The Illustration Department Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Emma D. Dryden Apr 26, 2022

Show notes

Giuseppe Castellano talks to Emma D. Dryden—founder of drydenbks, a children’s editorial and publishing consultancy—about what it was like to work alongside one of the great children’s book editors of all time, Margaret K. McElderry; what led Emma to forming drydenbks, after an illustrious career as an editor and publisher; why we should separate our job title from our identity; why you CAN write children’s books in rhyme; and more.

To learn more about Emma and what she offers children”s book creators, visit drydenbks.com.

To learn more about Margaret K. McElderry, her history, and her legendary colleagues, read this article.

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.

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Richard Borge Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

Giuseppe Castellano talks to illustrator, animator, director, and educator, Richard Borge about choosing a freelance life over something more (ostensibly) stable; why illustrators should embrace their work’s evolution; how to conceptualize an editorial illustration; why some great pieces of advice for illustrators aren’t that great; and more.

To learn more about Richard, visit richardborge.com.

Artists mentioned in this episode include: Scott Santoro, Ed Bedno, Matt Mahurin, and Mark Fredrickson

Richard cited an article entitled, A Program for Developing Visual Symbols, by Ed Bedno. You can read it here.

Giuseppe talked about a blog post he wrote called, Do What You Don’t Love. You can read it here.

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Victoria Kann Apr 12, 2022

Show notes

Giuseppe Castellano talks to New York Times Best-selling illustrator and author, and creator of Pinkalicious, Victoria Kann, about how Rolling Stone helped kickstart her illustration career; how a made-up disease led to her popular Pinkalicious franchise; why we shouldn’t have just one favorite color; what it means to fear success; and more.

To learn more about Victoria, visit ilikeart.com

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The 150th Episode Apr 05, 2022

Show notes

This is our 150th Episode! To celebrate, Giuseppe Castellano has compiled short highlights from Episodes 101 to 149.

If this is the first time you’ve listened to our podcast, you’ll hear from illustrators, agents, art directors, editors, publishers, and more.

Through these 49 episodes, we covered a wide range of topics, including: best practices in building a portfolio and submitting it to art directors; the many varied paths our colleages have taken to find their illustration career; the power of illustration; and beating imposter syndrome and creative blocks.

Our guests were (in order): Sari Levy-Schorr, Janna Morishima, Rashin Kheiriyeh, Ellen Kokontis, Darryl Cheng, Kay Fraser, David Macaulay, Ariel Schrag, Kirk Benshoff, Laura Roode, Giselle Potter, Liz Frances, Ben Zhu, Ren Renwick, Mela Bolinao, Vesper Stamper, Dave McMahon, Shaun Tan, John Hendrix, Richard Solomon, Traci Todd, Karen Katz, Guy Billout, Roy Freeman, Lauren Flower-Kim, Christopher A. Brown, Melissa Iwai, Lane Smith, Flavia Zorrilla Drago, Mary Azarian, Daniel Miyares, Tim Mendola, Mark Summers, Barry Moser, Richard Michelson, Emily Arnold McCully, Jane Dyer, Angela Navarra, Olivia Verdugo, Kellee Riley, Patrick Spaziante, Barbara McClintock, Judy Schachner, Maria Modugno, Nicole Tugeau, Greg Foley, Kat Irannejad, Arsh Raziuddin, and Roz Chast.

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Roz Chast Mar 29, 2022

Show notes

Giuseppe Castellano talks to Roz Chast, long-time cartoonist for The New Yorker, about the early days of her fifty-year career; what tricks she uses to work through anxiety and artist’s block; what Helen Hokinson and other women cartoonists throughout history have meant to Roz; and more.

To learn more about Roz, visit rozchast.com.

Artists mentioned in this episode include: Lynda Barry, Sam Gross, Jules Feiffer, Stan Mack, Mark Alan Stamaty, Ethel Plummer, Mary Petty, Ilonka Karasz, Helen Hokinson, Barbara Shermund, Roberta MacDonald, and Charles Addams

Roz quotes Bartleby. You can read the full story, Bartleby, the Scrivener, by Herman Melville, here.

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Arsh Raziuddin Mar 22, 2022

Show notes

Giuseppe Castellano talks to Arsh Raziuddin, Creative Director at Bon Appétit and Epicurious, about her career in editorial design and art direction; what experiences she’s had as an art director at The Atlantic and The New York Times; what she looks for in an illustrator’s portfolio; why we’ll be seeing more illustrations in Bon Appétit; and more.

To learn more about Arsh, visit arshraziuddin.com.

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Kat Irannejad Mar 15, 2022

Show notes

Giuseppe Castellano talks to Kat Irranejad—Co-Founder and Executive Agent at Snyder—about work ethic and entrepreneurship through the lens of being a First Generation American; how illustrators can use Instagram in a healthy, productive way; why we need to be our first, best advocate; and more.

To learn more about Kat and Snyder, visit wearesnyder.com.

Kat wrote a blog post about the intersection of Instagram and Commercial Art. Read it here.

Artists mentioned in this episode include: Kelli Anderson, Alice Neel, Philip Burke, Victor Juhasz, Robert Grossman, Drew Friedman, Barry Blitt, Libby VanderPloeg, Lulu Xiao, and Aurélia Durand

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Greg Foley Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

Giuseppe Castellano talks to Greg Foley—illustrator, writer, designer, and all-around creator—about how studying fashion design at the Rhode Island School of Design led him down many varied creative paths; how Greg’s picture book, Thank You Bear, inadvertently and perfectly describes the picture book submission process; how we can achieve simplicity and authenticity with the work we create; and more.

To learn more about Greg, visit gregfoley.co.

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Nicole Tugeau Mar 01, 2022

Show notes

Giuseppe Castellano talks to Nicole Tugeau, Agent and Founder of Tugeau 2 (also known as T2) about the founding of her agency; what she looks for in an illustrator’s submission (hint, don’t stress about your submission letter); what mistakes to avoid when submitting your portfolio or picture book dummy to agents; how she parts ways with illustrators; what doing “spec work” really looks like; and more.

To learn more about Nicole and her agency, visit tugeau2.com.

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Maria Modugno Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

Giuseppe Castellano talks to Maria Modugno, Executive Editorial Director at Random House Studio, about how Tomie dePaola taught her to become an editor; what the acquisition process is like for a children’s book; why debut children’s book creators need to learn about marketing—STAT; what Maria looks for in illustrations; and more.

You can find Maria on LinkedIn.

Artists mentioned in this episode include: Jane Dyer, Tomie DePaola, Holly Hobbie, Rob Scotton, Victoria Kann, Brigette Barrager, Max Lang, and Pete Oswald