It’s been a long time since I’ve made art a priority, because I’ve been devoting all my waking hours to Escape From Illustration Island, my website and podcast devoted to providing resources to Illustrators and other creative professionals.
But that’s not the only reason.
I’ve also realized that I forgot to have fun with art. This can be a danger of making a career out of art, and it has caused me to take a step back and get a fresh perspective. I’ve been fortunate to have the chance to talk to a lot of inspiring artists on the EFII podcast, and I just watched Drew Struzan’s new tutorial DVD, which evoked a passion for the creative process that I’ve been missing for some time. So, I’ve made a promise to myself to create something for Illustration Friday every week for the entire month of February, and I’ve taken it a step further by starting early.
Here’s my conceptual take on this week’s Illustration Friday cue, “Clumsy”, and I had a lot of fun experimenting with handmade art again, as well as considering a new direction for my work. I hope you like this little exercise.
By the way, I’ll be extending the “Illustration Friday February Challenge” to the EFII community as part of a future giveaway of Drew Struzan’s DVD very soon, so stay tuned to Escape From Illustration Island for details.
Find out how you can stay up to date with EFII here.
Thomas
THOMAS JAMES 
5 responses to “Illustration Friday – “Clumsy””
oh wow – fantastic take on the prompt! Wonderfully illustrated
Hey thanks! At first I didn’t want to do this week’s word because the idea of Illustrating a clumsy person didn’t appeal to me, but then I came up with this other, more suggestive, approach. I had a lot of fun with this one.
Hi Thomas,
ha HA! Now that’s some dramatic clumsiness! I like!
On the subject of loss of ability to ‘have fun’ with art and the creative process, Lynda Barry’s book “What it is” is a meditation/workbook/story about just this….and it’s BEAUTIFUL!!!! I highly recommend it!
p.s. I am almost ready with my review of that OTHER book (embarrassed cough)…
Thanks Amanda! I’ll have to check that book out.
Oh man that hurts just looking at it…
I just discovered “Escape from Illustration Island” today and there’s so much great stuff going on there! Thanks for a great site :)