In this week's episode, I interviewed, in my opinion, one of the top ten best conceptual illustrators in editorial illustration, Chris Gash.

He has received a Silver medal from the Society of Illustrators in New York and has had his work included in the annuals of Communication Arts, American Illustration, 3x3, Creative Quarterly, and SILA. Chris has worked with clients including Time Magazine, The New York Times, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Mastercard, Barnes & Noble, Nickelodeon, and Wells Fargo. When he taught at Montclair State University, one of his syllabi was included in Steve Heller and Marshall Arisman's book Teaching Illustration. In this episode, we talk about Chris’s 25 year illustration practice, what was and what is editorial illustration today, teaching at an art school compared to studying at a state school, his “worthy ideas folder”, sharing an alter-ego illustration style with another illustrator, tattoos, NJ Hardcore Punk, and a band his band in the late nineties shared a practice space with what is now one of the biggest alternative rock bands but was then just a “local band”. There is a lot of great stories in this episode. Especially for illustrators just starting. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Chris’s Links:

https://www.chrisgash.com/

https://www.instagram.com/mistergash/

Daniel's Links:

https://www.o-fishel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/o_fishel/

https://www.instagram.com/highreslowrespod/

A production note: I hope you enjoy the frog sound as a censor for all of the swearing. It is fun and I am going to keep it in there.

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder, Young Lords, and Jahnatan (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )

Happy New Year Everyone! For episode 4, I got on the mic with my group chat besties, Carrie Mifsud and Victoria Black to talk about our in's and outs for 2025, our personal and professional New Year resolutions/goals, what is going wrong with social media, what we think should change in the industry, and so much more. 

Carrie Mifsud is an esteemed art director working on the New York Times home page. Victoria Black is an amazing freelance art director, designer, and illustrator. 

Victoria Blacks links: 

https://www.thevictoriablack.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/thevictoriablack/ 

Carrie Mifsuds links: 

https://carrie-mifsud-xmi1.squarespace.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/carrielynnemifsud/ 

Daniel Fishels links:

https://www.o-fishel.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/o_fishel/ 

https://bsky.app/profile/ofishel.bsky.social 

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder, Young Lords, and Jahnatan (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )

In this week's episode, I interviewed the self-proclaimed "Dennis the menace" of conceptual illustration, Pete Ryan.

He has received a Gold and Silver medal from the Society of illustrators in New York and has worked with clients including Time Magazine, The New York Times, Mother Jones, Wall Street Journal, The Walrus, The New Yorker, Buzzfeed, and many others. In this episode, we talk about golden retrievers, Justin Bieber, moving from Toronto to the country, the uncertainty of the illustration industry, creating a better work-life balance and so much more!! 

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Pete’s Links:

https://www.peterthomasryan.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/petexryan/ 

Daniel's Links:

https://www.o-fishel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/o_fishel/

https://www.instagram.com/highreslowrespod/

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A production note: Both of our internet connections were choppy. I did what I could to edit around it.

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder, Young Lords, and Jahnatan (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )

I flew into Minneapolis, MN, to attend this years, ICON12 Illustration conference. This conference started in 1999 to advocate for illustrators' rights as the rise of stock photography, stock illustration, and digital tools began to impact illustrators' livelihoods. Today, the conference further educates illustrators on different aspects of the industry, both tried-and-true and new and emerging, and acts as a kind of state-of-the-union of where the illustration industry is. 

I asked different illustrators and designers before and during the conference if I could interview them on what they felt about the conference and where they were currently in their practice. I interviewed the following people:

• Narciso Espiritu | @narcisoespiritu

Quote at the end of the episode is by Michael Hoeweler (https://www.instagram.com/p/C9r6myjR3Sd/)

Many thanks to the board members, student volunteers, speakers, and host city for putting together another lovely conference. I am looking forward to ICON13 in 2026. 

A production note: All interviews were recorded on my iPhone with little microphones so the quality of sound is all over the place. I did my best to not have the volume be loud in one interview and too quiet in another. 

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder, Young Lords, and Jahnatan (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )

I have asked Maya Scarpa and Sophia Franco to be guest hosts on this mailbag episode, where they asked audience questions, and I answered them. Most of the questions revolve around how to find illustration work, agents, burnout, time management, and taxes. Maya and Sophia are both recent graduates of the illustration program at the College for Creative Studies and former students of mine. Both are very talented and you should hire them.

A production note:

Maya’s Links:

https://www.mayascarpa.com/ https://www.instagram.com/mvsarts

Sophia’s Links:

https://sophialaurenfranco.com/ https://www.instagram.com/sophialaurenfranco/

Daniel's Links:

https://www.o-fishel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/o_fishel/

https://www.instagram.com/highreslowrespod/

SHOW NOTES:

• Baron Fig Sketchbooks: https://baronfig.com/ 

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )

Nicole Rifkin is an illustrator. Their clients include the Atlantic, Audible, The New Yorker, New York Times, Simon & Schuster, and many bands, including Remember Sports, Water from your eyes, Pile, Adult Mom, F*cked up, and the New Pornographers. I had a thoughtful and hilarious conversation with Nicole on the podcast. We talk about growing up with a punk dad and how weird that was, stories about skipping class to go to punk/hardcore shows, being confronted with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, stories about life in undergrad and grad school, our mentor Marshall Arisman, competitions and the Society of Illustrators, the value and under value of editorial work, transitioning from Photoshop to Adobe Fresco, and watching cooking shows and never really cooking anything. 

A production note, there is a lot of swearing in this podcast that I have edited out but for the most part the content is fine to listen to around teens but maybe not kids.

Nicole’s Links:

https://www.reformforest.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/nicolerifkin/ 

https://twitter.com/nicole_rifkin 

Daniel's Links:

https://www.o-fishel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/o_fishel/

https://www.instagram.com/highreslowrespod/

SHOW NOTES:

Deb JJ Lee - https://debleeart.com/ 

James Heimer - http://www.jamesheimer.com/ 

Marshall Arisman (RIP) - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/arts/marshall-arisman-dead.html 

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )

Lynn Scurfield is an illustrator. Their clients include The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Walrus, Google, Chronicle Books, Image Comics, and Puffin UK. We talk about the bliss of living in the suburbs over the city, the cost of art schools in Canada vs America, teaching at the art school you were once a student at, the evolving process of mixing traditional and digital media, the issues we have we procreate, transitioning from editorial to kids lit books, community in Toronto vs. New York, working through illustration projects while going through cancer treatments, and so much more.

Lynn has two kid's books coming out. Flight: Notes from birdgirl, is available for pre-order and available in bookstores on June 15th, 2023, and Two New Years, published by Chronicle Books, available for pre-order and available in bookstores on August 8th, 2023.

A production note, Lynn’s mic cuts in and out a little bit throughout. Just hang in there because Lynn is wonderful and sweet, and the whole interview outshines the occasional annoying mic issues. 

Lynn’s Links:

http://www.lynnscurfield.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/lynndoodle/ 

Daniel's Links:

https://www.o-fishel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/o_fishel/

https://www.instagram.com/highreslowrespod/

SHOW NOTES:

Pre-order, Flight: Notes from birdgirl

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/443676/flight-by-craig-mya-rose/9780241597927

Pre-Order, Two New Years

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/two-new-years_richard-ho/38272533/#edition=66193203&idiq=55637565

Diana Nguyen: https://www.diananguyen.ca/

Christina Chung: https://www.christina-chung.com/

Kim Salt: https://kimsalt.com/

Wenting Li: https://www.wentingli.com/

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )

John Malta is an illustrator, author, art director, comic artist, and educator. Their clients include the NY Times, the New Yorker, Complex, Liquid Death, and Dr. Martens. John talks about growing up in Ohio, how punk rock and wrestling changed his life and the communities around it, how leaving Brooklyn for Kansas City was a strategic personal and business move, the source of his comics inspirations, and the ever-evolution of the mediums his characters take on, and so much more.

John’s Links:

https://johnfmalta.com/

Daniel's Links:

https://www.o-fishel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/o_fishel/

https://www.instagram.com/highreslowrespod/

SHOW NOTES:

Buy Intergalactic moving day: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Intergalactic-Moving-Day/John-F-Malta/9781576879955

Siobhan Gallagher http://www.siobhan-gallagher.com/ Frank Norton https://frank-norton.com/

Lauren Phillips https://www.laurenphillips.work/

Cheaten Snakes https://cheatinsnakes.com/

Tad Carpenter https://carpentercollective.com/

Allison Kerek https://www.allisonkerek.com/

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )

Sara Wong is an illustrator and art director. Sara's freelance clients include the New York Times, Tor.com, NPR, Red Bull, and Mondo. In this episode, we talk about growing up in California, working remotely from Baltimore for a tech company in the bay area, finding work-life balance, transitioning from a Wacom tablet to an iPad and Procreate, and working on the board of 2024’s ICON illustration conference, about her dog's moose and daisy, powerlifting, and so much more.

Sara’s Links:

http://www.saraarielwong.com/

Daniel's Links:

https://www.o-fishel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/o_fishel/

https://www.instagram.com/highreslowrespod/

SHOW NOTES:

ICON12: Illustration Conference https://theillustrationconference.org/

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )

Victoria Black is a Senior Art Director and Freelance Designer. Victoria’s freelance clients include Grey Advertising, Art Directors Club, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, and Macmillan Publishers. In this podcast, Ms. Black talks about working as a designer in the book publishing industry for many years and their transition to doing design in Advertising. We jump around on a lot of topics, from plant-based food, veganism, and vegan culture, getting into therapy, becoming a member of the Satanic Temple, and Emo music through the years; I talk about mixing up Gene Simmons and Richard Simmons names in a Hot Topic, my favorite Mr. Rodgers conspiracy theory that is definitely not true.

Victoria’s Links:

http://thevictoriablack.com/ https://www.instagram.com/thevictoriablack/

Daniel's Links:

https://www.o-fishel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/o_fishel/

https://www.instagram.com/highreslowrespod/

SHOW NOTES:

NYTimes: A trial put publishing inner workings on display. What did we learn? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/books/prh-penguin-random-house-trial.html

Vice: Rich Families are legally separating from their kids to pay less for college. https://www.vice.com/en/article/9kxe87/rich-families-are-legally-separating-from-their-kids-to-pay-less-for-college

VOX: Each month, thousands of witches cast a spell against Donald Trump https://www.vox.com/2017/6/20/15830312/magicresistance-restance-witches-magic-spell-to-bind-donald-trump-mememagic

Washed up Emo Podcast

https://www.washedupemo.com/

Is this Band Emo?

Do you have a question, comment, or a guest recommendation for the show? Please, email me at:  [email protected]

Interested in being a sponsor on the show? Email me at: [email protected]

Music by Title Holder (Licensed through https://artlist.io/ )