About Me -
I’m a father of two, husband of one and am obsessed with being close to the ocean.
I got my degree from Ringling College of Art & Design where I assumed I’d move to NYC and be an editorial and book illustrator. But that all changed when Disney came to our school looking for artists who could capture drawings of the human figure with speed and efficiency.
This began my long career at Disney where I had a hand in creating some of the classics: The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and Pocahontas. I quickly gravitated to the story department which is where the whole ‘speed and efficiency’ thing comes in.
After 13 years in the movie business, I was ready for a change. My wife Stephanie and I decided to raise our kids in a quiet beachside town. We found Vero Beach.
I lived an artist's dream for a while. I did an equal mixture illustrating children's books for publishers and editorial assignments for magazines. It was all great until the economy took a turn for the worse in 2005.
Luckily, I landed a story position at Blue Sky Studios, which is by far one of the best studios to work for if you're a storyboard artist. Here I worked with the teams and received credit on Ice Age 4, Rio, and Epic.
I learned the main difference between 'doughnut day' and 'bagel day' is that one of these causes major sugar crashes.
An opportunity I couldn't refuse came along that was disguised as a nightmare waiting to happen.
Digital Domain set up shop in Florida, and I was part of the founding crew. What came fast, disintegrated even faster. Nearly 400 people were laid off on the same day.
I picked myself up and got back in the game. I've learned that being an entrepreneur means you need to continually find ways to reinvent yourself.
About the Business
Today, Tom LaBaff Studios serves two client bases: book publishing and storyboards for the movie/advertising niche. And I've done over 50 titles in young fiction and non-fiction, for publishers like Scholastic, Pearson, Wiley, Enslow, IDW, and more.
On the movie side, I'm currently working for Illumination Entertainment. Some other recent productions I have credit on are Ferdinand the Bull for Blue Sky Studios, Beast of Burden for Huhu Studios in NZ, and Long Shot for EA's John Madden game. More credits below!
Tom LaBaff Studios is based in downtown Vero Beach, Florida.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading this. If you have any questions, message me on Facebook or send an email!
Thanks!
Tom
Publishing:
Scholastic
Pearsons
Wall Street Journal
School Library Journal
Field & Stream
Time Out Chicago
Wine Spectator
Enslow Publishing
Lark/Sterling
Boston Business Journal
Florida Trend Magazine
Age of Learning
Hardrock Cafe
Zimmerman
YPB&R
Hasbro
Ship Sticks
Applied Industrial Technologies
Photo Booth Options
Queensberry
Film work:
Ferdinand the Bull - Wiki
Rio - Wiki
Epic - Wiki
Ice Age -Wiki
Monster Trucks - Wiki
Beasts of Burden - Wiki
Electronic Arts - Wiki
Paramount
Walt Disney
Fox
Blue Sky
Rovio
HuHu
