The Pencil Pushers Podcast

Hosted by MRC Brand Design's Mike Rosado

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Nov 2026

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The Pencil Pushers Podcast celebrates the art of hand-drawing. Produced by MRC Brand Design Studio, it features interviews with illustrators, animators, comic artists, and other talented individuals. Hosted by Mike Rosado, an artist, musician, and designer, the Podcast aims to showcase artists' work and provide insights into their creative process. Join Mike as he chats with his friends and idols in the world of illustration, animation, and comic art.

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60 recent

November 2, 2026Episode 311 hr 32 min

Ellen Surrey: Illustrator, Author, and ArtCenter Teacher

We welcome illustrator, author, and ArtCenter teacher Ellen Surrey about building a hand-drawn career with a mid-century, nostalgia-soaked visual language. Surrey describes growing up in Los Angeles with her father, Disney animator Michael Surrey (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, supervising animator for Timon in The Lion King), learning characters at home, and abandoning animation after finding it tedious. A high school ArtCenter class with Martha Rich revealed modern illustration, studio life, and community, deepening Suri's love of postwar pared-down design. Influences include Mary Blair, JP Miller, and 1960s painters like Bernie Fuchs and Bob Peak. A school project became her Mid-Century Modern Women book, helping "legitimize" her; in-person portfolio meetings led to a New Yorker assignment. She illustrates Nosy Crow's This Book Will Make You an Artist (nearly two years, heavy design/rights constraints) and announces This Book Will Make You a Scientist. She discusses scheduling, promotion anxiety, using personal projects (LA icons) to land LA Times work, teaching students to limit tools/platforms, and future goals: a written-and-illustrated kids' book, vis-dev for animation, and a movie poster, fueled by a love of film like Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Listen to us Spotify , iTunes , Amazon Watch and subscribe on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Host: Mike Rosado Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: True Grit Supply

October 19, 2026Episode 301 hr 28 min

CHOGRIN: Artist & Filmmaker

We welcome Ecuador-born, Los Angeles–based illustrator, toy maker, author, and filmmaker Chogrin, digging into a childhood marinated in American cartoons, Japanese fandom, and Latin American culture, plus early obsessions with drawing, He-Man, Turtles, Ghostbusters, fantasy films, and behind-the-scenes creature craft. Chogrin traces his path from art school in Philadelphia and a Cartoon Network internship (Class of 3000) to work on Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Big City Greens, then explains how the animation downturn and AI pressures pushed him deeper into freelance and indie animation. He breaks down directing Lucky Brave Sunshine with an Ecuadorian studio funded by a government grant, the festival "pay to play" reality, and his next short, Sector 1218, backed by a GoFundMe. He also describes designing toys, Guillermo del Toro buying his work, visiting del Toro's collection, and argues for transparent, ethical AI sourcing while praising collaboration, constraints, and taking bold swings. Listen to us Spotify , iTunes , Amazon Watch and subscribe on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Host: Mike Rosado Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: Musgrave Pencil Company

October 5, 2026Episode 291 hr 36 min

Ray Kinman: Legacy Disney Artist

Today we sit down with master woodcarver and former Disney Imagineering artist Ray Kinman, whose nearly 50-year career started when he bluffed his way into carving a restaurant sign with borrowed money, no tools, and zero experience. Kinman describes feeling "untalented," getting sparked by one supportive art teacher, then derailed by another, dropping out at 15 amid family turmoil, going through feral hippie years, learning silversmithing, and finally turning to carving when he had a baby on the way. After years of scraping by, his break came when an Imagineering senior designer spotted his Claim Jumper carving and brought him in; Kinman became a vendor on attractions like Indiana Jones Adventure and Winnie the Pooh. He argues real learning comes from mistakes, critiques test-driven schooling, explains Disney's desire for "wonky" human-made lines, and says AI and automation will make handmade work the new gold standard. He's planning a feature documentary around a Holly Theater commission and writing a book, Failing Forward. Listen to us Spotify , iTunes , Amazon Watch and subscribe on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Host: Mike Rosado Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: Musgrave Pencil Company

September 21, 2026Episode 261 hr 39 min

Luke Flowers: From Farm Life to NYT Bestselling Illustrator

Welcome folks as we sit down to chat with illustrator-author Luke Flowers, who's illustrated more than 60 children's books, including the million-selling Moby Shinobi series, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mister Rogers , and storybook adaptations of The Muppet Christmas Carol and Jim Henson's Labyrinth . Flowers shares the story of growing up on a Colorado farm, discovering illustration through local illustrator Ron Adair, developing his craft at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, and eventually breaking into publishing through a postcard he left at SCBWI New York that caught the attention of Scholastic. We talk process, budgeting, consistency, doubts, burnout, COVID, self-care, evolving styles, AI, and his ambitions for writing and directing. Listen to us Spotify , iTunes , Amazon Watch and subscribe on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Host: Mike Rosado Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: Musgrave Pencil Company

September 7, 2026Episode 251 hr 27 min

Michael Doret: Legendary Graphic Designer

We welcome the legendary lettering and graphic design artist Michael Doret, whose 5-decade career includes work for Kiss, the New York Knicks, Disney/Pixar, and Time Magazine covers now in the National Portrait Gallery. He talks about why he wrote Growing Up in Alphabet City, published in late 2024, and his wanting to tell his own story before someone else did. He also gets into how childhood visuals shaped his color and letterforms, often subconsciously, from a Good Humor truck decal to Coney Island signage. The conversation covers his path through tuition-free Cooper Union, mentorship under Ed Benguiat at Photo-Lettering, a formative Push Pin stint with Milton Glaser, his sketch-first process, declining standards in signage, skepticism about AI originality, the origins of the Knicks logo, and his advice to work less and live more. Listen to us Spotify , iTunes , Amazon Watch and subscribe on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Host: Mike Rosado Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: Musgrave Pencil Company

August 24, 2026Episode 241 hr 7 min

Daniel Swartz: Letterpress Designer

Welcome folks as we interview letterpress designer, printer, and educator Daniel Swartz, who returned to rural northern Indiana after a 2020 life upheaval, building a new practice in his late grandfather's garage studio. Swartz describes growing up around creativity, studying art at Indiana Wesleyan, shifting from illustration toward design and typography, and teaching starting around 2007–2008. After layoffs in late 2019 and a stalled job search as COVID hit, his wife returned to education while he became a stay-at-home parent, then began carving linoleum type blocks and hand-printing large work that gained traction on Instagram and sold. He explains letterpress setup, inking, proofing, kerning, and manual gradient techniques, notes prints can take about two weeks, and argues hand craft, historical awareness, and imperfection still matter amid digital tools and AI. Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepencilpu... MRC Brand Design: https://mrcraleigh.com/ Host: Mike Rosado ( mrcraleigh.com ) ( instagram.com/ekimodasor ) Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: MRC ( mrcraleigh.com ) and Burny Wild's ( burnywilds.com )

August 14, 2026Episode 2350 min

Nathaniel Long: Comic Book Artist and Author

Host Mike Rosado welcomes illustrator/designer/comic artist Nathaniel Long, a South Carolina-based creator from the Winston-Salem area whose early Spider-Man obsession and grandfather's drawings sparked a lifelong pull toward hand-drawn craft. Long talks about choosing traditional tools for their tactile reality, studying cinema production at Bob Jones University to sharpen visual storytelling, and working full time at BJU Press on motion-graphic illustration projects like an animated "Mask of the Red Death." The conversation digs into how comics are built—outline first, then thumbnails, pencils, inks, and even physically cutting and gluing word balloons—while reflecting on shifting convention culture and the value of process. The episode spotlights Long's Kickstarter for "Moon to Earth," a 24-page, retro-inspired space adventure one-shot he writes, illustrates, and traditionally inks, aiming to raise $3,000 by August 29, with tiers including a $15 comic and a $30 comic-plus-exclusive print. If you're into comics, illustration, vintage sci-fi, or just seeing an artist take an idea all the way from their head to something you can actually hold in your hands, check it out—and consider supporting the Kickstarter. 🎙️ Listen to the new episode of The Pencil Pushers Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. 🚀 By supporting "Moon to Earth" on Kickstarter today, you're helping another creator show what the hand-drawn arts can do. Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepencilpu... MRC Brand Design: https://mrcraleigh.com/ Host: Mike Rosado ( mrcraleigh.com ) ( instagram.com/ekimodasor ) Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: MRC ( mrcraleigh.com ) and Burny Wild's ( burnywilds.com )

July 27, 2026Episode 221 hr 43 min

Andrew Fairclough: Illustrator & designer

Andrew Fairclough grew up skateboarding on the northeast coast of Australia, copying boards out of Rad Magazine, and winning a drawing contest in a skate publication at 12 years old. He went on to build a career designing for Nike, Billabong, and Rolling Stone before founding True Grit Texture Supply, whose brushes and textures are now used daily by some of the best illustrators in the world. In this episode we cover Andrew's winding path from a beach town in New South Wales through the snowboard industry in Canada, commercial design agencies in Sydney, and eventually into the illustration career and business he runs today. He breaks down how his signature pulp sci-fi and skateboard-influenced style developed, how a Skillshare class with 30 million Facebook views launched True Grit, and why delusion is the most underrated skill a young creative can have. We also get into what it means to build tools that empower artists without replacing them, the balance between running a business and staying creative, and where he sees the hand-drawn arts heading. Plus a Smashing Pumpkins deep cut that perfectly sums up why craftsmanship still matters. This episode is sponsored by Musgrave Pencil Company- use code PENCILPUSHERS at MusgravePencil.com for 10% off! 🎧 Listen to the full episode: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/08WtvMb... Follow Andrew Fairclough: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kindred_stu... True Grit Texture Supply: https://www.instagram.com/truegrittex... Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepencilpu... MRC Brand Design: https://mrcraleigh.com/ Host: Mike Rosado ( mrcraleigh.com ) ( instagram.com/ekimodasor ) Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: MRC ( mrcraleigh.com ) and Burny Wild's ( burnywilds.com )

June 29, 2026Episode 2153 min

Justin Rasch: Stop-Motion Master Animator

The Pencil Pushers podcast interviews stop-motion animator/director Justin Rasch, who has worked for 30 years across games, TV, and film, including ParaNorman, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning Pinocchio, and now directs/writes/supervises at Stump Puppet Pictures while sharing process online. Rasch recounts growing up in Florida inspired by comics, classic cartoons, Secret of NIMH, and practical effects artists, studying 2D and effects at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, then switching to CG after Jurassic Park. He describes breaking in by portfolio-hunting in 1990s LA, choosing Konami, and later leading animation at Luxoflux on projects like Shrek and True Crime: Streets of LA. Rasch explains how animation principles transfer across 2D/CG/stop motion, details his stop-motion workflow (blocking, shooting on twos, then final on ones), discusses why stop motion is hard to "control," and reflects on AI, audience interest in process, and working with Travis Knight and del Toro. He shares where to find him on Instagram and YouTube. Host: Mike Rosado ( mrcraleigh.com ) ( instagram.com/ekimodasor ) Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: MRC ( mrcraleigh.com ) and Burny Wild's ( burnywilds.com )

June 8, 2026Episode 201 hr 44 min

Jon Contino: Iconic Brand Designer

Host Mike Rosado welcomes designer/illustrator/author Jon Contino to the Pencil Pushers podcast to discuss Contino's upbringing on Long Island, his parents' craft-driven influence, and his early path from band flyers, cassette art, and self-taught HTML to charging for creative work at 14. Contino explains how his lifelong obsession with lettering, failed graffiti attempts, Photoshop experimentation, hardcore/grunge culture, and New York's grime shaped his "organized chaos" style, later balanced by a problem-solving approach to branding inspired by figures like Paula Scher. He describes career growth from a 2005 studio and a handmade clothing brand to building Contino Studio, shifting from illustration trends into larger storytelling and branding work, including Toyota, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and sports. They debate commercialization of "handcrafted," carbon-copy styles, and AI's threat, emphasizing human mistakes and youth rejecting "AI slop." Contino shares his remote studio model, intense family-driven schedule, rare client friction, flexible discovery through live conversation, a move from paper to iPad/Procreate for speed, heavy use of Figma/Framer, and excitement about revitalizing Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's brand. Host: Mike Rosado ( mrcraleigh.com ) ( instagram.com/ekimodasor ) Post Production: Max Trujillo ( instagram.com/trujillomedia ) Sponsors: MRC ( mrcraleigh.com ) and Burny Wild's ( burnywilds.com )