Ep. 054 – Van Berkemeyer – Design, Music, and the Empty Chase for the Next High

Van Berkemeyer has built two separate creative careers: one as an illustrator and designer, one as a musician who's had real viral hits and industry attention.

He says neither one ever actually felt like arriving.

In this episode, Brad and Dustin talk with Van about growing up on a small farm in rural Texas, working as a cowboy on an Oklahoma ranch as a teenager, and building BerkMade, his illustration and design studio, alongside a music career as Van Andrew. The surface topic is juggling two creative disciplines. The real conversation is about something every working artist runs into eventually: chasing a peak, hitting it, and finding out it doesn't fix anything.

It's part career retrospective, part cigar-lounge philosophy session, and part reminder that the goalpost never stops moving, no matter which craft you're chasing it in.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why success in one creative discipline doesn't transfer the lesson to the next, and how Van's found the same empty feeling chasing wins in both illustration and music.
• The shoe-shopping analogy for chasing achievement, and why finally getting the thing you wanted for years lasts about as long as a new pair of shoes.
• What's actually real about a creative's social media persona, and why the people who look most confident online are often the most different in person.
• Why "jack of all trades" doesn't have to mean master of none, and how Van thinks about splitting real creative capacity across two disciplines without feeling like he's failing at both.
• Aliens, ice walls, and why Van isn't (technically) a flat earther — a tangent Brad and Dustin promise is "a safe space."

Whatever discipline you work in, this episode keeps circling back to the same question every working creative eventually asks: once you get the thing you thought you wanted, then what? Van's answer, four and a half years sober and building two careers instead of chasing one high, might be the most useful part of the whole conversation.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE

Van Berkemeyer is an illustrator and designer based in Nashville, Tennessee, working under the name BerkMade. He grew up on a small farm in rural Texas and spent his teenage years working as a cowboy on an Oklahoma ranch before building two separate creative careers: illustration and design as BerkMade, and music as Van Andrew.

Alongside his design work, Van has had real success in music, including a song that went viral and hit number two on iTunes, and a stint as a contestant on The Voice. He's four and a half years sober and spends most of his downtime on his Harley, at the cigar lounge, or playing volleyball.

BerkMade (Illustration & Design)

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/berkmade/

Van Andrew (Music)

Website

https://www.vanandrewmusic.com/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/vanandrewofficial/

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Brad Woodard

Brad is an illustrator and designer behind Brave the Woods, a full-service studio working with clients like PBS Kids, Ford, Target, and USPS. His bold, playful style and heart-led storytelling shine through everything from brand campaigns to children’s books.

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Dustin Lee

Dustin is the founder of RetroSupply, a shop for retro-inspired brushes, textures, and digital tools used by tens of thousands of creatives from indie artists to major studios. He shares what it’s really like to run a creative business while keeping it small, weird, and intentional.

View RetroSupply

Credits

Audio/video editing: Clara Wright
Cover art: Brad Woodard
Intro animation: Seth Austin
Intro music: “Snakes and Fire” (Instrumental) by Pär Hagström