Tom Hunt: Illustrator Turned Oil Painter

Growing up in Malvern, Pennsylvania, new Anderson Artists Guild (AAG) member Tommy Hunt spent a lot of time drawing. “We used to have paintings of ships on the walls,” he said. “I would sit for hours and draw those ships. During Christmas I loved to sit up close and stare into the Christmas tree. All that detail was magical. It seemed wondrous to me."

Living in Canada for 36 years, he earned a bachelor’s degree in fine art from the Three Schools of Art and a commercial arts degree from George Brown College. He worked with Reactor Art and Design as a freelance illustrator and secured assignments with a variety of companies including Coca Cola, the Boston Globe, and the Atlantic Monthly. He also did illustrations for billboard ads and a casino billboard in Las Vegas, Nevada. Working mostly in colored pencil in a representational style, he won numerous awards throughout his career including the Prix Du Magazine Canadien / National Magazine Awards in 1983. “I enjoyed working as an illustrator,” he said. “I took the assignments as a challenge and the money was pretty good.” However, two recessions and a wrist injury led to some very slow periods over the years.

Hunt met his wife, Pamela (also an AAG member), online in 2003 and moved to be with her in Atlanta in 2005 when they married. They later retired to South Carolina to be near Pam’s sister and brother-in-law.

These days, Hunt works primarily in oils, and his representational style is just shy of photorealism. "I spent my whole commercial career making art to satisfy clients and it's taken me a little time in my retirement to realize that I'm not making art for anyone but myself. I still see the magic and wonder in trees that I saw as a child and that's what I'm focusing on now in my paintings.”

For more information about Hunt, visit https://www.tommyhunt.net/.