I forgot that I was a person who makes art.

Step 1 of 35: of my journey to becoming a picture book illustrator.

A mustard seed cannot help but become a mustard tree.

I was 30(ish) when I moved to the city to become an artist.

I gathered some friends. Rented a studio. And just got started making art.

In hindsight, it wasn’t the best strategy. I did just enough freelance work to pay the rent, and buy art materials, and I’m just realizing now, that I never finished a painting, though I painted a lot.

Maybe I shouldn’t have started with a 12-foot-long canvas and a busy city scene.

I got a job in a start-up, caught up in the hype of how the iPhone and apps were going to change the world. Eventually, I became a partner in that startup and when that failed, started another startup with someone I met at an accelerator.

I got into those startups doing creative roles, but as a founder quickly got caught up in the running of things, to the point that all I did was run stand-ups, pitch the company to VCs, and try to sell products.

I went on to work and another 3 startups.

Then consulted for an additional two.

In short, I forgot I was a person who makes art.

But there was still a seed of a person who makes art in me.

And that’s what we’re here to talk about today.

A mustard seed does indeed grow into a large tree, but it doesn’t happen by magic. No, it’s a natural process. A process of acting as how a large tree would act but on a small scale.

That process for me was drawing notes or comics in my diary maybe for 5 minutes, every other day. I didn’t show them to anyone.

A year later, the process looks like spending 30 minutes drawing comics once a day. It lasted a month. Then it would be another year until I drew comics again. Sometimes spending an hour, or two, or four.

That seed of being a person who makes art was now a small tree.

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💎 The artist dream… Quit your job and become X, is a lie (ish)

The step from where you are to that dream creative job is not a giant leap. You don’t need a 2500 sq foot loft studio. You need to set aside some time each day to work on your art. Maybe 10-minutes.

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This has been step one of thirty-five of my journey to becoming a picture-book illustrator. I’ll be going through my steps in this way for the next 34 week. If there is a seed of a person who makes art inside of you and wants a nourishing place for it to grow, this is it.