Meet Eliza Dumas

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eliza Dumas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eliza below.

Eliza, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

Creating with kindness toward myself is what keeps my creativity alive. I make my best work when I let myself actually enjoy the process, not just chase a perfect result—because those are two totally different things. Every creative I know struggles with self-criticism (myself included), and a few years ago, I started keeping a photo of Little Eliza—me as a kid—in my studio as a reminder. When I catch myself thinking something harsh, I look at her and ask, “Would I say that to her?” Of course not. She made things with nothing but pink and joy, not worrying if it was good or impressive. That’s what I try to come back to. Because when I let go of the pressure to make something great and just focus on making something at all, everything shifts. It becomes fun again. I stop fixating, and the work feels more like play—and weirdly, that’s when the best stuff usually happens.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m Eliza Dumas, a freelance illustrator, visual artist, and small business owner based in northern New Jersey. I’ve always been a creative person—my early years were steeped in the performing arts, but in 2021, I shifted my focus to visual art as a way to process emotions and reconnect with myself. What began as a form of healing quickly turned into a passion, and eventually a business. Since then, I’ve been building the colorful and slightly offbeat world of Eliza Duudles.

My work is playful, a little weird (in the best way), and often features frogs, bugs, mushrooms, and other creatures with big goofy teeth. I’m really drawn to the small, overlooked parts of nature, and I love imagining how they might live if they had personalities of their own. There’s a strong sense of childlike wonder in my art—soft colors, tiny details, and a little humor in every piece. It’s important to me that the world I’m building feels gentle, a bit silly, and very alive.

I sell stationery, greeting cards, stickers, prints, and original paintings, and I’m slowly expanding into larger works, textile pieces like silk scarves, and (maybe soon!) animation. I also recently did my first gallery show, The Little Things, which featured tiny creatures with big teeth and even bigger personalities.

Right now, I’m focusing on expanding my product line to reflect the characters I’ve been developing over time—especially my toothy friends and bug men. I’m also preparing for my first wholesale catalog and working on a portfolio page for my website to better showcase past commissions and personal work.

Ultimately, I hope people feel a sense of comfort, joy, and weird little delight when they interact with my art. It’s a world that doesn’t take itself too seriously—and that’s what makes it special.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Three qualities that immediately come to mind in terms of being impactful on my artistic journey are these:

Knowing how to play
Knowing when it is time to rest
And knowing when discipline is needed

I discussed this more in depth in the previous question about creativity, but a huge part of being a creative is knowing how to play. And in my personal experience, I had to re-teach myself how to play as an adult and learn how to have fun and create without judgment and expectation. Something that helped a lot was befriending other creatives and illustrators my age—because usually people who are also creative struggle with a lot of the same issues and can relate to the same things. So I felt very seen, and still feel very seen, having friends who struggle with self-judgment and creation. I don’t want to come off as preachy, and I’m not perfect. But having a healthy reminder in the back of your brain truly goes miles.

The next important piece is knowing when it’s time to rest. I have an unfortunate tendency to burn myself out—not always on purpose, but often because I get so excited to create. My brain will flood with a million ideas and this intense drive to bring them all to life, and in that frenzy, I sometimes forget to slow down. Other times, I deliberately ignore the need to rest because I just want to keep making. Over the years, though, I’ve gotten better at recognizing the signs of burnout and learning when to pause.
A good example is last year—I participated in a ton of art events, traveling with my products, setting up full-day booths, and selling my work. It was incredibly fun and fulfilling, but by the end of the year, I was completely spent. I’m so grateful I got to do all of it, but I’ve decided that 2025 is going to be a slower year. I’ll still be part of some events, but I’m not going to push myself as hard. What I’ve learned is that rest isn’t just about stopping when you’re exhausted—it’s about giving yourself space regularly, even in small ways, to reset. And funny enough, when I actually allow myself to rest, the creative spark almost always comes back stronger.

The third piece, which might sound a little contradictory to the first two, is knowing when discipline is needed. There’s a common misconception that being an artist means you’re just creative all the time—that it’s this whimsical, carefree job where you play pretend all day. Newsflash: it’s not like that. Being a freelance artist is more than a full-time job. It takes a ton of self-discipline. But the key is not to be cruel about it—discipline doesn’t mean being harsh with yourself.
For me, discipline often looks like choosing the harder thing, even when I don’t feel like it. If I have a deadline, I’ll set an early alarm, get up, and finish the project instead of sleeping in. And I always feel better for it. It’s not always the most exciting option in the moment, but it feels like a real accomplishment at the end of the day. I still struggle with this, of course, but learning how to gently hold yourself accountable is a huge part of sustaining a creative life.

I’m still early in practicing all of these myself, but here’s what I’d tell anyone just starting out:

You’re not perfect—no one is, so let go of judgment while you create. I promise you’ll have more fun and probably love what you end up making.

Please, please, please allow yourself to rest—not just when you’re exhausted, but in small, daily moments free from distraction. You’ll feel so much better.

And when it comes to discipline, remember that doing the hard thing—meeting a deadline, pushing through distractions—might not feel right in the moment, but it always feels better afterward. You won’t regret making that choice.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I think it’s important to improve in areas where you’re weaker in order to grow as a whole. This kind of ties into the idea of leaving your comfort zone. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with doubling down on what you’re already great at—especially if you love it—but for me, I want to thrive at a bunch of different things. I’m always trying to push myself to try new mediums and learn new things, even though, to be honest, I usually feel pretty hesitant at first. I like routine. I don’t love change. I get intimidated easily when I’m learning something new—but every time I push myself, I end up feeling better for it. I’ve found that learning something new often ends up supporting what I’m already good at.

For example, I love making YouTube videos, but I’m in no way an excellent editor. I struggle with it a lot—especially staying focused while editing or figuring out the technical stuff. But each time I do it, I get a little better. And the more I improve, the more I’m able to support my visual work and reach new people with it. So to me, expanding your skill set and becoming a more well-rounded creative just feels like the better option.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Image Credit: © Eliza Dumas, 2025
All photos were taken by myself.

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