Tommy Kane

Tommy Kane is an American illustrator and art director based in Brooklyn, New York who finds creative joy and inspiration in the everyday. Known for his playful sketchbook depictions of people, places, and things, Kane creates art that seeks to delight and inspire others.

While growing up in New York, Kane was always surrounded by art and creativity. His father loved to draw in his spare time, and Kane’s childhood home was scattered with his father’s sketchbooks. Kane remembers ‘becoming obsessed’ with drawing himself as early as age three or four, a passion that never stopped. He chose to study art more formally in university, completing a BA in Fine Arts at Buffalo State University, New York. Though he never stopped drawing or illustrating, Kane turned his creativity and keen artistic eye toward working as a creative director in advertising, a role which he continues today. In addition to designing ad campaigns for high-profile brands such as Steve Madden and Samsung, Kane’s own art has appeared in print ads, television commercials, and as book illustrations.

Sketchbooks have remained a constant throughout Kane’s life and he is never far from one. He proudly proclaims the Uni-ball Vision Fine Point Pen as his preferred artistic tool, and drawing or painting in sketchbooks remain his mediums of choice. Kane still carries the fervour he felt when first discovering drawing as a child, describing his artistic practise as a ‘personal addiction’ that he partakes in nearly every day, faithfully sharing his most recent sketchbook art on his blog, tommykane.com.

Always curious about and engaged with his surroundings, Kane rarely struggles to find inspiration for his next work. He views drawing the world around him as a form of catharsis through which to better understand and appreciate his surroundings, using intense observation of his subjects as a jumping off point. Kane’s work often has an element of playfulness or humour about it, which becomes an exercise in finding the wondrous in the everyday, for both him and his audience. In Kane’s sketched and painted world, nothing is mundane.

Though his art may be playful, Kane also views the work of all artists, including himself, as having an important and serious role in society. For him personally, Kane hopes his art sparks creativity in his viewers, whether that is through the visual arts or pursuing another hobby or interest that excites them, urging his audiences to seek the freedom and wonder that we felt as children. His art also aims to help people appreciate the world around them, highlighting the beauty and humour in seemingly ‘ordinary’ subjects made wondrous through Kane’s eyes.

Kane’s work has since taken on an even more prominent societal role as he uses his artistic voice to elevate issues important to him. A passionate vegan, in 2022 Kane produced Vegan Art: A Book of Visual Protest, assembling a collection of vegan activist artworks by 21 contemporary artists working across media. Kane wrote the preface himself and included his own illustrations. This more serious manifestation of Kane’s art nevertheless exemplifies his deeply personal approach to his work. Kane’s artistic practise, though rooted in his own interactions with the world, is always altruistic in his commitment to creating art that serves others in ways both big and small.