Artist of the Month

Tomlabadia of Fort Lauderdale, FL

My name is Thomas LaBadia, I am an art director for a South Florida advertising agency, a digital artist/illustrator, a curator and co-publisher of Digitalis Art Magazine. If I were to give myself just one title, it would just be artist. I live and breathe art and it encompasses everything I do.

I am happiest when I am working on something creative. Music and art have been an integral part of my life from when I was just a small child. My mother once said that I had been given all the toys in the world but most were never even taken out of the box. All I wanted was crayons. I guess I just grew up and traded my crayons for a mouse and several flat screen monitors.


I am often asked 'why digital art?'

I knew I wanted to explore digital art the moment I got my first computer. What I didn't know was that my entire career path would change almost instantaneously.

I spent every waking hour learning how to do things I never thought were possible. Within 6 months I was working as a full time graphic artist at a small local magazine. While I had dabbled in traditional art techniques my entire life, it had always been a struggle for me to technically achieve my goal. It was not that way with digital art, although there is still a lot to learn, it all came very quickly and easily for me.

Moving from graphic design to digital illustration was just a natural progression for me. Although the marketing design I do for other people pays the bills, it's clearly not the most creative thing to work on. Few corporations request illustrations of "Barbie-like" vampires in their marketing collateral. That is where my digital art comes in. I love having no limitations and being able to express myself fluently without having to color in between the lines.

Please visit Tom's page to check out more photos, info & comments are always welcomed :) http://creativesouls.ning.com/profile/tomlabadia