Thoughts on Illustration is a bi-weekly podcast about Showing Up and Growing Up as a commercial artist. Join award-winning illustrator and top teacher, Mr. Tom Froese, as he shares valuable tips, insights, and reflections from his own experience as an illustrator. Tom wants to encourage his fellow creatives and help them get further on by sharing in a transparent, accessible way. If you are passionate about unlocking professional and personal creative fulfillment, you are invited to follow along as Tom does the same!
Thoughts on Illustration
Claim This Podcastby Tom Froese
4.8(177 reviews)
84 episodes
Updated Daily
Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇨🇦
48
Podcast Authority
BetaFairBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality59
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YouTube0
Engagement92
Podcast Overview
Thoughts on Illustration is a bi-weekly podcast about Showing Up and Growing Up as a commercial artist. Join award-winning illustrator and top teacher, Mr. Tom Froese, as he shares valuable tips, insights, and reflections from his own experience as an illustrator. Tom wants to encourage his fellow creatives and help them get further on by sharing in a transparent, accessible way. If you are passionate about unlocking professional and personal creative fulfillment, you are invited to follow along as Tom does the same!
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
11/24/2022
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48
Podcast Authority
BetaFairBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
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Engagement92
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Recent Episodes
May 21, 2026
Heather Pollington (Part 2) | Episode 76
Host Tom Froese interviews icon painter Heather Pollington about her artistic influences, the concept of simultaneous narrative, and finding fulfillment by leaving Hollywood for work she loves.
May 5, 2026
“Ex-Hollywood Artist, Now Painting Icons” with Heather Pollington (Part 1)
<p>What happens when a production designer behind Disney's Maleficent, Mary Poppins Returns, and Skyfall walks away from Hollywood to paint icons and illustrate fairy tales? In this episode, I sit down with <a href="https://www.heatherpollington.com/">Heather Pollington</a> — ex-Hollywood artist, iconographer, and illustrator for Symbolic World Press — for Part One of a wide-ranging conversation about limits, identity, story, and what it really means to find your artistic home.</p><p><strong>In this Episode</strong></p><ul><li>Coming Home to Painting: How Heather's journey from fine arts school in northeast England, through 20 years of Hollywood production design, led her full circle back to painting — and why iconography felt like "the coming together of everything."</li><li>Designer vs. Artist Type: The tension between being a versatile, problem-solving artist and having a singular, recognizable voice — and why both have real advantages and real costs.</li><li>Meaning Over Accuracy: Why Heather's film work taught her that emotion and meaning always win over historical accuracy — and how that mindset now shapes her illustration.</li><li>The Power of Limits: Why constraints are where beauty lives — from a limited palette of natural dyes in medieval tapestries to five pigments in iconography.</li><li>"Just Do the Rubbish Version": Heather's practical antidote to creative paralysis: start with the loosest, worst version possible, and let the problems reveal themselves.</li><li>Story as the Master: How focusing on the text and the story — rather than style — frees Heather from intimidation and imitation, and lets her personal voice emerge without forcing it.</li><li>Physical Reference Boards: Why Heather prints her references and pins them to the wall instead of collecting them on Pinterest — and what gets lost when inspiration stays on a screen.</li></ul><p><strong>Links and Resources</strong></p><p>Heather Pollington: Check out Heather's website to see her illustration, iconography, and production design work.</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.heatherpollington.com/">https://www.heatherpollington.com/</a></li></ul><p>Symbolic World Press: The fairy tale books Heather has illustrated for Jonathan Pageau, including The Tale of Snow White and the Widow Queen and The Tale of Rapunzel and the Evil Witch.</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.symbolicworld.org/">https://www.symbolicworld.org/</a></li></ul><p>Creative Mornings Vancouver — June 5th: Tom will be speaking at Creative Mornings Vancouver around the theme of "Curate."</p><ul><li><a href="https://creativemornings.com/talks/tom-froese">https://creativemornings.com/talks/tom-froese</a></li></ul><p>ICON13 — Baltimore, July 16th Workshop: Tom will be hosting a workshop at the illustration conference. 🥺 Note: workshop tickets are now sold out. </p><ul><li><a href="https://icon13.theillustrationconference.org/schedule">https://icon13.theillustrationconference.org/schedule</a></li></ul><p>Know Your Art — Cohort Class Mailing List: Interested in future offerings of Tom's six-week illustration course? Add yourself to the list.</p><ul><li><a href="https://forms.gle/NiRwyLkvCbA24Zn19">https://forms.gle/NiRwyLkvCbA24Zn19</a></li></ul><p>Drawing Is Important — Book Launch Replay: Patreon supporters can watch the replay of the April 7th online book launch.</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.patreon.com/tomfroese">https://www.patreon.com/tomfroese</a></li></ul><p>Drawing Is Important — The Book:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.tomfroese.com/book">https://www.tomfroese.com/book</a></li></ul><p><strong>Tom's Links</strong></p><ul><li>Work: <a href="https://tomfroese.com/">tomfroese.com</a></li><li>Classes: <a href="https://tomfroese.com/teaching">tomfroese.com/teaching</a></li><li>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mrtomfroese">https://www.instagram.com/mrtomfroese</a></li></ul>
April 21, 2026
Stop Trying to Find Your Style. Do This Instead. | FREE PREVIEW
<p>📗 Drawing Is Important — Now Available: <a href="https://www.tomfroese.com/book">tomfroese.com/book</a></p><p><br></p><p>Every illustrator wants a recognizable style — but what if chasing style is actually the thing getting in your way? In this episode, I reframe the whole idea of style as something you work out, not something you find. The real source of a compelling, consistent style isn't a look you copy or discover — it's your attractions: the things you love, the things you keep returning to, and the choices you've already been making all along. If you've been frustrated by not having a clear style yet, this episode will redirect that energy somewhere much more useful.</p><p><strong>In this Episode</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Chasing the Scent vs. Baking the Cookies:</strong> Why trying to have a style is like trying to replicate a smell — and what to focus on instead.</li><li><strong>Your Attractions as Raw Material:</strong> How the things you love, notice, and keep returning to are already the seeds of your style.</li><li><strong>Style is Hindsight:</strong> Why style is a pattern you see looking back at your work — not a destination you arrive at.</li><li><strong>Style is Selection:</strong> How artist Heather Hollington's insight reframes the whole creative process as a series of choices that add up over time.</li><li><strong>The Creative Self Inventory:</strong> A practical exercise for reflecting on your best work to discover what makes it distinctly yours — and how to do more of it intentionally.</li></ul><p><strong>Links and Resources</strong></p><p><strong>The Style Class on Skillshare:</strong> Go deeper on working out your style — and get 30 days of free Skillshare membership through this link.</p><ul><li><a href="https://skl.sh/4cFnIej">https://skl.sh/4cFnIej</a></li></ul><p><strong>Drawing Is Important:</strong> My new book is out now! Your guide to making drawing a meaningful daily habit.</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.tomfroese.com/book">https://www.tomfroese.com/book</a></li></ul><p><strong>Today's Action Exercise:</strong> The Creative Self Inventory Ready to reflect on your work and discover what makes it uniquely yours? (Become a paid listener on Patreon to access today's "Action on Illustration" prompt.)</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.patreon.com/tomfroese">https://www.patreon.com/tomfroese</a></li></ul><p>Tag me on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mrtomfroese">@mrtomfroese</a> or email me your results!</p><p><strong>Tom's Links</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Work:</strong> tomfroese.com</li><li><strong>Classes:</strong> tomfroese.com/teaching</li><li><strong>Instagram:</strong> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mrtomfroese">https://www.instagram.com/mrtomfroese</a></li></ul>
84 total episodes available with 2 transcripts
Recent guests on Thoughts on Illustration
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Heather Pollington
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Tom Froese
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