The Creative Boom Podcast

Ben Tallon  is an illustrator who has two decades of experience in the field with a hand-drawn style that's lively, loud and expressive. One that has done him proud across many disciplines from print, digital and animation to set design and large-scale media. So far, his clients include The Guardian, EasyJet, World Wrestling Entertainment, Penguin and UNICEF. His debut book, Champagne and Wax Cray...

Amanda Rach Lee is an artist and digital content creator based in Toronto, Canada, who has built a successful career out of social media. It all began in 2013 at just 14 years old when she uploaded her first video to YouTube . Today, she has millions of subscribers and social media fans who enjoy her fun and quirky doodles, positive illustrations and updates on bullet journaling, as well as hand-l...

Timothy Goodman is an award-winning designer, illustrator, muralist and author based in New York City who also teaches at the School of Visual Arts. His beloved grandma simply calls him an artist. We've seen Timothy's art and words across everything from basketball courts and buildings to magazine covers and galleries worldwide. And his clients today include Google, Samsung, and Airbnb. He's co-cr...

Our next guest is Niki Groom , also known as Miss Magpie Spy , an award-winning fashion, beauty and lifestyle illustrator from the UK. Creating work that is colourful, hand-drawn, and feminine, her clients include Vogue, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Liberty. Whether it's for ad campaigns, window displays, editorial pieces, or live events, Niki favours a mixture of watercolour paints, marker pens, in...

Alex Gamsu Jenkins is an illustrator and cartoonist from south London who graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2015 having studied Illustration. Since then, he's worked for everyone from Adobe and Vice to The New York Times and Netflix, building quite the reputation and following for his satirical, often grotesque work. He says he tries to avoid any pretence and instead wallows in humour,...

Gail Anderson is an American graphic designer, writer and educator based in New York. Famous for her typographic works, hand-lettering and poster designs, she graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1984, where one of her teachers was Paula Scher. She began her career as a designer at Vintage Books (part of Random House) and later The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. She then became senior art di...

Kicking off our third season with Kieron Lewis , a south London-born freelance graphic designer, public speaker and Adobe Live Host, with a degree in Graphic Arts. His clients so far include Penguin Books, Levi's, and Harper Collins. Aside from his freelance work, he's also one of the co-founders of London creative studio Olga and Kay , which he runs with photographer Olga Kott. Along with their c...

Graphic designer and illustrator  George Simkin creates work that is bold, playful and loads of fun – pretty much a reflection of his lively personality. Originally from Ireland, he's a much-loved character on social media and became famous for his hilarious Christmas cards. In this episode, we talk about George leaving Ireland for London during that whirlwind excitement of youth when taking risks...

Adriana Bellet is the Stockholm-based illustrator, otherwise known as Jeez Vanilla with clients including NBC News and The Guardian. Originally from Spain, Adriana graduated from University of the Arts London in 2010 with a postgrad in Surface Design and has been freelancing ever since. Here, we chat about her surviving the last decade as a freelancer and her recent move to being represented by an...

Nicky Goulder is the founding chief executive of Create , the UK's leading charity empowering lives through the creative arts. It all began at Nicky's dining room table in 2003 following her vision a year earlier when she was motivated by a passion for helping to create a fair, caring and inclusive society where anyone, no matter their situation, could fulfil their potential. Here, we discuss how...

Trent Payne is a London-born award-winning creative who is currently the creative lead at  TouchNote . During his varied career, he has run a thriving creative studio, and worked in-house and at leading agencies, working on campaigns for the likes of MTV, Nike and Warner Brothers. Here, we talk about what it was like back in the early '90s as a black student hoping to make it into that creative wo...

Katie Chappell is a freelance illustrator specialising in 'live event' illustration for brands such as Google, Facebook and Apple. She's also one of the founders of The Good Ship Illustration , helping other artists to navigate a creative career. Here, we talk about how Katie found her niche. And she explains why there's no shame in a part-time job when you're trying to make illustration a full-ti...

Brand consultant William Seabrook began his career in 2002 when he graduated with a degree in Visual Communication from Birmingham City University. He then spent three years working as a fashion illustrator but later ventured into design, launching his own branding consultancy. Here, we chat about growing businesses, the lessons we learn, the mistakes we make – all leading to something bigger and...

Glasgow-based illustrator and design writer, Greg McIndoe, otherwise known as  Headless Greg , graduated in 2020, during the height of the global pandemic, and has immediately gone freelance. Here, we chat about the pandemic and how it's affected us. We also talk of slowing down, distancing ourselves from social media and why it's ok to share the things we all suffer from. That we're all the same....

Filmmaker, blogger and podcaster,  Monique Henry-Hudson , is currently working at Netflix Animation, runs her own podcast, and is behind Diverse Toons, a travelling animation panel series that highlights the importance of diversity in the animation industry. Here, we chat about growing up in Queens, finding opportunities to get into animation and discovering unexpected paths. We talk about the pow...

London-based graphic designer and illustrator,  Harkiran Kalsi  has worked for the likes of Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need. She also creates gorgeous murals, in her signature hand-lettering style and uses her art to spread positive and important messages. Here, we find out from Harky how she got to where she is now – despite a few setbacks. We discuss that famous artwork she created last su...

Luke Tonge is a freelance graphic designer and art director based in Birmingham and also one of the co-founders of Birmingham Design Festival. Here, we talk about the last decade or so, as we share similar paths in publishing and how we survived the global economic crisis and found a whole creative community online. We also talk of how times have changed, why the design industry still has some way...

Anthropological Future Designer Stacie Woolsey is the founder of  Make Your Own Masters  – an alternative post-graduate learning experiment that she began to address the lack of access and diversity within the creative industries. Here, we discuss the problems with higher education, unusual job titles and the power of shaping our own careers however we want. So if you like a rebel with a cause, an...

Award-winning graphic designer and illustrator  Shanti Sparrow is also Global Head of Teaching at  Shillington , which teaches the next generation of graphic designers. Here, we talk about her background, we find out why she gives her illustrated animals names (and why they're so traditionally British), and we talk of how the world is changing fast and for the better.

Graphic designer  Damian Graham has spent the last 25 years becoming a specialist in his field, creating entire collections for names such as Speedo, Mitre Football and Berghaus. Here, we talk about Damian’s career and uncover excellent tips for aspiring designers hoping to enjoy a similar path to his own. Our conversation with Damian reminded us that we all find our way in the end – even though i...

Visual artist and author,  Oliver Jeffers chats about how the events of last year affected him, putting a family round-the-world trip on hold. We also talk about how his practice has developed over the years, where he gets his ideas from, and what he has in store next. We discover, too, the sense of optimism and hope Oliver has for the future and why we all could benefit from slowing down.

Dani Molyneux is a typographic artist and designer based in Manchester. She's also the founder of design studio,  Dotto , which turns four this year. Here, we chat about the challenges we face as women and about finding our voice. We talk of change in the creative industries, about overcoming fears and building confidence in the face of adversity. We also hear of Dani's childhood and how she came...

Cat How is a creative director and co-founder of  How&How , a creative agency based in Lisbon and London. Here, we talk about Cat's adventurous spirit and how she's always followed her gut. We discover how she found herself in the field of graphic design. We talk about how what’s going in the world can impact us and why there are always silver linings to look for during difficult times. There'...

Abiola Ogunbiyi is an actress, musician, writer and filmmaker based in London who also works as a career strategy and creative practice coach for professional artists and designers worldwide. Here, we talk about staying grounded in the face of rejection and success. We share tips on coping with the demands of a creative career. And discover more about the world of acting and how it's shaped her mi...

Erik Brandt is an acclaimed graphic designer and educator who's been active since the mid-90s. He began his career as a cartoonist in Japan where he discovered a love of food, teaching and graphic design. Here, we chat about those days and how he ended up as a professor in Minnesota as well as launching his own studio, Typografika, with work exhibited internationally. A warm and comforting chat th...