The Fire that Came with Creating (ep 562 - Fifth Element/Ricardo) episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 20, 2026 · 57 MIN

The Fire that Came with Creating (ep 562 - Fifth Element/Ricardo)

from The Sewers of Paris · host Matthew Baume

My guest this week is illustrator Ricardo Bessa, whose beautiful art features lush colorful fantasy settings and characters on fabulous adventures, often very queer. Ricardo knew he was a fish out of water in the town where he grew up, and planned to move to London to find others like him … and that worked, at first, but he didn’t count on running into burnout that nearly ended his career.

My guest this week is illustrator Ricardo Bessa, whose beautiful art features lush colorful fantasy settings and characters on fabulous adventures, often very queer. Ricardo knew he was a fish out of water in the town where he grew up, and planned to move to London to find others like him … and that worked, at first, but he didn’t count on running into burnout that nearly ended his career.

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The Fire that Came with Creating (ep 562 - Fifth Element/Ricardo)

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This episode is 57 minutes long.

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This episode was published on March 20, 2026.

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My guest this week is illustrator Ricardo Bessa, whose beautiful art features lush colorful fantasy settings and characters on fabulous adventures, often very queer. Ricardo knew he was a fish out of water in the town where he grew up, and planned...

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