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TOTTO: THE ART OF DISCOVERING WHAT ISN'T THERE YET

From the creation of a children's book to an independent contemporary art practice, Swedish artist TOTTO has developed a distinctive creative process shaped by intuition and unexpected discoveries.

An Unexpected Beginning

Before there was ArtByTotto, there was a children's book.Between 2017 and 2018, Tomas Lundborg worked on a children's book, drawing inspiration from stories such as Pete the Cat. With an iPad Pro and the discovery of Procreate, new possibilities for digital illustration opened up.The book provided a creative starting point, but illustrating also meant working within the boundaries of the story.What followed was not part of a plan to become an artist.It developed naturally through the discovery of a creative freedom — the sense of being able to draw freely without limits.By 2019, this journey had become the foundation of ArtByTotto.Tomas began creating under the name TOTTO — his childhood nickname.

The Art of Not Thinking Too Much

For someone with an engineering background, TOTTO's creative process involves a specific discipline: drawing quickly enough to avoid overthinking.His original sketches often begin with rapid, polyline-based drawing. Rather than studying the actual lines themselves, he finds art in the spaces between them.

There is no predetermined composition or finished image in mind. What matters is recognising something worth exploring.The speed is intentional. TOTTO seeks an intuitive flow, allowing unexpected possibilities to emerge before analytical thinking takes over.Once a sketch sparks his interest, it may become the starting point for a digital artwork.Sketches may remain untouched for months or years, only to be rediscovered when TOTTO suddenly sees something between the lines that he did not see the first time.

Digital first. Physical when it matters.

What began with the illustrations of a children's book has developed into an artistic practice spanning digital artworks, physical expressions and experimental environments.Immersive environments have long been part of ArtByTotto's practice, exploring minimal architecture and new ways for art to exist beyond the traditional physical object.

From 2026, a new chapter of ArtByTotto explores what selected digital artworks might become in physical form, guided by the same curiosity that shaped their creation.Across these different forms, the original creative method remains remarkably consistent.A few rapidly drawn lines.
A moment spent looking between them.
Perhaps nothing.
Perhaps the beginning of something worth pursuing.
And sometimes, a discovery waiting years to be made.

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