Ep.70: Storytelling for artists with Tom Booth

Tom is amazing illustrator, author, and art director originally from Pennsylvania, now living and working in New York City!

He has a degree in history and studio art and since 2008 he has been working for Scholastic, the publisher of educational kids literature in various roles, the latest one being an Art Director. On the side, he has worked with publishers like Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Workman Publishing, and Nicktoons.

He published his first children’s books “Derek Jeter Presents Night at the Stadium” and “Who Wins?”  in 2016 and in the summer of 2017 he published his latest book “Don’t blink”, inspired by his “girl & tortoise”  illustration which was part of the  #inktober2014 challenge.

Art Side of Life Newsletter

Get in touch with Tom

• Website: http://www.tom-booth.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomwilltell/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/talltomstales

Key Takeaways

“Do what you can’t. Focus on conquering that one thing you are afraid of!”

• Tom thinks that everything bad can be for something good: “You can just accept it, that’s a bad day and do nothing about it or you can say ‘Life’s too short, snap out of it, get back into the groove”. This happened to him back in 2014 when he was in the funk around the period when #inktober2014 started. He decided just to draw and some of the #inktober stuff became seeds for his future books and ideas!
• Tom advises, when approaching publishers, have a manuscript, sample illustrations and paragraph summary what the story is about with you!
• When working in a team, you have to choose your battles. For example, there have been moments when Tom felt strongly about characters and his ideas, and he chose to fight for it, and in the end, it turned out great. Always be willing to accept others ideas, but if you know your idea will work, because of A-B-C-D, then defend it
• What Tom wishes he knew before starting his art career is not to get too tied to a particular idea. You may have amazing ideas, but you may not have enough experience to comprehend them yet … you need to let go for a while, don’t force it, be patient!

Resources mentioned

Note: some of the resources below may be affiliate links, meaning I get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

• Tom’s books
  • Don’t Blink
  • Who Wins?: 100 Historical Figures Go Head-to-Head and You Decide the Winner!
  • Derek Jeter Presents Night at the Stadium
• Publisher where Tom works: Scholastic
• Challenges where Tom participates regularly: #inktober (each October); #childhoodweek (1x per quarter)
• Digital tools:
  • Wacom Cintiq + Adobe Photoshop
  • iPad Pro with Apple Pencil and ProCreate App – flexible and forgiving, but don’t get too reliant on it
• Art tools: Ink & gouache

Thanks for Watching and Listening!

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Special thanks to Tom for joining me today. See you next time!

Art Side of Life Newsletter

All artworks by Tom Booth, used with permission