Podcasts about Illustration

THE VIEW FROM THE WINDOW SEAT—Despite its name, Direction of Travel is not a travel magazine. Sure, it's a celebration of a certain kind of travel, but this is not a publication that takes you somewhere. Unless you think of Air World as a destination. Which I do.Founder Christian Nolle is an AvGeek. Which is not an insult. More an acknowledgement of a state of mind. Christian loves all things aviation. And mostly he loves how it looks and feels and, perhaps more importantly, how it looked and felt.Direction of Travel is a loving homage to route maps, in-flight entertainment, ticket offices, and airports. It is a magazine about the culture of flight and the aesthetics one finds in Air World. And for anyone with even the slightest interest in flight, it is a glorious—and loving—celebration of that world.Regular listeners of this podcast may have noticed that I've been speaking to quite a few people from travel magazines recently, and there are reasons for that. One could argue that no other type of magazine has had to weather such a variety of competition from the digital space. And travel itself is subject to forces that have nothing to do with travel itself. But it remains aspirational even to those lucky enough to travel often.So whether you're a frequent flying business person, or someone who might fly once in a while, the magic of lift off—and touch down—remains.—This episode is made possible by our friends at Freeport Press. A production of Magazeum LLC ©2021–2025

A listener asks: "Should you judge a book by its cover?" Cartoonists Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar say... YES! Next, a cartoonist who is too embarrassed to promote his own work gets some encouragement and words of advice from the veteran comic creators.TODAY'S SHOWShould you judge a book by its cover?Too embarrassed to promoteTakeawaysA book's cover plays a significant role in its marketability.It's important to design a cover that reflects the content of the comic.Promoting comics can be challenging, especially in unexpected social situations.Introverts can find it difficult to promote their work in person.Having a decoy website can help ease the promotion process.It's okay to feel uncomfortable discussing your work with strangers.Using humor can help deflect awkward conversations about your work.Online promotion can be more effective than in-person promotion.  You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon$2 — Early access to episodes$5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.If you'd like a one-on-one consultation about your comic, book it now!Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. He is available for personal consultations. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive. He is the co-director of the comics documentary, Stripped.

Jake, Sam, and Lee discuss Lee's untimely death, Jake's rules for 2026, and how to find work when you're in between jobs. Reflect, laugh, and gain inspiration for the new year with us. 3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!Click here for this episode's links and show notes.

Illustration is a powerful and important tool for conservation, bringing science to life and presenting complex information in an engaging format. In this episode, we are continuing our exploration of the role of art in science communication and research with two other talented artists, Maya Hutagalung and Dr. Madison Sankovitz. Rachel and I have had the good fortune to work with them both over the last few months because they have been Science Illustration Interns here at the Xerces Society. Maya is a published illustrator whose work has appeared in a children's book and been featured in gallery shows. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration, with a minor in Earth and Environmental Science, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is most interested in how people intersect with their environment, and using art to communicate these connections. Madison is an illustrator and scientist passionate about pollinator conservation and communicating ecological research through art. Madison received a PhD in entomology from University of California Riverside and is currently a postdoc at the Boulder Bee Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder.---Illustration by Maya Hutagalung and Madison SankovitzThank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.

Ep #101: Freedom, Flexibility, and Filling the Gap: How Melquea Smith Built a Creative Life Through Children's Book IllustrationSummaryIn this episode, I sit down with Melquea Smith, a children's book illustrator, author, and world traveler who's redefining what it means to build a creative life on your own terms. Fresh off five weeks in Belgium (with cats and a chicken!), Melquea shares how losing her nonprofit job became the catalyst for going full-time as an illustrator, why representation in children's books matters deeply, and how she's scaling her art through Brown Sugar Graphics—a clip art membership celebrating Black and Brown kids in all their beautiful diversity.We get into the nitty-gritty of how picture books actually get made, what authors should look for when hiring an illustrator, and why visual storytelling is so much more than "just drawing." Plus, Melquea drops gems on building a sustainable creative business, navigating perfectionism, and finding alignment between your work, your values, and your joy.If you've ever wondered what goes into those gorgeous picture books, dreamed of going location-independent as a creative, or just need permission to imagine a different way of living—this one's for you.Chapters00:19 - Introducing Melquea Smith: A Visionary in Children's Literature10:13 - Navigating Change: Embracing Freedom and Creativity20:00 - Transitioning to Children's Illustration35:06 - The Importance of Representation in Children's Literature56:41 - The Journey of Creating Diverse Clip Art01:02:01 - The Creative Journey of Brown Sugar GraphicsWhat We Talk AboutHow Melquea networked like a pro at the American Library Association Conference with custom postcards and a manuscript wish listLosing a job in the nonprofit world and choosing full-time illustration instead of going back to corporateLiving and working abroad: five weeks in Belgium, falling in love with the Netherlands, and becoming a global citizenThe actual process of illustrating a children's book—from thumbnails to color scripting to final artWhy illustrators aren't just "drawers"—they're visual storytellers, marketers, and business ownersThe severe lack of diverse, high-quality clip art featuring Black and Brown kidsHow Brown Sugar Graphics is filling that gap with joyful, authentic representations of kids with different skin tones, hair textures, body types, abilities, and moreWhat authors should know before hiring an illustrator (hint: it's not just about the art)The power of email lists, the exhaustion of social media, and showing up where it matters mostThings We Mentioned

Galatians 2:1-5

Il y a un an, Donald Trump était élu président des États-Unis. Le nouveau locataire de la Maison Blanche est depuis omniprésent à l'international. En Afrique, le Nigeria et l'Afrique du Sud ont été directement concernés par un interventionnisme décomplexé… La fin de l'Agence des États-Unis pour le développement international (Usaid), quant à elle, a de lourdes conséquences humaines sur le continent. Les manifestants brandissent un immense drapeau du Venezuela dans les rues de Pretoria, capitale de l'Afrique du Sud. Celui des États-Unis, flotte en arrière-plan au-dessus d'une ambassade américaine surprotégée. Les slogans des manifestants sud-africains sont clairs : « Hands Off Venezuela », ‘Ne touchez pas au Venezuela.' » « Il s'agit d'une manifestation d'urgence, explique Mohammed Desai, de l'Association Afrique du Sud-Amérique latine, organisée par diverses organisations de la société civile sud-africaine, des partis politiques ainsi que des syndicats. Aujourd'hui, c'est le Venezuela qui est attaqué, demain, nous craignons que ce soit l'Afrique du Sud ! » Lors de la manifestation, le secrétaire général du Parti communiste sud-africain Solly Mapaila regrette le manque de réactions internationales. « À l'heure actuelle, tonne-t-il, les États-Unis font ce qui leur plait ! Il est regrettable qu'ils soient autorisés à le faire et que certains pays dans le monde n'aient pas réagi de manière appropriée... Nous refusons de vivre dans un monde monolithique dans lequel les États-Unis nous imposent une forme extrême de capitalisme de droite et de conservatisme, sans quoi ils ne nous considèrent ! » Nations unies, salle du Conseil de sécurité. Trois notes, les diplomates s'installent. La présidence somalienne prend le micro : la réunion 10085 du Conseil de sécurité est déclarée ouverte. Ce 5 janvier 2026, la désapprobation africaine face à l'intervention des États-Unis au Venezuela est cette fois-ci exprimée en termes diplomatiques, par la voix de l'ambassadeur Lewis Brown. Le représentant du Liberia aux Nations unies s'exprime devant le Conseil au nom du A3, le groupe des trois membres africains non-permanents du Conseil de sécurité : « De tels développements représentent des défis sérieux, non seulement par rapport à la stabilité interne du Venezuela, mais aussi parce qu'ils soulignent l'impératif de sauvegarder, plus largement, la paix et la sécurité de la région. Le A3 demeure ferme dans son engagement en faveur des principes fondamentaux du droit international, y compris le respect total de la souveraineté et de l'intégrité territoriale des États, tels qu'inscrits dans la charte des Nations unies, dans l'intérêt de la stabilité régionale et de la paix internationale. » Plusieurs gouvernements et organisations ont également marqué leur protestation par des communiqués : le Ghana, la Namibie, l'Union africaine ou l'Alliance des États du Sahel. Interventionnisme décomplexé  Le cas vénézuélien est devenu emblématique d'un interventionnisme décomplexé. Et l'Afrique est d'autant plus concernée par cette politique de puissance qu'elle en a elle-même été la cible. Dès février 2025, des frappes américaines sont déclenchées contre des cibles de l'organisation État islamique dans les montagnes du Golis, dans le nord de la Somalie. À la fin de l'année, c'est le Nigeria qui fait l'objet d'une intervention américaine, préparée et justifiée par un argumentaire sur mesure : l'existence d'un prétendu massacre de chrétiens dans le pays. Des frappes censées viser l'État islamique sont déclenchées le jour de Noël, le 25 décembre. En ce début d'année 2026, certains sur place s'interrogent encore sur les motivations réelles de l'intervention américaine… Comme le professeur Muktar Omar Bunza, qui enseigne l'histoire sociale à l'Université du Nord-Ouest à Sokoto, au Nigeria. « Avec ce qu'il s'est passé au Venezuela, explique-t-il, les gens ont l'impression que les Américains peuvent prendre n'importe quel prétexte, comme par exemple cette histoire de persécutions religieuses, que n'importe quoi peut servir de justification pour que les Américains s'emparent des ressources d'un endroit. Donc, les gens ont peur, ils craignent que ce soit juste une étape, ils perdent confiance dans l'idée d'une démocratie américaine qui respecterait les droits humains, ou qui les défendrait ». Le Grand invité AfriqueOusmane Ndiaye: «L'Afrique subit déjà la brutalité de Trump» L'inquiétude est d'autant plus forte que la parole développée autour de cette politique de puissance s'émancipe largement des faits, de la réalité du terrain. L'exemple nigérian n'est pas unique. L'Afrique du Sud a elle aussi dû endurer les déformations trumpiennes de la vérité. Depuis son retour au pouvoir, Donald Trump s'est érigé en défenseur des fermiers blancs qu'il considère victimes d'un « génocide » en Afrique du Sud. Cette affirmation ne s'appuie pourtant sur aucun fait. « Il nous ramène dans notre passé ! » Se rendre dans une ferme au nord de Pretoria aide à s'en rendre compte. Ici on élève des poulets et l'on produit des choux ou des poivrons. Le Dr. Ethel Zulu est nutritionniste de formation. Il y a une dizaine d'années, elle a choisi de devenir agricultrice, elle est aujourd'hui à la tête d'une propriété d'une vingtaine d'hectares. Le crime en milieu rural, raconte-t-elle, touche aussi (et surtout) la communauté noire. Elle en a elle-même été victime. « Avant, explique-t-elle, nous occupions notre maison entièrement, mais nous avons décidé d'y installer aussi certains de nos employés, pour ne pas être seules ma fille et moi. Comme ça on se sent un peu plus en sécurité. Vous savez, cette question de la sécurité dans les fermes est un problème qui touche toute la communauté agricole, ce n'est pas du tout un problème racial mais bien un problème national. » Sa réaction aux propos du président américain, à ses affirmations sur une communauté blanche prise pour cible et l'existence d'un « génocide » ? « Cet homme est raciste, c'est tout ! Parce que les incidents que subissent les agriculteurs noirs dans leurs exploitations, comme moi, personne n'en a parlé. Nous venons par exemple de perdre un cadre de notre coopérative - AFASA. Le 26 décembre 2025, ils sont entrés armés chez lui, lui ont dérobé tout son argent, puis l'ont tué ! Et on nous dit que les agriculteurs blancs sont plus vulnérables que les agriculteurs noirs ? Ce sont des mensonges, des absurdités, nous sommes tous des cibles ! D'une certaine manière, ces propos divisent le pays en raison de notre histoire. Nous essayons d'aller de l'avant, et lui, il nous ramène dans notre passé ! » Ethel Zulu sort son téléphone et ouvre WhatsApp. Apparaissent alors de nombreux groupes communautaires, symbole de l'entraide entre voisins. « Tous les membres sont des agriculteurs du coin… Là, c'est notre équipe d'urgence… » Dans ces groupes, les noms Afrikaners, de la minorité blanche, se mêlent aux noms africains. Illustration d'une communauté d'agriculteurs soudée, victime de la même criminalité, parce qu'isolée en milieu rural, loin des postes de police.  « Not in our name » De l'autre côté de l'Atlantique, malgré le rappel des faits et de la réalité de terrain, Donald Trump persiste. Le documentaliste Louis Gaigher et plusieurs dizaines d'Afrikaners ont co-signé une lettre ouverte dans la presse sud-africaine, « Not in our name », 'Pas en notre nom'. Une réponse aux propos américains. « Je pense que ce qu'il fait ici, ou plutôt le genre de rhétorique qu'il utilise, relève complètement de la suprématie blanche. Je trouve cela extrêmement opportuniste. Je ne peux parler qu'en mon nom, je refuse qu'on me présente comme un réfugié ou quelqu'un qui souffre à cause du gouvernement postapartheid et de la démocratie. »  En Afrique du Sud, 35 ans après la fin de l'Apartheid, la minorité blanche est encore très puissante économiquement et politiquement. Elle détient une grande majorité des terres du pays. Si la Nation arc-en-ciel est confrontée à bien des défis, Louis Gaigher et les autres signataires de cette tribune, refusent d'être « des pions dans les guerres culturelles américaines ». « L'administration américaine attaque notre politique de redistribution des terres. Mais ici nous avons l'État de droit qui doit toujours être protégé. Et c'est complètement ridicule que les Américains se plaignent de notre loi sur l'expropriation sans compensation ​alors qu'ils font précisément la même chose, et de manière très violente, avec le Venezuela, ou encore avec leurs projets pour le Groenland ! » Les cas nigérian et sud-africain viennent en tout cas confirmer que la manipulation décomplexée de la réalité est l'un des piliers de la gouvernance trumpienne. « Ce que Donald Trump a fait, c'est qu'il a reconfiguré ce que nous considérions comme ‘la vérité', analyse Trust Matsilele, maître de conférences à l'Université de Birmingham. La vérité ou les faits sont maintenant des concepts fragiles. À partir du moment où ils ne servent plus ses intérêts, ils peuvent être contestés ou rejetés. C'est ce qu'on pourrait appeler une ‘politisation de la vérité'. Certaines des choses qui avaient été vues comme des vérités établies sont remises en cause : le changement climatique, les concepts de démocratie et d'État de droit. Tout cela a été bousculé par la vision du monde de Donald Trump ». Le chercheur s'arrête sur les risques que fait courir un tel comportement : « La vérité doit être la vérité, quelle que soit votre position. À partir du moment où vous commencez à politiser tout cela, on bascule de la vérité objective à la propagande, la mésinformation, la désinformation et les fake news… » Des opinions publiques africaines partagées À Kinshasa, dans le quartier commerçant de la Gombe, la circulation est encore timide et les embouteillages n'ont pas encore fait leur apparition, ce matin-là. Les Kinois sont déjà sur le chemin du travail. Certains, comme Jacquemain, disent la crainte que leur inspire désormais Trump, en dépit de son engagement en faveur du processus de paix en République démocratique du Congo. « Auparavant, quand il était arrivé au pouvoir, on pensait qu'il allait faire de bonnes choses, surtout pour notre pays la RDC. On pensait que c'était dans notre intérêt, la population congolaise. Mais maintenant, quand on constate la politique qu'il est en train d'amener dans le monde, on se demande : est-ce que ce n'est pas par intérêt pour nos minerais ? On a ensuite vu ce qu'il s'est passé au Venezuela, et puis ça n'est pas encore fini, on attend encore maintenant bientôt le Groenland et tout ça. On se demande : qu'est-ce qu'il se passe dans la tête de ce président-là ? » Patrick, lui aussi, déplore les coups portés à l'ordre international. « Quand il est venu, regrette-t-il, il a montré l'image de quelqu'un qui voulait la paix. Maintenant, on est en train de remarquer qu'il crée des problèmes. Apparemment, il ne respecte pas les lois internationales. Il y a eu la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Après, les gens se sont réunis pour établir des lois qu'ils devraient respecter. Apparemment, ces lois, lui, ne lui disent rien. Il fait ce qu'il veut. Alors, ça fait craindre. » Cela provoque des débats également à Abidjan, en Côte d'Ivoire, comme entre ces étudiants en anglais rassemblés dans une salle d'université. Beaucoup admirent le président américain. « Il faut dire que c'est un gars bien, estime Daniel, il exerce un pouvoir très exécutif. Ses partisans valorisent son leadership et aussi sa manière de prendre des décisions… Quand il veut faire, il fait ». « Le monsieur il est simple, avance de son côté Emmanuella. Il te dit “fais ça”, tu ne fais pas ça, il te voit directement comme un ennemi… Pour diriger, il faut avoir de la poigne, on ne peut pas diriger avec les sentiments ». L'interventionnisme américain au Venezuela ou au Nigeria n'émeut pas Ange, qui n'a pas 20 ans. Il voit Trump comme un modèle à suivre et approuve sa posture envers les États africains : « C'est un monsieur qui agit par intérêt et ses relations avec l'Afrique sont plutôt par intérêt. ‘Je vous apporte quelque chose si vous m'apportez quelque chose. Si vous ne m'apportez rien, je ne vous apporte rien !' Je pense que Donald Trump a eu cette intelligence-là et il fait bien. Un pays n'a pas d'amis, il n'a que des intérêts. Et je pense que Donald Trump applique cela et ça me fait plaisir de voir cela ». Ange rêve d'étudier aux États-Unis. Son espoir paraît compromis depuis le 1er janvier et la suspension de la délivrance de visas accordés aux ressortissants ivoiriens, une mesure jugée discriminatoire par beaucoup. « Une nouvelle approche mercantiliste » La diplomatie trumpienne navigue-t-elle à vue, comme l'assurent certains observateurs, ou a-t-elle une cohérence et une logique profonde ? Pour le professeur Adekeye Adebajo de l'Université de Pretoria, la politique internationale de Donald Trump s'inscrit dans le temps long de l'interventionnisme américain. « Je pense, explique cet universitaire, que ce que fait Trump s'inscrit dans la continuité de ce que les États‑Unis ont fait par le passé, car je ne crois pas qu'il soit forcément exact de le présenter comme une aberration totale. Il y a trente‑cinq ans, George Bush Père a envoyé des troupes américaines au Panama et ils y ont arrêté le dictateur Manuel Noriega, l'ont littéralement enlevé et emmené aux États‑Unis pour y être jugé et emprisonné… Donc, si nous connaissons notre histoire, nous savons que de nombreuses administrations américaines ont fait exactement ce que Trump a fait, ou des choses similaires ».  Le chercheur voit également dans le regard trumpien sur le monde une doctrine qui associe une nouvelle fois la puissance, le commerce et l'accès aux ressources minières. « Je pense que, fondamentalement, il y a un principe : il s'agit d'une nouvelle approche mercantiliste qui consiste essentiellement à freiner la mainmise de la Chine sur les minerais rares et à s'assurer que les États‑Unis aient effectivement accès à ces ressources. On a vu que ses efforts de “paix” dans la région des Grands Lacs, en RDC, au Rwanda, en Ukraine et ailleurs, ont aussi comporté des accords miniers. L'intervention et l'enlèvement du président vénézuélien portent évidemment aussi sur le pétrole, et je pense donc qu'une grande partie de tout cela tourne autour de la Chine, de l'équilibrage de la puissance chinoise et des garanties qu'elle ne puisse pas rivaliser avec les États‑Unis ». Adekeye Adebajo insiste sur un troisième aspect : la diplomatie trumpienne est marquée par sa volonté de défaire le multilatéralisme. C'est ainsi que les États-Unis sont récemment sortis de 66 organisations internationales. Et c'est ainsi qu'ils ont fermé l'Usaid, l'Agence américaine pour le développement international. Usaid : les lourdes conséquences d'une fermeture Le Soudan du Sud est l'un des pays qui en sort le plus affecté. L'assistance américaine a été divisée par plus de quatorze entre 2024 et 2025. Il n'aura fallu que quelques semaines après l'annonce de la fin d'Usaid pour en mesurer les conséquences dans la localité de Gurei, à l'ouest de la capitale du Soudan du Sud, Juba. Le centre de nutrition de Gurei prend en charge des enfants en malnutrition sévère. D'habitude très fréquenté, il est quasiment vide en ce mois de mars 2025. Les aliments thérapeutiques utilisés pour traiter la malnutrition infantile, les fameux sachets de pâte d'arachide enrichie fournis par l'Usaid, ne sont déjà plus disponibles depuis environ un mois. Quand Helen Furu vient faire examiner son fils Joseph, 1 an, elle doit faire ce constat douloureux : depuis la dernière visite, sa situation ne s'améliore pas, faute d'aliments thérapeutiques. « Mon mari est fonctionnaire et ça arrive souvent qu'il ne soit pas payé, confie Helen Furu. Quant à moi, quand j'étais enceinte de Joseph, je travaillais sur le marché et je me suis épuisée. Quand il est né, il était très faible et chétif. Quand il a été pris en charge ici, avec les traitements, son état s'est un peu amélioré. Chaque lundi, je viens ici pour le suivi mais ça fait un moment que les traitements à base de pâte d'arachide ne sont plus distribués, je ne sais pas trop quel est le problème. Cela m'inquiète car, quand il prend ce complément, il va mieux. J'ai envie de dire aux Américains de ne pas arrêter de soutenir les enfants du Soudan du Sud. Dans notre pays, très peu de gens vivent bien. La grande majorité souffre car il n'y a pas de travail ». Le directeur du centre de Gurei, Sarafino Doggal, porte une blouse blanche brodée du logo de l'Usaid, vestige de temps révolus. Debout dans son bureau face à un mur de tableaux statistiques, il appelle au soutien pour faire face aux besoins énormes de la population : « Hier, par exemple, nous avons reçu 325 patients venus de différents quartiers. Nous les recevons, mais le problème c'est que nous n'avons pas de médicaments. Il y a de nombreux enfants en situation de malnutrition. Vous voyez tous ces patients ? Ils viennent à la clinique le matin sans avoir pris de petit-déjeuner, pas même un thé. Ils vont passer toute leur journée ici, et puis rentrer chez eux où il n'y aura rien à manger. Les chefs communautaires m'ont dit que la situation empire, surtout en ce qui concerne la malnutrition infantile, à cause de l'arrêt des aliments thérapeutiques. Les enfants et leurs mères souffrent énormément. » Plusieurs mois ont passé et les conséquences de la fin de l'Usaid continuent à se faire sentir sur le continent, ailleurs. Comme à Addis-Abeba, la capitale éthiopienne. Aster pousse le lourd portail gris et entre dans la petite cour ombragée qui jouxte une école. Du linge encore mouillé pend sur deux longues cordes attachées à une maison blanche. Cet après-midi, une dizaine de jeunes travailleuses du sexe ont trouvé refuge, comme elle, dans ce centre d'accueil et de prévention du Sida de l'ONG éthiopienne Ishdo : « Je viens ici pour prendre une douche, me soigner, et on ne me demande pas de payer en échange. Je suis ici tous les jours depuis cinq mois, et cet endroit est très important pour moi. Je me sens heureuse et en sécurité ici. » Depuis son ouverture en décembre 2024, ce centre d'accueil est ouvert 7 jours sur 7. Hiwot Mekonnen est l'infirmière en cheffe de la structure : « Nos patientes passent le test de dépistage du VIH. Nous leur proposons également des services de planification familiale, un dépistage des problèmes de santé mentale, des violences sexistes et un test du cancer du col de l'utérus. » Plusieurs fois par semaine, l'équipe médicale organise aussi des séances de prévention, dans une petite salle aux murs tapissés d'informations sur la contraception féminine. Des préservatifs sont également à leur disposition. L'arrêt des financements de l'Usaid, bailleur principal d'Onusida qui finance la structure, a frappé de plein fouet les activités du centre. « Ces deux derniers mois, nous n'avons pu organiser ni les séances de prévention, ni les tests, explique Hiwot Mekonnen. Et si les femmes continuent leur activité sans préservatifs, cela augmentera la transmission du VIH. La situation est instable, et j'ai beaucoup de doutes ». Ces dernières années pourtant, les efforts d'Onusida avaient porté leurs fruits : 94% des personnes diagnostiquées séropositives recevaient ici un traitement antirétroviral, dit ARV. Désormais, l'agence de l'ONU doit compter sur le mémorandum signé en décembre dernier entre les gouvernements éthiopien et américain, d'un montant d'1 milliard et demi de dollars. Objectif affiché : « Renforcer les systèmes de santé publique et la prévention des maladies… »

We're back from the holiday break doing what we love: DRAWING. We're joined by illustrators and painters, John English, Dales Stephanos, Adam Gustavson, and Cassandra Kim. Join our Discord Server:https://discord.gg/tbwUPZydHEView Visual Arts Passage Courses:https://www.visualartspassage.com/Follow Visual Arts Passage:https://www.instagram.com/visualartspassage/https://www.facebook.com/visualartspassageSubscribe to our Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/visualartspassage?sub_confirmation=1----------------------------------------------------------Visual Arts Passage offers online mentorship courses in Illustration and Fine Arts, led by industry professionals to help you develop real-world skills and build a career doing what you love.Want more art tips & industry insights? Subscribe & turn on notifications!#illustrationclasses #onlineartclasses #drawingclass #artschool #learntodraw

In this drawing class we're drawing with illustrators and painters, Cassandra Kim and John EnglishJoin our Discord Server:https://discord.gg/tbwUPZydHEView Visual Arts Passage Courses:https://www.visualartspassage.com/Follow Visual Arts Passage:https://www.instagram.com/visualartspassage/https://www.facebook.com/visualartspassageSubscribe to our Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/visualartspassage?sub_confirmation=1----------------------------------------------------------Visual Arts Passage offers online mentorship courses in Illustration and Fine Arts, led by industry professionals to help you develop real-world skills and build a career doing what you love.Want more art tips & industry insights? Subscribe & turn on notifications!#illustrationclasses #onlineartclasses #drawingclass #artschool #learntodraw

In this first episode of our Overcoming series, Dave and Bethlie discuss the topic of Anger.   Overcoming Anger Quote:  We are a society addicted to outrage. Martin Wickens In the social media world, outrage generates more "clicks" and ad revenue than anything else What does the Bible say about anger? Various words are used Anger Angry Wrath Be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down on your wrath Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice A soft answer turns away wrath Fathers provoke not your children to anger   What does anger look like? an outward explosion a simmering resentment harsh words Rage An angry person is churlish, mean, unkind Illustration of Nabal churlish - difficult, fierce, intense Evil - bad, disagreeable, giving pain, unhappiness, or misery) An angry person is difficult to get along with Anger leads to bitterness and poisons an individual as well as everyone close to them - especially one's spouse and kids    What do we know about anger?  Some things to understand: If you are single, know this:  an anger issue always gets worse after marriage. "with a furious man you shall not go . . ." It is impossible to live with an angry man without making him angry Same is true for an angry woman The target of anger is not the cause You are not to carry the responsibility for a spouses anger or a parents anger  It is not your fault if your spouse is angry It is not your fault if your parents are angry Regarding men: anger is fueled by testosterone and is different than a woman's anger Anger is physical often before it is processed (think of punching a wall) Crying is a woman's response to feeling unloved; anger is a man's response to feeling disrespected Talking things out will not make things better A man has to process his anger before he can talk Talking about it in the moment will only increase his anger  give him time to golf, piddle in the garage, or whatever  This is how he processes his emotions Very few men process their emotions by talking Regarding women:   Anger is fueled by emotions and wounds Anger is often a result of unresolved conflicts  Anger is sometimes the result of unmet expectations

Adoption: Neither Rejection Nor Abandonment Could Stop God’s Adoption Plan Introduction The Lies We've Let Ourselves Believe The Phrases of Abandonment and Rejection i.      “I’m not good enough and I need to be perfect or successful to be worthy of love.” ii.      “Everyone secretly hates me and no one wants me around.” iii.      “My emotions are too big to control, so I’m consumed by my anger and rage.” iv.      “I should feel shame and fear [about my life or life experiences].” v.      “I need to medicate the deep internal isolation/rejection I feel with [a physical stimulus].” vi.      “I have no worth beyond what I can provide.” vii.      “I’m a victim to circumstances I can’t escape.” viii.      “I cannot find rest in this world.” ix.      “No one else will ever understand me or what I’m going through.” x.      “I’m in competition with other people; there’s not ‘enough’ for all of us.” What We Say About Ourselves Matters i.      Key Scripture: Proverbs 18:21 [MSG] ii.      There's an enemy on the prowl 1.      1 Peter 5:8 2.      John 10:10 iii.      There’s an enemy on the prowl; he is looking to steal, kill, and destroy, but he has no real power over you. His time and power are limited and he’s looking for you to let him in. Your words can be his way in. iv.      Book Recommendation: Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left out, and Lonely by Lysa Terkeurst v.      We have to confront the lies we have allowed ourselves to believe. Jesus did not redeem you so that you can still be stuck believing that your temporary circumstances still define who you are. BUT GOD! Key Scripture: Ephesians 1:5 The Details of Adoption i.      Greek word transliterated into “huiothesia.” ii.      Huiothesia is derived from two Greek words: “huios” meaning “son” and “tithemi” meaning “to place, put, or set.” iii.      Huiothesia literally translates to “placing as a son.” iv.      Additional Scriptures where huiothesia is used: Romans             8:15, Romans 8:23, Romans 9:4, Galatians 4:5 New Testament View on Adoption i.      Roman adoption was almost always something that happened to an adult, not a child Key point: You belonging, your adoption into a new family, was always the plan. Scripture vs. The Lies We Believe Lie: “I’m not good enough and I need to be perfect or successful to be worthy of love” i.      Scripture: Ephesians 2:10 ii.      Key point: You've already been called a masterpiece; the worth is already there. Lie: “Everyone secretly hates me and no one wants me around.” i.      Scripture: Psalm 139:14 ii.      Key point: How can someone shaped by God Himself not be wanted? This is a voice that’s meant to draw you into isolation, don’t follow it… Lie: “My emotions are too big to control, so I’m consumed by my anger and rage.” i.      Scriptures: Romans 12:21; Galatians 5:16, 19-21 ii.      Key point: Hey, all emotions are valid, all behavior is not. The Spirit of the LORD can and will help you not be consumed by your emotions. Lie: “I should feel shame and fear [about my life or life experiences]” i.      Scriptures: Romans 8:33-34; 2 Timothy 1:7 ii.      Key point: It’s okay to leave behind fear and shame. Lie: “I need to medicate the deep internal isolation/rejection I feel with [a physical stimulus].” i.      Scripture: Colossians 2:10 ii.      Key point: You can't find the healing and fulfillment you're craving anywhere else. Every “solution” will be temporary (yes, even healthy ones) when they’re not paired with Christ. When we draw near to God, He draws near to us and this is where healing actually begins. Lie: “I have no worth beyond what I can provide.” i.      Scripture: Romans 5:6-8(MSG) ii.      Key point: We, you and I both, had nothing to offer God. No skill, no talent, no resource, no activity He was interested in, no nothing. He thought and thinks you’re valuable in spite of that detail. We don’t need to beg for “scraps of His love” by presenting Him with our accomplishments, you already are loved and therefore have worth. Additionally, in relationships sometimes you will be the one giving help and other times you'll be the one receiving it, but both times you still have the same worth! Lie: “I’m a victim of circumstances I can’t escape.” i.      Scriptures: Psalm 71:20; 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 ii.      Key point: Your suffering hasn’t gone unnoticed and while it can fool you into believing there is no escape, you are not destroyed. Turn your eyes towards God who has created an escape for you, so that with Him you may be able to bear. Lie: “I cannot find rest in this world.” i.      Scriptures: Isaiah 40:30-31(NKJV); Matthew 11:28 ii.      Key point: I want to point out that to grow weary is not a fault of yours; it’s not some defect exclusive to you…it’s okay to be tired. Even the youths get tired, but here’s the Good News: the wait is over. There’s a lighter burden available, but we need to see it in the spiritual. However, there is a choice to be made: we must choose to come. Lie: “No one else will ever understand me or what I’m going through.” i.      Scriptures: Psalm 139:1-2; John 15:18; Hebrews 12:3 ii.      Key point: Please excuse my sense of humor, but you’re not that special…There’s nothing new under the sun (Ecc 1:9); suffering is not unique to you, it's the human condition. The LORD knows everything about you AND our suffering Savior knows exactly how you feel. You’re not crying out to someone who isn’t empathetic. His innocence met hostility and mistreatment, it’s not an experience unique to you…let Him comfort you. Lie: “I’m in competition with other people; there’s not ‘enough’ for all of us.” i.      Key point: Maybe this isn’t one you’ve said out loud or even admitted to yourself, but I wonder if it has shown up in your behavior. Desperate for acceptance and successful relationships we begin to act out of scarcity. Seeing the success of others begins to make you feel like there’s now somehow less success available for you. The success of their relationship means there is now less opportunity for you. Now suddenly you’re in secret competition with the people you should be praying for. A scarcity mindset is unbelief and comparison kills joy. Be the best YOU because that's who God made you! ii.      Scripture: 1st the admonishment — James 3:14-15 iii.      Scripture: 2nd the truth – 2 Corinthians 9:8 iv.      Scripture: 3rd the requirement – Philippians 2:4 v.      There is a God who is big enough to see and provide for all of us and any statement otherwise is a lie from the pit of hell. Still Room for Improvement Key Scripture: Romans 8:1 Am I Part of the Problem? i.      Understanding your identity as a child of God doesn't mean you just become a perfect person. Wearing a Kingdom identity well requires us to do some work. ii.      An Illustration from King David 1.      Innocent David a.       Scriptures: 1 Samuel 18:28-29; 19:1-5, 9 2.      Not so innocent David a.       Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:1-9 3.      Two things can be true at once: 1) we can be innocent and be mistreated and 2) we can behave in ways that produce negative outcomes. We need to be aware of both. 4.      Trauma shaped identities can cause turmoil in our relationships and result in people not wanting to be around us. This is not persecution; it’s the direct consequence of our undesirable behavior. Fooled By Our Sin Nature i.      “God made me like this.” With love, He didn't. ii.      Scripture: Psalm 139:23-24 1.      God can (and will) reveal to us the parts of our identities that we have taken on that are not from Him. Sin has distorted our standard of right and wrong; this means it’s not safe for us to rely solely on our own thoughts. iii.      Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:5 1.      Genuine faith should produce obedience and faith and obedience produces Christ-like behavior. 2.      We must repent, turn away from, and make amends when our behaviors cause harm or else we will never maintain and experience the fullness of relationship with others and this is a detriment to our spiritual family and our Kingdom assignment. Conclusion: Taking on a New Identity Key scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17 i.      There is no need to identify ourselves by our hurts, struggles, or failures. There is a more important title for you: An heir to the Kingdom of God. Here’s another one: Beloved Child of God. ii.      It has always been God’s pIan to welcome you home to Him. Please put on and live out your proper identity, the Kingdom needs its workers. Closing Scripture: John 1:12-13

WHEN EUSTACE MET FRANÇOISE— I first met Françoise Mouly at The New Yorker's old Times Square offices. This was way back when artists used to deliver illustrations in person. I had stopped by to turn in a spot drawing and was introduced to Françoise, their newly-minted cover art editor.I should have been intimidated, but I was fresh off the boat from Canada and deeply ensconced in my own bubble—hockey, baseball, Leonard Cohen—and so not yet aware of her groundbreaking work at Raw magazine.Much time has passed since that fortuitous day and I've thankfully caught up with her ouevre—gonna get as many French words into this as I can—through back issues of Raw and TOON Books. But mostly with The New Yorker, where we have worked together for over 30 years and I've been afforded a front-row seat to witness her mode du travail, her nonpareil mélange of visual storytelling skills.Speaking just from my own experience, I can't tell you how many times at the end of a harsh deadline I've handed in a desperate, incoherent mess of watercolor and ink, only to see the published product a day later magically made whole, readable, and aesthetically pleasing.Because Françoise prefers her artists to get the credit, I assume she won't want me mentioning the many times she rescued my images from floundering. I can remember apologetically submitting caricatures with poor likenesses, which she somehow managed to fix with a little digital manipulation—a hairline move forward here, a nose sharpened there. Or ideas that mostly worked turned on their head—with the artist's permission, of course—to suddenly drive the point all the way home.For Françoise, “the point” is always the point. Beautiful pictures are fine, but what does the image say? Françoise maintains a wide circle of devoted contributing artists—from renowned gallery painters to scribbling cartoonists, and all gradations between—from whom she regularly coaxes their best work. I thank my étoiles chanceuses to be part of that group.And now, an interview with Françoise. Apparently. —Barry Blitt—This episode is made possible by our friends at Commercial Type and Freeport Press. A production of Magazeum LLC ©2021–2025

What does it really mean when someone looks at your career and says, “You should be doing more”?In this episode of ComicLab, Brad and Dave respond to a pointed listener question that cuts straight to the bone: If they have the skills, the experience, and the ideas — why haven't they launched even more projects? The answer isn't defensive or dismissive. Instead, it becomes a clear-eyed breakdown of creative bandwidth, sustainability, work-life balance, and the invisible labor that propels up a long-term comics career. From Patreon and newsletters to storefronts, commissions, podcasts, and family responsibilities, they unpack why “doing enough” is often misunderstood from the outside — and why restraint can be a strategic choice, not a lack of ambition.The conversation then pivots to one of the trickiest problems any humor writer faces: How to judge your own work when readers don't get the joke. How many confused comments are just statistical noise—and when do they signal a real problem in execution? Brad and Dave dig into the uncomfortable middle ground between ego and humility, exploring how to listen to feedback without letting it derail your voice, and how to improve clarity without sanding off what makes your work distinctive. It's a nuanced, experience-earned discussion about ramps, chasms, audience expectations, and why “it happens to everyone” is not an excuse — but also not a death sentence.If you've ever felt pressure to produce more, or struggled to decide whether reader confusion is a warning sign or just the cost of taking creative risks, this episode offers hard-earned perspective from two cartoonists who've been navigating those exact questions for decades.TakeawaysCreative projects often take a backseat due to time constraints.Cartoonists manage a heavy workload that includes multiple projects.Balancing creativity with administrative tasks is crucial for success.Feedback from readers can help improve comic writing.Self-editing is a continuous process for comic creators.Reader confusion can indicate a need for better communication in comics.Communication is key in the artistic process.     You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon$2 — Early access to episodes$5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.If you'd like a one-on-one consultation about your comic, book it now!Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. He is available for personal consultations. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive. He is the co-director of the comics documentary, Stripped.

A 5-STAR MAGAZINE (DO NOT DISTURB)—Orlando is the magazine as hotel, quite literally—we'll explain what that means in a bit—a magazine that one can inhabit and live in, a love letter to culture in the most expansive use of the word. It's also very Italian. Maybe because it comes from Italy. More specifically, from the mind of Antonella Dellepiane Pescetto, who is Italian. But more importantly, she is someone with exquisite taste.And, yes, the magazine is set up as a hotel. Just go to the table of contents and you start to see how this concept works. Or visit the website, it's obvious there, too Ad the concept structures all various—and sometime disparate—ideas that go into the making of Orlando.And if you visit the website, again, you'll find courses and tours and podcasts and a Spotify playlist to accompany each story in each issue as well as a boutique, and you can sense the publishing plans as well. But mostly you'll find yourself in a charming confection of a magazine, kind of like something Wes Anderson might have come up with had he been Italian, which might work for you, or not—not everyone loves Wes Anderson, sure—but just like you know a Wes Anderson movie when you see or hear one, once you enter the hotel that is Orlando, you know. You just do. And it's the kind of place you can get comfortable in very easily.—This episode is made possible by our friends at Freeport Press. A production of Magazeum LLC ©2021–2025

On the show this time, it’s the very first, and very last episode of Live on KEXP / Under The Needle, with our cornerstone artist and fan favorite - Courtney Barnett. It's one of-a-kind sessions from your favorite artists, and from a few, you're about to discover. From our studios in Seattle it’s Live on KEXP. Recorded October 31, 2014 An Illustration of Loneliness Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party Pedestrian at Best Depreston Lance Jr. Don't Apply Compression Gently Scotty Says Watch the full Live on KEXP session on YouTube.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the show this time, it’s the very first, and very last episode of Live on KEXP / Under The Needle, with our cornerstone artist and fan favorite - Courtney Barnett. It's one of-a-kind sessions from your favorite artists, and from a few, you're about to discover. From our studios in Seattle it’s Live on KEXP. Recorded October 31, 2014 An Illustration of Loneliness Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party Pedestrian at Best Depreston Lance Jr. Don't Apply Compression Gently Scotty Says Watch the full Live on KEXP session on YouTube.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Check out my Free Brainstorming Workshop: https://mightyartisan.com/worldbuilding Learn to silence your inner critic. Ignite creative ideas. And watch a live demo of these techniques in action. Are you dragging around old projects, outdated goals, and beliefs about success that are actually holding you back? Most artists are trapped by invisible baggage they don't even recognize. In this episode, we explore "artistic bankruptcy" - the practice of consciously releasing everything that no longer serves your creative journey. From obvious goals you know you should abandon to deep-seated beliefs about what makes a "real artist," we uncover the hidden forces driving your decisions. We dive deep into the Identity Trap - how your sense of who you are as an artist can either propel you forward or keep you stuck on a treadmill going nowhere. Through real examples and a practical 4-pillar framework, you'll learn to identify the artistic baggage weighing you down. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 04:20 Welcome 05:32 Declaring Artistic Bankruptcy 10:45 What is Artistic Baggage? 27:01 The Identity Trap 42:32 The 4 Pillars Framework 53:14 The Analytical Takeaway 54:32 The Simple Takeaway 54:41 The Practical Takeaway 55:47 The Philosophical Takeaway 1:00:56 Outro TOOLS FOR TODAY: - Journaling / note-taking app or paper - The 4 Pillars Framework (Obvious Ideas, Non-Obvious Ideas, Projects & Tools, Plans) BOOKS/RESOURCES MENTIONED: PEOPLE MENTIONED: - Picasso (discussed in context of style development) --- The Visual Scholar Podcast is designed to help you demystify the world of Art, Productivity, and Creativity. So you can get better faster, and enjoy your Art Journey. We discuss Drawing, Painting, Illustration and Entertainment Design. Along with Productivity and Career Advice. You Can Find The Visual Scholar Podcast In These Places: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-visual-scholar/id1678505411 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/6VbdwbiZqy8nqb90ruKQCX?si=21b9c1d02c85419f YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MightyArtisan Show Homepage: https://visualscholar.mightyartisan.com Where To Find More About Tim Mcburnie: Learn Drawing and Illustration at The Drawing Codex: www.thedrawingcodex.com Take Your Career and Productivity To The Next Level: www.mightyartisan.com The Drawing Codex Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDrawingCodex Mighty Artisan Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MightyArtisan Portfolio: www.timmcburnie.com www.artstation.com/tim-mcburnie www.instagram.com/timmcburnie x.com/timmcburnie

Sigmund, Sinfjötle, Sigurd Fafnesbane, Brynhild, Gudrun, Gunnar, Högne, Atle, Jormunrek – välkända namn i hela Väst-, Nord- och Centraleuropa under den tidiga medeltiden. Varför? Eftersom de var centrala protagonister i Völsungasagan, den mest legendomspunna och återberättade av alla våra gamla hjältehistorier. Intrigerna och striderna avsatte spår i Eddan, i tysk medeltidspoesi, på runhällar och på dopfuntar. I senare tid har sagorna inspirerat till Richard Wagners Nibelungenoperor och till J.R.R. Tolkiens fantasyproduktion. Det går en röd tråd från den tidiga medeltidens Andvaranaut till Saurons härskarring.I detta avsnitt av podden Harrisons dramatiska historia samtalar Dick Harrison, professor i historia vid Lunds universitet, och fackboksförfattaren Katarina Harrison Lindbergh om Völsungasagan och dess kombination av fiktion och verklighet.Völsungasagan utgör ett fascinerande titthål in i den tidiga medeltidens berättarkultur. Historien om hur en ödesdiger förbannelse kastas över en stulen skatt, en förbannelse som drabbar envar som lägger sig till med guldet, fängslade både nordbors och kontinentaleuropéers fantasi mer än någon annan enskild berättelsecykel. Kring denna dramatiska kärna vävdes en allt brokigare väv av episoder och utvikningar som gjorde Völsungasagan till ett aldrig avslutat berättarprojekt. Verkliga kungar och drottningar som fastnade i minnet lades in i historien som bifigurer och kom därmed att postumt påverka europeisk kultur på ett sätt som inte lär komma någon nutida potentat till del. Hunnerkungen Attila blev sagans Atle, frankerdrottningen Brunhild blev sagans Brynhild.Bild: Sigurd dödar Fafne. Illustration av Arthur Rackham (1911) från Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods (New Impression ed.), London: William Heinemann, s.56. Wikipedia, Public Domain. Lyssna också på Nordisk mytologi – berättelser och kultKlippare: Aron SchuurmanProducent: Urban Lindstedt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Become a paid supporter on Patreon— ⁠https://patreon.com/tomfroese⁠What if social media isn't actually social anymore—and what if that changes how creatives should use it?In this monologue episode, I reflect on a growing realization I've been wrestling with for years: social media has quietly shifted from a space for sharing and connection into something much closer to corporate media. And many independent creatives have been doing a lot of unpaid work for big tech without fully realizing it.I talk candidly about my own experience building audiences on Instagram, YouTube, and this podcast—and why the familiar promise of “just keep sharing and it will pay off” no longer feels like a fair trade. I unpack the gambling-like dynamics of algorithms, attention, and hope, and explain the one big mindset shift I'm making as I head into 2026.This episode isn't about quitting social media. It's about rethinking our relationship to it, getting clearer about what we're actually selling, and using these platforms more intentionally—as business tools, not creative homes.

Many people mistakenly believe that dinosaurs prove evolution. After all, dinosaurs are strange creatures and seem to represent a very different world from the one we know today. But a recent discovery of the most ancient dinosaur challenges this.One of the oldest dinosaurs ever discovered was about six feet long and weighed about 300 pounds. Scientists had never before seen a complete skeleton of the creature they called Herrerasaurus. But being the most ancient dinosaur discovered at the time, perhaps the dinosaur from which all others evolved, evolutionary scientists expected it to be much less advanced than later dinosaurs. What they found was yet another well-designed creature.The meat-eating dinosaur had excellent teeth, like those of a shark; its jawbone had a double hinge so that it could easily hang onto its prey. These sophisticated features weren't expected in such an ancient dinosaur. This is yet another proof that all creatures were well designed from the beginning. Herrerasaurus is yet one more example of the impossibility of evolution.Dinosaurs, just like all other creatures, were created by God during the first six days the universe existed. This means that dinosaurs and humans once shared this earth in the recent past. All things were created in a perfect state, so there was no need for evolved improvements. The changes we see since creation are not due to evolution but due to the degenerating effects of sin.Romans 1:25"…who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."Prayer: Dear Lord, teach me to seek my improvement not through created things but through You, the Author of all that is good and the conqueror of all that is evil through Your death on the cross of Calvary and Your Resurrection. Amen.REF.: Oldest dinosaur, Time. Image: Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis Illustration, Fred Wierum, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1232/29?v=20251111

In Podcast episode 153 Pastor Micaiah teaches us a lesson on how habits and decisions affect your life. By looking at the life of Belshazzar and examining him we see how our life should be lived In Observation, Illustration, and Devastation.

Imagine for a second that Eckhart Tolle wasn't a spiritual teacher, but a deep cover operative with a gun to his head. And just for a second, pretend that Tolle’s Power of Now wasn't a way to find peace, but a survival mechanism used to slow down time when your reality is collapsing. And your memory has been utterly destroyed by forces beyond your control. Until a good friend helps you rebuild it from the ground up. These are the exact feelings and sense of positive transformation I tried to capture in a project I believe is critical for future autodidacts, polymaths and traditional learners: Vitamin X, a novel in which the world’s only blind memory champion helps a detective use memory techniques and eventually achieve enlightenment. It’s also a story about accomplishing big goals, even in a fast-paced and incredibly challenging world. In the Magnetic Memory Method community at large, we talk a lot about the habits of geniuses like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. We obsess over their reading lists and their daily routines because we want that same level of clarity and intellectual power. But there's a trap in studying genius that too many people fall into: Passivity. And helping people escape passive learning is one of several reasons I’ve studied the science behind a variety of fictional learning projects where stories have been tested as agents of change. Ready to learn more about Vitamin X and the various scientific findings I’ve uncovered in order to better help you learn? Let’s dive in! Defeating the Many Traps of Passive Learning We can read about how Lincoln sharpened his axe for hours before trying to cut down a single tree. And that's great. But something's still not quite right. To this day, tons of people nod their heads at that famous old story about Lincoln. Yet, they still never sharpen their own axes, let alone swing them. Likewise, people email me every day regarding something I've taught about focus, concentration or a particular mnemonic device. They know the techniques work, including under extreme pressure. But their minds still fracture the instant they're faced with distraction. As a result, they never wind up getting the memory improvement results I know they can achieve. So, as happy as I am with all the help my books like The Victorious Mind and SMARTER have helped create in this world, I’m fairly confident that those titles will be my final memory improvement textbooks. Instead, I am now focused on creating what you might call learning simulations. Enter Vitamin X, the Memory Detective Series & Teaching Through Immersion Because here's the thing: If I really want to teach you how to become a polymath, I can't just carry on producing yet another list of tips. I have to drop you into scenarios where you actually feel what it's like to use memory techniques. That's why I started the Memory Detective initiative. It began with a novel called Flyboy. It’s been well-received and now part two is out. And it’s as close to Eckhart Tolle meeting a Spy Thriller on LSD as I could possibly make it. Why? To teach through immersion. Except, it's not really about LSD. No, the second Memory Detective novel centers around a substance called Vitamin X. On the surface, it's a thriller about a detective named David Williams going deep undercover. In actuality, it's a cognitive training protocol disguised as a novel. But one built on a body of research that shows stories can change what people remember, believe, and do. And that's both the opportunity and the danger. To give you the memory science and learning research in one sentence: Stories are a delivery system. We see this delivery system at work in the massive success of Olly Richards’ StoryLearning books for language learners. Richards built his empire on the same mechanism Pimsleur utilized to great effect long before their famous audio recordings became the industry standard: using narrative to make raw data stick. However, a quick distinction is necessary. In the memory world, we often talk about the Story Method. This approach involves linking disparate pieces of information together in a chain using a simple narrative vignette (e.g., a giant cat eating a toaster to remember a grocery list). That is a powerful mnemonic tool, and you will see Detective Williams use short vignettes in the Memory Detective series. But Vitamin X is what I call ‘Magnetic Fiction.’ It's not a vignette. It's a macro-narrative designed to carry the weight of many memory techniques itself. It simulates the pressure required to forge the skill, showing you how and why to use the story method within a larger, immersive context. So with that in mind, let's unpack the topic of fiction and teaching a bit further. That way, you'll know more of what I have in mind for my readers. And perhaps you'll become interested in some memory science experiments I plan to run in the near future. Illustration of “Cafe Mnemonic,” a fun memory training location the Memory Detective David Williams wants to establish once he has enough funds. Fiction as a Teaching Technology: What the Research Says This intersection of story and memory isn't new territory for me. Long before I gave my popular TEDx Talk on memory or helped thousands of people through the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass, live workshops and my books, I served as a Mercator award-winning Film Studies professor. In this role, I often analyzed and published material regarding how narratives shape our cognition. Actually, my research into the persuasion of memory goes back to my scholarly contribution to the anthology The Theme of Cultural Adaptation in American History, Literature and Film. In my chapter, “Cryptomnesia or Cryptomancy? Subconscious Adaptations of 9/11,” I examined specifically how cultural narratives influence memory formation, forgetting, and the subconscious acceptance of information. That academic background drives the thinking and the learning protocols baked into Vitamin X. As does the work of researchers who have studied narrative influence for decades. Throughout their scientific findings, one idea keeps reappearing in different forms: When a story pulls you in, you experience some kind of “transportation.” It can be that you find yourself deeply immersed in the life of a character. Or you find your palms sweating as your brain tricks you into believing you're undergoing some kind of existential threat. When such experiences happen, you stop processing information like you would an argument through critical thinking. Instead, you start processing the information in the story almost as if they were really happening. As a result, these kinds of transportation can change beliefs and intentions, sometimes without the reader noticing the change happening. That's why fiction has been used for: teaching therapy religion civic formation advertising propaganda Even many national anthems contain stories that create change, something I experienced recently when I became an Australian citizen. As I was telling John Michael Greer during our latest podcast recording, I impulsively took both the atheist and the religious oath and sang the anthem at the ceremony. All of these pieces contain stories and those stories changed how I think, feel and process the world. Another way of looking at story is summed up in this simple statement: All stories have the same basic mechanism. But many stories have wildly different ethics. My ethics: Teach memory improvement methods robustly. Protect the tradition. And help people think for themselves using the best available critical thinking tools. And story is one of them. 6 Key Research Insights on Educational Fiction Now, when it comes to the research that shows just how powerful story is, we can break it down into buckets. Some of the main categories of research on fiction for pedagogy include: 1) Narrative transportation and persuasion As these researchers explain in The Role of Transportation in the Persuasiveness of Public Narratives, transportation describes how absorbed a reader becomes in a story. Psychologists use transportation models to show how story immersion drives belief change. It works because vivid imagery paired with emotion and focused attention make story-consistent ideas easier to accept. This study of how narratives were used in helping people improve their health support the basic point: Narratives produce average shifts in attitudes, beliefs, intentions, and sometimes behavior. Of course, the exact effects vary by topic and the design of the scientific study in question. But the point remains that fiction doesn't merely entertain. It can also train and persuade. 2) Entertainment-Education (EE) EE involves deliberately embedding education into popular media, often with pro-social aims. In another health-based study, researchers found that EE can influence knowledge, attitudes, intentions, behavior, and self-efficacy. Researchers in Brazil have also used large-scale observational work on soap operas and social outcomes (like fertility). As this study demonstrates, mass narrative exposure can shape real-world behavior at scale within a population. Stories can alter norms, not just transfer facts from one mind to another. You’ll encounter this theme throughout Vitamin X, especially when Detective Williams tangles with protestors who hold beliefs he does not share, but seem to be taking over the world. 3) Narrative vs expository learning (a key warning) Here's the part most “educational fiction” ignores: Informative narratives often increase interest, but they don't automatically improve comprehension. As this study found, entertainment can actually cause readers to overestimate how well they understood the material. This is why “edutainment” often produces big problems: You can wind up feeling smarter because you enjoyed an experience. But just because you feel that way doesn't mean you gain a skill you can reliably use. That’s why I have some suggestions for you below about how to make sure Vitamin X actually helps you learn to use memory techniques better. 4) Seductive details (another warning) There's also the problem of effects created by what scientists call seductive details. Unlike the “luminous details” I discussed with Brad Kelly on his Madness and Method podcast, seductive details are interesting but irrelevant material. They typically distract attention and reduce learning of what actually matters. As a result, these details divert attention through interference and by adding working memory demands. The research I’ve read suggests that when story authors don't engineer their work with learning targets in mind, their efforts backfire. What was intended to help learners actually becomes a sabotage device. I've done my best to avoid sabotaging my own pedagogical efforts in the Memory Detective stories so far. That's why they include study guides and simulations of using the Memory Palace technique, linking and number mnemonics like the Major System. In the series finale, which is just entering the third draft now, the 00-99 PAO and Giordano Bruno's Statue technique are the learning targets I’ve set up for you. They are much harder, and that’s why even though there are inevitable seductive details throughout the Memory Detective series, the focus on memory techniques gets increasingly more advanced. My hope is that your focus and attention will be sharpened as a result. 5) Learning misinformation from fiction (the dark side) People don't just learn from fiction. They learn false facts from fiction too. In this study, researchers found that participants often treated story-embedded misinformation as if it were true knowledge. This is one reason using narrative as a teaching tool is so ethically loaded. It can bypass the mental posture we use for skepticism. 6) Narrative “correctives” (using story against misinformation) The good news is that narratives can also reduce misbelief. This study on “narrative correctives” found that stories can sometimes decrease false beliefs and misinformed intentions, though results are mixed. The key point is that story itself is neither “good” or “bad.” It's a tool for leverage, and this is one of the major themes I built into Vitamin X. My key concern is that people would confuse me with any of my characters. Rather, I was trying to create a portrait of our perilous world where many conflicts unfold every day. Some people use tools for bad, others for good, and even that binary can be difficult for people to agree upon. Pros & Cons of Teaching with Fiction Let’s start with the pros. Attention and completion: A good story can keep people engaged, which is a prerequisite for any learning to occur. The transportation model I cited above helps explain why. The Positive Side of Escapism Entering a simulation also creates escapism that is actually valuable. This is because fiction gives you “experience” without real-world consequences when it comes to facing judgment, ethics, identity, and pressure-handling. This is one reason why story has always been used for moral education, not just entertainment. However, I’ve also used story in my Memory Detective games, such as “The Velo Gang Murders.” Just because story was involved did not mean people did not face judgement. But it was lower than my experiments with “Magnetic Variety,” a non-narrative game I’ll be releasing in the future. Lower Reactance Stories can reduce counterarguing compared with overt persuasion, which can be useful for resistant audiences. In other words, you’re on your own in the narrative world. Worst case scenario, you’ll have a bone to pick with the author. This happened to me the other day when someone emailed to “complain” about how I sometimes discuss Sherlock Holmes. Fortunately, the exchange turned into a good-hearted debate, something I attribute to having story as the core foundation of our exchange. Compare this to Reddit discussions like this one, where discussing aspects of the techniques in a mostly abstract way leads to ad hominem attacks. Now for the cons: Propaganda Risk The same reduction in counterarguing and squabbling with groups that you experience when reading stories is exactly what makes narratives useful for manipulation. When you’re not discussing what you’re reading with others, you can wind up ruminating on certain ideas. This can lead to negative outcomes where people not only believe incorrect things. They sometimes act out negatively in the world. The Illusion of Understanding Informative narratives can produce high interest but weaker comprehension and inflated metacomprehension. I’ve certainly had this myself, thinking I understand various points in logic after reading Alice in Wonderland. In reality, I still needed to do a lot more study. And still need more. In fact, “understanding” is not a destination so much as it is a process. Misinformation Uptake People sometimes acquire false beliefs from stories and struggle to discount fiction as a source. We see this often in religion due to implicit memory. Darrel Ray has shown how this happens extensively in his book, The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture. His book helped explain something that happened to me after I first started memorizing Sanskrit phrases and feeling the benefits of long-form meditation. For a brief period, implicit memory and the primacy effect made me start to consider that the religion I’d grown up with was in fact true and real. Luckily, I shook that temporary effect. But many others aren’t quite so lucky. And in case it isn’t obvious, I’ll point out that the Bible is not only packed with stories. Some of those stories contain mnemonic properties, something Eran Katz pointed out in his excellent book, Where Did Noah Park the Ark? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhQlcMHhF3w The “Reefer Madness” Problem While working on Vitamin X, I thought often about Reefer Madness. In case you haven’t seen it, Reefer Madness began as an “educational” morality tale about cannabis. It's now famous largely because it's an over-the-top artifact of moral panic, an example of how fear-based fiction can be used to shape public belief under the guise of protection. I don’t want to make that mistake in my Memory Detective series. But there is a relationship because Vitamin X does tackle nootropics, a realm of substances for memory I am asked to comment on frequently. In this case, I'm not trying to protect people from nootropics, per se. But as I have regularly talked about over the years, tackling issues like brain fog by taking memory supplements or vitamins for memory is fraught with danger. And since fiction is one of the most efficient way to smuggle ideas past the mind's filters, I am trying to raise some critical thinking around supplementation for memory. But to do it in a way that's educational without trying to exploit anyone. I did my best to create the story so that you wind up thinking for yourself. What I'm doing differently with Vitamin X & the Memory Detective Series I'm not pretending fiction automatically teaches. I'm treating fiction as a delivery system for how various mnemonic methods work and as a kind of cheerleading mechanism that encourages you to engage in proper, deliberate practice. Practice of what? 1) Concentration meditation. Throughout the story, Detective Williams struggles to learn and embrace the memory-based meditation methods of his mentor, Jerome. You get to learn more about these as you read the story. 2) Memory Palaces as anchors for sanity, not party tricks. In the library sequence, Williams tries to launch a mnemonic “boomerang” into a Memory Palace while hallucinatory imagery floods the environment. Taking influence from the ancient mnemonist, Hugh of St. Victor, Noah's Ark becomes a mnemonic structure. Mnemonic images surge and help Detective Williams combat his PTSD. To make this concrete, I've utilized the illustrations within the book itself. Just as the ancients used paintings and architectural drawings to encode knowledge, the artwork in Vitamin X isn’t just decoration. During the live bootcamp I’m running to celebrate the launch, I show you how to treat the illustrations as ‘Painting Memory Palaces.’ This effectively turns the book in your hands into a functioning mnemonic device, allowing you to practice the method of loci on the page before you even step out into the real world. Then there’s the self-help element, which takes the form of how memory work can help restore sanity. A PTSD theme runs throughout the Memory Detective series for two deliberate reasons. First, Detective Williams is partly based on Nic Castle. He's a former police officer who found symptom relief for his PTSD from using memory techniques. He shared his story on this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast years ago. Second, Nic's anecdotal experience is backed up by research. And even if you don't have PTSD, the modern world is attacking many of us in ways that clearly create similar symptom-like issues far worse than the digital amnesia I've been warning about for years. We get mentally hijacked by feeds, anxiety loops, and synthetic urgency. We lose our grip on reality and wonder why we can't remember what we read five minutes ago. That's just one more reason I made memory techniques function as reality-tests inside Vitamin X. 3) The critical safeguard: I explicitly separate fiction from technique. In Flyboy's afterword, I put it plainly: The plot is fictional, but the memory techniques are real. And because they're real, they require study and practice. I believe this boundary matters because research shows how easily readers absorb false “facts” from fiction. 4) To help you practice, I included a study guide. At the end of both Flyboy and Vitamin X, there are study guides. In Vitamin X, you'll find a concrete method for creating a Mnemonic Calendar. This is not the world's most perfect memory technique. But it's helpful and a bit more advanced than a technique I learned from Jim Samuels many years ago. In his version, he had his clients divide the days of the week into a Memory Palace. For his senior citizens in particular, he had them divide the kitchen. So if they had to take a particular pill on Monday, they would imagine the pill as a giant moon in the sink. Using the method of loci, this location would always serve as their mnemonic station for Monday. In Vitamin X, the detective uses a number-shape system. Either way, these kinds of techniques for remembering schedules are the antidote to the “illusion of understanding” problem, provided that you put them to use. They can be very difficult to understand if you don't. Why My Magnetic Fiction Solves the “Hobbyist” Problem A lot of memory training fails for one reason: People treat it as a hobby. They “learn” techniques the way people “learn” guitar: By watching a few videos and buying a book. While the study material sits on a shelf or lost in a hard drive, the consumer winds up never rehearsing. Never putting any skill to the test. And as a result, never enjoying integration with the techniques. What fiction can do is create: emotional stakes situational context identity consistency (“this is what I do now”) and enough momentum to carry you into real practice That's the point of the simulation. You're not just reading about a detective and his mentor using Memory Palaces and other memory techniques. You're watching what happens when a mind uses a Memory Palace to stay oriented. And you can feel that urgency in your own nervous system while you read. That's the “cognitive gym” effect, I'm going for. It's also why I love this note from Andy, because it highlights the exact design target I'm going for: “I finished Flyboy last night. Great book! I thought it was eminently creative, working the memory lessons into a surprisingly intricate and entertaining crime mystery. Well done!” Or as the real-life Sherlock Holmes Ben Cardall put it the Memory Detective stories are: …rare pieces of fiction that encourages reflection in the reader. You don’t just get the drama, the tension and the excitement from the exploits of its characters. You also get a look at your own capabilities as though Anthony is able to make you hold a mirror up to yourself and think ‘what else am I capable of’? A Practical Way to Read These Novels for Memory Training If you want the benefits without the traps we've discussed today: Read Vitamin X for immersion first (let transportation do its job). Then read it again with a simple study goal. This re-reading strategy is important because study-goal framing will improve comprehension and reduce overconfidence. During this second read-through, actually use the Mnemonic Calendar. Then, test yourself by writing out what you remember from the story. If you make a mistake, don't judge yourself. Simply use analytical thinking to determine what went wrong and work out how you can improve. The Future: Learning Through Story is About to Intensify Here's the uncomfortable forecast: Even though I’m generally pro-AI for all kinds of outcomes and grateful for my discussions with Andrew Mayne about it (host of the OpenAI Podcast), AI could make the generation of personalized narratives that target your fears, identity, and desires trivial. That means there’s the risk that AI will also easily transform your beliefs. The same machinery that can create “education you can't stop reading” can also create persuasion you barely notice. Or, as Michael Connelly described in his novel, The Proving Ground, we might notice the effects of this persuasion far more than we’d like. My research on narrative persuasion and misinformation underscores why this potential outcome is not hypothetical. So the real question isn't “Should we teach with fiction?” The question is: Will we build fiction that creates personal agency… or engineer stories that steal it? My aim with Flyboy, Vitamin X and the series finale is simple and focused on optimizing your ability: to use story as a motivation engine to convert that motivation into deliberate practice to make a wide range of memory techniques feel as exciting for you as they are for me and to give your attention interesting tests in a world engineered to fragment it. If you want better memory, this is your challenge: Don't read Vitamin X for entertainment alone. Read it to see if you can hold on to reality while the world spins out of control. When you do, you'll be doing something far rarer than collecting tips. You'll be swinging the axe. A very sharp axe indeed. And best of all, your axe for learning and remembering more information at greater speed will be Magnetic.

Join our next BoldBrush LIVE! Webinar by signing up here:register.boldbrush.com/live-guestLearn the magic of marketing  with us here at BoldBrush!boldbrushshow.comGet over 50% off your first year on your artist website with FASO:FASO.com/podcast---In our final episode of the year, we sat down with David Griffin, a fine artist with a love of capturing the nostalgic scenes of his childhood. David shares his journey from pre‑med student and college baseball player in Lubbock, Texas to becoming a successful illustrator and, later, a fine artist rooted in realism and storytelling. He recounts formative experiences at the Illustrators Workshop in New York, his years sharing a Dallas studio with top illustrators, and the lessons they taught him about composition, narrative, and creating “a place for the eye to rest.” David explores how memory, truth, and heritage—big skies, ranch life, and family artifacts—shape his work and give it emotional honesty. A major focus is David's new long-term project, “The Art of Wandering,” where he will document how mental and physical wandering with a sense of wonder leads to ideas, large paintings, and deeper relationships with collectors and fellow artists. David also dives into the idea of art as a lifelong calling, discussing struggle, hard work versus talent, the trap of imitating others, and the importance of finding one's own authentic voice by pursuing one's own heart. David closes by reflecting on art as a conversation without words, his hope that truthful work outlives the artist, and his gratitude for the creative community and opportunities ahead.David's FASO site:davidgriffinstudio.comDavid's Social Media:instagram.com/davidrgriffinfacebook.com/david.griffin.5

Want to avoid burnout, increase productivity, and have more fun in 2026? Jake Parker shares how seasonal living feeds the soul and how you can implement it into your creative practice. 3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!Click here for this episode's links and show notes.

Giuseppe Castellano talks to New York Times best-selling author, cartoonist, and educator, Bob Eckstein, about why we shouldn't be “open” to AI; how an artist can know when their work of art is done; why Bob wants illustrators to worry less; and more.To learn more about Bob, visit bobeckstein.com.Find Bob on Substack.Artists mentioned in this episode include: Maira Kalman, Steve Brodner, Sam Gross, James Thurber, Charles Saxton, Bob Weber, George Booth, Bill Mauldin If you find value in this podcast, consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack, or a supporter on Patreon. On either platform, you will gain access to bonus episodes we call “Extra Credit”—among other perks and benefits. | Visit illustrationdept.com for offerings like mentorships and portfolio reviews, testimonials, our alumni showcase, and more. | Music for the podcast was created by Oatmello. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this special extended episode, Colby and Travis discuss the year that was in children's literature.This episode is sponsored by NOSY CROW, and their innovative STORIES ALOUD program, which gives readers instant access to professionally produced and narrated versions of their books. Look for the STORIES ALOUD QR code on the back of Nosy Crow books to give it a try.Click here for an audio sample, from the book WHO ATE STEVE?

Guiding Question How can we cultivate true humility in our lives to experience God's peace, grace, and blessing, especially when faced with the pressures of having things “our way”? Summary This sermon explores the struggle of pride and self-will, highlighting how trying to have life “our way” leads to weariness, conflict, and emptiness. It presents the biblical principle of humility as a solution, focusing on Peter's teaching in 1 Peter 5:5-7. The message unfolds the three-fold process for developing humility: bowing under God's mighty hand, resting by casting our anxieties on Him, and expecting God's blessing at the proper time. Through this process, believers learn to surrender control, trust God's timing, and live in harmony with others and the Holy Spirit, leading to spiritual growth and unity. Outline: The Problem of Pride and Self-Will The weariness of insisting on “my way” How pride causes tension in personal and church relationships The danger of a competitive, self-focused mindset Peter's Call to Humility (1 Peter 5:5-7) Clothe yourself with humility of mind Humility as cooperating with God's will, not pushing our own The Three-Fold Process of Humility Bow: Submit your will to God's plan and purpose Rest: Cast all anxieties and worries on God because He cares Expect: Trust in God's perfect timing for blessing and exaltation Living the Process The struggle with “what if” fears after deciding to humble ourselves God's care and desire for us to respond rightly The importance of patience and faith in God's “proper time” Illustration of the man who found someone to worry for him (God) Encouragement and Invitation God's promise to exalt those who humble themselves A call to surrender and experience true rest Prayer for unity and love within the church Key Takeaways Pride and insisting on having things “our way” leads to conflict, weariness, and spiritual emptiness. True humility involves a deliberate process: bowing our will to God, resting in His care by casting anxieties on Him, and expecting blessing at His appointed time. God cares deeply about our struggles and wants us to respond rightly, even when life is difficult. Trusting God's timing requires faith and patience; blessings and changes may take time to appear. Humility fosters harmony in personal relationships and within the church, reflecting Christ's character. Casting our worries on God frees us from burdens and empowers us to live peaceably and faithfully. Scriptural References 1 Peter 5:5-7 — The core passage teaching humility: bowing under God's mighty hand, casting anxieties on Him, and trusting His care. James 4:6 — “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (Implied in the sermon's theme) Philippians 2:3-4 — Valuing others above ourselves, putting others' needs before our own (supporting the humility and unity message) Matthew 11:28-30 — Jesus invites the weary to find rest in Him, echoing the rest theme. Proverbs 3:5-6 — Trust in the Lord and submit to His way, supporting the bowing process. Recorded 11/23/80

Send us a textIn this episode, the storyteller, Kathy Shimpock, shares a Scottish story about the changing seasons. It comes as we reach winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere. This is a story of the Cailleach Beira, the Queen of Winter.  She may be frightening but she has much to tell us about our role as elders and how we should best approach the winter season. She's a very wise crone indeed!Story: Donald Alexander MacKenzie, "Beira, Queen of Winter," in Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend (London, Blackie & Son, 1917).Illustration: "Beira" from a drawing by John Duncan (from book).Sound effects from my finch "Tweedles." This podcast is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. Copyright 2025 Kathy Shimpock.   Support the showFor more crone tales, visit the "Wise Crone Cottage in the Woods" (http://www.wisecronecottage.com).

LARRY ELMORE Illustrators of the Future Judge – Biography Leonard Elmore has been creating fantasy and science fiction art for more than forty years. After receiving a BFA degree from Western Kentucky, he married Betty Clemons and was drafted into the Army almost at the same time. In the 1970s he began freelancing and was published in a few magazines, including Heavy Metal and National Lampoon. After being contacted by TSR Inc., the company that produced the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, Larry worked there from 1981 to 1987. While at TSR, he helped set the standards for gaming art in the role-playing genre. Besides creating covers for Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D, Star Frontiers and other gaming books, he may be best known for his work with the world of Dragonlance. Since 1987 he has worked as a freelance illustrator, creating covers for comics, computer games, magazines, and fantasy and science fiction books and projects too numerous to list. In recent years, he has been creating paintings for collectors and fans around the world. He has been an Illustrators of the Future judge since 2012. Larry was presented with the L. Ron Hubbard Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts in 2018. “The Illustrators of the Future is true competition. It's a wonderful competition. If I had something like this when I was young to attend, it would blow my mind because I never met a real professional artist till I was out of school, out of college.” —Larry Elmore Find out more at: larryelmore.com CHRISTINA HESS Artist, Professor – Biography Christina Hess is an illustrator known for blending historical and natural themes across a wide range of projects. Her portfolio includes everything from numismatic coin designs to illustrated cookbooks, rendered in media such as graphite, watercolor, oils, and digital. Notable commissions include her work with the U.S. Mint, where she contributed to the 2020 Silver Dollar commemorating the 19th Amendment and the American Women Quarters Program. In addition she created the reverse quarter design honoring astronomer Dr. Vera Rubin in the American Women Quarter Program. Her work has received national recognition, including awards such as Best Historical Coin of the Year at the COTY Awards, and has been acknowledged by institutions like the Smithsonian. Christina's illustrations have been featured in prestigious exhibitions and publications including Society of Illustrators West, Spectrum Fantastic Art, ImagineFX, and 3x3 Magazine. Her ongoing personal series, Animals From History, reimagines iconic historical figures as whimsical animal characters. With over 25 unique illustrations, the project has captured media attention from outlets such as ABC News, Juxtapoz Magazine, Mental Floss, and My Modern Met. Beyond her professional practice, Christina serves as the Department Head of Illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design, where she finds constant inspiration in mentoring the next generation of artists. Find out more at: www.ChristinaHess.com and www.AnimalsFromHistory.com

This powerful message takes us deep into Romans 8:26-30, confronting us with a truth we often resist: we are weak. In a culture obsessed with self-improvement, organizational planners, and New Year's resolutions, we're reminded that genuine transformation doesn't come from our strength but from our surrender. The passage reveals that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we don't even have words to pray, when life feels insurmountable, and when our weakness is most evident. What's revolutionary here is the understanding that God's ways are not our ways—His plan for salvation didn't involve us climbing up to Him through good works or self-effort, but Him descending to us in the form of a baby in a manger. The sermon challenges our consumer Christianity, where we want church on our terms, faith that's comfortable, and a God who serves our agenda. Instead, we're called to embrace the stunning reality of foreknowledge and predestination—not as scary theological concepts, but as the beautiful truth that before time began, God knew us, called us, justified us, and will glorify us. This Christmas season, we're invited to shift from asking 'What can God do for me?' to 'What does God want to do through me?' The missionary story woven throughout reminds us that this isn't about our comfort zone—it's about conforming to the image of Christ and allowing His purposes to become our priority.**Sermon Notes:****Introduction:**- Speaker: Pastor Will from Hope.- Call for congregation to accommodate latecomers by scooting in.- Announcement about children's events: CentraKid and Fuge camps.- Mission update from Steve and Kim Bradley, missionaries in Malawi, highlighting their work, challenges, and the opportunity to build a preschool to reach Muslim communities.- Church's support: $50,000 pledged for the school development.**Main Sermon - Romans 8:26-30:**- **Theme: Weakness and God's Sovereignty** - Our Weakness:   - We are inherently weak and live in a world obsessed with self-fixation.  - As believers, we experience tension between faith and sin.  - We struggle in knowing how to pray; the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.- **Intercession of the Holy Spirit:** - The Spirit helps in our prayers, understanding our hearts beyond words. - Highlights the need for prayer aligned with God's will, not personal desires.- **God's Sovereignty:** - Emphasis on Romans 8:28 – Misinterpretation risks focusing on personal benefit rather than God's purpose. - Illustration using God's plan for Jesus' birth demonstrates His ways are superior to human understanding.- **Concept of Foreknowledge and Predestination:** - Foreknowledge and predestination discussed as concepts that can be challenging but are crucial for understanding God's sovereignty. - Explanation that God knew who would choose Him and orchestrated a plan accordingly. - Focus on being conformed to the image of Christ through justification and glorification.**Practical Applications:**1. **Recognize Weakness:** Accept and embrace your weakness as a believer. Depend on the Holy Spirit for guidance and strength.2. **Align Desires with God's Will:** Regularly check if your desires align with God's purpose. Focus on serving His kingdom rather than personal dreams.3. **Trust in God's Plan:** Have faith that God's plans are higher than your own, especially in challenges.4. **Be Open to God's Calling:** Reflect on where God might be calling you to serve more significantly, whether locally or abroad.**Discussion Questions:**1. What are some recent situations where you felt your personal weakness, and how did you witness the Holy Spirit's help?2. How can Romans 8:28 be misinterpreted in today's Christian culture? In what ways can it be correctly applied?3. How can you ensure your prayers and desires are in alignment with God's will rather than personal wants?4. Discuss a time when you saw God's plan work out differently and better than what you had planned. What did it teach you?The sermon underscores the importance of focusing on God's sovereignty and the Holy Spirit's work in aiding believers through weaknesses, aligning with divine purposes over personal aspirations.

Christina Hess is the Department Head of Illustration at Ringling College of Art & Design. In this interview, we discuss the value of art school and the impact of AI on art. Christina is an illustrator known for blending historical and natural themes across a wide range of projects. Her portfolio includes everything from numismatic designs (the study of coins, tokens, medals, and paper money) to illustrated cookbooks, rendered in various media such as graphite, watercolor, oil, and digital. Two 2026 United States coins will feature designs by Christina. The new quarter showcases scientist Dr. Vera Rubin. She also designed a new $1 coin depicting Native Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukui as part of the Native American $1 Coin Program. Christina's illustrations have been featured in publications such as the Society of Illustrators West, Spectrum Fantastic Art, ImagineFX, and 3x3 Magazine. And if that's not enough, she is a wonderful person, and her students at Ringling are extremely fortunate to have her! Learn more at www.christinahess.com/about

359. Christina Hess, Head of Illustration at Ringling College, Exploring the Value of Art School and AI's Impact on Illustration Writers & Illustrators of the Future Podcast, Christina Hess, L. Ron Hubbard, John Goodwin, Ringling College of Art and Design 4 hours ago4 hours ago Write a comment 30 plays30 Writers & Illustrators of the Future Podcast 285 followers 285 359 tracks 359 Christina Hess is the Department Head of Illustration at Ringling College of Art & Design. In this interview, we discuss the value of art school and the impact of AI on art. Christina is an illustrator known for blending historical and natural themes across a wide range of projects. Her portfolio includes everything from numismatic designs (the study of coins, tokens, medals, and paper money) to illustrated cookbooks, rendered in various media such as graphite, watercolor, oil, and digital. Two 2026 United States coins will feature designs by Christina. The new quarter showcases scientist Dr. Vera Rubin. She also designed a new $1 coin depicting Native Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukui as part of the Native American $1 Coin Program. Christina's illustrations have been featured in publications such as the Society of Illustrators West, Spectrum Fantastic Art, ImagineFX, and 3x3 Magazine. And if that's not enough, she is a wonderful person, and her students at Ringling are extremely fortunate to have her! Learn more at www.christinahess.com/about

ONE CITY AT A TIME—There are two kinds of travelers. The first group are those that need to see as many attractions as they can. The second are those that would rather wander around, get a feel for the place they're visiting, and live as much like a local as possible. Neither is better. There's no judgement here. But the people who are behind the bi-annual Fare Magazine are definitely of the latter group.Founded almost ten years ago, each issue of Fare explores a single city, using food as an entry point to talk to locals and tell stories that you won't find in your typical guidebook. You do not read Fare to find lists of must try restaurants. You read it to meet the people that make a city worth living in and worth visiting. You will learn something. And, maybe, this city will go on your list of places to visit. Going from city to city is, of course, not the easiest way to make a magazine, but ten years in, Fare is still going strong, and the business is growing to include new titles and new offers. It's a big world. And I get the sense Fare is going to keep wandering it, meeting the people who make every city taste better.—This episode is made possible by our friends at Freeport Press. A production of Magazeum LLC ©2021–2025

Cartoonists Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett discuss the nuances of print-on-demand services. As Brad says, "It's a good place to start, but a bad place to stay." They delve into the importance of advanced planning for holiday sales. Finally, they share strategies for engaging audiences at comic conventions, covering pricing strategies and the psychology of sales, and emphasizing the importance of understanding costs and audience engagement.Today's ShowPrint on DemandHow to "Let Time Be Your Editor"Convention PricingHuionHuion is sponsoring today's show, and they're offering additional discounts on the following products when you use the discount code: ComicLabKamvas 22 Plus — A luxurious large-screen, high-resolution digital pen display with an etched glass surface that simulates the texture of paper while it protects your eyes from harmful glare.Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) — With a large 13.3-inch screen and an FHD (1920X1080) resolution, this model ensuring seamless collaboration with your laptop. The durable back cover also offers superior protection while ensuring interface stability.Huion Note — You found your new on-the-go brainstorming tool. With writing synchronizing, offline storage, document management, one-click PDF sharing, and portable A5 size, Huion Note will redefine what a new generation of notebooks can do.TakeawaysPatience is key in daily struggles.Print on demand can be a good starting point but not a long-term solution.Planning for holiday sales should start well in advance.Engaging with audiences at conventions is crucial for building a network.Clear pricing and signage can significantly boost sales at conventions.Using loss leaders can attract customers but should be carefully calculated.Understanding your costs is essential for pricing strategies.Round numbers simplify transactions and reduce friction in sales.Time away from your work can provide valuable perspective for editing.Building a strong online presence is important for comic creators. You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon$2 — Early access to episodes$5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.If you'd like a one-on-one consultation about your comic, book it now!Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. He is available for personal consultations. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive. He is the co-director of the comics documentary, Stripped.

De värsta pandemier som drabbat mänskligheten var när européerna på 1500-talet tog med sig en dödlig cocktail av sina vanligaste smittsamma sjukdomar till Amerika. Idag tror man att 90 procent av urbefolkningen strök med i sjukdomar de saknade immunitet mot. Hela kulturer gick under.Under 1700-talet började de växande nationalstaterna i Europa att utveckla metoder för att hantera pandemier – trots att den tidens läkevetenskap ofta missförstod hur smittor spreds. Samtidigt som böldpesten i stort sett försvann, uppstod nya pandemier till följd av industrialismens trånga, osanitära städer.Detta är det andra av två avsnitt av podden Historia Nu om pandemier, där programledaren Urban Lindstedt samtalar med Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, professor i historia, särskilt historisk geografi, vid Stockholms universitet, om hur farsoter har påverkat samhällen genom tiderna – från medeltidens pest till spanska sjukan.När européerna anlände till Amerika på 1500-talet förde de med sig sjukdomar som smittkoppor, mässling och influensa – sjukdomar som den amerikanska ursprungsbefolkningen saknade immunitet mot. Resultatet blev en demografisk kollaps: upp till 90 procent av urbefolkningen dog inom ett sekel.Denna ”mikrobiella erövring” möjliggjorde den europeiska kolonisationen av Nord- och Sydamerika. Avfolkningen ledde till omfattande återförskogning, vilket i sin tur påverkade koldioxidnivåerna i atmosfären – ett exempel på hur pandemier kan få långtgående konsekvenser bortom människans hälsa.Det är först på 1800-talet som vetenskapen gradvis börjar förstå smittspridningens mekanismer. Kolera blev århundradets mest fruktade pandemi – men också den som ledde till avgörande förändringar i folkhälsopolitik och stadsplanering.På 1800-talet svepte koleraepidemier fram över världen. Flera pandemier startade i Asien och nådde Europa via handelsvägar. Koleran var vattenburen och slog särskilt hårt mot tätbefolkade städer med bristfällig sanitet. Under perioden 1834–73 drabbades Sverige av nio koleraepidemier. Vid den största av dessa, 1834, insjuknade mer än 25 000 personer, av vilka drygt hälften dog.Den engelske läkaren John Snow revolutionerade smittspårningen 1854 när han identifierade en förorenad vattenpump som kolerans källa i London – en insats som lade grunden för modern epidemiologi. Hans upptäckt blev en katalysator för utvecklingen av moderna avloppssystem, säkrare dricksvatten och en ny syn på urban hygien. Koleran blev med andra ord en drivkraft bakom avgörande samhällsreformer.Mellan 1918 och 1920 dödade spanska sjukan mellan 25 och 100 miljoner människor världen över – fler än första världskriget. Pandemin slog särskilt hårt mot unga vuxna, vilket bröt det klassiska U-formade dödlighetsmönstret för influensa. Trots dess enorma påverkan föll sjukdomen snabbt i glömska – kanske för att samhället redan var traumatiserat av krigets fasor.Senare forskning har visat att pandemin lämnade djupa men ofta osynliga spår. Barn till mödrar som varit sjuka under graviditeten löpte högre risk för kroniska sjukdomar senare i livet – en påminnelse om att pandemiers effekter kan vara långvariga, subtila och påverka generationer framåt.Bild: Smittkoppor under den spanska erövringen, ur bok XII i Florentinska kodexen (1540–1585). Illustration av en okänd konstnär från 1500-talet, Originalet återfinns i Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florens. Reproduktion i: Fields, Sherry (2008). Pestilence and Headcolds: Encountering Illness in Colonial Mexico. New York: Columbia University Press. Wikipedia, Public Domain.Musik: Fauré – Requiem – I. Introït et Kyrie, framförd av Orchestre national de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo under ledning av Louis Frémaux, med Chorale Philippe Caillard och solisten Bernard Kruysen. Utgiven av Erato Records den 10 augusti 1962. Fotograf: Denis Thilliez. Ingen upphovsrätt gäller för denna ljudinspelning inom EU enligt direktiv 2006/116/EG.Klippare: Emanuel Lehtonen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Overwhelmed with ideas? Join Jake Parker, Samantha Cotterill, and Lee White to learn how to evaluate potential projects and make the best selection. Plus, get an insider preview at the projects our pros are working on in 2026. 3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!Click here for this episode's links and show notes.

The State of Illustration Report with Darren Di Lieto | Episode 65What does the illustration industry really look like right now — beyond highlight reels, social media, and shiny success stories?In this episode, I talk with Darren Di Lietto, founder of Hireillo and the author of the State of Illustration report. For more than a decade, Darren has been surveying illustrators around the world to better understand how we work, how we get paid, and how sustainable illustration actually is as a career.We have an honest conversation about confidence, pricing, late payments, mental health, and the quiet pressures shaping illustrators' lives today. We talk about who's best positioned to thrive, where illustrators are struggling most, and why so many are being squeezed out early on in their careers.I was surprised, and honestly a little bit depressed by the numbers in the report—but Darren helps me see some of the positive takeaways as well.

Hey! It’s been a minute. Still interested in hearing some stuff? Whatevs B Listen on SoundCloud Watch on YouTube Track list Kishan, The Illustration, Pedro Retro – Water Imogen Heap – Headlock (DJ CDQ Remix) Dirty Mirrors – This Energy Depsky – Foggy Night og pandy – Getting Merry (Mr Jazz Step Remix) Kippo, Mai […] The post Winter Warmer Garage n Bass – Episode 442 – Bumpy UK Garage with DJ BrainZ appeared first on UK Garage n Bass From DJ BrainZ.

C'est un tournant dans la politique étrangère américaine : publié le 5 décembre par l'administration Trump, la Stratégie de sécurité nationale appelle à restaurer la suprématie américaine sur l'Amérique latine, à lutter contre l'immigration incontrôlée, contre les menaces transfrontalières comme la drogue ou le terrorisme et réactive la doctrine Monroe qui, en 1823, interdisait toute intervention européenne sur le continent américain et réciproquement toute ingérence américaine dans les affaires européennes.   Aujourd'hui, Donald Trump va plus loin et l'assume. Il étrille les Européens et revendique l'Amérique latine comme sa chasse gardée. Pas question de laisser un pays adverse y positionner des forces ou exploiter des ressources stratégiquement vitales pour les États-Unis. Le document justifie le redéploiement des forces militaires américaines et même l'utilisation de la force létale. Des lignes qui expliquent la guerre engagée, depuis fin août 2025, par Donald Trump dans la mer des Caraïbes, au large du Venezuela, pour lutter contre le narcotrafic, avec une armada militaire impressionnante. En 3 mois, les frappes américaines contre des bateaux accusés sans preuve de transporter de la drogue ont fait plus de 80 morts. L'ONU dénonce des exécutions extrajudiciaires. Le président Nicolas Maduro, lui, voit dans le déploiement américain un prétexte pour le renverser et s'emparer des réserves pétrolières de son pays... Et la tension est encore montée cette semaine. Dans une interview au site Politico mardi, Donald Trump a déclaré à propos de Maduro «ses jours sont comptés» tout en évitant de répondre sur l'envoi de troupes américaines au sol.  Jusqu'où ira Donald Trump au Venezuela : veut-il vraiment combattre les narcotrafiquants ou d'abord faire tomber sa bête noire, Nicolas Maduro ?  Comment les États-Unis comptent-ils contrer l'accès de la Russie et de la Chine aux ressources pétrolières et minières du continent sud-américain ? Quelle est l'influence de Washington sur la contagion populiste qui frappe la région ? Ce bras de fer Trump/Maduro illustre-t-il le retour de l'interventionnisme américain en Amérique latine ? Avec - Maud Quessard, spécialiste de politique étrangère américaine, directrice du domaine «Europe, Espace Transatlantique Russie» à l'IRSEM. Autrice de «La puissance sans principe. Géopolitique du trumpisme», étude de l'Irsem N°126 parue en septembre 2025 - Thomas Posado, maître de conférences en Civilisation latino-américaine contemporaine à l'Université de Rouen, auteur de «Venezuela : de la révolution à l'effondrement», aux Presses Universitaires du Midi - Jean-Jacques Kourliansky, directeur de l'Observatoire de l'Amérique latine et des Caraïbes à la fondation Jean Jaurès, a publié «Progressisme et démocratie en Amérique latine 2000-2021» aux éditions de l'Aube.

Vasanti Unka is an award-winning writer, designer and illustrator, her newest children's book PukaPuka is a celebration of reading and the role library's play in our communities. Vasanti was also awarded the Arts Foundation Mallinson Rendel Laureate Award for Illustration in 2021. She speaks to Mihi Forbes about her journey into the world of children's books, South Asian voices becoming part of New Zealand's landscape, and the importance of libraries for the young.

A MODERN MAGAZINE EDITOR IN A POST-MAGAZINE WORLD—In the media storm that is 2025, the person you want captaining your ship is smart, decisive, and cool, calm, and collected—in other words, she's Nikki Ogunnaike.The editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, whom we got to know when we worked together at Elle, is the very model of a modern magazine editor, in that—unlike the lifers of old—she hopscotched through a ton of jobs, accruing skills as a writer, a fashion editor, a digital editor and a print editor, and, oh yeah, a social-media savvy multi-platform operator—to become what she is now: someone uniquely equipped to lead a new era of Marie Claire.We talked to Nikki about what it's like to run a modern media brand in a post-magazine world—what does the job of “magazine editor” even mean now? Also: how is the post-Hearst Marie Claire evolving to meet a new reader, or should we say “follower,” and which parts of its original DNA Nikki is working to preserve. Also: Is the “girlboss” back?—This episode is made possible by our friends at Commercial Type and Freeport Press. A production of Magazeum LLC ©2021–2025

Syndicated cartoonists Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman share their journey of collaboration that spans over 35 years, focusing on their iconic comic strip, "Baby Blues." They discuss their initial meeting, the challenges of working together, the creative process behind their gags, and the evolution of their work. The dialogue highlights the joys and conflicts of collaboration, the importance of humor in parenting, and the unique dynamics of their partnership. They discuss their early encounters with legendary cartoonists, the challenges and joys of taking over legacy strips, the impact of awards on their careers, and the importance of authenticity in parenting comics.You can read "Baby Blues" at Gocomics.com/babybluesHuionHuion is sponsoring today's show, and they're offering additional discounts on the following products when you use the discount code: ComicLabKamvas 22 Plus — A luxurious large-screen, high-resolution digital pen display with an etched glass surface that simulates the texture of paper while it protects your eyes from harmful glare.Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) — With a large 13.3-inch screen and an FHD (1920X1080) resolution, this model ensuring seamless collaboration with your laptop. The durable back cover also offers superior protection while ensuring interface stability.Huion Note — You found your new on-the-go brainstorming tool. With writing synchronizing, offline storage, document management, one-click PDF sharing, and portable A5 size, Huion Note will redefine what a new generation of notebooks can do.TakeawaysJerry and Rick's collaboration spans over 35 years.Their wives introduced them, both aspiring cartoonists.They bonded over a shared love for comics and cartooning.Baby Blues was inspired by their experiences as parents.They learned the importance of hitting deadlines.Collaboration requires open communication and compromise.Writing gags often starts with the punchline first.The creative process is a blend of writing and drawing.Their friendship enhances their creative output. Meeting legendary cartoonists was a pivotal moment.Legacy strips come with both pressure and opportunity.Awards can create a sense of responsibility.Parenting comics resonate deeply with readers.Book titles can encapsulate the essence of the work.Professional jealousy is detrimental in the creative field.Authenticity in storytelling is crucial.The weight of awards can be both a blessing and a burden.Creating relatable content helps connect with audiences.Collaboration and community are vital in the cartooning world. You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon$2 — Early access to episodes$5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.If you'd like a one-on-one consultation about your comic, book it now!Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. He is available for personal consultations. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive. He is the co-director of the comics documentary, Stripped.

Join our next BoldBrush LIVE! Webinar by signing up here:register.boldbrush.com/live-guestLearn the magic of marketing  with us here at BoldBrush!boldbrushshow.comGet over 50% off your first year on your artist website with FASO:FASO.com/podcast---For this week's episode, we made a compilation of our past guests reflecting on how early influences, mentors, and disciplined study shaped their art, and how they often feel driven to keep growing rather than staying comfortable. They describe learning fastest by painting from life—especially in plein air—tackling unfamiliar subjects, simplifying values, and using subtle color temperature shifts instead of high-contrast effects. Throughout the episode, our past guests stress intentional decision-making in composition and color, the importance of not overworking a piece, and the deep community and life-changing connections formed through workshops and shared painting experiences.Episodes mentioned:158 Cynthia Rosen156 Shanna Kunz155 Scott D. Prior154 Julie Davis151 John Morra138 Michelle Dunaway137 Chris Krupinski136 Bill Davidson127 Jill Basham

Can you build an art career without social media? How helpful is AI, actually? Jake Parker, Lee White, and Anthony Wheeler discuss why human connections still outweigh algorithms and how you can use them to your advantage. 3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!Click here for this episode's links and show notes.

Send us a textWhat's up, Plant People?? On today's episode, I chatted with scientific illustrator, J Spahr of @Science_Visuals to unpack how art turns complex research into clear, accurate stories that spark curiosity. From watercolor botanicals to layered digital paintings and ecosystems in one frame, we explore process, ethics, and impact.• the path from a found textbook to a science illustration career• Europe's legacy of artists working with scientists• art as storytelling and science communication• choosing mediums and building layered digital workflows• designing infographics that condense seasons, species, and behavior• client collaboration, revisions, and scientific accuracy• social media's trade-offs and unexpected reach• why AI images miss context, accuracy, and trust• the joy of learning fast through research illustration• practical plant science: why asters shrug off frostMake sure to follow J on Instagram and check out her website at scivisuals.com! If you'd like to support the show, leave a rating and review, email planthropologypod@gmail.com, find me all over the place on social media, snag merch at planthropologypodcast.com, or buymeacoffee.com/planthropologySupport the showAs always, thanks so much for listening! Subscribe, rate, and review Planthropology on your favorite podcast app. It helps the show keep growing and reaching more people! As a bonus, if you review Planthropology on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser and send me a screenshot of it, I'll send you an awesome sticker pack!Planthropology is written, hosted, and produced by Vikram Baliga. Our theme song is "If You Want to Love Me, Babe, by the talented and award-winning composer, Nick Scout. Midroll tunes are by Rooey. Substack: Office Hours Website: www.planthropologypodcast.com Podchaser: www.podchaser.com/Planthropology Facebook: Planthropology Facebook group: Planthropology's Cool Plant People Instagram: @PlanthropologyPod e-mail: planthropologypod@gmail.com

Are celebrities worthy authors for our children? Is there still a place for highly detailed illustrations? Anthony Wheeler, Lee White, and Jake Parker discuss recent trends in indie kidlit, the evolution of the illustration industry, and more in this episode. 3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!Click here for this episode's links and show notes.

Giuseppe Castellano talks to award-winning illustrator, artist, designer, and writer, Maira Kalman, about navigating life's inconsistencies; how we can stay centered and grounded creatively; what the most important thing is about being an illustrator; and more.To learn more about Maira, visit mairakalman.com.Artists mentioned in this episode include: Beatrix Potter, Remy Charlip, Maurice Sendak, Edward Gorey If you find value in this podcast, consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack, or a supporter on Patreon. On either platform, you will gain access to bonus episodes we call “Extra Credit”—among other perks and benefits. | Visit illustrationdept.com for offerings like mentorships and portfolio reviews, testimonials, our alumni showcase, and more. | Music for the podcast was created by Oatmello. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week on Cultivating Place, we look towards the heart of the thankful season in memory of the enormous, fierce, and grateful soul of Rabbi Arthur Waskow, who passed from this world on October 20th, fighting for the beauty of the world right up to the end. In his honor, we revisit our 2021 conversation with him, focusing on the sacred in the everyday and in the seasonal.  Rabbi Waskow was the co-founder of The Shalom Center in Philadelphia, which equips spiritual leaders with the awareness and skills needed to lead a "transformed and transformative Judaism that can help create a world of peace, justice, healing for the earth, and respect for the interconnectedness of all life."  A long-time activist for social and environmental justice, Rabbi Waskow is also the author of Seasons of our Joy, which brings reverent renewal to the ancient agricultural and season-based celebrations of the Abrahamic religions.  Enjoy, and give thanks for such souls in this world. Photo cover art from the 2012 Edition of Seasons of Our Joy, The Jewish Publication Society. Illustration from paper cuts by Martin Farren and Joan Benjamin-Farren; Photo of Rabbi Waskow benching Luvav from Slate.com; and Photo In Conversation, by Jennifer Jewell, 2021. Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place.We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these.The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Can you succeed in illustration with a chronic illness? Samantha Cotterill shares her experience as an artist with rheumatoid arthritis with Jake Parker and Lee White. Discover how to rest without guilt and pace yourself for a long, vibrant career. 3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!Click here for this episode's links and show notes.

We've known intuitively for centuries that spending time in nature can give us a boost. But it's only recently that scientists have begun to identify exactly what it is about the outdoors that has such a powerful effect on our mood and our minds. This week, psychologist Marc Berman explores how spending time in nature can actually undo some of the harmful effects of our modern lives.Do you have follow-up questions, comments, or stories about nature's effect on the mind after listening to this episode? If you'd be comfortable sharing your thoughts with the Hidden Brain audience, please record a voice memo on your phone and email it to us at ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Use the subject line nature. Thanks!  Illustration by Swati B on Unsplash+ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.