A new direction for Things I Have Drawn

Hi everyone.

For those of you who have followed our account for a while, or those who just saw the recent post describing our journey over the past 10 years, I thought I’d come here to share some more details about where Things I Have Drawn finds itself in 2026.

I’ll start by stating the obvious. For artists and designers, the world is very different to just a few years ago.

We’re at a moment in time when only those who truly care about, or are committed to, creativity are seeing, feeling - but perhaps only just beginning to understand - the true impact that the rapid developments in AI could have on their future aspirations as artists. 

Most artists were already grappling with algorithmic changes that meant their hard-won followers no longer saw their work. But now, it seems it’s even harder to cut through.

Against this backdrop, I see 2026 as a turning point for Things I Have Drawn. Ten years ago, it started as a fun little project with my two sons, but over the years, it has become something so much more important to me - basically defining my entire creative output outside of my day job. It is time for Things I Have Drawn to evolve.

This is not because I was one of the many artists whose work was included in Midjourney’s wholesale creative land grab in 2021. And not because, for many years, I’ve witnessed so many social media accounts building followers pretending to be the creators of our pictures. These are factors, but certainly not the important ones.

No, my vision for 2026 is driven by my simple desire to return to my roots as an artist; an art graduate whose main talents were painting and drawing. A realisation that what I really want to do is to do that again - to paint and draw. Like many people, I am not immune to the desire for more human-crafted work. This year, therefore, you will start seeing more of that.

Children’s creativity deserves to be nurtured and celebrated. The future of creativity is uncertain, but what cannot be disputed is how important it is that we encourage our kids to draw. With Things I Have Drawn, I don’t want to turn kids’ fantastic creations into more AI slop. I want to turn them into lovingly crafted paintings and drawings. I want to transform 10-second doodles into human-made works of art to show just how important the source material is.

I want my paint strokes to be visible when studied close up, producing something that AI cannot. I want to take a step back and look at my work knowing I have spent many hours producing these recreations, with every colour, every brush stroke, every flaw, and every detail being a specific decision I have made. If you’re an artist, you know what this is like and why it’s so important.

You might not like my style or, indeed, like how Things I Have Drawn is changing. I may lose followers, or I may gain them - I don’t know. But doing something I love, and am passionate about, is so much more important than allowing my work to be dictated by fickle and nebulous algorithms designed to both addict and frustrate in seemingly equal measure.

The need for us to celebrate our kids' creativity is much bigger than me. There are many institutions, charities, schools and individuals who are battling to keep creativity alive - particularly creativity amongst young people. I have always said I can only scratch the surface of this huge challenge ahead of us. But that is what I intend to at least try to do.

With it, you will see more of me. I was resistant at first, but the reality is that for any artist or designer to be successful these days, they have to be seen more. My posts take many hours to create, so I’ll be sharing more work-in-progress posts, behind-the-scenes content, and perhaps more about my inspiration. And I’ll also learn from others - maybe even showcasing other people’s brilliant work alongside my own.

For anyone worried that you’ll no longer see new Photoshopped creations on my Instagram feed, don’t worry, I’ll continue producing them when I can. But the truth is that many of my followers aren’t seeing my posts anyway. So, painting and drawing will be my main focus. And that is what you will see more of. And I hope that this blog post will put a stake in the ground and motivate me to just get on with it. 

I’d like to thank everyone so much for their support over the years. You have made Things I Have Drawn what it is today. But it’s time to get serious. It’s time to get stuck into the art.

Thank you again.

With my very best wishes to you all, Tom.