On the creative journey, it's easy to get lost, but don't worry, you'll lift up.

Sometimes you just need a creative pep talk.

Hey, you're listening to Creative Pep Talk, a weekly podcast for your creative journey.

I'm your host, Andy J. Pizza.

I'm an illustrator for clients like Apple Xbox, Lego, and The New York Times.

I make this show because as someone with ADHD, creatively carving out my own path in life

wasn't a luxury. It was something I felt like I had to do because I was born into a world

that was not built with someone like me and mine.

And if you also find yourself in a world that was not created with you and mine for whatever reason,

this is the show for you.

If you are like most creators, you probably got serious about making creative work when you encountered

some art, some creator that spoke to you on a deeper level than you even knew you had.

It hit you so hard that you weren't happy to just continue consuming creative work.

You wanted to participate, you wanted to make work like that.

But if you're like me, when you went to go do that, it all seemed like kind of a mystery.

Like how do you even make that kind of supercharged next level work?

In this episode, I want to explore how maybe the next level isn't what you think it is.

Maybe it's counterintuitive. When we think next level, I think we think ascending and going up

in the hierarchy. But what if making that next level? What if that next level is subterranean?

What if it's subconscious? What if it's not up but down and digging into the depths of who you are?

And we've been doing this series about self-excavation, all about how your creative work at first at

least is not creative gold as much as it is the tool for digging in and finding that gold within

...