2024: The Year in Review
Making Lots of Crap, Beginning Again, and Trending Towards Hope
Every year, I write an annual review. This gives me a chance to reflect on everything that has happened in the past trip around the sun, whether amazing or agonizing, or somewhere in between. Then, this gives me a chance to grow and learn from all of that in some way.
In This Report
This review will include the following sections:
An Overview of the year.
Income summary.
5 Highlights of the year.
3 Challenges of the year.
Goals Met.
Goals Unmet
Goals for 2025.
Concluding remarks.
Overview
2024 was better than 2023, which was a painful year. Fittingly, I had named that year The Year of Growing Up, complete with the requisite growing pains. Strangely, I never got around to naming 2024, and this seems fitting, because it felt like I had a hard time getting around to many things. That’s not to say I didn’t do a lot. My motto at the beginning of the year was “make lots of crap”, and in the best possible, least scatological sense, this is exactly what I did. With this directive, I was able to let go of some of the rules I thought were important to my work, particularly in my style and technique, and fall back in love with my process again. So maybe 2024 was The Year of Making Lots of Crap.
Last year, my overall mood was better, and I had more hope. I did indeed enjoy the creative process more (my theory of getting back to more analogue processes proved correct). While for the first half of 2024 I saw very little client action, things started picking up more in the second half, that continues to this day. Overall, I saw a positive change in the my year-to-year income trend (as you’ll see in my Income Summary below).
I could equally have called 2024 The Year of Being a Beginner Again. That’s because, after a slumpy 2023, I was motivated to push myself harder, especially in my craft. I also stopped taking the steady stream of work I used to enjoy for granted. In hindsight, I can see how much of my success was based on being a specific person in a specific time in history. What worked for me in the past may not be the recipe for success today. Things are way different than when I started out, and I’m finding myself at the beginning again, along with many of the people I try to help in my teaching and podcast. I believe that embracing this, rather than bemoaning it, is the best way forward.
Anyway, enough of that! Let’s get into the juicy details of 2024. Please enjoy, and let me know your thoughts at the end (comments are always welcome)!
Income Summary
I’m sure this is what you want to know most of all, so I’ll just pop it up here at the top. Without giving you my actual income figures, I will break down for you my income sources. Here is a nice pie chart about it:
About My Income Sources
As has been for a long time, my Skillshare classes dominated my total income amounts, this year, at 63%. This is up from last year’s 59%.
A very distant second was my client work, at 25%, down from last year’s 33%. This is a decrease in proportion and total revenue for this category.
In third place, Patreon/Podcast Support came in at 6% of total income, up from 4%. This is an increase not only in proportion, but also in amounts. Thank you to my supporters!
My coaching practice grew by about double, up from 1.44% to 3%. I enjoyed this role and hope that it continues to grow.
At 2% of my total income, an emerging area of growth for me was from affiliate links. These are related to YouTube videos where I either reviewed a product or taught using specific digital brushes that I then linked to in the descriptions (see example video below). This was a surprisingly payoff from a very intentional effort.
The 1% of income coming from monetization is directly from Adsense revenue on YouTube. This was a slight increase from the previous year, owing to better viewer counts/higher subscription numbers on my channel. A small fraction of this amount was also from the sale of digital and physical products.
You will see that 3/4 of my income is not from direct illustration work. This does not reflect the time I spend illustrating or doing illustration-related activities. Very roughly speaking, you could swap the red and blue sections, with illustrating taking the larger one.
If you’d like to hear my income thoughts in audio format, I share about this in Episode 46 of the podcast. And now I interrupt this program with an important message:
And now, back to our program.
Income Over Time
Looking now at my nice growth chart (below), obviously, we’re still down from the golden year of 2021. However, if you take your magnifying glass and look really close at the last bar there on the right, it’s just the teensiest bit higher than the previous year. The green line shows an overall upward trend. Let’s hope this proves true.1
Clients and Projects
Last year, I had a paltry 9 projects spread over 8 clients. This is down from 14 and 13, respectively, which I’m not exactly pleased about. That being said, one of those projects was a very involved picture book, and I was grateful for the extra time I had to focus on it (I can’t wait to share it with you!).
As mentioned, projects did start picking up again later in the year, which I am allowing myself to see as just the start of more to come. But don’t think I’ll just be sitting here waiting! One of my goals this year will be more actively pursuing clients.
5 Highlights of the Year
There were many good things about last year, but for the sake of time, I will focus on just 5 that stand out to me.
01 — Two New Classes (and a Staff Pick!)
It’s always a big push to publish the minimum of 2 classes I need to keep my Top Teacher status on Skillshare. So it’s always a source of relief and joy when I meet this goal each year.
Inky Maps (Procreate Edition)
My first class of the year was Inky Maps (Procreate Edition), where I challenged myself to adapt one of my earliest classes to the increasingly popular drawing and painting app. For this class, I designed a process that allowed you to create Inky style illustrations in Procreate, which is otherwise far less suited to my techniques than Photoshop. Along the way, I started to find ways of using Procreate aside from just a digitalook.
Drawing Ideas: Create Conceptual Illustrations for Editorial & Beyond
My second class of 2024 was Drawing Ideas: Create Conceptual Illustrations for Editorial & Beyond. Conceptual/Editorial Illustration was a topic I wanted to teach for years, but it took me a while to figure out my angle into it. A more practical challenge was how to give each student a unique headline or story to illustrate for. ChatGPT may have dubious uses, but it’s perfect for assigning students custom-tailored briefs.
The key idea in this class is that you don’t have to have original ideas to make good conceptual illustrations. In fact, starting with known symbols, idioms and tropes — common “off-the-shelf” concepts and compositions — can be the key to unlock the most powerful ideas. While I’m proud of this class on its own, it was with much joy when I learned that Skillshare gave it the coveted Staff Pick designation.
02 — A Book about Greek Gods
I’m not sure I can share much about this book, which will be published on May 8 of this year, but I can say that it is the one I will be most proud of. It is emblematic of all that I hoped 2024 would be — a chance to fall back in love with my process, and to this end, finding ways of bringing more analogue-inspired processes and vibes to my work. Because there were fewer clients competing for my time, I was able to pour myself into this book in a more focused way than past books. My publisher and their partner noticed and were simply glowing about the work, which of course made me a happy illustrator!
03 — Getting Back to Inky
Finally, getting back into more analogue processes has been a vital and very enjoyable part of 2024. It’s also yielded much fruit. I’ve already outlined the Inky Maps class and the Greek Gods book. Of course, the core of my “getting back to inky” mandate last year was my daily drawing practice. Since 2022, I’ve been spending the first hour or so each day drawing in my sketchbook and sharing on Instagram. My tools of choice: uglybooks and posca paint pens. I have loads of sketches you can see in this technique. Some of them even ended up in a book. I grew to love this almost purely non-digital process, where, at least for one hour, I didn’t have to touch a screen-based device.
My particular focus in my daily drawing practice last year was in finding a way to bring my love of non-digital techniques to my commercial (and necessarily digital) process. A huge part of this was going back to my Inky roots, cracking open my old pots of India Ink, brushes and nib pens, and even some block printing tools. What I had missed most about these older techniques of mine was the sense of adventure and opportunity for happy accidents that my more controlled digital techniques had all but snuffed out. Illustrating without the opportunity for accidents to happen gives you a hard limit to come up against, and it’s hard to get past it.
04 — A Full Spread Commission in TIME Magazine!
Most of my projects in 2024 were illustrated maps, 4 of which were for highly esteemed editorial clients, including The Independent, The Times of London, and TIME Magazine. My favourite map, personally, was the one of Dalmatia for The Independent, while doing The World’s 100 Best Places to Visit for TIME Magazine was a total bucket list project.
05 — I Started Writing a Book Again
In 2022, a publisher reached out to me about pitching a book to them. Of course, after spending much of 2021 dreaming and working towards this possibility, saying yes was a no-brainer. I was certain that I had a book in me to write, and all I needed was such an opportunity to give me the requisite wings. Fast forward to late 2023, when, after struggling to find my footing in my first book attempt, I made the very difficult but clear decision to quit. I knew a book would be hard, but it should not have been that hard. There’s need a stiff drink hard, and then there’s fetal position on the floor hard, and my first book attempt was of the latter variety. I knew that if I was going to write a book, it would come much more naturally. Not that I expected it to be easy, but if the book was in me, in some sense, it would write itself.
Then, in late September, I was writing a small piece to help people start and keep a daily drawing practice — when it struck me that this was my topic. Within a few hours, I pivoted my piece into a book pitch, sent it to my then ex-editor, and the rest is history (in the making). As of this moment, I am well into the writing process, and so far, it’s going way smoother than the last time. (I’ll write about why it’s smoother another time.)
Bonus Highlight — Sketched Out
In February, Victionary invited me to contribute to a new book they’d be publishing, Sketched Out: Artistic Sketchbooks and Journals Unveiled. It was published and in my hands by September. It was highly rewarding to have work from my daily drawing practice featured here.
3 Challenges of the Year
Where there are probably a dozen key challenges I could list off for you hear, I could probably summarize them in the following three:
01 — Client Work Drying Up
What can I say? The steady stream of client work had all but dried up; it was down to a trickle. By late spring, I was considering what my options were outside of illustration. It’s not that I wasn’t getting any work, but it was markedly scarce. This had been the trend for a couple years by that point.
This took a bite out of my morale. It also had me wondering what I might have done to cause it. From what I could tell from the murmurings on social media, I wasn’t alone in this challenge. We’re still experiencing the fallout from the pandemic; the economy has been in recovery mode, and that means smaller or disappearing budgets for illustration. Generative AI has also been taking a bite out of the bottom end, according to one of my contacts in the industry.
Fortunately, the trend seemed to reverse by the summer, and more work, and work with higher budgets, seem to be making a comeback. I was also grateful for the stability my Skillshare class income.
Moving forward, I am using this challenge as an opportunity to 1) be more grateful for projects I get to work on, and 2) step up my game in self promotion, thinking beyond Instagram.
02 — Doing Lots of Things, Slowly
I do too many things, and they all take way more time than they should. I’m still figuring this one out. I tried to write about it here, but it was taking too long and prevented me from just finishing this review.
03 — The Podcast
I launched Thoughts on Illustration in late 2022 with great excitement, especially after finding my stint as a YouTuber unfruitful. Initially, I invested heavily in the podcast: writing scripts, creating custom art, and publishing in audio and video formats with a small team. I thought this would all figure itself out as it gained moment, but by mid-2023, it became clear this approach wasn’t sustainable.
By Episode 15, I shifted to seasonal breaks. For Season 2, I dropped video, loosened scripts, and made my art more improvised. By Season 3, I streamlined further, replacing custom episode art with a simple typographic system, which saves me hours each publishing cycle.
Despite these adjustments, I still wrestled with whether the podcast was worth the time. In January 2025, I opened up about these doubts in an unscripted Episode 45. The response was hearteningly positive, with many listeners reaching out to share their appreciation. As already mentioned, my Patreon memberships have moved up to third place in terms of income sources. I will be keeping my eye on that number over the next few months of Season 3, and use the summer break to reflect and ultimately decide whether there will be a Season 4.
Goals Met
Gather around, kids! I’m going to share some wisdom: Don’t make resolutions, set goals! The difference is that goals are specific, actionable, and often quantifiable. A resolution, on the other hand, may point to a desire, but lacks the specificity required to obtain it. That is all to say, I set goals for myself each year. In 2024, my goals were relatively few and simple:
Exceed Previous Year’s Income
I met this goal, as explained in the Income Summary section.
More Analogue, Less Digital
I met this goal, as explained in the Highlights section. The next paragraph ties into this goal as well.
Make Lots of Crap
As I mentioned earlier, 2024 was the year of making lots of crap. I wrote directly onto my iMac “Make Lots of Crap”. I also wrote on my 2024 goals page “Make lots of crappy, imperfect work.”
I guess I had crap on the mind. But the point was to be less precious about the output of my creative work. The opposite of this was my increasingly controlled approach to how I presented myself to my various audiences online.
Over the past decade, I’d worked very hard to define a style that I would use for my commercial work, including a consistent colour palette and a minimal go-to brush palette. Though I prided myself on a heavy analogue component in my early work, over time, as my arsenal of tech became more advanced (namely my iPad, Apple Pencil, Procreate, and certain brushes in Photoshop), my process became purely digital.
When I had yet another style crisis, I realized that the thing that made my work harder also made it more fun. Yes, it’s a lot more work, and there’s less control, when incorporating physically-made elements and using my Apple Pencil less, but there’s more opportunity for happy creative accidents. Over the course of the year, by letting go of this need for control and efficiency, I found new ways of bringing back this most joyful part of the creative process; it also resulted in work I am far more connected to, and honestly, more proud of.
Two New Classes
I met this goal. The twist here is that I changed the topic of one of these classes. I had the Inky Maps redo as one goal. Check. But my other class topic was going to be about Gestalt design principles, which would have been a continuation of my Composition for Illustrators class from 2023. See Goals for 2025 below for how I plan on adding this class this year.
Goals Unmet
While it’s not good to self-flagellate, it’s important to review failures and mistakes to see what went wrong. That’s the only way to make them right.
Create a Printed Mailer
There was one goal I feel like I truly failed, and that was to make a letterpress-printed mailer. One of the most important moves I made in the beginning of my freelancing career was making a letterpress stationery set: a postcard and business card, that showcased my work in a tangible way. The cards worked not only in themselves (I used them to woo my first illustration agent), they also won awards and features on blogs and other publications, such as the now-defunct For Print Only.
In the wake of the previous year’s dismal dip in client income—and as many of us started to lose faith in social media as our primary outreach tool—I wanted to reach out directly to clients again in this more tangible, direct way.
I came close but never realized my idea. I’ll keep it close to my chest, though, because there’s a chance I might make it happen this year.
Goals for 2025
As I write this, it’s very late in January, and I still haven’t completed it. (You wouldn’t believe how much time I’ve spent on this). This means I haven’t spent much time formulating my goals either. That’s not to say I don’t have any, but now is the time to give them the honour and form of words:
Finish My Book
Finishing my first self-authored book (currently in the early manuscript phase) will be the biggest push this year, for sure. I have a feeling that I’m in for way more work than I first imagined with this project, but I am determined to get ‘er done.
Increase Income by 15%
This is a modest goal that I think is possible if I am diligent. I plan on adding to my income by continuing to publish and promote my Skillshare classes; by increasing the number my illustration clients this year; and by monetizing my podcast beyond Patreon support.
At least 15 Clients
It will no doubt be a challenge in today’s environment to average more than 1 new illustration gig per month. Smaller jobs come easily but may not be as lucrative as the larger, longer-term projects I prefer. I will be saying yes to more kinds of projects this year to make this happen; and I hope that by reaching out to clients with a physical mailer, I will be increasing the likelihood of achieve this goal. For me, historically, this is a very modest goal — for example, in 2019, I invoiced for 62 projects (recurring clients pay da bills!)
Make and Send a Physical Mailer
See above.
Complete Season 3 of the Podcast
I wrote about my podcast challenges already. I will see Season 3 to its completion in June of this year. At that point I will have a better sense of how close I am to monetization (see below) and otherwise how juicy the squeeze (that is this podcast) truly is.
Monetize the Podcast
I am encouraged and blessed by my supporters on Patreon. I am hoping to expand the earning potential of Thoughts on Illustration by meeting the minimum requirements for monetization on Spotify, as well as finding possible sponsors for the podcast. (Patreon supporters will always enjoy an ad-free experience).
2 New Classes
I have two classes planned this year. One will be a re-boot of either Inky Illustrations, or Odd Bodies. Both of these were highly popular, and both are sorely in need of an update, both in terms of production quality and new insights I’ve gained over the years. The other class will be based on using gestalt principles to seed and develop stronger illustration ideas. I will likely publish these in said order.
Get Back Out There (to Conferences)
I used to say that my work needs a social life; I used to be far more intentional about getting out to illustration and other creative-type conferences. I’ve had so many wonderful opportunities come from being a person among people, and of course, I’ve made some good friends along the way. I think the pandemic changed my enthusiasm for such events, but also getting older and feeling a bit less energetic about socializing and sitting through a mixed bag of talks. This year, I feel more optimistic about conferences in general, and I also think it’s time to get back out there, meeting new people, feeling the awkwardness, having conversations, trading printed postcards.
Complete Illustrations for my Picture Book
I haven’t even mentioned this yet, but I’m in the early stages of illustrating a new picture book with an amazing indie publisher based here in Canada.
Publish This Review!
Believe me, this review is taking a long time, and I lose hope by the day that it will actually happen. But I am committed to pushing this out by the end of January, come hell or high water.
Concluding Remarks
Okay, let’s wrap it up. 2024 was a challenging but encouraging year. Most of my goals were met, and the goal I didn’t meet (printed mailer) is a fun one to get to add to this year’s. I have a very ambitious goals list for 2025, but why the heck not?
My biggest challenge will be the books (both of them), and one of the biggest threats to them will be my temptation to spend too much time on personal projects — things that may serve my creativity in some ways but ultimately steal time from my biggest priorities right now as a business.
On the plus side, I’m already way ahead of myself last year in publishing my FULL annual review in January! Let’s call that 2025 goal already accomplished.
Thank You!
I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who was a part of my year last year (in no particular order); to my clients, to those taking my classes, to the team at Skillshare for your continued support; to my editor and publisher who were willing to take me on again in spite of a choppy and failed first go; to my listeners, viewers and readers; to my coaching clients; to all those who sent me kind and encouraging words in various contexts; to my wife, Amanda, and my girls (love you!); to those who were willing to be my first guests on the podcast; and of course, to God for all his blessings.
If you’ve read to the end, thank you too! I wish you all the best in 2025. It’s already off to a CRAZY start, so please stay well, take care of yourself and your loved ones. Stay kind. Look up at the stars sometimes.
I’m So Bad at Goodbyes
Now I’m just typing because I don’t know how to end these things. So with that, I’m signing off until next year. Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments.
I have to admit that because of our shrinking Canadian dollar and inflation, and because I make mostly USD, I arguably made less money this year. But as a counterpoint, I have been making mostly USD for most of those years, and the final bars you see are based on Canadian dollars.
Loved reading through all of that Tom. I think I’ve felt reassured and hopeful when connecting with other illustrators over the past year. I still get a bit nervous prior to social situations, conferences etc… but I always come away from them feeling full of ideas and inspiration. And, I couldn’t agree more on the enriching power in bringing analogue processes into image creation. Absolutely love following along with your journey
Loved reading this, and forever love your work. Nice to see the CPKC Stadium on your Time map!