Fellow Don and cartoon artist Thomas Breen arrived in Korea with his father at the age of three and was asked to draw something, so he did. Thomas drew a stick. Yes nature’s beauty, not a stick figure, but a stick; the cartoon artists in Korea were highly impressed, according to Thomas. “My life should be a T.V. show because it is very interesting,” Thomas said.

Thomas, a member in the Options Program (https://elcidonline.com/features/2015/02/02/options-program-mentors-encourage-students-to-help-others/), has a legitimate desk in his house that is dedicated for his creation of his memorable cartoons. He started drawing because he was not allowed to watch television, at least not in high dosages, and as he was told, it would give him something to do. He hopes that when people see his cartoons, “They will laugh with my ideas, not at them, and they will make people feel good,” he said. According to Thomas, his main style is making “funny and wacky” characteristics on his cartoons, but still making it look good.

Thomas Breen also said that those who help people inspire him, and those who cannot speak for themselves, too. His aspiration is to give a voice with his cartoons to those who do not have one. When asking him what drives him to keep going he said, “If you have ever seen Mall Cops 2 there is a scene where the mall cop says, ‘I do my job and I love it because I am helping people.’ And that is why I draw, to “help people,”” he said.

His father is Steven Breen (https://twitter.com/sdutbreen), a two time Pulitzer winning cartoonist for the Union Tribune. He has influenced Thomas and his cartoonist career, but so have Parkour fail videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqNMYEazxsQ), classic Tom and Jerry episodes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvG0d07Lpu4), and his mother who has always supported him in whatever he does.

Thomas advises people to “Just do it, draw. It feels good. Funny things will pop into your head and then you just have to put all on paper and let the ideas flow,” he said.

Here are some of Thomas’ cartoons and his commentary on them.

The Ballerina:

This drawing was illustrated about one week ago in the time frame of one hour and it is of his girlfriend. He used colored pencils, a pen and his cream lamp to make this. In this drawing he decided to focus on the skirt because ballerina tutus are normally puffy and they remind him of a cloud because they are both, “odd and funky,” he said. He drew this because she is his best friend and he was not having the best day, but she always lifts his spirit. The title of the drawing is, The Ballerina, because Thomas did not think of giving it a name at the time, “Now I would call it ‘Swan Lake’, but it’s too late to change the name now,” Thomas said.

The Perps:

The Perps is a type of character that he likes to do. They are mystical creatures that we don’t know about yet. They are from Earth but are supposed to take place in a futuristic dimension. He borrows the idea of “the Perps” from his father but takes his own twist on them. The idea behind this is that Thor, the main Perp, accidentally hits the other Perp with a hammer, which sends him flying into the distance. He was inspired to draw this after watching a “hilarious” Tom and Jerry episode. For this he used colored pencils and stencils. Due to his vast experience drawing Perps, the cartoon took him only about thirty minutes.

The Ultimate Burger:

If Thomas had to eat one meal for the rest of his life it would a burger and fries. To remain healthy he said, “Don’t worry, I will run off the calories if I have to.” This is an angus burger and sometimes he adds fish, “just for the kicks of it” and he accompanies it with some fries. Although he says that Smashburger has the best burgers, he wants to help out McDonalds a bit and advertise for them in this illustration, which is why he drew their signature fries. He drew this in the matter of minutes about a week ago when he was hungry and craving a burger. He lists the ingredients on the side, which include his favorite items, like fish and cheese. His favorite joke involves asking: “‘Do you know what a nun’s favorite food is?'” And the answer is cheese, “‘because it’s holey,'” he said.

For Mr. Deely:

About two three weeks ago Thomas and his father, Steve Breen, collaborated in this tribute to our principal, Mr. Michael Deely. As it is known, Mr. Deely will be moving to Tennessee next year so Thomas and Mr. Breen wanted to include that in the drawing. Due to the fact that many famous artists come from Tennessee, they thought it would be perfectly appropriate to draw Mr. Deely in the whole get-up, which included cowboy boots, a cool guitar and of course the statement cowboy hat. Thomas commented and said, “I went a little out of my comfort zone because I didn’t draw at my desk, but instead the kitchen table and I did not color it in.” Thomas along with the Cathedral Catholic community will greatly miss Mr. Deely next year. For this reason Thomas plans on framing the cartoon and giving it to Mr. Deely so he can place it in his new office in Tennessee. He said, “I just want Mr. Deely to have a good time and remember how much joy he brought us.”