Dare to ask for what you want - Dan Woodger

Dan Woodger — freelance illustrator, animation director, and returning Daring Forever guest — joins Radim to unpack Run London Draw London, the project he built alongside training for this year's London Marathon. ~Starting from a blank canvas in January, Dan invited people to donate £5 to add a hand-drawn character to a sprawling crowd-scene illustration of the marathon route, turning strangers, club runners, and eventually Paula Radcliffe, pro athletes, and podcast hosts into part of the artwork. The conversation ranges across the collision of running and illustration, the frustration of NDA'd client work going unseen, the highs and lows of a data-obsessed relationship with Strava, and the sheer force of just asking for what you want. It closes on marathon day itself — cramp, crowd energy, and a mid-race bottle of water from Mo Farah — and on what comes next for the project.TakeawaysThe project raised over £5,000 for Oxfam, well past the initial £2,000 target, entirely self-funded and self-runDan built the crowd scene in public on Instagram, showing the process rather than only the finished piece, as a deliberate response to AI in the industryTwo hundred characters were needed to fill the scene — a number he set himself before a single donation came inGetting Paula Radcliffe, Mo Farah, pro athlete Julia Paternain, and the Ellis James and John Robins podcast involved all came from cold, slightly odd, direct asksFrustration with NDA'd client work — and the resulting quiet in his inbox — was part of what pushed him to make something fully his ownRunning and illustration turned out to share the same trap: comparing your own work-in-progress to everyone else's highlight reelOn race day, cramp hit from 30K onward, but the crowd — and strangers recognising their own drawn characters — carried him throughHe's already thinking about a second edition, ideally with a brand or sponsor covering the printing and shipping costs he covered out of pocket this time Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinicdaringcreativity.com |  [email protected] by Radim Malinic Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFcFree audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobookBook bundles  https://novemberuniverse.co.ukLux Coffee Co. https://luxcoffee.co.uk/  (Use: PODCAST for 15% off)November Universe https://novemberuniverse.co.uk (Use: PODCAST for 10% off)