Creative Figures

I asked Andy how long it took him to start liking himself the way he is. He did not give me a number. He said it is something he has to constantly return to and refresh.
This is Second Take, a short format on the show. One idea, one guest, lifted out of a longer conversation. You do not need to have heard the original.
Around 25, Andy started to realise he probably has ADHD. His first reaction was not relief, it was grief, because this was not something he could hustle his way out of. Not long after, he found what he now calls the neurodivergent lens. Brains are different, not necessarily worse or better, and they perform differently in different contexts. Which brought him to a thought that changed things: maybe he is not broken, but in this society, this is a disability.
From there he started trying to cultivate himself rather than overcome himself, and he explains why that shift matters particularly for artists. He also takes the Joseph Campbell line about the cave you fear to enter and argues it is usually read wrong.
He does not present any of this as finished. He calls loving himself a continual battle.
Full conversation with Andy: https://creativefigures.fm/s02-e30-andy-j-pizza-adhd-self-worth/
Find Andy here: https://www.andyjpizza.com/
https://www.creativepeptalk.com/
https://www.instagram.com/andyjpizza/
https://www.andyjpizza.com/rso
Find me here: https://creativefigures.fm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/

Gemma O'Brien describes flow as a forgetting of yourself. Fully absorbed, at one with the work, no sense of time passing.
Then the conversation turns to boredom, and that half is the sharper one.
This is Second Take, a short format on the show. One idea, one guest, lifted out of a longer conversation. You do not need to have heard the original.
Gemma talks about why flow arrives by surprise rather than on demand, the difference between being absorbed and being zoned out, and why filling in a mural outline does not count. She contrasts it with scrolling, which also makes time disappear but leaves you without any sense of agency or control.
She is also open about the parts of her job that bore her. Admin, client emails, the middle phase of a project that is all small tweaks and colour changes. A few years ago she resisted all of it, on the logic that this was supposed to be her passion so it should all be fun. She does not think that any more, and what she says instead is the part worth hearing.
Full conversation with Gemma: https://captnoffscript.com/s02-e35-gemma-obrien-bored-of-herself/
Find Gemma here:
Website: https://www.gemmaobrien.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrseaves101
Find me here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/

Mat Voyce makes motion work for Nike, Pepsi and Disney+. He also tried animation at university, hated it, and decided he would never do it again.
This is Second Take, a new short format on the show. One idea, one guest, lifted out of a longer conversation. You do not need to have heard the original.
Mat got one A across eleven GCSEs. It was graphic design. He dropped out of AS levels because the school would not keep him on for two subjects. He went to art college, did nothing but design for two years, and left with a distinction and student of the year. Then he got to university, dropped back to the bottom of the pack, and sat the animation module he still shows in talks as the thing he swore off.
He also talks about the big brand names arriving, and the imposter syndrome that came with them and never really left.
Full conversation with Mat: https://captnoffscript.com/s02-e08-mat-voyce-on-anxiety-creativity-and-finding-your-thing/
Find Mat here:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/matvoyce
Website: https://www.matvoyce.tv/
Find me here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/

This is the seventh Captn OffScript bonus, and the last one of Season 2. After a main episode spent in the trenches, I asked Simon Flöter one question that flips it all upside down: if you woke up tomorrow with complete financial stability, never worrying about money again, what would you work on?
It went to newsletter subscribers first as a private YouTube link. Today it's available here too.
His first answer: he'd finish things. And then he told me about the letters. His father found a bundle his grandfather wrote to his grandmother, from 1930s Germany onwards, love letters mixed with the small facts of daily life. Simon barely knew him. His dream is to turn them into what he calls an online timepiece: the letters sorted so they read like a book, searchable, with the old words and the history behind each moment explained as you read. Two people in love, talking to each other across the darkest of decades, with the human side of it, in his words, kind of beautiful. Also on the list: fusing his design, code and illustration into something that doesn't exist yet, a zine with friends, and the video game he's always wanted to make.
In this conversation we talked about:
What he'd work on if money stopped mattering
His grandfather's love letters from 1930s Germany
The online timepiece he dreams of building from them
Fusing design, code and illustration into something new
A zine with friends, and the video game he's carried for years

The main episode this bonus extends: S02/E38 — Simon Flöter on Life in the Trenches & Not Making Decisions From Fear https://captnoffscript.com/s02-e38-simon-floter-life-in-the-trenches
Find Simon here:
Design: https://floter.design/
Illustration: https://floter.ink/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/floter.ink
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/floter/

Find me here:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript

If this resonated, listen to: Kristof Devos (S02/E31) — another conversation about making things for the joy of making them.
This was the final Captn OffScript bonus of Season 2. Newsletter subscribers get every bonus on YouTube a week before it reaches the podcast feeds. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter to get them first when the show returns.

For the final episode of Season 2, I didn't want a victory lap. Simon Flöter is a German illustrator, designer and developer living in Amsterdam, and he told me early on: this is not a success story. This is from the trenches.
His commercial illustration work vanished this year, and he suspects AI swallowed it. Money got extremely tight. He just landed a job that should carry him through the rest of the year. And through all of it, he kept drawing, the way he has since he was a kid tracing Batman comics and getting rejected from every art school he applied to. We talked about the trenches most designers are actually in right now, why the anger at AI is really anger at corporate greed, and his advice that gives this episode its title: never make decisions from fear.
In this episode:
Growing up in Munich, where nobody said the word artist
Tracing Batman comics and Playboy pages to learn anatomy
Getting rejected from every art school, and drawing anyway
Germany vs the Netherlands: who asks for your diploma
The year the illustration jobs vanished
His Zwarte Piet website, and why traditions can change
Why coding feels like a puzzle, and what AI took from it
"We can do this now, but is it good? Do we have to?"
Don't decide from fear, and separate yourself from your work
The poster he made for his partner Tracy

Find Simon here:
Design: https://floter.design/
Illustration: https://floter.ink/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/floter.ink
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/floter/

Find me here:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript

The final Friday bonus of the season: I asked Simon what he'd work on if money stopped mattering tomorrow. His answer involves his grandfather's love letters from 1930s Germany, a zine with friends, and a video game. Newsletter subscribers get it first, a week before it's public. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful.
If you liked this episode, listen to: Martyna Wędzicka (S02/E33) — another conversation about holding onto your own way of working when everything pushes you to compromise.
That's Season 2. Thank you for listening to every conversation, the big names and the trenches alike.