Tom was born and raised in Mill Valley, California, on the slopes of Mt. Tamalpais. The rugged scenery of Marin County and Northern California inspired him from an early age to create landscape prints using linoleum and wood, strongly influenced by the traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e style of Hokusai and Hiroshige. He taught in the Humanities Department at San Francisco State University while he worked on a new hand-printed, large-format book, 'The High Sierra of California' in collaboration with Pulitzer prize-winning poet Gary Snyder. The new book was published in a trade edition in 2002 and received a number of awards. In 2008 Tom and Gary published a second collaboration, 'Tamalpais Walking,' and in 2015 his third collaboration with Snyder and Heyday Books, 'California's Wild Edge: The Coast in Poetry, History and Prints.' Killion is currently working on landscape prints including treescapes, coastal and mountain views. His studio is located on Inverness Ridge near Point Reyes, California.