Best Pixels Ink Podcasts (2025)

1
Reynold Mackey: “When you pick up the globe, you feel time.” 43:34

3M ago43:34

43:34

Colorado Springs artist and arborist Reynold Mackey on his decade of hand-carving accurate physiographic globes out of solid wood, how to translate a 2D topobathymetric map onto a sphere, art as family business, casting globes in bronze, chainsaw-carving to Hendrix and dental pick-carving to Debussy, why hard work is an ally to meaning, learning we…

1
Neil Allen: “Making a map in isolation is never a good idea.” 54:17

6M ago54:17

54:17

Oregon lead cartographer and product manager Neil Allen talks atlas production with East View Geospatial’s Benchmark Maps, the years of mapmaking and months of ground-truthing required to create a Texas atlas, adventures in custom cartography (clients include the U.S. Coast Guard, The Cascadia Institute and an eccentric millionaire’s treasure hunt)…

1
Hap Wilson: “If there’s no risk then there’s no adventure, right?” 46:29

12M ago46:29

46:29

Ontario explorer, mapmaker, and conservationist Hap Wilson on drawing 400 guide maps across 50 years, traveling more than 40,000 miles of Canadian wilderness by canoe, the one digital tool he likes (it’s Google Earth), saving lives by creating a map that, unlike the one it replaced, did not send tourists over a waterfall, retracing thousand-year-ol…

1
Erick Ingraham: “I guess I gravitate towards difficulty.” 29:49

12M ago29:49

29:49

Colorado painter, illustrator and mapmaker Erick Ingraham on solving art directors’ problems, making it interesting for himself (“I’m known to make things more complicated than they might need to be”), spending eight years painting the Rockies’ western slope, working from his own photographs, taking inspiration from the past, getting into the cultu…

1
Stephen Walter: “Maps are inherently political if they’re interesting.” 42:36

1y ago42:36

42:36

London artist and mapmaker Stephen Walter on two decades of drawing and painting “the semiotic residues of humankind,” an invitation to map an Ivorian national park (and why you should wait for the dry season before attempting this), approaching six years of work on an NYC map, interpreting Michael Drayton’s 17th c. topographical poem Poly-Olbion i…

1
John Tauranac: “I seldom think macroscopically; I think microscopically.” 36:00

1+ y ago36:00

36:00

Manhattan writer and cartographer John Tauranac on his first maps of Midtown’s pedestrian passages, a public debate with Massimo Vignelli (“His geography was egregious”), working at a very different MTA (they used to have an aesthetics committee?), the “no improvements” made to the subway map since he chaired the 1979 MTA map committee, guiding Yan…

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 435 - Looking Back on 2023 1:01:36

1+ y ago1:01:36

1:01:36

With 2024 almost here, the Pixels and Ink crew take some time to look back and remember some of the most impactful moments that shaped gaming going forward. From the incredible set of releases that are gobbling up everyone's time to the heartbreaking series of layoffs, this year won't be soon forgotten. Brendan, Jordan and Chris also take some time…

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 434 - Our Take On The Game Awards 1:10:24

1+ y ago1:10:24

1:10:24

With over 100 million people tuning in, the Game Awards once again proved to be one of the biggest nights in gaming. But with so many eyes on the event, has the focus on what an awards show should be about been lost? This is the question that the Pixels and Ink podcast tackles this week as the panel of Brendan, Jordan, and Chris dives into what the…

1
Andrew Middleton: “There’s something poetic about running a map store.” 50:09

1+ y ago50:09

50:09

In early 2023 GIS analyst and cartographer Andrew Middleton saw a tweet about Andy Nosal’s search for someone to take over The Map Center, Nosal's map shop in Pawtucket, RI; six months later Middleton left California to move into one of the last map retail stores in the U.S. We discuss his goal of turning the shop into an inviting retail space and …

1
Lionel Portier: “What I'm trying to convey with my maps is the pleasure of seeing beautiful things.” 28:33

1+ y ago28:33

28:33

Lyonnais illustrator and designer Lionel Portier on a mapmaking career that spans 30 years and five continents, accepting any map challenge an art director might conceive, a travel magazine gig that led to an Australian passport, painting 100 birds for a wetland park, his favorite territory to illustrate, spending three months on a 3x4-ft. map of B…

1
Isaac Dushku: “A map has to evoke a feeling of adventure or a feeling of home.” 38:13

1+ y ago38:13

38:13

Utah artist Isaac Dushku on how a map has to evoke either a feeling of adventure or a feeling of home, the best- and worst-selling states in his catalog (he drew all 50), taking his business Lord of Maps from being ghosted on Facebook Marketplace to supporting his family, creating a board book of America’s highest peaks with a “ridiculously complic…

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 433 - An Exciting Night for Gaming 1:11:53

1+ y ago1:11:53

1:11:53

The Pixels and Ink gang gathered around the virtual campfire this week to discuss the highlights and snubs of this year's Game Awards. They agreed that this year's line-up was solid, with many titles well worth playing. Touching on what made last year's winner Elden Ring such a dark horse entry, they delve into all the titles on this year's shortli…

1
Sam Usle: “Slowly but surely we’re starting to recover the built environment.” 46:35

1+ y ago46:35

46:35

Urbanist and illustrator Sam Usle on designing human-scale communities and rendering them in watercolors, why theme parks reflect a yearning for human-scale towns, redesigning part of his high school campus before graduation, why you can thank Le Corbusier for hideous Revit-default cities, the axonometric map that sold Disneyland, storytelling with…

1
Naomi Rosenberg: "Get out of your sighted bubble.” 33:37

1+ y ago33:37

33:37

Naomi Rosenberg, assistant director of the Media and Accessible Design Lab at San Francisco’s LightHouse for the Blind, discusses the art of making fingertip-readable maps: why clutter is the enemy of good tactile maps, the quest for an affordable embosser, being locked to 24 pt. type, creating large-scale accessible maps for the Golden Gate Nation…

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 432 -Convention Mayhem! 1:27:10

1+ y ago1:27:10

1:27:10

CGMagazine is back this week with The Pixels & Ink Podcast Episode 432, and we are switching things up! This episode is all about conventions! After returning from Lucca, Italy, for Lucca Comics & Games, Dayna and Brendan reflect on the event, and it inspires a conversation about conventions as a whole. Brendan, Dayna, Chris and Jordan then discuss…

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 431 - From Wonder to Horror 1:31:15

1+ y ago1:31:15

1:31:15

With Halloween just around the corner, the Pixels and Ink crew dive into all things autumn game releases, with a nice dash of horror thrown in for good measure. From the latest reviews of games like Super Mario Bros. Wonder to an in-depth look at Alan Wake 2 and what made it so exciting, this is one podcast you won't want to miss. To bring the magi…

1
Matthew Dean Shaffer: “My approach is to try and be as accurate as possible.“ 52:22

1+ y ago52:22

52:22

New Haven architectural designer and artist Matthew Dean Shaffer on balancing accuracy with art, taking a break from straight lines to draw birds, software-driven homogeneity in American architecture (“Straight-out-of-Revit, as we say”), why he draws the vegetation last, how anything’s better for the urban fabric than a surface parking lot, and sac…

1
The Pixels & Ink Podcast Episode 430 - The One With the Muppet Voices 1:29:59

1+ y ago1:29:59

1:29:59

This week CGM presents The Pixels & Ink Podcast with Brendan, Chris, Dayna and Jordan. The cast gives a quick—or not—rundown of where everyone has been. Jordan has been power-binging shows for review, like Loki Season 2. Chris took on the Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 preview in LA with Sony. Brendan hung out with Intel in Malaysia. Dayna and Brendan heade…

1
Jamshid Kooros: “These maps are based on walking, walking, walking.” 56:05

1+ y ago56:05

56:05

Arlington “reformed architect” and pictorial cartographer Jamshid Kooros discusses his 30 years of mapmaking based on photographs, sketching and “walking, walking, walking,” the end of the drop-in pitch, turning three-week hikes into maps of French cities and castles, doing his own paper engineering for a pop-up map of Washington D.C., spending nin…

1
David Kulbeth: “It's taken so long to get everything just right because there's no guidebook to this.” 35:53

1+ y ago35:53

35:53

Stafford cartographer and entrepreneur David Kulbeth on reviving old map aesthetics with his digital-to-copperplate-to-print-to-watercolor technique, the (costly) difference between copperplate etching and engraving, finding a custom papermaker, keeping his art affordable, finding style inspiration in 12 moving boxes of cartography books, and makin…

1
Sophie Parr: “I have to mathematically scale it, plan it, sketch it, draw it.” 32:00

1+ y ago32:00

32:00

Fish Creek artist and gallery owner Sophie Parr on creating more than one hundred 0.5"-to-the-mile maps using aerial imagery and a 0.2mm-tip pen, why she only accepts 2x2" commissions (while working on her own 2x3 ft. map of Chicago), representing a variety of landscapes within the constraints of black ink, when returning a client’s deposit feels s…

1
Lee France: “It was fun to try to achieve those paper map elements in this new digital space.” 41:13

1+ y ago41:13

41:13

Sandpoint cartographer Lee France on making his first topos in Chile, spending months on a single map for National Geographic Trails Illustrated, the challenge of making an attractive interactive map that includes every scale from hilltop to hemisphere, how an up-to-date cadastral layer can make or break your hunting map, how his team of technical …

1
Gregor Turk: “I always focused on the map’s ability to simultaneously represent and distort reality.” 49:32

1+ y ago49:32

49:32

Atlanta visual artist, sculptor and “topophiliac” Gregor Turk on walking 250 miles of the U.S./Canada border, creating landscapes with clay, wood and recycled inner tubes, turning Landsat imagery into hundreds of hand-painted ceramic tiles, making 1:1 scale maps, chasing phantom streets, fighting real estate developers’ efforts to erase Blandtown, …

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 429 - Starfield Has Arrived 1:31:42

1+ y ago1:31:42

1:31:42

On this week’s Pixels & Ink Podcast, the team chats about Starfield and all the ups and downs of reviewing the title ahead of its August 31 embargo. Justin and Dayna have spent two weeks hands-on with Starfield, and though they believe the beginning was rocky, it pulls through to make it one of our top games of 2023 so far. From there, the cat talk…

1
Episode 14: Made With Silence 16:09

1+ y ago16:09

16:09

The final episode of “Made With” looks at the removal of any material at all: the use of silence in art. How does one talk about silence? How do we see and hear it? This episode approaches silence in an infertile, uncentered, uneven, dissociate, and unreasonable manner. It focuses on the work of Giorgio de Chirico, Doris Salcedo, and Cao Fei, and f…

1
Tom Patterson: “Right now is the golden age of cartography.” 1:12:22

1+ y ago1:12:22

1:12:22

Leesburg cartographer Tom Patterson on his decades creating visitor maps for the National Park Service (there’s a good chance his work is crumpled in your glovebox), learning to draw terrain by corresponding with an artist in Scotland, why he doesn’t lament the passing of 70s-era production techniques, how to map a piedmont glacier using satellite …

1
Melinda Clarke & Deborah Young Monk: “The beauty of the whole project is that we had no idea what we were doing.” 1:23:32

1+ y ago1:23:32

1:23:32

St Leonards map producer/founder Melinda Clarke and Melbourne illustrator Deborah Young Monk discuss their collaborations across more than three decades, how to tell an artist they need to redraw three months of work, scouting territory by car, helicopter and hot air balloon, more than a week spent editing a 4x3 ft. map with a scalpel, selling maps…

1
Episode 13: Made With Pixels 21:30

1+ y ago21:30

21:30

The pixel is ubiquitous but, arguably, immaterial. Or is it? This episode looks at digital art and asks the question of how it might be considered a medium in its own right in the age of AI and ChatGPT. It features an interview with Griffin Smith, a RISD critic affiliated with the Computation, Technology, and Culture concentration, as well as an ex…

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 428 – Catching up on Gaming 1:23:12

1+ y ago1:23:12

1:23:12

After a short break, the CGMagazine crew is back to dive into all things gaming, comics, tech and media. With some massive titles like Starfield, Baldur's Gate 3, Armored Core IV, and more either out or coming out soon, the crew takes time to dive into the exciting games and the ones that are less exciting for this Summer/Fall season.…

1
Neil Gower: “Twice a week I’ll make a mark on paper and think ‘I wouldn’t want to be doing anything other than what I’m doing.” 52:34

1+ y ago52:34

52:34

Lewes/Berlin graphic artist and “exuberant mapmaker” Neil Gower on painting an estate plan when the grounds are unfinished, the work that gives him a “hum in the pelvis,” what Frank Zappa has in common with high-effort fake maps, an abandoned 5x5 ft. map of Venice that was more enjoyable to ground-truth than to draw, combining lunar toponymy with 1…

1
Episode 12: Made With Scent 15:16

1+ y ago15:16

15:16

Can you smell a work of art? This episode looks at the long and complex history of scent and smell in art. We consider the use of air and olfactory materials in Marcel Duchamp’s work, as well as a range of contemporary practices. The episode concludes with an interview with Victor Rivera-Díaz, a graduate of RISD’s Nature–Culture–Sustainability Stud…

1
Andrew Lynch: “I wish somebody else had done this, but I guess I'm gonna have to figure it out.” 1:13:31

1+ y ago1:13:31

1:13:31

New York City cartographer and QueensLink chief design officer Andrew Lynch on using library archives, train-mounted GoPro footage and his own two feet to plot every track in the New York City subway system, a brush with cubicle-based urban planning at the Port Authority, testy-yet-productive correspondence with railfans, the unshakable authority c…

1
Episode 11: Made With Teeth 15:06

1+ y ago15:06

15:06

Teeth can be signals of wealth, receptors of pain, or a medium for bodily adornment, and this episode foregrounds the intersection between class, race, and nationality when it comes to our mouths. It features an interview Regina Gutierrez, a Sculpture student at RISD, as well as a consideration of the work of RISD alum Janine Antoni, who treats the…

1
Danielle Currie: “Zoom in buddy, it ain’t paint!” 20:17

2y ago20:17

20:17

New Brunswick embroidery artist Danielle Currie discusses her fans among NASA’s Ocean Processing Group, spending more than 400 hours to render an Icelandic river in straight stitches, her hoops being mistaken for paintings, how you really have to enjoy the colors of a piece you’ll hold in your lap for months, pricing herself out of her own art, and…

1
Episode 10: Made With Vinyl 7:41

2y ago7:41

7:41

With vinyl, and artwork becomes something you don’t just see, but one that you can hear as well. In this episode, we take a look at the history of vinyl record production and its incorporation into avant-garde art, particularly in the sound-based work of artist and musician Christian Marclay, who pushes vinyl to its limits. This episode is presente…

1
Gabriel Camus: “That would be the dream, to make this city that never ends.” 40:28

2y ago40:28

40:28

Toronto architect and artist Gabriel Camus discusses the 20" wide, 20 ft. long imagined cityscape he’s been drawing since 2018, a 100 ft. (!) illustration he's never seen the whole of for want of space to roll it out, the modern city as utopia/dystopia, how saying you study architecture can deflect rude questions about your street photography, the …

1
Episode 9: Made With Found Objects 15:55

2y ago15:55

15:55

Can an everyday object become a work of art? This episode looks at the alchemy of the “found object,” from Marcel Duchamp’s iconoclastic use of the readymade to Amalia Pica’s contemporary use of found materials to critique and question Argentine politics. It features an interview with RISD student and fashion designer Izaak Hernandez, who studies T…

1
Episode 8: Made With Electroforming 41:21

2y ago41:21

41:21

The intersection of metal and printmaking forms the basis for this episode, which focuses on the technique of electroforming. In an extended conversation with RISD Printmaking MFA student Isabelle Ghanayem, the ecological and ethical dimensions of electroforming take center stage, from its potential toxicity to its geopolitical implications. This e…

1
Simon Polster: “I was hitchhiking from Iran to Berlin and spent quite a long time in the Caucasus.” 29:42

2y ago29:42

29:42

Königs Wusterhausen mapmaker Simon Polster discusses falling into his first topo mapping project after hitchhiking from Iran to Berlin, using Soviet topographic maps as a starting point to map Armenian hiking trails, donating data to OpenStreetMap, the eternal method of “play around with it ‘til it looks okay,” completing most of his map layouts in…

1
Episode 7: Made With Copper Wire Yarns 31:54

2y ago31:54

31:54

Copper wire yarns, a specialized form of yarn used to develop charged textiles, are very common in clothing, furniture, wound dressings, and more, and this episode examines the interconnected histories of copper mining and textile design. We look at the work of Peruvian artist Ximena Garrido-Lecca, whose work foregrounds the tension between traditi…

1
Kevin Sheehan: “There’s something good about using old ways of doing things.” 44:55

2y ago44:55

44:55

East Yorkshire artist-cartographer Kevin Sheehan discusses picking a fight with fellow history PhDs by drawing a 19x29” calfskin portolan chart of the Mediterranean, spending 2 months stippling the lunar surface with a dip pen, acquiring a novel accent after 20 years in England, heated conversations with flat earthers over his map of the moon, how …

1
Episode 6: Made With Light 24:11

2y ago24:11

24:11

Light: we cannot see anything without it, but when does light become a threat to art? This episode considers the complicated history of light in art, from prehistoric cave paintings to the modern abstract canvas of Mark Rothko, with a particular focus on conservation and restoration. It features an interview with Ingrid Neuman, Senior Conservator a…

1
Jeff Clark: “Paper maps are dead, long live paper maps.” 51:41

2y ago51:41

51:41

Vancouver “accidental cartographer” Jeff Clark discusses his 100-layer 18-month project to map the Salish Sea bioregion, the importance of testing your waterproof trail map paper, getting a big boost from the local press, the eternal hassle of bathymetric data, consulting North America’s best reference mapmakers, and when to call a map finished (ne…

1
How Leading Companies Are Using Data - Driven Marketing 1:15:51

2y ago1:15:51

1:15:51

In this engaging session, we will uncover real-life examples and success stories that showcase the transformative impact of data-driven strategies.We are thrilled to announce we have some leaders in the print industry joining us:- Elly Chichester, Chief Marketing Officer, Allied Printing Co.- Dan Cornelius, Director of Integrated Marketing, Think P…

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 427 – Lets Talk Final Fantasy XVI 1:43:13

2y ago1:43:13

1:43:13

With the release of Final Fantasy XVI, the Pixels and Ink crew decided to spend some time discussing one of the most exciting games of the year. Joined by Hayes Madsen, Brendan, Chris and Jordan, the crew delve into what makes this latest entry in the long-running, legendary series so exciting. Avoiding major spoilers, the crew discusses everything…

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 426 – On the Ground at Summer Game Fest 1:54:27

2y ago1:54:27

1:54:27

As a special Saturday edition to the Pixels & Ink Podcast, Brendan, Dayna, and new staff and cast member Justin chatted about Summer Game Fest, Xbox Games Showcase and Ubisoft Forward since they were at the events live in LA. Since it was Justin's first live and in-person event, the cast talked about our expectations ahead of arriving in LA. Summer…

1
Episode 5: Made With Glass 17:32

2y ago17:32

17:32

Glass has been used and produced by humans for over six thousand years. This episode examines glass both as natural and manufactured material, from ancient beads to medieval stained glass to the contemporary work of Philadelphia-based glass artist Judith Schaechter. A conversation with contemporary glass artist Koda Tousignant, who is pursuing a do…

1
Anthony Despalins: “I feel this energy when creating impossible landscapes, spaces, configurations.” 55:00

2y ago55:00

55:00

Lisbon cartographer and artist Anthony Despalins on using the visual language of French 1:50k topos to create imagined landscapes, a toolkit of pencils, poems, markers, memories and ink, drawing inspiration from the Gironde estuary and Matthew 6:9, sketching entire layouts in reverse on tracing paper, chasing altered states while creating worlds, a…

1
Pixels & Ink Podcast: Episode 425 – Showcase Breakdown Session 1:45:30

2y ago1:45:30

1:45:30

Last week on the Pixels & Ink Podcast Brendan, Chris, Dayna, and Jordan chatted about their Summer Game Fest and Summer Showcase predictions! This week, some of our dreams came true! The team jumps into the first Summer Game Fest showcase talking about their favourite announcements. A release date for Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, Prince of P…

1
Episode 4: Made With Earth 25:45

2y ago25:45

25:45

Earth was the first, and perhaps most universal, building material. In this episode we consider various histories, uses of the earth, with particular attention to Indigenous practices and understandings. This episode looks at the Marfa-based bohemian hotel brand El Cosmico, and it includes an extended interview with Peter Dean, Senior Critic in Fur…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Pixels Ink Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen