Explore every episode of the podcast War with Art

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

10:48 — Live service vs print: the pressure of permanence

13:00 — Producers, editors, and creative unlocks

16:05 — Collaboration as an unlock, not a compromise

20:09 — Creative soulmates and shared momentum

25:00 — Trust, feedback, and getting closer to “good enough”

28:31 — Inviting audience topics + closing thoughts

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:

• Oblique Strategies — Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt
• Sand Mandala: Sacred Art of Tibet (Thames & Hudson) — on the creation and ritual destruction of sand mandalas
• Sunk cost fallacy” (concept)

In this episode of The War with Art, we talk about the inner critic — that voice that shows up right when the work starts to matter.

Eric, George, and Sheldon dig into what it actually says and why it can sometimes be useful, but also how easily it can tip into full imposter syndrome. We also get into the difference between "done" and "perfect," why art is something you surrender rather than perfect, and that strange thing that happens when you've listened to your own work so many times that you can't tell if it's genuinely bad or if you're just sick of hearing it.

If you’ve got your own way of dealing with the inner critic, drop a comment — we’d love to hear it.

“If it were easy to make, there’d be no point in making it.”

Timestamps:

• 02:30 — What the inner critic actually says
• 04:30 — “Done vs perfect”
• 09:00 — When criticism turns into imposter syndrome
• 11:30 — The AI temptation
• 20:00 — Outnumbering the inner critic through collaboration

Referenced in this episode:

• Dilla Time by Dan Charnas
• Ratatouille — the critic archetype
• Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” (speech)

Pulling a random card from The Deck of Oblique Strategies, the guys discuss...

The guys talk about what they've learned over the past few months.

Thinking about the future means reflecting on past mistakes. What would you do differently? The WWA explores.

Choirs and spirituality... ok guys? Where will this one go?

George, Eric and Sheldon talk about all the effort and how that can turn to exhaustion.

Sheldon, George, and Eric sit down to talk about the vast landmine overthinking your art.

George and Eric discuss life and death as a creative.

George and Eric sit down for this one and discuss making a new kinds of things...all with a dash of creative insight and humor.

The guys discuss Kickstarter releases, tips for creating one, and the hype surrounding SM and Eric's new book, Aardehn: Awakening (which hit its funding goal in less than 24 hours!)

SM Carter, George Spanos, and Eric Vedder talk about the pain of having to rework and rewrite and redraw and replay... like needles in your eye. But just maybe there is something to learn from it?

S.M. Carter, George Spanos, and Eric Vedder get off their butts and actually record an episode... but, just maybe, procrastination is a good thing?

S.M. Carter, George Spanos, and Eric Vedder sit down with artist and entrepreneur Samantha Carter and artist and crafter Annette Miketic - Vedder to talk about starting a new creative project.

Marketing and promoting yourself is such a hard part of being a creator. The guys sit down to discuss a few aspects of this vast part.

S.M, Threat Machine, and the Black Wolf come back to start the year off with a bang.

(That's Sheldon, George, and Eric!)

We talk about taking lessons and figuring out the way to improve.

Also... now featuring Greg, the fact checker

Content from March that all the guys are still working hard on and decided to post: World Building.

The guys talk about how to be a good collaborator and how important it can be... even with yourself.

The guys talk about creation or more specifically how to restart.

Creative output can be crucially tied to creative inputs. The guys are back to discuss why and how.

The Warriors are back. Talking you through what we're learning as creatives... and people.

Staying curious is important to the creative process.

Need to forget the failures (creative or otherwise) holding you back? WWA has you covered.

Having a tough time keeping focused? Distracted when trying to do creative work? War with Art is here for you!

Season 2. Ep. 5

How to know when you have a bad idea? What to do with bad ideas? "And where do broken hearts go? Can they---"

The guys discuss.

How do you deal with creative stress? What tips do you have to stop creative steps? The guys sit down to tell you their tips.

Listen to the entirety of George's new album - with his commentary and questions from Sheldon and Eric.

Stream the album here: smarturl.it/threatmachine

It's 2019. The Warriors are back and ready to help you with your creative battle.

It's finally here! Echoes of a Butterfly is out now. The guys talk about and celebrate this release. music.threatmachine.com

Part 2 of our chat with multiple Eisner and Harvey award-winning artist and storyteller Ramón Pérez!

We get to sit down with multiple Eisner and Harvey award-winning artist and storyteller Ramón Pérez!

How to start on your goals? The warriors are here to help.

George and Sheldon talk about generating new ideas while working hard on current ones.

George and Sheldon talk about the true grit required to keep fighting the war with art.

Part 2: The guys get more in-depth in part 2 of this interview with Erich Preston of @BraveTheVault

Part 1: The guys sit down solo gamedev Erich Preston and talk about his project, process, and struggles creating @BraveTheVault

George and Sheldon run around Forest City Comic Con interviewing others fighting their creative battles. All the while, Eric holds down the fort.

See the liner notes for some pictures and links.

The guys talk about things they wished they knew about creating art when they were 20. That would be -checks notes- over 20 years ago.

A quarterly feature where the guys discuss new tricks they’ve been learning and applying of late.

Got a kill 'em all.

Special overview of Eric's fantasy world: Aardehn and a deep dive on the comic that he drew and Sheldon wrote.

War with marketing... or at least how to promote your art.

The summer break is over, tennocon is over, and the war continues. Oh... and we went to Slayer.

If the regular podcasts is a war, this is a smaller battle. A quick 10 minutes from George.

If the regular podcasts is a war, this is a smaller battle. A quick 10 minutes from Sheldon.