Welcome to Thoughts on Design, a Podcast about Showing Up and Growing Up as a Commercial Illustrator. In this introductory episode, I talk about why I started this podcast, what it's about, and who it's for.
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In this episode, I introduce the podcast and talk about why I started it in the first place. I explain why I decided to stop being a YouTuber and become a podcaster instead. I talk about what sort of content I expect to be publishing here. I talk about how it's important for me to stop trying to be something I'm not, to embrace who I am, and I hope that by sharing this you will be encouraged to do the same in your own creative work.
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Hello, my name is Mr. Tom Froese, and these are my Thoughts On Illustration. Welcome to Episode Zero of the podcast. The official first episode is on its way, but today I just wanted to get things started and tell you what this podcast is about, who it’s for, and how it came to be.
But first, if you don’t know me yet, like I said, my name is Mr. Tom Froese. Nice to meet you. I’m an illustrator and teacher of illustration to 100s of thousands of students around the world. I’ve been working as freelance illustrator since 2013, and before that, I was an art director and designer. You’ll be hearing more about my story of how I became an illustrator in the next episode.
Today is really just a teaser — I’m not sure how this will go, but I needed to just hit record and do what I’ve been dreaming of doing for years now.
If you’re an illustrator, or hoping to be one some day, this podcast is for you. I know there are so many illustration podcasts out there. Perhaps what makes this one unique is that I think a lot about the inner experience of being an illustrator. You might say I’m analytical. I’m always processing what’s going on in my head, and by doing that I end up having all kinds of ideas about how I think I need to approach this illustration thing. I’m basically looking for ways to do this sustainably, successfully, and most importantly, joyfully. So is this podcast gonna be right for you? All I ask is that you please stick around for a few episodes and see what you think!
So just a tiny bit of background for my first-time audio-only listeners, I’m transitioning my YouTUbe video channel to a podcast, and so when you hear me referring to this as a video or hear me talking about my “channel”, that’s why.
As of this recording, I am now a Podcast.
I started making videos on youtube l in 2018, sort of on a whim, after noticing a couple of people subscribing to my then mostly-blank channel. My original intention was to use YouTube as an easy way to answer questions that came to me. Often I would get asked the same kinds of questions, so I thought, if I could just record my answers and put them up on YouTube, when more people asked the same questions, I could just send them over to my channel.
At that time I had already been thinking about starting a podcast, but I could never quite figure out what my thing was. I recorded a lot of “pretend” episodes on my iPhone but never really figured out how to get to the next step, where I actually had a podcast with a name, cover art, a good intro, and all that kind of thing.
Around that time I was deeply inspired by my pal Andy J. Pizza and his then-emerging podcast called The Creative Pep Talk podcast. But like many of you might be able to relate, I couldn’t envision how to fill the gap between where I was — which was absolute Zero, the very beginning — to where I wanted to be — where people like Andy already were.
My YouTube channel slowly grew, at first to about 1000 subs that first year, and then another 1000 the next, and then it picked up momentum, getting to 3,000, and now I’m at about 12,000 — a decent following, but not exactly a mind blowing number given that I’ve been doing this for almost 5 years. That’s not to say I’m not grateful for what I have. YouTube has opened up a lot of opportunities for me, including connecting to many new people that may not have discovered me on Instagram or through my Skillshare classes. It is because of YouTube that I started my Patreon a year ago, and through that have really started to connect with likeminded creative people in a more personal way.
If I’m honest, it’s YouTube that has captured my interest and devotion in the past few years as a creative outlet. It’s been a sort of obsession — I have put far more into it than I have gotten back from it, in terms of income. I’m not really sure whether the advantages of being a creator on YouTube have really outweighed the costs for me. But for some reason I keep investing into it.
In one sense, it’s become a gambling addiction. I can’t help myself. I am irrationally driven to making videos and posting them in spite of knowing that I could be pouring myself into more profitable activities, including devoting more time to client work and producing Skillshare classes. For all the focus that YouTube is stealing away from me, I could probably be earning double what I am right now from my Skillshare classes alone. Seriously.
Lately I’ve been trying to be more honest about this to myself. Why am I still making videos on YouTube? What do I want from it? What keeps me coming back, even when I know it’s hurting me? Is it because I want to help my viewers? Am I that altruistic? Probably not. While I truly want to provide value to anyone who watches my content, I think the thing that drives me most is actually a strong, built-in desire to share. When I have ideas or thoughts on something I’m passionate about—like illustration and commercial creativity—I simply and irrationally am compelled to share. It’s neither good nor bad — it’s just who I am. The question I have, though, is how can I make it WORK for me? How can I do this and not get burned out or, worse, lose my main means of living by neglecting my actual business and family responsibilities?
I do have to contend with this problem, because, like a gambling addiction, it could very well bring me to financial ruin. I can’t just blindly follow my passion. And if I’m honest, when I look at my analytics—when I see how many people end up watching my videos, and how many of those people actually watch more than 30 seconds of my videos, I’m not really doing that great on the YouTube Platform. Objectively speaking, I really shouldn’t be doing this. I really should be allocating more of my time to the things that actually earn me good money.
Have I mentioned that I have earned over $400,000 through my skillshare classes alone, since I started in 2016? By comparsion, I’ve earned less than $2000 dollars in adsense revenue on YouTube since 2018. You do the math — it’s not looking good for my YouTube career.
But somehow, here I am, still at it. But, as you can see, I’m changing things around here.
I am passionate about sharing my ideas around illustration and commercial creativity, and I never won’t be. So whether it’s recording videos or writing posts on Medium, or scribbling notes in my moleskine journal, I’m going to be doing it. So there is a case for doing it somewhere where others can find it, and hopefully gain something from it for themselves.
So why am I doing a podcast instead? For me, it’s about coming back to my first principles. In the beginning, back when I started making more videos for my channel, I had really wanted to start a podcast. And over time, I have found that the kind of content I am most interested in making is longer-format monologues, sharing ideas, strategies, and struggles from my own experience as an illustrator. I have resisted creating videos with more visual content, such as visual examples, B-Roll, and even simple graphic content like titles. While through YouTubing I have learned a TON of video editing skills, I am not as interested in doing the editing stuff as much as I am in writing and talking about the IDEAS.
If you’ve been with me on YoUTube for any length of time, you’ll know that I struggling with this fact. Ultimately, I’ve been trying to have my cake and eat it too. I’ve been trying to have a video channel, but I also keep wishing that I didn’t have to do all the things that having a successful video channel needs to truly succeed.
You may also have noticed that I’ve started to really strip back the production in my videos, letting go of having titles or any editing other than jump cuts to help make the audio flow better.
And this is all the result of me coming to embrace the fact that I DON’T WANT TO PRODUCE FANCY VIDEO CONTENT. I want to talk about ideas, I want to encourage, I want to share strategies. I want to be heard. I want YOU to feel heard. Where it comes to teaching actual visual stuff, I already do that on Skillshare. It’s never easy for me to do it, but at least on Skillshare I get paid a lot in return for the effort!
While I love YouTube have a ton of respect for video creators, especially now with some idea of what goes into a well produced video, my heart truly lies in the audio format. So it is with excitement and a freaking big sigh of relief to announce that will now be pivoting to a podcast format.
Don’t worry — I’m not going anywhere. I’m still going to be posting videos here on YouTube, but my focus has changed from a this-and-that channel for illustrators to a proper Video Podcast. It has always bothered me that the format of my videos keeps changing—sometimes I do a vlog, sometimes I share an idea, sometimes I talk about nuts and bolts stuff like comparing procreate and photoshop, but there never seems to be a real focus for me. So I’m not so much changing my focus, but finally having one.
When I think about the kind of content that comes most naturally for me, it’s simply sharing thoughts and ideas from my own experience as an illustrator. When I think about the kind of podcasts and channels that I like to listen to most, it’s always about ideas and insights that come from a personal perspective. It’s not just how-to information, or simple listicles (which can be super helpful, mind you). I love hearing people really explore things from different angles, and sort of work things out in front of their audience. I like feeling like I’m inside someone else’s head, or in a conversation with them. I like hearing different points of view, and from the people I actually follow and subscribe to, I like hearing THEIR points of view.
What I’m tired of doing is trying to chase trends and algorithms, which are always changing, and never really connecting me to an audience who appreciates me for who I am and what I have to say, and how — and how long it takes me to say it. I want to make sure I’m respecting your time and not babbling on forever, but I also know that for me, I have a lot to say and it comes out less quickly than I’d like. I’m doing my best to keep it on the shorter side, but I have to stop trying to be someone I’m not.
If I’m a YouTuber, it’s the kind of YouTuber who posts his podcast recordings in Video Format. That makes me a podcaster, and that makes this channel a Video Podcast.
Welcome to Episode ZERO of Thoughts on Illustration. Thank you for being here. If you’re interested in hearing my thoughts on showing up and growing up as a commercial illustrator, you’re in the right place.
My name is Mr. Tom Froese, and those were my Thoughts on Illustration. You can find links to my illustration classes at tomfroese.com, and you can help this podcast by supporting me on Patreon. Visit patreon.com/tomfroese to learn more. Remember to rate and review, like, subscribe, follow, tell your friends, and all those lovely things. Thank you for listening all the way to the end. I’ll see you in the next one.