The weekly podcast that helps you fight your creative battles!
Hosted by three professional game developers by day, and writer (S. M. Carter), musician (George Spanos), and artist (Eric Vedder) by night.
See liner notes for each show at warwithart.com
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George, Eric, and Sheldon draw another prompt from Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s iconic Oblique Strategies deck. This episode’s pull delivers a simple yet provocative constraint: "Use an unacceptable color."
From out-of-key "blue notes" in jazz and microtonal progressive rock to structural leaps in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, we explore how breaking established rules creates lasting friction. We dive into visual art history with Hans Holbein’s 1533 painting The Ambassadors—and its jarring 3D anamorphic skull—while sharing personal anecdotes on using deliberate oddities to unstick graphic novels, music production, and newsletters.
The conversation closes on a reassuring truth: leaning into "unacceptable" creative choices isn't just a trick to surprise an audience—it's often the precise spark required to entertain yourself and jumpstart stalled momentum.
Timestamps
00:24 — Wilderness edition in Kincardine and Oblique Strategies intro
02:04 — Pulling the card: "Use an unacceptable color"
02:46 — Breaking key signatures: Out-of-bounds notes in music
05:54 — Graphic novels and structural contrast in Aardehn
07:48 — Mold-breakers and unexpected choral shifts 08:54 — Dostoevsky, Moby Dick, and jarring tonal shifts in literature
11:45 — Visual contrast and the anamorphic skull in The Ambassadors
13:28 — Blue notes, microtonal guitars, and playing between the frets
18:24 — Secret themes and using weird constraints to unstick writing
20:38 — How absurd prompts kickstart creative momentum
Aardehn is DONE!
Tuesday, August 25, 2026 • Duration 16:59
A small victory in the War with Art.
In this episode
What it actually feels like to finish a major creative project
The strange emptiness that can follow years of focused work
Why finishing something can feel a little like grieving
Learning to accept that a work is finished—even when you can still see things you'd change
The transition from making a project to letting other people experience it
The long journey of Aardehn: Awakening
Returning to Fan Expo, where the Kickstarter began
Finally getting a physical copy of the book in our hands
Why it's important to celebrate the wins, even in an endless War with Art
And, of course, Sheldon and Eric want to give a huge thanks to everyone who's been listening, backed, and following along on the journey.
The Weight of Expectations — Finishing the Work Without Being Crushed by It
Wednesday, July 1, 2026 • Duration 25:32
Creative work always comes with expectations—but whose expectations are they?
Recorded from a cottage on the shores of Lake Huron, we unpack the pressure of following up previous work, the fear of disappointing an audience, and the challenge of finally releasing something you've spent years creating.
From music albums and novels to Kickstarter campaigns, we explore how expectations can motivate us—or quietly keep us from finishing at all. The conversation ends with a simple reminder: your next project only exists if you let this one go.
Timestamps
00:17 — Cottage edition and setting the scene
01:42 — The hidden weight of creative expectations
07:10 — Sequels, second albums, and following successful work
12:42 — Kickstarter pressure and disappointing supporters
17:32 — Using expectations as motivation instead of fear
21:44 — Stop waiting for perfect—release the work
24:20 — Turning expectations into a creative advantage
Oblique Strategies: "Do Something Sudden"
Thursday, May 28, 2026 • Duration 24:30
In this episode, we pull another card from Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s legendary Oblique Strategies deck — this time landing on the deceptively simple prompt:
“Do something sudden.”
Joined by painter Eric J. Drummond, the conversation turns into an exploration of improvisation, instinct, risk, and the strange balance between structure and spontaneity in creative work.
We talk about the paralysis that comes from overthinking, why artists sometimes need to force movement before they fully understand where they’re going, and how “suddenness” can break creative stagnation.
Eric reflects on the tension between the rigid technical training he teaches students and the fluid, intuitive process he actually uses in his own drawing and painting practice. From gesture drawing to improvisational mark-making, the discussion explores how mistakes, accidents, and risk often become the doorway to something alive.
Timestamps:
00:08 — Introduction to Oblique Strategies and the “Do something sudden” card
02:24 — Overthinking, instinct, and breaking creative paralysis
04:04 — Improvisation, happy accidents, and fluid drawing
06:28 — Forced momentum and creating without hesitation
07:43 — Brutal artistic critique and learning through reaction
10:16 — Risk, spontaneity, and disrupting creative comfort zones
12:16 — The Beatles, improvisation, and art as play
15:13 — Jazz, Pollock, and letting the work evolve naturally
16:30 — Characters, paintings, and works “taking on a life of their own”
Why Being an Artist Is a Responsibility - Bonus ep. w Eric J. Drummond
Wednesday, May 6, 2026 • Duration 20:31
In this bonus episode with painter Eric J. Drummond, the conversation narrows in on something fundamental: what it actually means to take responsibility for a creative life.
We start with risk—not as a single leap, but as a series of decisions that compound over time. From pursuing art as a career to building something bigger like a school, Eric frames the path not as optional, but as something closer to a calling—one shaped by influence, instinct, and a willingness to listen.
From there, the discussion moves into teaching and legacy. Eric talks about skill as a form of cultural inheritance—something that has to be passed on—and why modern art education often misses the mark by focusing too heavily on theory over execution. What he’s after instead is an atelier-style model: learning by doing, building peers, and ultimately creating artists who surpass their teachers.
We also get into the reality of doubt—especially as a teacher. When are you “good enough” to teach? How do you avoid becoming the kind of teacher who limits students instead of pushing them forward? For Eric, the answer isn’t perfection—it’s honesty, experience, and a commitment to the student over the ego.
The second half turns toward failure and self-critique. Eric shares a recent painting he believes didn’t work—not because of a lack of skill, but because of poor planning and impatience. It becomes a case study in scale, composition, and the cost of rushing the process. And yet, the audience responded positively—highlighting the gap between how artists see their work and how others experience it.
Throughout, there’s a consistent thread: the tension between internal standards and external validation, and the long process of learning how to live with both.
This is a bonus episode following the three-part series.
Timestamps
00:16 — Creative risk as a series of decisions
Not one leap—multiple commitments over time
Referenced in this episode
Creative Block, Memory, and the Lonely Work -- with Eric J. Drummond (Part 3)
Wednesday, April 1, 2026 • Duration 25:57
Part 3 of our conversation with Eric J. Drummond begins in a place most artists avoid talking about directly: not inspiration — but blockage. After finishing a major piece, Eric finds himself stuck. The ideas are there — murals, allegories, portraits — but they won’t translate. They exist as a kind of “fog,” just out of reach.
What follows is a clear look at how work actually resumes:
Study leads to a new direction.
Portrait evolves mid-process.
One idea hands off to the next.
The process isn’t linear — it’s iterative and reactive.
From there, the conversation shifts into portraiture and memory. Not just capturing how someone looks, but whether the work feels like them. Eric shares the experience of painting his grandfather from memory — and the moment it was recognized as true through a single detail. That opens into a broader set of ideas:
Art as a way of preserving something intangible — presence, gesture, memory — and carrying it forward.
The final stretch turns to the bigger tension:
How to build something meaningful with your skills
How to draw from the past without being trapped by it
And how to make work that feels rooted in your own place and time
We close on the reality underneath it all:
The gap between what you feel and what you can make
The isolation of carrying that internally
And the understanding that this tension never fully goes away
Timestamps
00:10 — Part 3 begins
00:20 — Creative block and the “fog” of ideas
02:14 — Too many directions, no clear start
04:00 — Starting small: studies and momentum
05:21 — The process as a relay, not a plan
07:23 — Returning to ideas with new clarity
10:31 — Why likeness isn’t enough in portraiture
Referenced in this episode
Art, Ego, and the Cost of Compromise -- with Eric J. Drummond (Part 2)
Wednesday, March 18, 2026 • Duration 35:03
In Part 2 of our conversation with painter Eric J. Drummond, the focus shifts from discipline and craft to something harder: the tension between the work and the world around it.
We get into what it actually means to spend months on a single painting and how that patience is something Eric had to grow into, not something he started with. From there, the conversation moves into the realities of commissioned work: negotiating with clients, balancing truth with expectation, and knowing when a piece is finished versus when it simply has to be delivered.
Eric shares the three core questions behind every portrait: how you see yourself, how others see you, and how you want to be seen. And how those tensions shape the final work.
From there, things widen out:
The trap of “exposure” and paying to be seen
Why social media often works against the kind of art he’s trying to make
Drawing a line between promotion and becoming an “influencer”
Finding ways to stay honest in how you present your work
The conversation also explores how to make work you don’t naturally gravitate toward — and how to find meaning inside it anyway. From Tolkien’s landscapes to the idea of environment as a living participant, we talk about how artists create connection even when the subject doesn’t initially resonate.
In the second half, the discussion turns philosophical:
Can you create something truly transcendent in a secular world?
What makes a piece of art feel real beyond what’s physically there?
The idea of creating one “true” work — and why artists chase something they can’t fully define
From Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam to the balance between simplicity and complexity, Eric breaks down what it means to “catch lightning in a bottle” and why great work leaves space for the audience to complete it.
Timestamps
Weakness as Style — with Eric J. Drummond (Part 1)
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 • Duration 29:11
In this episode of The War with Art, we welcome painter Eric J. Drummond — a figurative artist trained in classical realism at the Florence Academy of Art.
Eric builds his work slowly and deliberately, committed to beauty, discipline, and craft in a culture that often rewards speed and noise. He also happens to be the teacher of our own co-host, Eric Vedder — which makes this conversation personal as well as philosophical.
We talk about what it actually looks like to begin a day in the studio — the rituals, the warmups, the sharpening of pencils and clearing of distractions — and why starting is often the hardest part of any creative practice.
From there, the conversation moves into deeper territory:
The tension between tradition and innovation
Following rules vs breaking them
When technique becomes a cage
Why your weaknesses might actually become your voice
Eric reflects on his time studying in Florence, the insecurity of leaving that world behind, and a pivotal piece of advice he received: your weaknesses will become your strengths.
We explore what that means across disciplines — painting, music, writing — and why the very flaws you try to correct may be the thing that makes your work singular.
This is Part 1 of a three-part conversation.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Timestamps
00:09 — Introducing Eric J. Drummond
02:05 — What starting a studio day really looks like
03:09 — The hardest part: beginning
04:25 — Blocking in, bravery, and not getting precious
A random show: Deadlines, Perfection, and Collaboration
Tuesday, February 3, 2026 • Duration 29:25
In this episode of The War with Art, we try something new: a random show.
After wrapping another recording, the conversation kept going — bouncing between ideas about deadlines, perfection, collaboration, and the strange emotional slog that shows up near the finish line of creative work. So we hit record and followed the thread.
Eric, George, and Sheldon unpack why “done is better than perfect” keeps resurfacing across art history, why exhaustion isn’t a useful metric for finishing, and how deadlines, editors, producers, and collaborators can act as creative unlocks rather than constraints.
We talk about the difference between feedback that’s cheap and feedback that has skin in the game, why collaboration can push work past your own internal ceiling, and how letting someone else into the process can move a project closer to its truest version — not just its fastest ending.
This is a loose, honest conversation about finishing things, trusting the right people, and carrying the work across the finish line even when you’re tired of looking at it.
If you’ve got a topic you’d like us to pull next — or a question you’re wrestling with in your own creative practice — let us know.
Timestamps
00:10 — A “random show” and why we’re trying it
01:27 — Done vs perfect (and why it never goes away)
02:19 — Deadlines, pressure, and forcing the release
03:44 — Why “perfect” is the wrong word
04:42 — Litmus tests: how do you know when something’s done?
06:21 — Being tired vs being finished
07:45 — The emotional slog near the finish line
Oblique Strategies: Build the Bridge, Burn the Bridge
Monday, January 12, 2026 • Duration 21:37
In this episode of The War with Art, we pull another card from Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s Oblique Strategies deck and get a prompt that hits uncomfortably close: “Bridges — build — burn.”
From modular synth patches you create and then tear down, to monks spending days on intricate work only to wipe it clean, we talk about why building and burning is baked into the creative process. Sometimes you have to strip a piece back to its core idea. Sometimes you have to scare yourself a little. And sometimes you have to let go of what you’ve already built... even when sunk cost is screaming at you to keep it.
The guys also explore the deeper version: making something can be a bridge between who you are now and who you become after you’ve finished — and once you cross, you don’t really get to go back.
If you’ve got your own interpretation of the card, drop a comment as we’d love to hear it.
“Maybe you need to burn the bridge in order to make it not easy — and then rebuild something new.”
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Timestamps:
01:10 — What *Oblique Strategies* is (and why we’re using it)
02:40 — The card: “Bridges — build — burn”
03:50 — Burning as a creative tool: risk, conflict, and scaring yourself
06:10 — Modular synths: build the patch, then tear it down
07:15 — The monks: the work matters more than the artifact
12:05 — The deeper take: building a bridge to a new version of yourself
16:45 — Audience, tone, and the bridges you build (or burn) with words
19:10 — “Diet vanilla” and using the cards to push the work further
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Referenced in this episode:
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18:17 — Horror, artistic limits, beauty vs violence, and the role of improvisation
Art as responsibility, not just pursuit
01:30 — The feeling of a “calling”
Influence of family, taste, early signals
Balancing ambition with humility
03:20 — Teaching as legacy
Skill as cultural inheritance
Atelier model vs modern theory-heavy systems
04:30 — What students actually need
Not ideas—tools to execute them
Technique first, expression second
06:00 — Doubt as a teacher
Fear of not being “good enough”
Success = students surpassing you
06:50 — Good teachers vs bad teachers
Insecurity limits students
Strong teachers push beyond themselves
09:45 — Career mistakes and lessons
Working with people who don’t value you
Learning to align with respect
11:20 — Relationship to his own work
Sees paintings as lessons, not finished statements
Keeps work as a record of mistakes
13:20 — Case study: a failed painting
Art Bears the Soul to Man
Poor planning + time pressure → overcrowded composition
