Dan

Eleanor Davis

Eleanor Davis talks from the comfort and security of a blanket fort to Dan Berry about hard work, getting better at art and the challenges of longer format work and living with another creative person.

Ryan Andrews

Ryan Andrews and Dan Berry talk about Ryan’s work, Totoro dung, Dragonball, his life in rural Japan and the difficulties of weaning yourself off Photoshop.

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Daimyo Street

Here’s an update from Ryan by email;

Here’s the photos of my tools I’m using right now. They didn’t have my “Manga Black” ink last time I went so I got this. I don’t really have a favorite brand of brush or ink yet. I pretty much just go and grab whatever they have. I used to have a favorite paper, but it looks like they changed the recipe cause it doesn’t work the same anymore. Avalon watercolor by Holbein. Its like 50 USD for a pad of 20 sheets though, which is why I don’t really have any paper right now.

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Dustin Harbin

Dustin Harbin and Dan Berry talk at length about doing art better, what the proper collective noun for a group of Voltrons is, how conventions work and the Holiday Olympics. We will return to this conversation in a few months. There’s a lot of stuff we didn’t get to.

Joe List

Joe List talks to Dan Berry about what he does, his approach to comics and showing at conventions. Joe was part of the very first Make It Then Tell Everybody and is my second repeat guest.

INJ Culbard

INJ Culbard and Dan Berry get philosophical about criticism, the idea of the ego and the artist and some solid practical advice on streamlining a creative process. Go and check out Deadbeats from Self Made Hero with Chris Lackey & Chad Fifer and the New Deadwardians with Dan Abnett.

Level Up!

A while ago I asked if people would help support the show financially by donating £1 each time they enjoyed an episode of Make It Then Tell Everybody. It doesn’t require a lot of money per month to cover the ongoing costs of hosting the site and the podcast files, but it’s a slow steady trickle out of my own pocket that I was hoping that my listeners would help me cover.

Well, people certainly did that. You listeners have been very generous with your donations and it means that I’ve been able to afford some new equipment with a drastically reduced burden upon my own pocket. The show was previously recorded on a Zoom H1 portable recorder that I’d sit equidistant between myself and the interviewee/my laptop, which while perfectly adequate, didn’t give me the flexibility or control over the quality of the show that I want. I toyed with the idea of running a kickstarter to try and pay for this equipment, but I’m not entirely convinced that it would have worked and the idea of trying to fulfil incentives alongside every other thing on my long to-do list sounded like a frankly crippling hassle.

So, I’ve taken the donations and splashed out on some new equipment, taking solid advice from my audio wunderkind brother Simon. He plays ‘Simon’ from the very funny comedy podcast Tim & Simon. It should mean that the production quality of the show will increase. For the Skype call interviews I’m still limited by the quality of the connection but everything else, it should be just grand.

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For the nerdy or the interested, I’ve got a Tascam DR-40, two Rode M3s, a couple of desk mic stands, a couple of pop shields and wind guards, all the appropriate cables and nice padded case for it all.

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What I’m trying to say is thank you. If you want to continue to help support the show, please donate. It helps me out. If you come and see me at any of the festivals I’m appearing at, I’ll happily chat and sell you some MITTE merchandise (Currently in development – keep an eye out, it’s going to be really nice stuff)

I really want this to continue to develop. I’d like to do more interviews in person, live shows and other stuff that is currently just a gleam in my eye. I can only really do this with your help, so thanks!

 

 

Stephen Collins

Dan Berry speaks to Stephen Collins about the requirements of doing a weekly strip for the Guardian, what is and is not funny, backing out of dead ends, the Beyonce Train and an enormous beard that is also evil.

Robert Ball

Robert Ball talks to Dan Berry about his very recent leap into the world of freelance illustration from a high profile branding design job, the difference between analogue and digital illustration and of course DANGER.

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UPDATE! 19 March 2013

Rob wrote me this very interesting email about his interview. Over to Rob;

Hi Dan,

Just listening to you interview Ian Culbard and I kind of regret not talking about the difference between design, Illustration and comics now.
Broadly speaking the key difference between Design and the other two is one of authorship – whatever you design should be 100% appropriate for the client or project, the designer should be invisible because he or she is irrelevent to the success of that project. There are exceptions, of course, maybe fashion being the most extreme example – if you commissioned Jean Paul Gaultier you’d be disappointed if your dress looked like it was designed by Tom Ford.
The fashion example is closer to illustration – you are employed for a consistent approach and aesthetic. The difference with illustration and comics then becomes one of discipline – the two are connected but the task is different. Again there are exceptions – I guess comic artists are told to draw the ‘Marvel’ or ‘DC’ way, but the aspiration is to be recognised and paid for your own style.
If you took a design approach to a comic, you would choose to draw and write in a style that most suited the story that you wanted to tell, which is completely impractical (you see some artists do it to a degree – Rob Davis, for example) rather than a story that is within your capabilities to tell.
In fact, if you really took a design approach to comics you wouldn’t draw them yourself at all!
I don’t know why I’m telling you this, I guess it’s a round about way of saying the podcast’s got me thinking, and that’s a good thing!
Rob.