Tom Fee began drawing when he was nine years old, and kept his imaginative spirit as he grew into adulthood. He received his BFA in advertising design at the University of North Texas. Afterward, he became an art director, designer, and creative director for several design studios in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It was in the 1990s that he decided to go independent and open Tom Fee Graphic Design, where he had continued working as an illustrator for over twenty-five years. Before working on Reedy’s Monkey Mind Tales® book series, he lent his talents to a variety of children’s books including “A Tree Full Of Animals,” “The King of Camelot,” and “Revenge of The Snowman,” by R. L. Stine.
Reedy was introduced to Fee shortly after giving up on finding an illustrator. Reedy had a vision of what he wanted his illustrations to look like, and he had spent two years trying to bring the book to life with several illustrators, one of which had almost illustrated the entire book. But no one seemed able to understand the vision that Reedy was trying to create with his work.
After talking to Fee, and working through a few sketches, Reedy believed he had found someone that “got him.” Together they spent a year designing illustrations for the first book, Tales For Your Monkey’s Mind. They created a specific look for the book, with a nod toward the black and white illustrations of the late 19th century. Their work then paid off as the illustrations were met with glowing reviews, having captured the feeling Reedy was trying to create with his work.
Reedy and Fee spent another year illustrating More Tales For Your Monkey’s Mind, which had a similar look to the first book, but with more detail. Then, with Tales From Bombast’s Bookshelf, they spent two and a half years creating fifty illustrations that went above and beyond anything they had done previously. To do this they researched hundreds of children’s books from the late 1800s and early 1900s, while also researching different ways to create effects using white on black etching. In their final book, Tales For-Tra-La-La Day, they pushed the art even further, leaving reviewers saying the illustrations “are fascinating and add another dimension to each story,” “capture the essence of the scene he depicts and delight a young reader’s eyes,” “are magnificently detailed and evocative, providing moody silhouetted pairings for Reedy’s varied and inventive storytelling,” and are “intricate black-and-white sketches with wood-grain textures. In them, human beings appear as blackened storybook shadows, befitting the mysterious whimsy of the tales they accompany.”
Reedy couldn’t be more grateful for the time Tom put into these illustrations, which Tom has said were a labor of love, with Tra-La-La Day being his opus.
Fee continues to work as an illustrator in Dallas, Texas and can be found at www.tomfeecreats.com
You can also learn more about Tom’s work on the Monkey Mind Tales® Book Series by watching the “Book Launch Party” video.
