Raised on a steady diet of comic books, Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and Swedish Fish, Tom Whalen grew up in McAdoo, a small town in Schuylkill County. The confessed monster junkie studied illustration and design at Kutztown University before dabbling in various illustration and graphic design jobs. All the while, he was creating fan art on the side and posting it on his website, strongstuff.net.
Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles took notice in 2009, and his work found its way into a number of the gallery’s pop-culture exhibitions. Soon after, Mondo, the leading manufacturer of licensed collectible posters, added him to its roster. “And they’ve been keeping me busy ever since,” says Whalen, who’s done work for Disney, Marvel, DC and Warner Bros.
Whalen currently lives in Royersford with his wife and two children. Oh, and he loves kittens.
