Is Organic Reach Dead for Creatives? - with David Speed #243

Creative Rebels is on mid season break but here is a bonus episode, as I was lucky enough to jump on a substack live with the amazing Seth Werkheiser from Social Media Escape Club. We spoke about mailing lists, in person meet ups, making art outside and the truth about going ‘viral’.Thank you mary beth kaplan🪶, Joi, Francesca Bossert, Fi Cooper, Gary Spetzler, and many others for tuning into my live video with Seth Werkheiser! Join me for my next live video in the app. To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com

Daisy Fancourt is professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology and Head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at UCL.Her book Art Cure shows how art makes us happier, healthier and helps us live longer. Daisy has published 300 scientific papers, won over two dozen academic prizes and is listed as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world. Enjoy!The podcast is taking a short break and will be back soon! To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com

I loved chatting with visual artist, Caitlin Winner about the modern realities of being an artist.We covered selling on instagram vs with galleries, why 10x is easier than 2x, learning from faliures and the type A approach to quitting!Here are some of Caitlin’s beautiful paintings! To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com

This week is a special Q&A episode. I answer your questions and worries about social media, ‘content’, galleries, failures, doom scrolling and the freedom of creative discipline. I hope this fires you up for 2026!Make stuff. Put it out. You’re capable of more than you think.My insta - http://instagram.com/davidspeedukMy mailing list (to access art releases and event tickets) - https://shorturl.at/g9Tsx To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com

Gabriel DeSanti is building the world’s longest resume. He has worked as a mural painter, a delivery driver, a dog walker, a wedding dress designer, a wiener-man and lots more.Each week he goes to work with someone new, films it and the resulting videos have had millions of views.We talk about the people he’s met, content creation and how long it took to finally ‘make it’. To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com

Bee was an elite swimmer as a child. They bring the determination and resiliance to their art career as they share their ups and downs through the work they make.This episode covers; approaching creativity as an athlete approaches sport, the behind the scenes studio struggles that no one sees and why you should work like you’re ‘peckish’.As always, when I have a visual artist on the show, it’s my pleasure to share some images of their work. Here are some of Bee’s illustrations :) To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com

This podcast has helped me so much over the last year. I hope it’s helped you too!This week we speak to the legend, Alex Brychta, the illustrator who drew over 600 Biff, Chip and Kipper kid’s books. You can check out his work here: https://www.instagram.com/alexbrychtacreative/If you enjoy this episode - tell someone. To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com

JOY! Collective is a creative production house from London, who specialise in huge public art projects. They describe themselves as an ‘outsource-able art department’.They began as mural painters in 2010 and focused on painting for many years. They still create murals but they also bring ideas to life in various creative ways that don’t always involve paint. In this episode we discussed finding the perfect business partner, getting clients and then once you have clients, getting them to trust you to deliver big projects.If you enjoyed this episode phone your gran on christmas day and tell her about it xx To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com

This is one of my favourite discussions, with one of the most iconic designers of all time - Peter Yee We discuss how pain tolerance is essential in a creative career in fact, the path of the creative is one of the most uncomfortable you can take.Most people give up at the first sign of pain.Peter didn’t give up and as a result, 90% of the planet has seen his work at some point. From the Oakley ‘O’ logo, to his the over-the-top eyewear design, Peter’s designs have become timeless.It was an honour to interview such a legend and I’m really excited to share this conversation with you!Follow Peter Yee here: https://www.instagram.com/peteryeedesign To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com

There have been three episodes of this show this year that have had a real impact on the art I’m making - podcasts with Luisa Omielan, Oliver Jeffers and this week’s episode with Alex Chinneck.Alex makes huge, incredible sculptures that deconstruct the world and put it back together. His work is surreal, it breaks the rules of gravity and physics.“There are more artists than opportunities” it’s time to become one of the artists that is getting the opportunities.Alex’s website - https://www.alexchinneck.com/Alex’s insta - https://www.instagram.com/alexchinneck/?hl=enIf you like this episode, tell everyone you’ve ever met, please. To hear more, visit creativerebels.substack.com