CAPTN OffScript

Episode 30 of Season 2. The 80th episode I've recorded since starting this show. And honestly, I couldn't have picked a better guest to mark a milestone like that.
Andy J. Pizza is the host of Creative Pep Talk, an illustrator, a children's book author, and one of the people who has quietly shaped how thousands of designers think about their own creativity. He's also the guy who chose to call himself "Pizza" because his real name made for an ugly URL.
We started this conversation talking about goat cheese pizza in the UK. We ended it somewhere very different — talking about the cave you fear to enter inside yourself, about why his ADHD diagnosis at 25 first devastated him before it freed him, and about a line from his second podcast Right Side Out that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since.
At the end of the recording, Andy told me this was the most personal interview he had ever done.
In this episode we talked about:
Choosing his own name and disobeying Yoda
ADHD as a lens, not a deficit
Cultivating yourself instead of overcoming yourself
Right Side Out and the line that stops you
The cave you fear to enter, Joseph Campbell, and self-acceptance
Taste as the palette of your soul
Why AI is ending the era of perfect — and why that's a gift
Working with his wife Sophie, the Beatles, and why fighting makes the work better
His dad's lesson: hard and bad are not the same thing
The most personal closing of the season

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction & Three Illustrators in a Row
03:12 How Andy J. Miller Became Andy J. Pizza
05:53 Pizza Toppings, Goat Cheese & the Best Fries in the World
08:36 ADHD, Mental Health & Creative Work
09:44 Moving Around as a Kid & the Identity Crisis It Caused
15:30 The Seventh Grade Friend Who Loved Boy Bands
22:00 On Popularity, Connection & Being Less Cool
27:45 Taste as the Palette of Your Soul
32:29 Why Follower Count Doesn't Equal Success
33:33 Why Instagram Doesn't Taste Good Anymore
36:36 How Taste Changes Over Time
39:25 Collaborating with His Wife Sophie & the Beatles
47:20 Perfectionism, ADHD & the Case for Doing Things Imperfectly
58:51 AI, Human Creativity & Why Perfect Is Dead
01:01:49 Cultivating Yourself Instead of Fixing Yourself

Find Andy here:
Website: https://www.andyjpizza.com/
Creative Pep Talk: https://www.creativepeptalk.com/
Right Side Out: https://www.andyjpizza.com/rso
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andyjpizza/
Substack: https://andyjpizza.substack.com/

Find me here:
captnoffscript.com
@captnoffscript

If you liked this episode, listen to... Sophia Yeshi (S02/E22) — another deeply honest conversation about self-acceptance, rejection therapy, and unlearning the fear of not being good enough.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏

He grew up in Salamanca. Spent 20 years as an art director in Amsterdam. His father died. He boarded a plane to Japan for a sabbatical — and 14 years later, he's still there.
Luis Mendo is a Spanish illustrator and the founder of Mundo Mendo — a personal membership project built on illustrated stories, shipped directly to readers with no algorithm in between. This is a conversation about finding your value, choosing happiness, and refusing to make salami for Zuckerberg.
What we cover:
His father's death and why it led him to Japan
20 years in Amsterdam — and why he finally chose to leave
Almost Perfect — six years of welcoming artists into his Tokyo home
Why social media is dry disgusting bread — and the salami analogy
Building Mundo Mendo on Ghost, the anti-Substack platform
Biking numbered, signed books to the post office himself
Why he's building something that survives him
Finding the value in your work — advice for young illustrators
Japan's exploding independent print and zine scene
AI is for laundry — and what he actually uses it for
What he wrote in a letter to his daughter growing up in Japan

Connect with Luis Mendo:
Website: https://www.luismendo.com/
Mundo Mendo: https://www.mundomendo.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luismendo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luismendo/

Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5

More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter

If you liked this episode, listen to: Elliot Jay Stocks (S02/E25) — on building a direct relationship with your audience through newsletters, why human connection matters more than algorithms, and creating work that lasts.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏

He wakes up at 4:30am. Two kids under two. Three hours of work before the house comes alive. This is how one of the most sought-after artists in America currently operates.
Temi Coker is a Nigerian-American artist and creative director based in Dallas, Texas. His work has appeared in campaigns for Adobe, Apple, ESPN, AT&T, and the Oscars. He launched a home collection with Walmart in 2025. And he will tell you, clearly and without drama, that none of it happened by accident — it happened because he kept making the work he wanted to be hired for, long before anyone asked him to.
What we cover:
Growing up in Lagos — limitations, bottle-cap football, and a love of colour
Moving to Canada and then Texas at 12, navigating two Black identities at once
Leaving biomedical engineering to pursue design — and why he doesn't regret either
Seven years of head-down work before the Adobe Creative Residency changed everything
How a pillow he made for fun led to the Walmart home collection
Apple said no four or five times — he now has 20+ collaborations with them
Financial literacy for creatives — the conversation nobody is having
Running a photography studio, a clothing brand, and raising two kids under two
Learning to actually accept a compliment

Connect with Temi Coker:
Website: https://temicoker.co
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/temi.coker

Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5

More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter

She chose graphic design over photography because she couldn't afford a camera. She chose it over philosophy because her teacher said get work first, study ideas later. Now she runs a studio of exactly three people, plays guitar in an all-women punk band with no expectations, writes articles on the bus, and has just started her philosophy degree.
Ingrid Picanyol is a Catalan graphic designer based in Barcelona — and one of the most quietly profound conversations of the season.
What we cover:
Growing up in the "Catalan Liverpool" — small town, punk band, leaving home at 16
$12 a day in New York, sleeping on couches, investing in a career
Why she keeps her studio to exactly three people — and why that matters
How a developer noticed her design process is basically poetry
Writing articles on the bus — and the Set Margins book coming from it
Why design can't satisfy every creative need — and what to do about it
Sending voice messages to ChatGPT asking what Plato thinks about difficult clients
Studying philosophy in her forties — and why now is finally the right moment
What she'd say to her 8-year-old self, who always felt like a stranger

Connect with Ingrid Picanyol:
Website: https://ingridpicanyol.com/
Instagram (personal): https://www.instagram.com/ingridpicanyol
Instagram (studio): https://www.instagram.com/ingridpicanyolstudio/
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5
More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter
If you liked this episode, listen to: Marta Cerdà Alimbau (S02/E26) — another deeply personal conversation with a Catalan designer about creative identity, surviving the hard years, and why the work is worth fighting for.

She designed a Vogue cover during COVID while riding her motorcycle through Barcelona without a helmet. She made over 300 logos before landing on the one for a Nike Haaland campaign. She survived a pandemic across two countries paying two rents simultaneously — and ended up in a farmhouse with bats, eagles, and rats for four months.
Marta Cerdà Alimbau is a Catalan graphic designer, AGI member, and author of Surviving Design. This is one of the most honest, funny, and deeply personal conversations of the season.
What we cover:
Studying psychology before design — and what it gave her
The Vogue Spain cover created from chaos and a deep need for resilience
Designing Barcelona's Christmas street lights from the iconic panot tile
Over 300 logos for a Nike Haaland campaign — and the hidden arrow
COVID across two countries, two rents, and four months in a farmhouse with bats
Surviving Design — what the book is really about and why it's actually optimistic
Comic Sans, context, and what Vincent Connare taught her in 2004
The tobacco brief, karma, and the projects she wishes she hadn't taken
What she'd say to her 10-year-old self

Connect with Marta Cerdà Alimbau:
Website: https://martacerda.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martacerda/

Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captn-offscript/id1837469433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7nJ5dKTP2dQN5OwICKjTY5

More from Captn OffScript:
Website: https://captnoffscript.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CAPTNOffScript
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript
Newsletter: https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter

If you liked this episode, listen to: Sophia Yeshi (S02/E22) — another deeply personal conversation about identity, building a creative career against the odds, and staying true to yourself through everything.