It sounds like a great way to get back to the early parts of a relationship, before kids. And Jacqui weighs in on her experience taking a break from work after giving birth.

You can follow Jacqui on Twitter and Instagram @jacquioakley and you can follow Jamie on Twitter @poly_studio and Instagram @jamielawson. Oh, and Jacqui has some great videos of her speaking at Weapons of Mass Creation and Creative Mornings.

And if you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate and review on iTunes. It helps spread the word!

Creative Playdate Episode 8: Interview with Daniel Hertzberg

Episode 8 of Creative Playdate features an interview with illustrator Daniel Hertzberg. We have an interesting conversation in which Daniel is very open about his and his wife's experience with trying to get pregnant and with having twins who were very premature. They had a first year that, fortunately, many of us have no experience with. 

Daniel has a great attitude towards being a parent and it's one that I know I lose touch with at times. When you are in the thick of an especially difficult time with your children, it's easy to forget the joy and humor they can bring. 

You can follow Daniel on Twitter and Instagram @danielhertzberg. And you can follow me on Twitter @MissIllustrator and on Instagram @mkondrich.

Want to help the show grow? Please share with a friend and rate/review on iTunes. I've got some great ideas for turning this show into more of a community rather than just an audience, so keep listening and thank you for all the support.

Creative Playdate is syndicated at Illustration Age.

Creative Playdate Episode 7: Interview with Allison Cole

Episode 7 is an interview with illustrator and surface pattern designer Allison Cole. Her incredibly playful work has appeared on products for clients like Target and West Elm. In fact, when I met her in person after our interview, I discovered that the Camelbak water bottle that my daughter uses was sporting one of her designs! 

We had a fun conversation about what it's like to work in surface pattern design and licensing and we discovered that our lives are shockingly similar - our husbands even work at the same school. She talks about her crazy-long commute while teaching out of state and about dealing with a serious health problem during pregnancy.

Check out Allison's portfolio and also her Busy Family 2018 Planning Calendar - which I think many of us could probably get some use out of. You can follow her on Twitter @allison_cole and Instagram @allisoncoleillustration.

I'm also very happy to announce that Illustration Age is now syndicating the podcast! Hopefully that means more eyes and ears on the show. And you can help by rating on iTunes or sharing with a friend. Lots of you have been doing that already, so thank you!

In the future, I hope to give you all opportunities to send in questions for guests in advance. I'm not quite there yet, but I definitely want you to be a part of the show because it wouldn't be hear without you!