The artists almost certainly worked with the lithographic companies and not the tobacco firms. The lithographers did employ staff artists who handled some other commissions referenced in documents of the period. I would think it probable many of the T card projects were handled by the art department.
Some at least were done by outside artists too. The only T project set we know the artist of (I think) is T30. The art and the text on the backs are credited to Albert Operti, an artist and arctic explorer himself who accompanied Pearry on one his expeditions. The other half of the set, T118, he wrote the backs for but his name isn’t included on the art.
I would suspect T30 credits Operti specifically because he wasn’t a staff artist for the lithographers. T206 was probably done by staff artists.
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