Meet Philip Turncliff of Phillistrations

Today we’d like to introduce you to Philip Turncliff.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Philip. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
From an early age, I heard my teachers tell my dad, “You need to get your child tested.” I was a wild child with a lot of behavioral issues, especially social. I didn’t know it then, but I had severe ADHD, and growing up with an undiagnosed learning disorder would be a constant invisible challenge.

Having ADHD made it very, very difficult for me to deal with other kids, and I would spend a lot of time by myself. So I drew. My pencils and book of loose-leaf sketches kept me company. Dragons were my favorite things to draw. I was often made fun of for drawing them, but I liked how fierce they were. They defied gender somehow and kept me thinking that maybe I could grow up to be cool, too.

I think my teachers picked up on how important drawing was because there was an unspoken rule that “Hey, Phil gets to draw during class, okay?” When I was drawing, it was easy to deal with. If you took my book away, I became an unruly mess. There was at least one occasion where a more seasoned teacher rescued my book from a new one to get me to calm down.

Something about listening to a lecture while drawing was magical for my ADHD brain too, because on the occasion I’d look like I was a little too into my drawing, a teacher would call on me- and I would always be able to answer the question. I didn’t understand fancy terms like “coping mechanism” at the time, but that’s what drawing was for me.

A lot of people make “ooh, SHINY!” jokes about ADHD, but having ADHD for real is a nightmare. Imagine trying to listen to someone talk, or go to sleep, or read a book, but someone’s just loudly blasting your least favorite music at full blast. That’s kind of what it’s like… And it wasn’t until I had started working a desk job, unable to draw, that I finally sought a diagnosis.

The connection between my recent difficulties with dealing with life’s problems and the loss of my ability to just draw through stuff was obvious, so I started trying to work drawing into my day job. I was graciously allowed the opportunity to draw cartoons for e-vites for office birthday parties, and soon after, given the chance to make designs for internal birthday cards.

Birthday cards evolved into illustrations for training material, which evolved into vector card designs, which became an avenue for small commissions. Then, miraculously, that turned into an opportunity to design toys, decorations, and party favors for an Amazon company. Drawing had become my job- and while I still live with ADHD, it’s a little less of a struggle now.

I still draw dragons, by the way. It’s almost exclusively what I draw for fun. I’ve also made several dragons during my tenure as a product designer- much to the amusement of those who used to make fun of me for drawing them.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Though shaping my career to focus on drawing has really helped me live with ADHD, it’s not perfect- some days can still be unbearably filled with brain chatter or drive me wild with jitters. It’s all really difficult to explain in a professional setting.

On top of that, I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder. I also came out as transgender in college. Turns out the desire to hunt for dragon shirts in the boy’s section of the local Marshall’s wasn’t purely because I loved dragons!

When you have a mental illness or disability, it kind of stunts your forward momentum compared to someone who doesn’t deal with these things. I’ve heard the same thing said about coming out as a member of the LGBTQA+ community, too.

It has nothing to do with being less intelligent, worthy, or capable than your cisgender, heterosexual, and neurotypical friends… it’s more because you have to spend extra time figuring all that stuff out on top of general life things. You can kind of “fall behind” compared to the rest of your generation.

It’s been a tough road figuring out how to make space in my life for drawing. I’m thankful for all the opportunities I was given to shape my career the way it is. I can’t imagine myself doing anything else!

In fact, I think ADHD has sort of helped me tap into a love for and appreciation of art in a way that’s unique. It’s my anxiety disorders and my trans-ness have certainly helped me think outside the box and create designs that speak to a wider variety of people.

After all, design is just creative problem solving, and who else better to solve those problems than someone who has to deal with problems or just plain ol’ lack of representation?

Phillistrations – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My specialty is a digital illustration. I’ve spent many years shaping my style to be kid-friendly while not losing its unique identity. I am known for appealing illustrations, bright colors, and heartfelt designs. When I design toys or any children’s media, I try to imagine something I would have adored playing with as a kid. Character design is one of my favorite things in the world- especially critters!

I didn’t really set out to do much more than make the best stuff I could, but the response has been awesome! So far, I’ve produced 15 Best-Selling products on Amazon, several of which have topped the chart multiple years in a row.

What really makes my illustrations unique, I think, is that it’s just as easy to make them in vector as it is in raster- that is, my illustration style allows me to easily make finished artwork in Adobe Illustrator. You could blow them up as big as a billboard and never lose the image quality!

On the other hand, my hand-drawn digital work seems to surprise people. I had a lot of folks asking if my artwork was done in Illustrator before I actually started doing them in Illustrator. They always seemed shocked that my line work was all done by hand!

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were just starting out?
I don’t know if I would have done anything differently… I’m pretty happy where I am now and am really hoping to continue learning and growing both on and off the clock.

I’m looking forward to continuing to learn the ins and outs of product design and have hopes of one day launching my own company! For now, I am content to entertain people with colorful dragons and fantastical critters.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://phillistrations.wixsite.com/portfolio
• Instagram: @phillistrations
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phillistrations/
• Twitter: twitter.com/phillistrations

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