I’ve always loved listening to music while I’m doing creative projects. Over the past few years, I’ve become a huge fan of podcasts about creativity, art, illustration and the business of doing all those things. I enjoy and appreciate the friendly voices and deep conversations that podcasts provide. I’m always on the lookout for new podcasts to add to my list of old favourites (so please let me know about your recommendations if you don’t see them here). Here are my top creativity podcast recommendations for 2022, in no particular order:
One of the first visual art podcasts I listened to is The Savvy Painter. Antrese Wood has been broadcasting her popular podcast for years and has grown a wide community around the world. I enjoy her in-depth interviews and reflections on creative practice. Since it’s the beginning of 2022 as I write this, here’s a good episode the begin with.
I don’t remember how I found the Beyond podcast with Daphne Cohn, but it has brought me hours of deep listening. Daphne’s gentle and thoughtful interview style brings out fascinating insights from her guests. Her interview with artist Laura Horn particularly resonated in 2021 and helped me reframe some creative questions I was grappling with. You can find that episode here.
Laura and her husband Richie co-host the Laura Horn Art Podcast, an honest and thoughtful exploration of the ups and downs of balancing painting with running a successful creative business. Laura and Richie’s conversations, as well as Laura’s artist interviews, are filled with insight and practical information.
I found the Art Juice podcast after Laura Horn mentioned it. After one listen, I was hooked! Co-hosts Louise and Alice have great chemistry and a lovely sense of humour. Their conversations about living an artist’s life are wide-ranging and helpful to artists at all stages of their practice.
Art coach and consultant Alyson Stanfield hosts The Art Biz podcast for artists who want to build successful creative businesses. I find her friendly and direct style, as well as her interviews with practitioners, useful, practical and inspiring.
If you enjoy listening to the inside scoop on artists’ lives, you may enjoy The Jealous Curator’s interviews on the Art for Your Ear podcast.
As an illustrator with a special interest in children’s book illustration, I’ve found the Illustration Department podcast to be very informative about the industry. The host, Giuseppe Castellano, is a former creative director in children’s publishing who interviews a range of illustrators, agents and publishing professionals.
Three accomplished children’s book illustrators host regular conversations and Q&As on the Three Point Perspective podcast. Will Terry, Jake Parker and Lee White each bring their own expertise to the topics with a healthy dose of frankness and humour.
If you enjoy a lot of upbeat energy in your podcasts, Andy J Pizza’s Creative Pep Talk could be for you. Andy is an illustrator himself but his podcasts contain ideas and advice that apply to a wide range of creative folks.
I’ll end this list with another great podcast I discovered in 2021. Margo Tantau’s Windowsill Chats is a light and friendly podcast that contains a lot of insight into the world of product licensing and development (for example, art licensed for greetings cards or to decorate homewares). Whether it’s an interview with a ceramic artist, surface pattern designer or gift shop retailer, I always learn something!
What do all these top creativity podcasts have in common? I think it’s their hosts’ passion for their practices and industries as well as a wish to serve the wider community by sharing information, personal stories and tactics for living a full creative life (and making a living from it). My thanks to all of them for many hours of listening and learning pleasure!
