"You learn something from every creative piece you put out there… you always have to make sure you are testing yourself. Fail and fail often.”

Grange Wallis is a Commercial Illustrator, Concept & Comic Book Artist & Design Consultant based in Melbourne Victoria.

I first became familiar with Grange’s work in the early twenty-teens when unofficial AFL and NRL humanoid anamorphic mascots starting filling my facebook feed. Today Grange has worked with organisations such as AFL, NRL, BLK, William Hill, Licensing essentials, Team Coach as well as his own illustration collection; the “Grange Range”.

Grange’s illustration journey heats up when he is made redundant as a Graphic Designer at the Yellow Pages and uses the redundancy package to fund a trip to Comicon in the United States.

Bringing his learnings and inspirations back home, the discovery of some vintage stickers of 90’s AFL mascots during a spring clean plants the seeds for Grange’s path as an iconic commercial artist in sport and comics.

We chat with Grange about his work and the life as a self-employed creative, navigating the uneven flow of work throughout the year. We talk about life pre and post children and the juggling act of being a parent and an illustrator.

Grange shares the hustle of getting his artwork endorsed by clubs in the early years of social media and how that grew his portfolio of partners and the effect ai now has on his work and the industry.

We talk about the concept of silent competition and how that continues to drive and challenge him creatively.

Grange shares some of his creative idols and where he looks for inspiration and feedback. He also shares his perspective on the industry and advice he would give to anyone interested in working in the arts.

You can catch grange at @grange on instagram.

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Josh Blakey joins Mason on the podcast to talk about the 2026 NRL and AFL Draw releases.

With some exciting life changes, Josh asks Mason about being a dad and how he manages his creative output and parenthood.

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Natasha Fordham is the Senior Graphic Designer and Marketing Coordinator at the NRL's most successful club of the modern era; the Penrith Panthers.

This episode was recorded in October 2024, just off the back of the Panthers 5th consecutive grand final and 4th consecutive Premiership.

*The recording had some audio issues and needed some repair. And while we could not completely salvage the file and present the episode to an audio standard we would prefer, Natasha's story and experiences are too valuable for us not to share*

A Penrith local and Panthers fan, Natasha practically manifested her position at the club. Starting during the time legendary rugby league figure Gus Gould was Executive GM of Football and laying the foundations of impending astronomical success, Natasha journeyed through the a creative stabilisation at the club. While the on field team built a modern day dynasty, the creative team were pulling back the layers of multiple visual identities and rebooting the brand of the Panthers.

In our episode we discuss the life of design during the success of the club, the process of decking out facilities on game day. We talk about connection; connecting with community and connecting with players and the importance of bridging them together through design. Natasha shares on the teams affection with pop culture (like the internal Top Gun theme in the 2021 Finals) and what role it has played on storytelling at the club.

We talk kits and the bold decision by staff to use thirds and alternate jerseys in finals campaigns instead of the traditional home/away and we ask Natasha whats the official origin of the "licorice all sorts" colour combination.

You can connect with Natasha at: @Tash_graphicdesign

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