Thomas Blackshear II, the son of an Air Force captain, was born in Waco, Texas and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. "Drawing was all I ever liked to do," he says. "While all the other guys were playing baseball or basketball, I was in my house, drawing." He pursued an interest in art throughout high school and secured a scholarship to the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. After a year there, he transferred to the nearby American Academy of Art. While finishing his college education, he was recruited by Hallmark Cards and later became the apprentice of illustrator Mark English, winner of the Hamilton King Award, fulfilling an early goal after impressing English with his creation of an illustration of a rodeo cowboy.
Thomas Blackshear has done over 140 illustrations for Anheuser-Busch, Lucasfilm, billboards for Universal Studios, calendars, postage stamps, a jazz calendar for Smirnoff Vodka, 7-up, Paramount and limited edition prints for The Greenwich workshop. Some of his other clients include Coca-Cola, Milton Bradley, Disney and National Geographic. Thomas gives all the credit for his success to God. "I couldn't do it without him," he says. "So many things that have come my way during my career are blessings from God."
Thomas Blackshear's most widely viewed work includes many U.S. postage stamps, including four in the Black Heritage series:
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, issued February 20, 1987
James W. Johnson, issued February 2, 1988
Asa Philip Randolph, issued February 3, 1989
Ida B. Wells, issued February 1, 1990
A touring exhibit of Blackshear's Black Heritage works premiered in 1992 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
Other U.S. postage stamps with Blackshear illustrations include portraits of Joe Louis, Jelly Roll Morton and Thelonious Monk for the Jazz Series, and illustrations for stamps commemorating James Cagney, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Beau Geste and Stagecoach for the Classic Hollywood Movies series, as well as several stamps for Classic Movie Monsters. He also illustrated the USPS book I Have A Dream: A Collection of Black Americans on U.S. Postage Stamps (1991).
Thomas Blackshear explains Ebony Visions and several pieces, including the Obama series, in an interview.
All pieces are new, boxed, first issues. All prices include tax and shipping.