Thoughts on Illustration

In the age of AI, it's time to double down on being a human. That means things like bringing more hand-influenced spontaneity into, and embracing analogue processes in, your art. In this episode I share how I'm doing this in my own practice and how it's bringing me more joy and even creating new opportunities for me. By listening to this episode, you'll learn how to embrace your own humanity to re-spark your joy and feel more connected in your everyday practice as an illustrator.

Learn how to be more consistent in your client work — Take The Six Stages of Illustration on Skillshare today: https://www.tomfroese.com/teaching/the-six-stages-of-illustration (Get 30 days free on Skillshare with my links). Consistency is Key. You've heard this before, but what does it mean? Throughout my career, consistency has been key to my success. This has been true both in my habits and in what my work looks like. Most importantly, it's been important in having any sense of focus at all. But for many of us, there are all kinds of things distracting us, or pulling us in different directions, that make it hard to be consistent. In this episode, I offer you some helpful tips for staying the course, and some pretty motivating reasons for doing so.

Today's scheduled epsiode (Episode 41) will be postponed until next week. Stay kind!

In this episode I chat with James Hughes about his new book, The Illustrator's Guide, a comprehensive, motivational handbook for artists trying to break into the freelance illustration market. James is an agent at Folio Illustration and Animation Agency, representing some 60 illustrators around the world. Taking advice from James means learning from someone who sits at the front lines of both illustrators and the clients who hire them every day.

Develop a Drawing Habit in 30 Days. Take my class, Drawing Is Important – https://www.tomfroese.com/teaching/drawing-is-important. Use my links to get 30 days free on Skillshare. In this episode of My Thoughts on Illustration, I dive deep into my recent experience with a style crisis and how I turned to a daily drawing challenge to reignite my creativity.

Skillshare class promo link In this episode I talk with lettering artist Martina Flor. Martina started as a designer in Argentina, but she soon discovered the joy of hand lettering. From there she built a successful career as a lettering artist, which has now become a small empire of inspiring work, masterclasses, coaching groups, books, and even a podcast. Of course, she couldn’t do all of this on her own. She’s built an entire team around her so she can focus more on doing what she loves most, while being able to grow her business well beyond what she could do alone. As she puts it best, ““There’s no progress in isolation.”

Take Drawing is Important on Skillshare — https://skl.sh/3UWWY00 — Use my link to get 30 free days on the platform! Just like saving money in the bank, your drawings can gain interest over time. In this episode I explain how this works, and I share how this principle has yielded both creative and financial rewards in my own life. I open up the episode with some recap from the summer! In the end you’ll learn how to set your daily drawing practice up for success with my 5-step plan. Happy to be back for Season 3!

Take Inky Maps (Procreate Edition): Illustrate an Analog-inspired Map on Your iPad — Use my link to get 30 days free! — https://skl.sh/3Swd9SK I'm just dropping this bonus episode to say hi, I miss you, and I will be back at it in September. There will be some changes around here, and I talk about what those are. Also, please don't miss my new class on Skillshare, Inky Maps (Procreate Edition).

Take Lisa's class, Imaginative Map-Making in Procreate on Skillshare — Use this link to get 30 days free! — https://skl.sh/3z8zI9a Join in on my conversaion with Lisa Bardot, who teaches people how to make art on their iPad. But that job description is deceivingly simple. She may be best known for her vast catalogue of analogue inspired procreate brushes, aka Bardot Brush. (She’s kind of the Kyle T. Webster of procreate brushes). But she also teaches making digital online in places like Skillshare, YouTube and her own membership platform called Art Maker’s Club. She also runs in-person art trips — her most recent one being in France. If that weren’t enough, she’s also the author of a brand new book called Drawing Digital, The Complete Guide for Learning to Draw and Paint on Your iPad, AND she even provides monthly prompt lists for inspiration-seeking artists, which she calls Make Art Every Day. Lisa has created an entire universe of creativity and community around her passion for drawing and illustrating in Procreate. I really think she’s a perfect guest for the podcast, as she embodies the whole ethos of this podcast of showing up everyday and growing through it, no matter what (and thriving because of it). >>> Video edition available on YouTube. <<<

Learn how to make better art! Take Composition for Illustrators on Skillshare — Use my link to get 30 days free! — https://skl.sh/3TLdkeh Today I chat with my friend Chris Piascik. Chris is an illustrator for clients like Nike, Nickelodeon and Google. He's also a YouTuber and a Top Teacher on Skillshare. We have a free-ranging, loosey goosey conversation about things like: Whether you need to go to art school to become an illustrator; Why Chris and I feel like we don’t quite fit into the “traditional illustrator” mould; We discuss whether the ability to draw realistically is necessary for illustrators today; We commiserate about angry dudes leaving nasty comments on our videos and — We start off with an unexpectedly long conversation about vector files (but as far as these kinds of conversations go, I think it was pretty interesting).

In this episode, we tackle a question many creatives grapple with: should you work for your friends (and family)? Combining personal and professional relationships can be a double-edged sword, offering both unique advantages and significant challenges. We explore both sides the debate — FOR and AGAINST working for friends — and then, I'll give you 7 tips to help set you up for success (and safety) for those times when you decide to go ahead and do it.

Learn How to Make Good Work AND Please Your Clients — Take The Six Stages of Illustration: https://skl.sh/4cCTxEH — Use this link to get 30 days of free membership on Skillshare. What makes otherwise good people such bad clients? How do you deal with them — and how can you avoid them in the first place? In this episode, I explain why there almost never truly bad clients. In my 10+ year career, I've had very few bad clients. Most of them were in the beginning, when I didn't have enough experience to spot them before it's too late. By listening to this episode, you'll learn what I wish I knew when I was starting out — and this will help you make sure every client is a good client! That means they'll trust you to do what you do best (the art!) and they'll give you everything you need to do your job.

Learn how to illustrate ideas in Sweet Spots: Expressing Big Ideas in Small Illustrations — https://skl.sh/3e8Wl33 — Use my links to get 30 days free on Skillshare. So you know how to illustrate — now, how do you start your career as an illustrator? In this episode, I'll share 10 key strategies that helped kickstart my illustration career. These personal yet practical tips offer valuable insights for aspiring illustrators looking to advance in the industry. Whether you're seeking a reminder of fundamental practices or hoping for fresh perspectives, this episode provides a blend of familiar and surprising advice to motivate and inspire. This episode originally launched in July 2023 as a Patron's Only "Summer Shorts" episode.

Learn how to win more creative battles. Take The Six Stages of Illustration on Skillshare today. Use this link to get 30 days free access to every class on Skillshare — https://skl.sh/4cCTxEH In today's episode, we'll dive into the delicate balance of navigating conflicts and compromises with our illustration clients and art directors. As artists, we often have strong opinions about our work, making compromise a challenging but necessary part of our creative process. Illustration, or commercial art, is unique in that it's not just self-expression; it's about expressing others' ideas through our unique abilities, style and point of view. Somehow, we need to maintain our artistic integrity while meeting the needs of our clients. Finding the right balance tricky. We can't make it all about us, but we also can't just give up our creative authority to appease our clients. By listening to this episode, you'll learn how to find more wins in your work by valuing both your client's needs and your own creative vision. Throughout the episode, I'll share insights from listeners and fellow illustrators, offering diverse, valuable perspectives on navigating creative conflicts in illustration.

Discover Your Illustration Voice in The Style Class - https://skl.sh/3S6PCF1 — Use this link to get 30 days free on Skillshare Is the AI Illustration Apocalypse Here, and is it going to take all our jobs away? In this episode, I'm going to share my thoughts on how AI is affecting the illustration industry today and how it might affect us in the future. I go a bit dark in this one but stick with me, in end I share 3 reasons I’m holding on to hope as an illustrator. In the very end, I offer one main thing that you can ALWAYS rely on to be your true value, both to yourself and to whoever you work with.

Andy J. Pizza is a New York Times best-selling illustrator and author, and host of the Creative Pep Talk podcast. Today he joins me for a deep-dishy dive into all things illustration and creativity, especially where he and I share a lot of common ground. Along the way, we talk about such topics as the myth of the Inspired Artist, his message of adopting a more positive self-psychology, the balance of inspiration and craft in creative work, and even why he thinks full-blown therapy should be a part of art school education. No topping (or topic) is held back — even the mushrooms and pineapples were allowed in this one.

This is Part 2/2 of my conversation with Kyle T. Webster, which we started in the previous episode (Episode 27). Today we pick up where we left off, with Kyle’s advice for those asking if they should have one style or many, how his background in traditional art skills informs his digital brushes, and he even has a word for artists who might be afraid of how AI will affect the value of their work.

I'm excited to share with you part 1 of a 2-part conversation I had with illustrator and pioneering digital brush-maker, Kyle T. Webster. Kyle is the guy behind the many, many digital illustration brushes (2,400 and counting) that come bundled with Adobe Photoshop and Fresco. In this episode we talk about his beginnings as an aspiring illustrator many years ago, and how he slowly but steadily built up a small empire around his digital brushes — which have no doubt shaped the world of digital illustration as we know it today. We have a wide ranging conversation that touches on things like: — Building up an illustration portfolio when you haven't had any clients yet — Why working in different styles can make good business sense — What Kyle means when he calls himself an Accidental Expert — What Kyle finds most meaningful in his work and career, besides drawing or making brushes — Why making Creativity a way of life is necessary to building up a successful career — And much, much more!

Support the Thoughts on Illustration Podcast at http://patreon.com/tomfroese In this first official interview episode on Thoughts on Illustration, Adam Ming shares his thoughts on becoming a successful kids book illustrator in his late thirties and early 40s. Adam is quickly becoming an accomplished picture book illustrator, and along the way, he's sharing his insights and inspiration on his Substack, apty called The Ten Minute illustrator. He's also a co-founder of ILLOGUILD, a community of picture book illustrators who meet regularly to share ideas, give and get critical feedback, and help one another find the next big opportunity. At the top I share my own thoughts as I dive into this new role as public conversationalist via this podcast.

Support the Thoughts on Illustration Podcast at http://patreon.com/tomfroese Have you hit a dead end with your work? Are you bored of your style? Or maybe, like me, you feel even worse about the art you've been making lately? This past year has brought a few blows to my professional and personal creativity, and at the end of 2023, I was feeling pretty crappy about my own work. I've come to this point many times in my career, and usually I just shrug it off and keep going. But this time was different. In this episode I talk about how I was able to climb out of a hole of artistic despair and rekindle my love affair with my work. By listening to this episode, I hope you will learn how to rediscover the joy in your own practice. If it hasn't happened to you yet — listen to this one and put it in your back pocket. 😉