CIRCLE OF TRUST MEMBER SECTION
AUGUST 2015

THE TOP FILE IS THE FREE SHOW WITH BONUS CONTENT COMBINED.
THE BOTTOM FILE IS THE EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ONLY.

 

Best of Episode 45 Mark McDevitt and Robert Lee of Methane Studios “It’s Not Too Late To Change What You’ve Become”

Mark & Robert from Methane Studios stop by good laughs and squeeze in introspective interview. Mark, Billy and James talk about the future of the show.

Mark McDevitt and Robert Lee of Methane Studios stop by for a inspiring interview and fun shop talk. For two guys that are known to be the funniest guys in design world we get them to actually get deep before they give us some of the best punchlines in the industry. Mark, Billy and James share a bucket of popcorn, have on air staff meeting and decide the fate of Adventures In Design’s future. In this podcasting choose your own adventure, what Adventure In Design will you choose? 

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COMING SOON!
Episode 241 - Dan Stiles "A Man Possessed"

Dan Stiles is one of the sharpest minds in commercial design today. Hear Dan share with us his tips on process and creative thinking.

Talking Points You’ll Hear On Episode 241
- Getting to design the outer wrap of a classic standup arcade game for Google.
- There’s a bigger world than being a flat 2D guy. Enjoying packaging & environmental design even though your artwork in it’s simplest form is very flat. 
- Dan & Mark discuss their favorite aspects of Dismaland the amusement park installment created by Banksy & friends.
- Enjoying sharing process with others and why we believe people learn to hear process.
- Staying a man possessed to continue to grow your career. 
- If books aren’t monetarily profitable then what’s the real pay off in being published.
- Does editorial work ever lead to money or is it really about the vanity. 
- How Dan has evolved into a designer that can “merge” 2 different items into one through illustration.
- We get Dan Stiles to break down the “artist statement” in some of his very simple but bold logo work. (This started as a gag but gives a ton of real design, marketing and retail advice for any commercial artist)

In The Circle Of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- Dan breaks down more of his iconic logos and keeps dropping simple but strong design practices that we should all follow to create successful branding.
- Staying neutral in your design and letting the public decide what the work means to them.
- Being a hunter and always hunting for new ideas and concepts to bring into your work.
- Thinking of your design apps as the greatest video game that you every played to learn the science and tools of design.
- The constant reinvention of Dan Stiles conceptual design even thought the visual tone stays the same. 
- Having a signature color pallet but knowing when it’s time to break it and go off brand.
- The signs that a agency is coming to your for the right or wrong reasons.
- Does working with youth design limit your growth in the world of fine art? Do you separate your looks or put everything under one promotional roof.
- Knowing to go with the times and keep evolving guy.
- Why did the idealism of “SELLING OUT” go away?
- When music was scary.

Episode  240 - Shop Talk
with Mark Brickey, Billy Baumann & James Flames

The whole gang is back together after 3 Fridays apart. The first hour is all over the place bouncing from topic to topic. In the Circle of Trust the guys give their takes on big topics that our guests have brought to the table this week on Adventures In Design.

Episode 240 - Miles Tsang “You Never Get To There”
- Bad spots at live shows.
- Kanye West blowing up and losing it during a interview. Plus Marks love of the man, his ego and music.
- Big bands don’t always mean big sells.
- What Care Bear would you be?
- Late nights and beta testing nightmares.
- Mark’s white trash timeshare.

The Circle of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
We review the week that was on Adventures In Design
- From the Miles Tsang interview how to stay hungry after you find some level of success.
- Mark & Beth still working as collaborators  and as a team even though they don’t do design together.
- Biggest gambles that the guys have taken in their careers.
- Early jobs that sucked.
- Finding your ego.

Episode 239 - Miles Tsang “You Never Get To There”

Canadian illustrator Miles Tsang checks back in with us to share the success that he has seen over the last 10 months as his young career is starting to take solid shape. We bond over where’s he’s been, where he’s at now and come up with a plan to get him where he wants to go next. A great episode for anyone trying to level up in life.  

Talking Points You’ll Hear On Episode 239
- We catch up from Miles since we last spoke to him in December to find that his career is really taking off and he’s staying so busy his personal life is paying the price.
- A tale of two countries, understanding the places in-between large cities, trying to understand small town life.
- How Miles parents relocated from Hong Kong to Columbus, Ohio and then Toronto, Ontario.
- Chasing compliments and validation through your artwork as a kid.
- You never get to “there”, there being the place that you think will make you more happy.
-  Trying to understand how others see their race and find inspiration from people that are ethnically similar to them. 
- As Miles career is taking off he’s finding more self confidence in life and coming out of the shell that he lived in as a young boy.

The Circle of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- Getting denied entry to Austin, TX for Flatstock.
- The Drake effect in Canada.
- Miles career role models and what he needs to apply to his business to obtain the similar results as those he looks up to.
- Settling into a level of success and forgetting the hustle to evolve to the next level.

Episode 238 - Mitch Putnam Top 10 Posters of July 2015

Every month Mitch Putnam from OMGposters.com visits us and Mark picks his favorite 1o prints of the previous month.

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Talking Points You’ll Hear On Episode 238
- Mark talks about Aaron Draplin calling him on the phone and how the Draplin vs Brickey one on one interview scheduled for Mondo Con came about.
- Lighting strikes, broken computers and dungeons and dragons. 
- The top 10 posters of July 2015 from OMGPosters.com.

The Circle of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- Boogie Nights, Ashley Madison, True Detective, Fear of The Walking Dead
- Adventures In Design at Mondo Con meeting between Mitch and Mark as they strategize over the best way to conduct the interviews and create good content.
- We talk about the Circle of Trust content and how Mark is trying to setup a new delivery system.
- Mitch’s new minivan.

Episode 237 - The Reinvention of Huck Gee

World famous urban vinyl toy designer Huck Gee talks with us about the rise and fall of collector toys, his highs and lows with Kidrobot and most importantly his last year of reinvention, as he sets out to change his career and some would say the world of collectable toys. 

Talking Points You’ll Hear On Episode 237
- How Huck Gee stumbled into the world of designer toy collecting and found a little website called Kidrobot.
- Early days of vinyl toy design and realizing that he had stumbled onto something really huge.
- Pushing the template, breaking the mold and fucking with people.
- What it really feels like and means to have your work in the MOMA, working with Marc Jacobs and creating work for Christie's Auction House.
- The rise and fall of the collector toy market.
- How hard you have to work to make it happen.
- The art of collect ability and how to perfectly ride that line.
- Huck's last year of reinvention as he takes the reigns of his career and creates his own toy line.
- The huge investment and gamble in this do or die moment in his career.
- There are no rules to working for yourself.
- Learning from the missteps along the way.

In The Circle Of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- The truth on leaving Kidrobot.
- Getting into intellectual property design.
- Tips on how to get into making your own toys.

Episode 236 - Beth Manos Brickey “Tasty Yummies”

We catch up with Beth Manos Brickey to find out about the growth of her brand, Tasty-Yummies.com, since we last heard from her in March of this year.

Talking Points You’ll Hear On Episode 236
- Using your social media as a means of advertising, distribution and leverage for great opportunities.
- Social media shaming versus social media as a career.
- Thinking of yourself as a brand.
- How Beth found the self confidence to start getting what she wants out of this world.
- Trying to understand as a man that a lack of personal self confidence keeps some women from having professional self confidence. 
- Letting go of negative voices and seeing how far you can challenge yourself and others once you let learn to let go of criticism. 
- Sharing your strengths with others and leaving the days of “Mean Girls” behind.

In The Circle Of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- Tips on tuning out negativity.
- Making sure that your content is true to you.
- Having a healthy ego.
- Letting your following know your true voice, not necessarily the mission statement of your brand.

Episode 235 - Mark Brickey & Billy Baumann “Back In The Day”

Talking Points You’ll Hear On Episode 235
- The amazing cover artwork for the new album Compton from Dr Dre.
- A honest and open discussion on personal empowerment, racism and empathy.
- The pain of losing a good employee. 
- We revisit this week’s them of bottoming out professionally.
- What happens when your no longer a PYT.

In The Circle Of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- Billy’s opposition disposition disorder or O.D.D. behavior problem.
- We hear Billy’s inspirational clip that plays for his classes on the first day.
- Being good enough to get job, versus striving to be great. 
- The reoccurring theme that Mark see’s in listeners that haven’t gotten their party started yet.
- We hear an audio clip that Mark has moved from computer to computer and keeps on his desktop for inspiration in the darkest of dark days.
- Then Billy shits all over Mark’s emotions.
- We try to understand why Billy hates sentimental advertising but allows himself to believe in the “magic” of Disney.
- How Billy is Mark’s mental Yoda while broadcasting solo.

Episode 234 - Nicholas Delort “Scratch By Number”

Straight from the hard streets of Paris, France today we meet Nicholas Delort, one of the brightest illustration stars shining today. We learn his story and have him breakdown the science and emotions behind some his most popular works. Keep your eye on this guy, at 30 he’s only just getting started and easily one of the best poster/book illustrators going today! Plus a  member of  The Vacvvm, the illustration equivalent to the Super Friends.

Some of the work we talk about on today's show.
(Other prints mentioned haven't been officially been released)
End of The Road
Thomas and Martha Wayne
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Wakening the Crow
Talking Points You’ll Hear On Episode 234
- Getting involved in scratchboard as a medium. 
- Navigating through the French College system at a young age while still trying to find your place in life and using school as a platform to find where your talent and passions lie and how even internationally it doesn’t prepare students for the career it promises to.
- Cultivating your talents from a hobby to a career and the time, determination, and awareness it takes to develop that internally and from your surroundings.
- Forgoing the digital age for an authentic look to your work.
- Putting everything you have into your work at The Vacvvm to feel like you belong in the company of some of the greatest alive today.
- Expanding your work from black and white to color and how that affects your composition and approach to working in black and white contrast versus working in temperatures of colors and hues. Planning where in the image to use your various tricks to keep the viewer’s eye interested. 
- Holding on to what you enjoy in your distinct style of illustration.
- Plotting out your piece versus relying on your gut.
- The difficulty in illustrating music versus established imagery and a discussion on the upcoming continuation of Nicky D's classical music series.
- Choosing how to reinterpret iconic characters by adding your own narrative and fingerprint on pop culture.

In The Circle Of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- Choosing to illustrate things based off your love for them, your skill at them, or what they add to the piece itself.
- Finding a balance in the environmental details so it doesn’t distract from the subject matter but enriches it.
- Using lighting to add mood and using your self confidence in finding those multiple light sources.
- Bringing pieces to completion that get rejected and what to do with originals. Deciding on whether to start over or try and fix what you have.
- What it feels like to have some of your best work get lost in the shuffle. 
- How creating milestones in your career can bump your social awareness on the web and the confidence you get from knowing that people care about what you do.
- Planning ahead for typography.
- Realizing the things you beat yourself up about could be what your audience actually responds to.
- Getting looked over by France because you don’t do children’s illustrations and why you’d even bother to live there.

Episode 233 - Brian Flynn of Hybrid Design & Super 7 “No Permission Needed”

Brian Flynn was born in Texas but his heart is in San Francisco where he formed his design studio Hybrid Design & toy company Super 7. 

Talking Points you’ll hear on Episode 233
- Giving yourself permission to do whatever you want with your life and career… It all starts with trying!
- How accidentally starting a professional looking magazine about Bryan’s love of Japanese toys led to accidentally launching a full blown toy company.
- Early jobs and steps along the way that help you get clients for life.
- Getting into the world of licensing for Super 7.
- How Hybrid Design landed the gig of making a life sized X Wing Fighter out of Legos and placing it in Time Square.
- Why it seems everyone is waiting for permission to get started.
- Making the portfolio that represents the jobs you want to be hired for.
- Having clients that you consider friends and enjoying your working relationship.
- The difference between doing work that will make your clients campaign succesful versus just doing what you know will get approved. 

In The Circle of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- Making career goals other than personal wealth but choosing personal fulfillment. 
- You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time or happiness. 
- Bottoming out and realizing that it’s not that scary to reach your bottom.
- Insight into the inspiration that keeps Hybrid Design on focus and where Super 7 could possibly grow.
- Bryan’s opinion on those who don’t pay for proper licensing like Super 7 does for it’s toy lines. 
- Getting your product into the big box stores and hoping to make your item accessible to the 8 year old kid and the 40 year old dad.
- Old guy skateboard talk and how that world of punk rock and commercial art inspired us to follow that same school of thought with our business.

Episode 232 - Jeremy Wheeler “Bang Media”

Talking Points You’ll Hear On Episode 232
- The blue collar rock and roll spirit of Ann Arbor and how where you live shapes who you are. 
- The multitude of paths you can walk in life and how each will define your past, present, and future. Taking all of your passions and focusing on what gives you the greatest return financially and personally to find the balance you need while you're on the treadmill. 
- How much receiving praise and credit can affect whether you decide to continue down your current career path. 
- Finding where you draw the line between what you want to make versus what the customer wants to purchase and deciding if you wait for the difference to decrease. 
- Being prepared for the business world that as an artist you will have to deal with and how the educational system has left a lot of students without the skill of applying their talents to make a living. 
- Learning how to pace yourself to be ready for the big opportunities instead of blindly throwing yourself at a wall and burning out when you don't get what you need from it. 
- Finding a balance between who you are, what you want to do, and how you actually get there. Goals help guide you but the means to get there have to sustain you while you get there. 

In The Circle of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- How to determine if you're bottoming out and learning to ask for help when our DIY culture breeds such a fierce independent mentality. 
- Learning to prioritize your passion with the profits that came from a one to one deal and changing that into a one to many deal for yourself. 
- Managing your workflow to effectively function and how new habits can create a more focused work day. 
- Balancing your family life with your professional life and planning for the eventual rainy day and relying on the talents that will financially prepare you for that. 
- Turning your iPhone into a black light to check for things you probably wish you didn't know about. 

Episode 231 “LIVE from Ohio”
WMC Fest 6 Keynote Performance.
First Ever Circle of Trust Meet Up from Jakprints.

PART 01 - WMC Fest 6 Keynote Performance

Our friends Go Media hired Mark Brickey to deliver the keynote presentation for Weapons of Mass Creation 6. With a packed house, full of the most Circle of Trust members ever to assemble in one room, Adventures In Design brought in the A game! Hear Brickley’s keynote speech on becoming the best version of yourself by using the power of Kayne. WMC fest emcee Aaron Sechrist of OKPants.com sits in as sidekick for the evening shedding light on the day’s events and making light of all weird places Mark steers the ship. WMC Fest founder Jeff Finley joins the stage to talk about disconnecting from projects that define your professional identity and shares with us his 2 year journey of personal development. Last but not least Dustin Lee joins us to talk about how passive income changed his life when he needed it the most.

PART 02 - First Ever Circle of Trust Meet Up from Jakprints.

There has never been a bigger supporter of this project than Jakprints. With so many Adventures In Design listeners setting up shop in Cleveland for the weekend it was the perfect storm to take the show to the mothership and have the first ever Circle of Trust meet up. Always, one to offer the best customer service, Mark let the audience pick the night’s topic! Listen to this special Circle of Trust content (for members only) where we get a step by step break down to creating passive income and tiered earnings. Finally we had the time, space and place to go into the dirty details on changing your professional and personal life.

Best of Adventures In Design Episode 152 -
Rob Jones “Accountable Paranoia”
Circle of Trust Content

With a new 24 minute intro featuring
Todd Slater, Dan MacAdam & Mark Brickey


Rob Jones is the senior art director for the officially licensed pop culture art factory known as Mondo. He has also worked directly with Jack White for over a decade creating gig posters and packaging for all of Jack’s various musical projects. Rob is one of the most well respected art directors in the business and shares how he gets amazing results out of today’s best talents in illustration, design and printmaking.

Talking Points You’ll Hear On Episode 152
- Why it’s important to have the respect of the artists that you’re wiring with.
- Using your experience as a designer to make realistic revisions and not wasting your talents time. 
- How to motivate your designers to give you their best work.
- The pride in finished work that you art directed.
- Knowing when work is good and not forcing your ego into others work.
- Working with the best talents in the field and what you learn on your own work.
- Why being polite and honest goes a long way.
- Why it’s important to have a good connecting theme in a art show.
- The importance of not apologizing.
- Having a best friend in your wife.
- What it means to have a Grammy and gold records in your house.
- Being motivated by the fear of losing it all.

In The Circle of Trust (Paid Subscriber Content)
- Mitch Putnam joins in the fun.
- Rob Jones and Mitch Putnam talk about art directing and working together.
- How printers are the real heroes.
- AND MANY, MANY, MANY TOPICS WE WILL NOT PUT IN WRITING. CIRCLE OF TRUST ONLY

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Episode 91  Michael Tabie of Two Arms "Into The Darkness"
With a new 20 minute intro featuring
Todd Slater & Mark Brickey


• A great internship can lead to a great career.
• Allowing yourself to still be a fan even though you’re in the inner circle of your scene.
• Mark & Tabie’s mutual love of designing every part of a design into a into a container and then interlocking all of the pieces together.
• How wife’s can make for the most brutal but best art directors. 
• Setting up a great print setup in small spaces.
• Registration and creating off contact when printing tips.
• Building a business in a big city.
• Tabie gives an “Idiots Guide To A Risograph”

In The Circle of Trust
• Tabie shares with us how he learned to master handwritten type.
• Tabie talks about being a chalk typographer.
• Compartmentalizing your layout in the inception phase of a project versus worrying about composition at the very end. 
• The new hybrid of being a graphic designer and illustrator.
• Being in love with classic 2 color design. 

Best of AID-AM 19 “Tall Guys, Smashed Heads & Storybook Homes” The Rich Kelly Story

With a new 20 minute intro featuring
Todd Slater & Mark Brickey

Illustrator Rich Kelly joins us for a conversation about his illustration styles.

Illustrator Rich Kelly joins us for a conversation about his illustration styles and how they could fill up Mark’s dream gallery. We talk about the many looks of The Rich Kelly and how they each naturally evolved. We debate editorial work versus gig posters and talk about the benefits of making yourself a fish out of water by placing yourself in a different career scene. 

Best of Adventures In Design - Episode 31 Daniel Danger "50 Shades of Blue"

With a new 20 minute intro featuring
Todd Slater & Mark Brickey


AID 31 is so full of industry insiders and design related discussions and a extensive interview with the one and only Daniel Danger.

AID 31 is so full of industry insiders and design related discussions, it's nearly overwhelming, but before we dive in, Mark shares with us his relationship issues with Monday Night Football. Billy reveals his great idea for a new and improved team name for St. Louis, including his perspectives on  crappy logo designs.  One thing we know for certain, whoever dresses up as Tom Brady this Halloween is getting slapped in the face.  Billy tells a spooky story filled with death and mystery to get us into the spirit, while James plans to become a neighborhood favorite for trick-or-treaters, giving away full-sized candy bars this year. 

Everyone's excited for our extensive interview with the one and only Daniel Danger.  He reveals his “Sting Method” for maintaining stamina while creating his signature, heavily-illustrated prints.  We talk limited editions, timed-editions, dropping out of school, Cowboys and Aliens, and we don't stop there. Just what makes Daniel so Dangerous, anyway?  We're bringing you a colossal, 31st episode of Adventures in Design,  loaded with design and illustration info and a man-sized appetite for full-sized Snickers.  

Best of Adventures In Design
Episode 3
Aesthetic Apparatus “I Fear No Monday"

With a new 20 minute intro featuring
Todd Slater & Mark Brickey 

Mark's feeling down about the lack of podcasting popularity, Billy tries to cheer him up by inviting Dan & Michael from Aesthetic Apparatus to join them on a sking trip... antics ensue.

Mark's feeling down about the lack of podcasting popularity, Billy tries to cheer him up by inviting Dan & Michael from Aesthetic Apparatus to join them on a skiing trip... antics ensue.

Episode 230 A Very Special WMC Fest Shop Talk with Aaron Sechrist, Brian Garvin and Heather Sakai

On today’s special Shop Talk Mark reflects back not he last visit to WMC Fest and how it almost broke up the band. We talk with Brian and Heather of GO Media about making this year’s event come to life and we talk to Aaron Sechrist about taking over as this year’s host of Cleveland's WMC Fest. 

In the Circle of Trust we talk about digital distribution, podcasting for your business and choosing what’s right for you to grow your business based off of your greatest asset.. you!

Episode 229 - Chris Norris AKA Steak Mountain “Life Is Terrible”

Christ Norris would rather we not talk about his art.

Talking Points you’ll hear on Episode 229
- Being a hobbyist versus being a professional>
- Life is terrible, people are horrible.
- Negative moms and shutting up that voice in your head.
- Life is something that happens between watching movies.
- Enjoying hate more than love.
- Adult entertainment as a art form and not the punchline of a joke.
- Against Me! transitioning with Laura Jane Grace through Chris’s hobby.


The Circle of Trust (paid member content)
- Mark uses the power of PMA to find out what Chris loves and what his creative motivations are. He may be done with design but he’s not finished with creativity, we explore where he wants’ to take his life next… only if it’s easy though.

Episode 228 - Travis Millard “Everything Is A Facade”

Illustrator and professional pancake competitor Travis Millard joins us all to tell us what he does with his life on the days he doesn’t feel like doing his job.

Talking Points you’ll hear on Episode 228
- Working large scale when Vans hires you to paint the bowls for Pro Bowl at the national surf competitions in Huntington Beach.
- Attempting to buy back your artwork from someone who purchased one of your pieces from a gallery.
- Travis shares with us his experiences with being a regular contributor to Juxtapoz magazine.
- Creative Stunts to make good use of the days when you’re not inspired to do your regular work.
- Travis explains the madness behind his pancake wars and his hit YouTube series Drawing Stories 

The Circle of Trust (paid member content)
- How Travis decides to pick passion projects and what motivates him to create this space in his career.
- Working with high end art galleries and selling your work to famous folks.
- The day that Paul Thomas Anderson shows up at your house asking if you have any good ideas to apply to his latest film project

Episode 227 - Larry Balma “Tracker Forty Years of Skateboard History” 

In 1974 Larry Balma and his business partners would create the first ever modern sized skateboard truck, the world famous Tracker truck. Four decades later he’s celebrating a lifetime of professional and personal achievement with his book “Tracker - Forty Years of Skateboard History”.

Talking Points you’ll hear on Episode 227
- Larry Balma shares with us how he and his friends made their first skateboards.
- How working for the phone company and as a commercial fisherman taught Larry valuable lessons for his unknown future as a skateboarding business owner. 
- The invention of the modern skateboard truck and how they convinced the industry to get behind the product.
- Keeping a company going through the hard times of your chosen industry.
- 40 years of advertising, creating a visual language for your brand.
- Publishing and working on a book for over 3 years.

The Circle of Trust (paid member content)
- Larry shares with us how in 1974 he and his partners scrapped up the capital to get into manufacturing.
- The decision to make Tracker’s focus mainly on skateboard trucks.
- How the industry breaking into smaller parts hurt the cost of goods.
- Self publishing and using Kickstarter as a promotional tool. 

Episode 226 - Clark Orr “Son of Sign Painter” 

Clark Orr is a fantastic commercial artist with a focus on branding. He’s designed thousands of T-shirts for the biggest names in streetwear. Today we talk to him about his decision to “graduate” from working for the man to becoming the man.

Talking Points you’ll hear on Episode 226
- The blessings and curse of being born the son of a sign painter.
- We examine the working class style of commercial artist Clark Orr.
- Working for design famous brands but being anonymous in design.
- Getting your “masters degree” by working behind big names in the industry.
- Tiered income, making income at different levels for constant cash flow.

The Circle of Trust (paid member content)
- Clark gives us insight on what to look for when taking on apparel design work and when deciding to become an in-house designer for a hip brand.
- Mark & Clark share tips on seting your minimum per project rate, to weed out the bullshit and to know what you’re worth.
- Clark shares with us tips on making smooth type and filling in all the holes on branding design.
- Mark talks about making type that talks.