About Treasured Toons

 Going way back to about 1975, I was eight years old, and, like every other kid, I loved cartoons.  But it was more than just love. I wanted to be part of that world and I didn't even know anything about it. I was fascinated by The Peanuts and would copy them any time I can get my hands on pencils or markers.

 I had no idea that there was actually an entire industry surrounding that type of art. All I knew was that I wanted to draw cartoons. As time went on, I would draw as much as I could. It was something that I couldn't get away from. I had bought books about the characters such as The Peanuts, Popeye the Sailor, and of course many, many superheroes. I would go to my local luncheonette in East Meadow, Long Island, where they sold newspapers and magazines, climb on top of the pile of newspapers to reach the Spidey comics. These were a particular publication by Marvel Comics that worked in conjunction with The Electric Company television show and Morgan Freeman. In the television show, Morgan Freeman was a character called Easy Reader and Easy Reader said that these comics were, "easy to read". Since I was so young and hated books with a lot of text in them, these comics were made for me!

It wasn't until I was 13 years old when I was employed at my first job. I was a soda jerk at that very local luncheonette. I had a great time there. One afternoon, I came into work after school and my boss came to me, pointed at a gentleman sitting alone at the end of the counter and said, "See that man sitting there? He draws those funny books that you read."

 I didn't believe him one bit.  So, I walked over to this quiet man and asked, "Do you draw for Marvel?"

I was stunned by the answer. He said, "Yes, I work on Spider-Man."

I totally lost it! I started asking him all types of questions and ignored the world around me. Little did I know that he was Frank Giacoia who was best known for penciling and inking the Spider-Man daily comic strip for the newspapers as well as Spider-Man and many other characters for Marvel Comics. I couldn't get away. It wasn't until my boss yelled across the store, "Hey, Tommy! There are other consumers here!"

My trance was broken, and I got back to work. I had known this man from my neighborhood, but I had no idea who he really was. As far as I knew, he was just another person living in my town. He was so sweet and caring and I didn't want to stop talking to him, but I did have work to do. I was burning with the desire to talk to him again. It was several years later that I met up with him again. Never forgetting about the wonderful conversation that we had, he and I became extremely close. With some arrangements with my college, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, he took me on as his apprentice. His family was as wonderful as he was, and they welcomed me into their family by calling me his surrogate son. I was in college, and this was the beginning of my training as a cartoonist.

After training under Giacoia for a couple of years, he passed away. I was devastated, but still extremely lucky because down my very own street was another golden age comic book artist named Joe Giella. Giella and Giacoia were very close friends all their lives. Giella understood my situation and decided that he would now take me on as his student and complete my training as a comic book artist. We had gone on to work on projects together.

In 1996, I had my first book published by North Light Books. The title of my book is called, How to Create Action, Fantasy, and Adventure Comics. It was a very popular book and sold out of three printings. Since then, I have been freelancing as a cartoon illustrator and an educator of art. I have taught every age from Kindergarten to adult education. Currently, I am teaching Illustration and Photography at Southern New Hampshire University.

All my life I have had a fascination for cartooning and fine art. I am now creating paintings that reflect the joy of childhood and those wonderful Saturday morning cartoons. My fine art, oil paintings of classic cartoon characters can be viewed in the Gallery section of this website. If you are interested in purchasing my original paintings or limited edition prints of my paintings, you may shop for them in my Store on this website.

I would love to hear from you. If you have questions or comments on my work, please leave me a message on this About page, at the bottom.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my website. I truly hope you enjoyed it.