After graduating in 1977 from the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Thomas Blackshear worked for a year at Hallmark in Kansas City, Missouri. While there, he met famous illustrator Mark English and became his apprentice for several months. By 1980, Thomas was working as head illustrator for Godbold/Richter Studio. He became a freelance illustrator in 1982 and has been self-employed ever since.

Known for his dramatic lighting and sensitivity to mood, Blackshear has produced illustrations for advertising, books, calendars, collector plates, greeting cards, magazines, postage stamps, and national posters. His clients range from Disney Pictures, Lucasfilm, and Universal Studios to International Wildlife and National Geographic magazines. He has illustrated thirty United States postage stamps and a commemorative stamp book titled I Have a Dream. Blackshear also designed and executed illustrations for four collector plate series for Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is known for his best-selling Christian prints produced for DaySpring Masterpiece Collection.

In 1995, he created “Ebony Visions” which has been the number-one-selling black figurine collectible in the United States for the past twenty years. He won “Artist of the Year” in 1999 for that line from the National Association of Limited Edition Dealers and the prestigious “International Collectible Artist of the Year Award” in 2001. In 2006, Blackshear had a one-man show through the Vatican in Rome where he unveiled his painting “Pope John Paul II” for the 25th anniversary of the Pope John Paul I Foundation.

His recent “Western Nouveau" paintings have been featured on the covers of Art of the West and Western Art Collector magazines. His western art continues to win awards and find new audiences. In 2020, Thomas was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the Society of Illustrators. This, perhaps, is the greatest honor as Thomas joined the ranks of Norman Rockwell, Dean Cornwell, N.C. Wyeth, Winslow Homer, Drew Struzan and other top illustrators.

Thomas is currently represented by Broadmoor Galleries in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Trailside Galleries in Jackson, Wyoming and Scottsdale, Arizona; Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale Arizona; and Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Pasadena, California. Learn more at thomasblackshearii.com