Creative director for advertising and entertainment. Elliot is 1000% creative! Why do younger people not like advertising as a creative career? People are paying to avoid adverts, and using ad blockers. People are watching telly in a different way now - no longer are people sitting at the same time to watch the same scheduled show. Elliot loved the Benetton adverts when he was younger, and how it played with culture and broke the mould. Oliver Toscani was the creative director and photographer behind these adverts. Elliot was inspired by music and art, raving, parties, putting on events, making flyers, learning graphic design by mistake. Creativity in advertising is solving problems for brands. Experimenting with photocopiers. Elliot’s friend wanted to be a photographer and his focus on career inspired him - he tagged along. How rave taught Elliot sequencing, design, sampling, video etc. with a new wave of software and culture. Elliot is helping the next generation of creatives with the Platform program he established, and through the SCA Creative Mastery course he has co-authored. Making creative jobs available to more people than it traditionally had been. The importance of paid placements and reaching the right people for placements. The SCA Creative Mastery is a creative course run mostly on virtual reality headsets to make it available to all people, geography and travel are no longer a barrier to people to learn. Big up Marc Lewis from SCA who runs the course and Meta who provide the headsets. Using the Apprenticeship Levy to fund it. People learn in a different way in virtual environments than real life, it has been proven to be better for being locked in and not distracted. Do you have to move or work in a city to accelerate your creative career? Winning advertising awards. Cannes Lion chat. Ads that get made and get made well are like sperm fertilising an egg - they are the lucky ones out of thousands of ideas. Building a house is like building an idea. Making adverts is a lifetime of hope - always believing you’ll make something remarkable - and always putting the love into every project. Chatting about Jaguar’s new advert and the impact and reactions. Vying for people’s attention is harder than ever. Ads getting shouty! Brands need to have a sure sense of what their personality is - then execute against that - loads of small ideas with the same body language. In advertising you have to become an expert in random things to understand your clients’ products. Be around interesting people and interesting things will happen! Elliot’s first ad job was at D&Ad logging award entries, and by osmosis he saw the world’s best creative work. Being at D&Ad exposed Elliot to the award juries, and showed them his portfolio, which they gave brutal opinions about. The considerations in managing a creative department. Pull people up and bring people with you. Modern creatives need to be commercial savvy now. Obsess about your client’s problem as much as your solution. Also, Nick LOVES Liquid Death - send us water!

SCA Creative Mastery
Havas Platform

Are You Creative? recorded by Nick at City Sound
Edited by

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Recorded in Chelmsford, Essex, UK

Professional opera singer. Donna’s origins story, she was spotted as a talented singer by a teacher who took her to a French chateau to perform Mozart arias - this was of course acceptable in the late 1980s. Opera has music, drama, costume, and the power of an orchestra - opera is massive! In opera the singers also act, there’s a lot to be good at. Donna’s first professional opera gig was at the Royal Opera House. Donna has been performing modern opera works, like The Little Prince performing as a mad robot calculator character. Donna has performed opera in China in Chinese. Nick did a best man speech in Japan - find out how! Donna’s very fancy gig at Glyndebourne - she has to get a fancy dress. Playing another robot! Are there any youth operas? Can any music instrument match the range and texture of a human voice - of course not! Fach is a funny opera word to describe the type of voice you have. Where do opera singers rehearse? At home, not giving it the full beans. Donna has done a lot of crazy performances - as a catfish, robots, and bile. How do you become bile? Where do opera singers find their jobs? Is there a LinkedIn for opera? Most opera singers are soprano, bass and tenors are more rare. How do you look after your voice? No caffeine, shouting or screaming and plenty of steaming. Donna and her children communicate through the house in opera when they want to get each other’s attention. Do you need to go on vocal rest before a performance? Donna Lennard is the Beyonce of Chelmsford. Opera has a lot of stereotypes about being old fashioned and diva behaviour. Donna sung opera for Chelmsford Museum to celebrate the birth of radio. Protein’s Little Prince featuring Donna is running for the third year in London and Ipswich - Nick highly recommends. How would you start your opera journey? Get singer lessons. Explore your repertoire. Take it easy. Your voice will reach its peak at 30 years old. Talking about Pavarotti being a legend! Traditional opera is in Italian, German, Czech, French - so learning the words can be hard. Opera should be about telling stories. Is there an Essex opera? All about diphthongs and the Essex accent and glottal stops. We need more venues for opera in Essex. Donna sings us out - and it’s MEGA! ALSO Nick reveals that the toaster was invented in Toaster City - Chelmsford. Big up Colonel Crompton!

Donna Lennard website
The Little Prince - Protein Dance Company

Are You Creative? recorded by Nick at City Sound
Edited by Nick Hearne
Artwork by Alpaca Antenna

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Thanks to NGDA, City Sound and Essex County Council for their support

Recorded in Chelmsford, Essex, UK

Creator of the independent comic series System Error. How to start creating a comic. Why does the System Error robot have such a big head? Creating a recognisable silhouette is essential for character design. Phil started drawing with biro, then pen, dip brush pens, and then creating digitally. Note: Phil has very clean hands, no ink! Digital is faster, cleaner and easier to adjust. Phil uses Procreate for black line work and Photoshop for colour. Phil LOVES Procreate and recommends investing the £13 to get it. System Error is about a robot called ITTO and why things went wrong in the world. He is a tour guide robot. He has to find people in need to fulfil his primary function. Like showing them pizza restaurants. But where are the people? How do you know when your comic is good enough to publish? Being published is a validation of quality. Why did Phil have to colour in his first comic to get it published? Why do British audiences like black and white comics? Phil’s German teachers husband was Barry Kitson, legendary artists for Judge Dredd, DC Comics and more - then he met him 30 years later at Comic Con. The comic community is very supportive towards each other. Phil went from starting comics, to published, to Comic Con in six years! The need for constant professional development, and side hustles and exploration for growth. Phil is an art teacher and needs to know about digital art to teach them best. In 2024 Phil has been concentrating on techniques for working faster and meeting his standard. How do you know when something is ‘done’? Putting cultural references in comics, like Talking Heads lyrics and scenes from Chelmsford. How does Phil find his audience for indie comics? Via social media. Growing an audience through regular posting and mostly meeting real people in real life. Real world interactions are extremely valuable for audience growth. Keeping a secret identity when you’re a teacher. Cosplay at Comic Con and hunting Tofu from Resident Evil 2. Making ITTO action figures with a genius 3D printer guy. Phil’s ex-students have gone on to photography careers and had art shown in the National Gallery - he’s a good teacher! “The creative industries are the fabric of everything that is around you” - Phil Campbell, very good teacher! Putting the spark of creativity into students’ minds. Judge Dredd WAS partially created in Colchester by Pat Mills - big up Essex. And big up Dave Trenow who taught Nick art. Tips for starting comics.

System Error Comic
Blue Fox Comics
System Error on Instagram

Are You Creative? recorded by Jaiden 'the ragga enforcer' at City Sound
Edited by Nick Hearne
Artwork by Alpaca An

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Thanks to NGDA, City Sound and Essex County Council for their support

Recorded in Chelmsford, Essex, UK