Creatives with Bills - Founder Series
🔥 5 Key Takeaways
Art is Labor: Isaiah’s mentor taught him, “Art is blue-collar work.” Mastery comes from daily effort, not divine inspiration.
Joy in the Process: He learned to “fall in love with mark-making,” not just the final result.
Community vs. Collaboration: Community inspires, but collaboration accelerates.
Trifoo Was Born from Obsession: Isaiah’s cartoon, Trifoo the Wandering Mage, emerged from a doodle and now boasts a full first season and a growing production team.
Creativity Is Identity: “I create because I have to,” Isaiah says. It’s not a career choice—it’s who he is.
The Artist’s Origin Story
Isaiah didn’t grow up thinking of himself as a capital-A Artist. But he had a wild, internal world—narratives, characters, conflicts—that demanded to be rendered. Whether it was toys waging war in his room or a school essay suggesting we toss our trash into volcanoes, storytelling was always there.
Then came a pivotal moment in college: a drawing class with professor Scott Kolbo. “He told me he just loved making marks,” Isaiah remembers, “and that art wasn’t elite. It was labor. Daily labor.” That moment cracked something open in him—and it became the seed of a flourishing creative passion … and the seed of Creatives with Bills.
The Power of Process
As a kid, he quit drawing because his raptors didn’t look like the book’s. Now? He draws every day. “I had to rewire my brain,” he says, “to love the doing, not just the outcome.”
On Community and Collaboration
There’s a difference between being surrounded by inspiring creatives (community) and building something with them (collaboration). Working with friend and animator Luke brought Trifoo to life. “We storyboarded a whole episode in a month,” Isaiah says, “and now it’s real.”
What Creatives with Bills Means to Isaiah
Gathering serious creatives with full lives around a shared fire
Demystifying art and redefining success
Helping people find joy in the doing, not just the done
🎨 Submit your creative work or join the movement at: creativeswithbills.substack.com/subscribe
✉️ Want to share your story? Reach out to Johnny at johnny@superpowerquest.com
Concept Art for TRIFOO
Episode Credits
Co-Host: Johnny Levy
Co-Host & Editor: Isaiah Simpson
Music: "olive3.wav" by Nicco Gulie
Interstitial Design: Isaiah Simpson
Find Us on Socials!
Johnny's LinkedIn: Johnny Levy
Isaiah's Instagram: @itjsart
Isaiah's LinkedIn: Isaiah Simpson
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