About Me -                                                                   

 

I’m a father of two, husband of one and am obsessed with being close to the ocean.  

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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.  

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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

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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 the international animation studio, Sun Creature based in Denmark.

 

Some other recent productions: CBS's Our Cartoon President produced by Stephen Colbert. Silk Road Rally from Prime Focus/ ReDefine Montreal, Wishdragon from Titmouse/ Ferdinand the Bull for Blue Sky Studios, Ella Bella Bingo, Mosley for Huhu Studios in NZ, Electronic Arts, and more credits below.
  
Tom LaBaff Studios is based in downtown Vero Beach, Florida.

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That's it for now.  Thanks for reading this. If you have any questions, message me on Facebook or send an email.

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Thanks!

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Tom

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Film work:

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CBS Our Cartoon President - Wiki

Prime Focus - Silk Road Rally - Wiki

Ella Bella Bingo - Wiki

Titmouse/Wishdragon - Wiki

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

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Publishing:

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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

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