Jordan Metcalf is a South African-born, Portland-based graphic designer, creative director, and artist. 

After over a decade of independently designing brands and exploring new ways to help tell stories through diverse and experimental lettering projects for clients like Nike, Apple, National Geographic, and others, he made the move to a full-time position in a brand studio in 2019 to focus on larger scale projects and collaborations. 

He currently spends his days as a creative director helping craft identities, spaces, and experiences for projects ranging from independent hotels to animation studios. He invests his free time getting dusty while trying to become a less amateur woodworker.

In this conversation with Jordan, you’ll hear about his unique creative path that starts as a graphic designer for small studios, to becoming one of the top lettering artists of our time and working alone, to taking a different position in his professional life and joining a team. 
He shared how he found direction for his creative career by using experimentation and curiosity while staying humble and detached from his work.

What I especially loved about this show is how Jordan steered the conversation toward other important aspects of a creative career which have to do with solid values, honesty, and empathy for the people you work with and for.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode

- Instagram: @martinaflor

Jordan Metcalf's Website

In this solo episode I touch on getting better at your craft and strategies to find the time to produce work and build a portfolio. Doing great work has always been at the core of my career as an artist, and I’ve seen that happening repeatedly with many of the artists I interview on this podcast.

I advocate for this approach with my students, the members of my coaching program, and with every assignment that I take on: doing your best work is priority.

But getting really good at your craft takes time and life keeps getting on the way, so in this episode I provide you with a few strategies that you can use to clear up your way and start seeing real progress in your craft.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode

- Instagram: @martinaflor
- The Ultimate Lettering Quiz
- Coaching program Leap Now

Petra Eriksson is an artist and illustrator born in Stockholm. Petra took a journey via Dublin. Malta, Berlin and Barcelona and her work is littered with the eclectic references she picked up along the way.

Petra studied graphic design at the renowned Bergs School of Communication before venturing into the world of freelance illustration. Her bold and colourful work, often dotted with confetti and other abstract compositions, have become her signature style. She is especially renowned for her portraits of women.

In this conversation with Petra you’ll hear about her long and winding road to discovering what she wanted to do creatively and the steps she took before going full time freelancer. 

She spoke about the things that gave her leverage as an artist, how she got her first assignments including the specific wording she used to do client outreach.

Petra relocated cities several times and gave insights into the challenges of joining a new creative community as well as the various gains she had through that, in both her professional and personal life. 

In this episode, you’ll hear from an artist, self-described as an introvert, that nevertheless managed to put herself out there and gain a strong place in the contemporary scene of commercial illustration.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode

- Instagram: @martinaflor

- Instagram: @petraerikssonstudio

- Petra's Website

Karan Singh, an artist and illustrator living in Melbourne, Australia. His distinct work is a contemporary and playful combination of op-art and mid-century graphic design. Through restricted yet vibrant color palettes and hypnotizing patterns, he explores and exploits our perception of depth and movement.

His art lives in an eclectic variety of mediums, including prints, animation, video, augmented reality, puzzles, sculpture and clothing. Over his professional career he has lived in a number of cities including Tokyo, New York, Amsterdam, Malmö, Sydney and Melbourne; where he has worked with the likes of The Oscars, NASA, Apple, Louis Vuitton, The New York Times and Nike.

I’m so happy to be kicking off a new season with arguably one of the most interesting conversations I have had on this podcast. Karan is not only an exceptional artist but also a person that has traveled the world and gone through tons of experiences. 
During the show he shared his journey from being a self taught artist, to moving countries several times, through battling cancer and finally doubling down on his call to become an illustrator and creating an extraordinary bulk of work.

Karan spoke about how pursuing authenticity and being genuine helped him create long lasting connections and attract the right opportunities in both his personal and professional life. He was really open to talk about imposter syndrome and how to overcome it, and even shared his own tactics to land dream assignments.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode

- Instagram: @martinaflor
- Instagram: @madebykaran
- Karan's website

In this podcast I have interviewed dozens of accomplished artists and creatives to basically answer one valuable question “How did they get where they are?”. Now, while we prepare for all the greatness that is coming on season 3, I’m releasing these special recap episode which features some of the best moments of season 2 in one place, so you can always dig deeper an go listen to one of these episodes.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode

- Instagram: @martinaflor

54. Martina Flor. My #1 growth hack: Community

52. Martina Flor - Income Streams for Commercial Artists

49. Martina Flor. What Makes a Successful Creative Career

In this podcast I have interviewed dozens of accomplished artists and creatives to basically answer one valuable question “How did they get where they are?”. Now, while we prepare for all the greatness that is coming on season 3, I’m releasing these special recap episode which features some of the best moments of season 2 in one place, so you can always dig deeper an go listen to one of these episodes.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode

- Instagram: @martinaflor

50. Sebastian Curi. Utilizing Your Experience to Achieve Your Career Goals and much more

41. Lisa Congdon. Finding your Spark, Starting a Carreer in your 30s, Finding Mentors, and much more

35. Alex Trochut. Overcoming Family Trauma With Creativity, Letting Yourself Be Surprised and more

In this podcast I have interviewed dozens of accomplished artists and creatives to basically answer one valuable question “How did they get where they are?”. Now, while we prepare for all the greatness that is coming on season 3, I’m releasing these special recap episode which features some of the best moments of season 2 in one place, so you can always dig deeper an go listen to one of these episodes.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode

- Instagram: @martinaflor

34. Matteo Bologna. Fake It 'til You Make It, The Bliss of Ignorance, What Makes a Bad Partner & more

37. Christina Amini. What Makes Great Book, Keys to Collaborative Work, Book Publishing & more

48. Efdot. How to Land Mural Gigs, Studying your Business like a Scientist and more.

In this podcast I have interviewed dozens of accomplished artists and creatives to basically answer one valuable question “How did they get where they are?”. Now, while we prepare for all the greatness that is coming on season 3, I’m releasing these special recap episode which features some of the best moments of season 2 in one place, so you can always dig deeper an go listen to one of these episodes.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode
- Instagram: @martinaflor
32. Malika Favre. Doing What Feels Easy, Making Money as an Artist, Being Famous and much more.
43. Erik Marinovich. Launching Your Career Through a Side Project, Friends of Type and much more
56. Lauren Hom - Making A Good Living With Your Art, Going Freelance, Promoting Your Work and more

Martcellia Liunic, an illustrator, art director and visual artist that lives and works in Jakarta, Indonesia. Liunic started her illustration career in 2015 and has worked for various clients such as Google, Netflix, Youtube, Samsung, Snapchat, Harper’s Bazaar, and Aqua to name a few. She’s known for her colorful, whimsical animals, creatures, girls characters and doodle-like body of work and for using different mediums like gouache and acrylics on various supports like murals, risography and wearables.

Martcellia’s online shop, LIUNIC ON THINGS, is one of the biggest and most complete art based shops I’ve seen so get ready because on this show I picked Martcellia’s brain and got really good insights on how to start one and promote it. She shared how her path was, that went from selling three products on a weekend market to building a shop that ships worldwide and constitutes 50% of her income as an illustrator. If you’re interested in starting an online shop with your art, this episode with Martcellia Liunic will give you plenty of information around which products work, which ones don’t, and how to get people to buy from you.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode
- Instagram: @martinaflor
- Instagram: @liunic
- Cellia's shop instagram: @liuniconthings
- Cellia's webstore: www.liuniconthings.com

In this solo episode I touch on the 5 mistakes that every working artist needs to avoid. I’ll speak about the frameworks that artists and creatives neglect and that can have a huge positive impact on your business. Systems have been life-changing for me and have allowed me to scale my results and impact as a lettering artist.

The right frameworks can help you save time, do more of the work you love doing and have a greater impact. I’ll also share some insights into Leap Now, my coaching program for creatives that is open for registrations right now, along with the words of former members.

Listen:
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Google Podcasts · YouTube

Mentioned in This Episode
- Instagram: @martinaflor
- Sign up for the waiting list of my business coaching program for lettering artists, illustrators and creatives Leap Now.