Alphabetical . 2005 . 2006 . 2007

Artist Bio

Bill Thomas

(Boulder, CO)

Illustrator

...his website

Bio: An illustrator/toy designer who moved to Boulder, Colorado from Brooklyn, New York in '99. For most of the nineties, he designed cute, lovable toys for Gund and Tyco, including Curious George, Winnie the Pooh, and Sesame Street characters during the fat years of Tickle Me Elmo.

When he became tired of looking at Pooh's smug face, he turned to magazine illustration. Bill's illustrations have appeared in Teen, CosmoGirl!, Tigerbeat, Maxim, FHM, Cosmopolitan, and many other national publications. He recommends that if you ever illustrate for Maxim magazine, do not tell your grandmother because she might actually buy a copy and you'll have to explain yourself.

You can also find Bill's work on Celestial Seasonings' tea boxes, Clear Channel Radio CDs, restaurant menus, and book jackets. He also won the Denver Comic Arts Festival in 2001 and 2002.

Bill's father forbade him from even thinking of going to art school, so he became a professional artist largely out of spite. Through no faultof his own, he wound up at a state college in New Jersey that has twice been the subject of ridicule on "The Sopranos." His comics published in the college humor magazine won numerous Columbia Scholastic Press Awards.

In 1991 he received a B.A. in film after writing and directing "Zoinks," an award-winning live-action Scooby Doo film—back when it was still a clever idea.

Bill has continued to write and direct short films, which usually parody Hollywood blockbusters and star his pets and toys. His most recent production, "The Apes of Wrath," a spoof on "The Planet of the Apes," can be viewed at www.ifilm.com.

He works in equal amounts pen and ink and Adobe Illustrator. In the future, he plans to work in animation, continue his magazine work, and have a robot butler.

Words for his fans: Look out for my children’s book “No, Virginia, There Is No God.” I’m still looking for a publisher.