We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tom DesLongchamp a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tom, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I am very happy as an artist, but it comes with complicated moments for sure. For the last 10 years I have worked for myself. Prior to that, I was at an ad agency for 3 years and an e-card software company for 4 years. Having a regular job drove me crazy, because I always had to be in the office. It felt like a waste of time when things were slow. I kept myself sane by working on small projects of my own while in the office. I wished so badly that I could quit and just do my own thing, but I had school loans and was saving to buy a house some day, so it felt irresponsible.

I think I was right to stick with my first jobs those 7 years, because I wasn’t ready to be on my own. When I did finally switch to full-time freelancing, it was exciting and also emotionally bumpy having that much freedom suddenly. I worked hard on projects for clients, and enjoyed the flexibility of my use of space/time, but as the years went by, I got more and more antsy about wanting to do even MORE of my own work. That taste of freedom only made me want more freedom!

This culminated in 2017 after a very intense job that had me working 12-16 hour days every day for 4 months. It was very financially lucrative, but I was burned out, and it hurt my marriage. After that, I decided to embrace a future of doing more of my own work, even if it meant less money.

I am constantly making and experimenting. I do so many different kinds of work, and there are times I get overwhelmed with the freedom still. No one tells me what I should be focusing on. There can be periods where I am fearful and scared that I am not focusing enough. It’s like being in the middle of an empty stadium and trying to find the perfect seat. There’s no game happening and no people! How am I supposed to know where to sit?! It all feels lonely. It’s during those times I’ve thought about “what if I had a normal job again?” It brings a slightly warm feeling to think of all the boring moments in an office that you have to sit through. When pressure is imposed, an artist will find a way to evade responsibility. I lived in my mind and in my sketchbook. Ideas were always happening.. even if I was stuck at the office or in a meeting.

Now that I work on my own, I don’t get these boring moments as much. Also, no “down” time, because I don’t commute. I’ve only recently noticed that I need those kinds of moments, and I’ve been trying to make opportunities for them. It’s why yard work feels good to me. I need to not be focused hard on a problem for a bit, so my mind can sit. The volume of the inner low-lying mental chatter starts to raise when you’re focused on something simple/repetitive.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My first distinctive vocation would be “animator.” I’ve been animating and doing animation gigs since I was 14 years old. I started with Macromedia Flash in 2000, and I still work with the same program today (although it’s now called Adobe Animate). I graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in Film/Animation/Video. I’ve done a lot of animated commercial work, but one of my favorites is my TacoBell.com 404 page animation, which is still up today. It’s a running taco that trips and spills his contents and gets back up again. My work has gone viral on reddit several times. Other clients include Twitch, Wallstreet Journal and Asthmatic Kitty Records.

Side career #2 is portrait artist. I carried a sketchbook in my pocket since college, and constantly drew people around me, but the work started getting more attention when I developed a unique ink and fingerprint technique in 2014. I put ink on my fingertips and use paper stencils to help control ink placement onto the paper. They look like watercolor paintings, but with subtle fingerprint textures and smudges. I had an art show in Seattle in 2015, and have made hundreds of pieces since. I also do commissions.

Side career #3 is digital puppeteer. In my early Flash animation days, I learned to create interactive animations and games, so as live-streaming became a thing in 2018 or so, I started building live-animated digital puppet characters. Our channel is called Cartoon Mess LIVE, and we perform live shows on Twitch.tv/tomthinks with all sorts of whimsical and creative characters. I built my own system, which I control with my hands. I have 33k followers on Twitch and it is my main source of income these days. I was also hired by Twitch to design and perform a new character (Twitch Fairy Modmother) for their brand at the opening ceremonies of TwitchCon 2022 in San Diego. My main character “Duck” has made frequent appearances on Tim Heidecker’s Office Hours Live show and spoke live with actors/comedians such as Jack Black, Patton Oswalt and Dr. Demento.

Side career #4 is musician under the name Dynamote. I’ve made so much music over the past 2o years, and shared it on my livestreams, but I’m only recently releasing music. I have shared little animated music videos on my social media accounts. My debut album releases May 30th on streaming services.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Early in my portrait-making career, I would screenshot any selfies that my friends posted on social media. I called it selfie-poaching. My phone would have all these images of moments that caught my eye, so when I wondered what to draw, I’d pick one. I’d make a post about it and tag them, so it was a total surprise and 98% of the time they love the artwork, and share it, so that was a fun way to grow on Instagram, but it’s fairly specific to portraiture.

In general, I just recommend posting what you’re genuinely passionate about. Feeding the content machine will lead to burn out, so you have to make sure you’re doing the work that’s most important to you. When you can!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Everyone is creative. Everyone gets joy out of a certain kind of playfulness. Sometimes I hear people who aren’t visual artists say “I wish I could draw!” I try to encourage them to try any medium, and to take note what they enjoy about the process, because if they truly enjoy something about it, it will enable them to keep trying. Sometimes folks judge their attempts for not looking like “official” art or something, but art can literally be anything that is fun for you to make. No one else has to like it or approve, but I do think if you’re passionate about it–you can eventually find others who recognize it too. I do look at art as a practice and not a job though. Some folks can’t separate that in their minds and are fixated on commercial success as the only official version of being an artist. I’ve found you can do a weird combo of both. Making because you enjoy and hoping you are appreciated/compensated for it. Also, you don’t have to quit your job to start. Whatever drives you crazy (your job) will push you toward things you love and enjoy, so it can be uncomfortable to juggle both, but art emerges in the cracks of life, and you can feed those little plants water and their roots will start breaking the concrete eventually.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tomthinks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomthinks
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tomthinks
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thismystery
• Other: https://dynamote.bandcamp.com

  Cartoon Mess LIVE links:
  https://www.instagram.com/cartoonmesslive
  https://www.youtube.com/cartoonmesslive

Image Credits

Portrait of me with the long arms in LA was styled/taken by Scott Garrison http://pskaught.com and I have permission to share/use.