POST#68: THE ART OF TOM BELAND

Hey guys! Today we're talking about the art of Tom Beland. He is the author of lots of comic books like True Story Swear 
To God, Fantastic Four: Island of Death, and his upcoming comic series, Chicacabra. He's a 50-year-old cartoonist from 
Napa Valley, CA who lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He's married to puertorrican life coach Lily Garcia. He got his inspiration from his father, who was a cartoonist in his spare time and always wanted to be a cartoonist, but never did. 

 In the 90's he began to publish his autobiographical comic strips True Story, Swear to God (TSSTG) as mini-comics and the turned it into an ongoing comic series published by Image Comics. The True Story Swear To God series has earned six nominations for the Eisner Awards of San Diego, one of the most important awards in the United States, in the categories of “Best Comic of the Year”. Tom was hired by Marvel Comics to write a Spider-Man "Web of Romance" series. This was a big deal for Tom because Spider-Man was his childhood favorite. Tom has also written a series of Marvel one-shots featuring the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man in Puerto Rico.

I've personally met Tom and he's a really cool guy. On the right is a rough sketch he did of me when I was with my Dad on one of his Cartooning Lessons with Tom. Here's a photo of me with Tom at this year's Free Comic Book Day. I've also included a sketch Tom gave me of Lily and him in Paris.

If you're interested in learning more about Tom you can follow his hijinks on these social media sites:

Facebook: facebook.com/tombelandpr
Twitter: @TomBelandTSSTG

Tom is currently offering Cartooning Lessons and you can also find him at this year's PR Comic Con!

Happy weekend!

Maria.