ALTAMONT — Bobby Tatman, a Labette County High School senior, has been drawing since he could hold a crayon, and his passion continues today.
Bobby’s designs have appeared on several T-shirts printed at the school. And Bobby and his mother, Kim Tatman, are exploring platforms from which to sell his work once he graduates.
LCHS’ graphic arts department has screen-printed two of Bobby’s pencil drawings on T-shirts and two more were added this month. An embroidered hat with Bobby’s artwork is to follow in April, according to Joe Royer, Bobby’s teacher.
Royer said the shirts created so far have been selling, and he hopes that momentum continues.
“He’s got a gift. He can draw like crazy,” Royer said.
One shirt features artwork and the words, “Rich life, forget bros, get paid,” which Royer said was popular with students.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Royer said.
On a recent day, LCHS student Kolby Kastler helped Bobby upload artwork to a computer in the graphics department. Bobby later showed a visitor a stack of his drawings and dis-
See BOBBY, Page 9.
cussed the origin of some of them. His final drawings feature clean, smooth lines and block letters. He signs “Bob” to most of his work.
He drew a chicken to show that he can draw animals, he said.
A drawing of a person winking is now featured on a shirt.
His pictures depicted droids, skulls, a greedy monkey and clowns, among others.
“Sometimes they’re cool,” he said of the clowns.
He said his favorite drawing is of a crown jewel, which was prescient for his being crowned king for Tamasha this year.
Kim Tatman said Bobby started drawing in his preschool years at Edna Grade School.
“We have cabinets full of his drawings. Most of the drawings are line art. The progression of his skills has been exciting to watch. He is always exact and precise in shapes,” she said.
She said his room is full of books on different characters, live and animated, and he also shows interest in various drawing methods.
His characters range from Disney villains to Pokémon to those from video games, mythology, heroes and heroines. She said he likes to begin his work with categories. He will decide to make a set of characters that are robots, or a set designated with a certain element and create half a dozen characters, sometimes with backstories and powers/statistics. Other times, he will create a character for a theme, such as a leprechaun for St. Patrick’s Day or a happy clown for a birthday card.
“I think his characters are imagined from scratch from his own interpretations of what he likes,” she said.
“He has volumes of books that contain legends and lore, compendiums of monsters and complete videogame guides that list all the characters and enemies. Additionally, he has books on the natural world, including most animals, dinosaurs and other extinct life and sea creatures. He uses these things as inspiration for his own character designs,” she said.
Kim said she would like to set her son up with an online presence, such as Etsy or Canva, to display and sell his work. Her goal is to get it going before he graduates in May.
“I would love for Bobby to find a niche that would be financially profitable for him. He loves animation, and with the advance technology in AI, maybe he can bring his characters to life. Nickelodeon had a short cartoon contest a few years back before Bobby was 18. It would be a great accomplishment for him to enter a competition on that level,” she said.
Royer said if you would like to order T-shirts with Bobby’s work, email him at [email protected].
LEFT: Bobby Tatman looks over some of his drawings recently in the graphics arts classroom at Labette County High School. ABOVE: This is an order form for Bobby’s two newest T-shirt designs. RIGHT: The two drawings on top are also recent drawings. The drawing on the bottom right was something Bobby created in preschool that his mother says still tugs at her heart strings.
