Driven Creatively Mad

Khalid Birdsong is an American cartoonist. He spent two years in Japan teaching English which led to the idea of his first comic strip, Fried Chicken and Sushi. This comic strip was inspired by his experiences as a single black man living in Japan.

His comic strip has since transitioned to Little Fried Chicken and Sushi and is featured on GoComics.com (https://www.gocomics.com). You can read his comic along with many other famous comic strips like The Far Side, Crabgrass, The K Chronicles, and Calvin and Hobbes.

Khalid on the Web

- Website

- Instagram

- Twitter

- Facebook

Khalid on Geoff Grogan’s podcast, Blockhead

- Khalid and Ray Billingsley

- Khalid Birdsong Part 1

- Khalid Birdsong Part 2

Khalid’s Comics

- Fried Chicken and Sushi

- Little Fried Chicken and Sushi on GoComics.com

What Khalid Uses to Create Comics

- Wacom Cintiq (he suggests buying used on eBay to save money)

- Clip Studio Paint

Favorite Artists

- Jeff Smith, creator of the comic book Bone

- Keith Knight, “Gentleman Cartoonist” of The K Chronicles, co-creator of the Hulu television show, Woke

Book Recommendation

- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Tony Helms, better known as tonycartoonish on social media, is a cartoonist. He’ll tell you he’s a software engineer, but in truth, he loves to draw with a passion. Tony has a unrelenting fiery will to draw as much as possible with one goal—to get better.

Tony also genuinely loves to share and promote other artists on Instagram.

Tony on Social Media

Instagram

Patreon

Websites Mentioned

Tony's Website
Adobe
Lightbox Expo

Projects

JulyFi Sci-Fi - JulyFi is an annual sci-fi themed 31 day drawing challenge hosted by @tonycartoonish. JulyFi starts each year on July 1st. Check out the hash tag #JulyFy on Instagram.

Other Creators Mentioned

Amanda MacFarlane - A character design artist that has worked with Hasbro, Elastic TV, Big League Chew, and Warner Bros. Follow Amanda on Instagram at @theanimatedlife

Mike Maihack, creator of Cleopatra in Space (see Tony's Favorite time wasting activities) comic book turned animated series. Find Mike on Twitter at @mikemaihack or check out his comics and other projects at his website.

Kyle Webster - Illustrator and Adobe Design Team Member. Most famous for his Photoshop brushes at kylebrush.com which are now a part of Adobe Creative Cloud.

Apps

Adobe Fresco - one of Tony's preferred drawing apps on iOS (but it's also on Windows 10 too.)

Adobe Illustrator for the iPad

Repost: for Instagram

Adobe Rush

Clip Studio Paint on iOS and Desktop

Favorite Time Wasting Activities

Drawing (yep, that was expected)

Tony loves watching animations, and highly recommends Cleopatra in Space and Green Lantern: The Animated Series.

Favorite Artist

Bruce Timm, most famous for his contributions to the 1990's hit Batman: The Animated Series. You can see all of Timm's accomplishments in television and film on IMDb.

Bob is the Associate Director of Visual Branding at the University of South Carolina. Bob labels himself as a designer, blogger, grad student, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s obsessed with typography, the creative process and tools we use to create.

Bob on Social Media

- Twitter

- Instagram

- LinkedIn

- Micro.blog

Websites

- Sketchbook B - personal website featuring his blog, fonts, and many projects

- SketchBook B Store - Checkout his designs for his 52 Weeks of T-shirts project

Books

- Atomic Habits by James Clear

- Elements of Typographical Style by Robert Bringhurst

Apps

- Notion for organizing

- Ulysses for writing

- Zotero for research

Rapid Fire Questions

Favorite Time Wasting Activity: Cleaning pens

Favorite Artist: Matthew Carter, type designer - created the fonts Verdana and Georgia

Inspiring Creator: Marius Valdes - Associate Professor in studio art concentrating on design and illustration at The University of South Carolina

Adam is a location sound mixer for film and corporate work and a post audio editor. Adam lives in Mauldin, South Carolina with his wife, Shawn, and their dog Ranger. Adam shares his journey from playing guitar in high school to his first real audio editing in college, to starting a podcast with a new group of friends in 2006 and his current passion for audio in the local indie film scene in upstate South Carolina.

Find Adam Online

- Twitter @inmyownmind

- Instagram @dollarbinproductions

- Wandering Bard Meadery

- Dollar Bin Comic Podcast

- Adam Daughhetee on IMDB

- Adam Daughhetee on LinkedIn

Audio Editing Software

- Cubase - Adam’s preferred software for editing audio

- Sound Forge

- WaveLab

- Audacity

Mic

- Sennheiser MKE 600

Adam’s Recommended Film Education Resources

- No Film School - community of filmmakers, video producers, and independent creatives.

- Film Riot - a how-to trip through filmmaking from the hyper-active minds of the Connolly Brothers.

- Kally Williams - Sound Mixer on Instagram

Rapid Fire Questions:

- Favorite Time Wasting Activity: Scrolling through Instagram or playing guitar or drums

- Guilty Pleasure: Wrestling

- Favorite Artist: Bernie Wrightson

- What people think Adam is great at, but he thinks he is not: Sound Design :(

Favorite Books

- All Star Wars Novels

- The Hobbit

- There’s a Monster at the End of This Book

Hi, I’m Kris Black and you are listening to the trailer for Driven Creatively Mad, where I share stories of creators who aspire to earn a living from their art.

So Driven Creatively Mad actually started about three years ago in 2017. When I created the first... we can call it the first season of Driven Creatively Mad. And I recorded shows, by myself, just me talking to the listener, about my process of creating a children’s book, and I really enjoyed the process of recording the podcast, and I wanted to do more, but after that first season, I really didn’t want to record a podcast where I was the only one talking to the listener. I felt like that was a bit limited for what I was wanting to accomplish.

So I had the idea that I could interview other creators in a similar situation that I’m in, where I’ve got a primary job, that takes up the majority of my day. I’ve got family that I spend time with, but I also have these creative projects that I want to do on the side. And I know there, there are other people that are in that situation as well. And it’s tough. So I made a list of friends and colleagues that are in similar situation, reached out and said, “Hey, I want to interview you about your art and your life and how you manage and deal with all that.”

And surprisingly, the four people I messaged. Said, yes, they’d love to do it.

So I’ve got a great first episode lined up for you with a sound mixer in indie films, and I’m going to be interviewing designers and artists and musicians, and it’s going to be great.

If you’re interested in a podcast like this, please subscribe. You can do so in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, or anywhere else you sign up for podcasts you like to listen to.

I’ve got a website, drivencreativelymad.com. Also have a Twitter, Instagram, and a Facebook page. So please subscribe, check out the site, sign up for the newsletter, and until next time keep creating.