Few days ago, i found a message in my inbox saying “Hey! You might like my site with boat cutaways.” And when i checked the site my first reaction was “I want them!”. This is how i met Tom Crestodina and after a short conversation, i learned the sweet story behind his drawings and thought i had to share it with you. But before, lets meet Tom and learn his story by his own words.
“I am Tom Crestodina, commercial fisherman and artist. I live in Bellingham Washington with my wife and son, Franio. I have been fishing in Southeast Alaska for about twenty years. Have been drawing all my life, but I made mostly realistic pictures in black and white until my son was born in 2008. I took a couple of years off after that, and when I returned to fishing, I missed him so much that it was like physical pain. I wanted to write to him, but he was three then, so he couldn’t read yet. I decided to draw a cutaway of the boat I was working on to conenct with him and show him what I was doing.
I studied Marine Engineering at the Seattle Maritime academy years ago, and when I began this series I began getting excited about sharing my passion for boats with these pictures. But I also wanted to tell funny little human stories that would make people smile.
As a result, the pictures are intended combine several purposes. They are technical drawings, caricatures of boats and people, experiments in color blending, comic strips, and educational illustrations all at once.”
I really liked the little details on his drawings which give little funny clues about life onboard or funny fiction. Take a closer look at the radar and you’ll see it’s written “Franio” instead of the brand “Furuno”.
What i can tell you Tom is that Franio is a very lucky son!
If you want to check all of Tom Crestodina’s drawings and order prints, click here to visit his website.
Tom & Franio