Being a Cartoonist for the New Yorker | Interview with Tom Toro

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Thoughts on Illustration

Tom Froese

68 episodes

6 days ago

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!

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Being a Cartoonist for the New Yorker | Interview with Tom Toro

Thoughts on Illustration

1 hour 2 minutes 4 seconds

2 weeks ago

Being a Cartoonist for the New Yorker | Interview with Tom Toro

How does one become a professional cartoonist? In this episode, I talk with New Yorker cartoonist Tom Toro, whose sharp wit clever drawings have kept readers laughing (and thinking) for more than fifteen years.

Toro’s debut book, And to Think We Started as a Book Club (out now from Simon & Schuster), gathers the best of his cartoons from over a decade and a half at The New Yorker. In our conversation, we dig into the realities of professional cartooning — from the weekly grind of submissions and rejection, to the balance between writing and drawing, and the creative fire that keeps artists like Tom doing it anyway.

🙏 Thank you to all paid supporters on Patreon — without your support, this would be an expensive hobby. Thank you!

🟢 Listen on Spotify | 🟣 Listen on Apple Podcasts | 🔴 Listen/Watch on YouTube

Cover of And to Think We Started as a Book Club …

IN THIS EPISODE

What it’s really like to be a New Yorker cartoonist — and why rejection is part of the job

How the relationship between writing and drawing defines the cartoon form

The secret to making a success New Yorker-worthy cartoon

Why embracing imperfection keeps art alive

How Tom feels about his body of work from the past 15 years

SHOW LINKS

Tom Toro’s Website — https://www.tomtoro.com

Tom Toro on Instagram — www.instagram.com/tbtoro

📕 And to Think We Started as a Book Club (Simon & Schuster, Oct 7 2025) — https://publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/book/and-to-think-we-started-as-a-book-club/

SLO-FI Illustrations (my new Skillshare class) — GET 30 DAYS FREE WHEN USING THIS LINK — https://skl.sh/4nbo3KT

📗 Drawing is Important — https://geni.us/DrawingisImportant

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

You can show your appreciation for the Thoughts on Illustration podcast by:

Sharing with your friends on social media

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Leaving a review on Apple Podcasts

Becoming a paid supporter on Patreon — patreon.com/tomfroese

FIND ME ELSEWHERE

Work and Classes — http://www.tomfroese.com

Instagram — http://www.instagram.com/mrtomfroese

Daily Drawings — http://www.instagram.com/drawingisimportant

CREDITS

Music and cues by Mark Allan Falk — http://linktr.ee/semiathletic

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