Creative Pep Talk

Creative Pep Talk

A Weekly Podcast Companion for Your Creative Journey Transform your creative potential into reality by making your creativity a practice. A “creative discipline” can feel like an oxymoron. Creativity is about doing something new. Discipline is about doing something consistently. The aim of this podcast is to help you strike that elusive balance. Each week, New York Times Bestselling Author Illustrator Andy J. Pizza shares everything he’s learning about building a thriving creative practice. Through solo episodes and interviews with top-tier creatives, Pizza brings you the strategies and stories that you need week in and week out to keep your inner critic at bay, bust through creative blocks and stay creatively pepped to the max!! Learn more: creativepeptalk.com Check out the host: andyjpizza.com

Episodes

March 18, 2026 68 mins
Pre-Order My New Book “Mysterious Things” and Help Us Spread the Word: invisiblethings.co --- This episode is for you if: 1 - You have had a hard time tapping into your unique creative voice. 2 - You feel disempowered as a creative and feel like you need agents, managers, or talent scouts to succeed. 3 - You need help clearing out the noise in your brain and hearing your creative voice again. This is a chat with phenomenal au...
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This episode is for you if: 1 - You want to figure out how to put your deep personal experiences into your work, but you have never seemed to figure out how to. 2 - You are currently overwhelmed and can’t find the energy or ideas for your creative practice. 3 - You are ruminating on painful things from your life or from the state of the world, and it’s stopping you from taking action. 4 - You feel your best ideas are in the pas...
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Pre-Order My New Book “Mysterious Things” and Help Us Spread the Word! --- This episode is for you if: 1 - You need a reminder to feel how vital making personal creative work is to your life. 2 - You are a creative type or neurodivergent person needing an example of how to do lots of things well. 3 - Your soul could use some warmth and grounding! This chat is with wonderful Poet and Author Jarod K. Anderson AKA The CryptoNatu...
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You can join the Creative Pro Talk meetups by supporting the podcast on Substack here: andyjpizza.substack.com or on Patreon here: Patreon.com/creativepeptalk --- I got it wrong for so long. When I started my creative practice I thought I needed two things: 1 Get Discovered and 2 Make the Sale. I was missing the secret 3rd ingredient. In this episode we explore this secret hidden sauce and how to make it the centerpiece of your c...
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Pre-Order My New Book “Mysterious Things” and Help Us Spread the Word http://invisiblethings.co --- It is VERY easy to get off balance as a creative person because creativity is a delicate balance of many things. In this episode, we will explore 3 areas that require creative tension and how to diagnose where you may be off and need a pivot. SHOW NOTES: Del the Funky Homosapien https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_the_Funky_Homosap...
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Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com --- My editor Conner loved this episode, which is always a good sign! Two reasons to listen to this: 1 - If your work feels stale or a long term project feels stuck, and you have been wondering if you need to switch it up, reboot, or pivot, this episode is for you. W...
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Pre-Order My New Book “Mysterious Things” and Help Us Spread the Word! --- This episode is for you if: 1 - The idea of making something often feels scary. 2 - You don’t like your work anymore. 3 - You forgot why this used to be fun. 4 - You want to stand out in your field but don’t know how. 5 - You want an exercise that unlocks the flowy fun feeling part of your creative brain. SHOW NOTES: Stranger Thingshttps://en.wikipe...
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Pre-Order My New Book Mysterious Things Here --- It’s so easy to forget what this is all about. If you need a reminder to embrace imperfection as part of your flavor, and rekindle your drive to just go out and make stuff you love about things you’re interested in, this is your episode!! Guest Nishant Jain drops a billion good gems here. We talk about his sneaky public drawing practice, his inspiring philosophy around creativity ...
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Pre-Order My New Book “Mysterious Things” and Help Us Spread the Word! --- Do you have a toxic relationship with goal setting and New Year’s resolutions? Have you already given up this year?! If so, this episode is for you. In this episode, we will explore the easy and impactful starting place that can help you make this season count for your creative practice. At the end, I share the “Select Your Seed” Venn diagram exercise fo...
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Have you ever heard someone say that making creative work is about having a “point of view”? It sounds right, but what does it mean and how do you find yours? I can’t think of any creatives that have a more compelling sense of their “point of view” than my guests today. Author Mac Barnett and author-illustrator Jon Klassen have such a strong voice, and I have been longing to have them both on the show for such a long time!! This ...
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Pre-Order “Mysterious Things” --- How do you get excited for the New Year when things feel so unstable? How do you get jazzed about planning and goals, when you don’t know what future you’re planning for? In times like these, I find it more effective to tap into the creative drives you already have, than working towards a future that may or may not come to pass. Tune in to check out the 3 creative drives and figure out which you...
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This is a special HOLIDAY episode featuring the chat I had on Katherine May’s Podcast “The Clearing” where guests explore their ideal real or fantasy retreat. Here’s what Katherine said about the episode: The ADHD and autistic tendency to rest in motion is fully realised in American author and illustrator Andy J. Pizza’s vision of the ideal retreat. Choosing an extraordinary fictional setting which incorporates an ingenious method...
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Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com --- The Creative Pep Talk Top 5 BEST IDEAS from 2025. This is a FUN BLITZ through the most essential ideas and tactics from our past year of episodes. This was exciting and helpful for me to review, and I can’t wait for you to hear this jam packed, end of year episod...
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Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com --- This was one of my favorite chats!!! DEEP DIVE with my friend and Filmmaker Seth Worley! We get into: 1 - Finding the drive to stick to long creative quests, especially when you’re not sure you’re going to reach your goal! 2 - Why to make a proof of concept of ...
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Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com --- This is a favorite! Special edition of ask Dr. Pizza episode! This time the questions come from the hosts of the Grupo de Autoayuda de Dibujo podcast! THE CRUSHED IT!   SHOW NOTES: Grupo de Autoayuda de Dibujohttps://www.instagram.com/grupodeautoayudadedibujo/h...
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Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com --- Who doesn’t want better opportunities? The key is standing out and having a unique creative offering. But that is much easier said than done, when it feels like EVERYTHING has been DONE! How do you find your edge? I have had some client opportunities come may wa...
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Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com --- If you’re used to doing work for clients, it can be tough to then create your own solo project. On the other hand, if you’re only used to doing your own thing, working for a client can feel impossible! How do you find yourself and your creative voice in the mix of...
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Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com --- FRANNERD RETURNS! Illustrator, Comic Artist and YouTuber Fran Meneses is a long time friend of the show and it’s been 6 years since her last episode! We dive deep into: 1 - When mental health “gets in the way” of your creative plans and what has seemed to help bo...
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Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com --- Like sleep, creativity is something you can’t force. It’s a brain state that you have to slip into. But that doesn’t mean you can’t create the perfect conditions for this state to be more likely to occur. If you have been blocked or in a rut, this episode will give...
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Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com --- We cover a LOT in this episode. If you want some PEP but you’re not sure exactly what it is you need, we probably cover it in this episode! We explore: When the reality of creating isn’t what we thought it would be. How to find your flow when things got stale. E...
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