Creative Slash

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Ep. 056 – Tom Froese – Finding the Why in Commercial Art, Overprints, the One-Brush Brush Pack

2026-10-0101:57:34

Most of us were told the same thing. Make something every day, share it, and the people will come. But what happens when you do exactly that for years, the numbers stall, the platforms change the deal, and the thing you love starts to feel like homework for an algorithm? In this episode, we talk with illustrator, teacher, and author Tom Froese about building a very public career as a self-described introvert. It starts with camera presence and resting dad face, then turns into a bigger conver...

Ep. 055 – Chris DeLorenzo – Johnny Cupcakes, a 500-Foot Airport Mural, and Learning Everything Once

2026-09-2401:45:03

Most people see a slackline, a motorcycle, or a recurve bow and think, “That’s not me.” Chris DeLorenzo sees the same things and signs up for lessons. He taught himself to slackline one summer. He has a motorcycle license he has never used. For a while, he wondered if he was quietly training for the apocalypse. In this episode, we talk with Chris about his years as lead designer and art director at Johnny Cupcakes, his move into illustration for places like The New York Times, and the 500-foo...

Ep. 054 – Van Berkemeyer – Design, Music, and the Empty Chase for the Next High

2026-09-1701:59:46

Van Berkemeyer has built two separate creative careers: one as an illustrator and designer, one as a musician who's had real viral hits and industry attention. He says neither one ever actually felt like arriving. In this episode, Brad and Dustin talk with Van about growing up on a small farm in rural Texas, working as a cowboy on an Oklahoma ranch as a teenager, and building BerkMade, his illustration and design studio, alongside a music career as Van Andrew. The surface topic is juggling tw...

Ep. 053 – Christian Helms – The 99-Pack, a McDonald's Broom, and Taking the Joke Seriously

2026-09-1001:34:45

A 99-pack of beer sounds like a joke. It's about as tall as Shaq and weighs eighty pounds. When Christian Helms described it to his mom, she said she didn't get it. A few months later, she called to ask if he'd seen what Austin Beerworks did. In this episode, we talk with Christian Helms, founder and creative director of Helms Workshop in Austin, about the 99-pack, Howler Brothers, a week living with Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, and a career built mostly on naive optimism. Underneath the stori...

Ep. 052 – Bill Gardner – Stolen Magic Secrets, a $20 Rock, and Branding for Machines

2026-09-0301:06:39

There are thousands of magicians who can handle a deck of cards better than David Copperfield. There is one David Copperfield. Bill Gardner has a one-word answer for why, and it turns out to be the same word that explains why one designer’s work gets remembered and another’s gets filed. In this episode, we talk with Bill Gardner — founder of LogoLounge, owner of Gardner Design, and a man who put himself through college as a working magician — about story as the actual engine underneath brandi...

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