graphic designer Archives - Toronto Guardian

“A Day in the Life” with graphic designer and illustrator, Stephen Yeates.

Chiara Di Lena — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 07:00:50 +0000

Born in Toronto, Stephen Yeates developed an interest in sketching and mapping from a young age. He studied geography at The University of Toronto which led to a sixteen-year career teaching high-school geography in Ottawa. Here he discovered a passion for cycle touring, leading student trips and travelling the world taking long tours during his summer hiatus. During one tour down the California coast, he discovered Mendocino and returned there in 1977 for a two-week painting course. That trip eventually led him to make a decisive turn in his career in 1987, when he sold everything and returned to Toronto to study interior design at Ryerson University. After graduating he worked in film and television during the 1990-91 recession, for shows like The Kids in The Hall. With further training, he moved into graphic design and illustration and has been doing that for twenty-five years. He has lived in Toronto for the last twenty-five years with his partner, Jeffrey Douglas, working as a freelance graphic designer/illustrator designing book covers, educational and technical illustration, editorial, infographics and artistic commissions.

An Inktober sketch

Book cover. The swan was a witness

Commission – Andy

Commission – Egyptian cat –

Meet Dash – book cover design & illustration

Parliament Street from my sketchbook

Personal Christmas card

To Ottawa and back – My favourite wat to travel

Zoom Spin class

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Which ’hood are you in?

I live in Cabbagetown.

What do you do?

I do freelance Illustration and graphic design, semi-retired but doing commissions when asked. I’m also a certified Spin Instructor, now leading Spin on Zoom for winter training for riders signed up for the annual Friends For Life Bike Rally to Montreal. And when life returns to normal I’ll return to leading tours and doing graphic work for the Cabbagetown Preservation Association.

What are you currently working on?

At the moment I’m working on a couple of illustration commissions and spending more time sketching and expanding my art with traditional media after working digitally for the last twenty five years – with a nice push from Inktober.

Where can we find your work?

My website and I have a page at CAPIC.org

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“A Day In The Life” with illustrator and graphic designer, Rachel Joanis

Demian Vernieri — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 08:00:34 +0000

Rachel Joanis was born and partly raised in Cambridge, spent her teenage years in Winnipeg before returning to Ontario as a student of Fashion Communications at Ryerson University here in Toronto. Art has been a fixture of Rachel’s life from an early age. Born into an artistic family, her passion was enthusiastically nurtured with countless trips to galleries & museums and she attended many art classes.

Since graduating in 2016, Rachel has carved out a formidable career as a graphic illustrator and digital artist. She is particularly interested in the intersection of art & fashion as is obvious from her pieces. Representation and inclusivity are at the forefront of everything she creates. As a woman of colour, she feels a responsibility and a desire to foster and promote a broad representation of different ethnicities and body types in her work.

Rachel is the artist behind the incredible mural “Life at The Square’ which can be viewed at CIBC SQUARE as part of the south tower’s finishing touches. She was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2020 for her spectacular multipage illustrated piece in Fashion Magazine entitled “New York London Milan Paris”.

In addition to her freelance work and online print store, Rachel works for a boutique design studio illustrating for a variety of products including calendars, journals and jigsaw puzzles.

Written by Jonathan Shaw (Rachel’s partner)

Holiday cards I designed, at a popup.

Myself working from home in my apartment.

A proud me, standing in front of the newly installed CIBC SQUARE mural.

A quick selfie at one of my favorite restaurants, Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen.

My artwork hanging in Mararamiro Home + Studio.

My art used in a segment on Cityline, about creating your own gallery wall.

A close-up of one of my favourite segments of the mural.

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Which ‘hood are you in?

I just recently moved to St. Clair and Lansdowne area. After living on Queen West for the past few years, I’m excited to explore and get to know this new area.

What do you do?

I am a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, and the founder behind Rachel Joanis Illustrations, a Toronto-based online print shop. Equal representation is very important to me, the majority of my work focuses on promoting different ethnicities and body types to help further inclusivity and allow everyone to see themselves represented in art.

What are you currently working on?

I feel very fortunate to be involved in some exciting projects currently; I’m working on a number of commissions for custom artwork, working on illustrations of my own to add to my print store, creating illustrations for a new upcoming ARG, and more projects and collaborations to be unveiled soon!

Where can we find your work?

As a freelance digital artist, the majority of my work can be found online, on my website and on Instagram. While most of it lives online, I’m thrilled to be creating more artwork for physical spaces; namely, a project I recently completed and am very excited to share with the public is an immersive mural at the new CIBC SQUARE office development in Toronto’s Financial District. The mural, titled Life at The Square, showcases the every day and night at CIBC SQUARE, reflecting the community members and guests that come to work, stay, or pass by. Viewers can find it located in the P1 Valet area. It’s always been a dream of mine to create artwork for a mural. I’m beyond excited for people to finally be able to see it!

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“A Day in the Life” with painter, illustrator and graphic designer Devon Serket

Joel Levy — Wed, 09 May 2018 04:10:17 +0000

Devon Serket is a queer painter, illustrator and graphic designer based in Toronto. Growing up isolated in rural Ontario, they have used drawing, painting and digital art to process and express their experiences of complex trauma, bipolar disorder and addiction.

Devon uses motion, texture and variation in brush strokes to create vibrant artwork that tackles a variety of complex themes. They are fascinated with telling stories from multiple perspectives, making zines, comics and design projects to explore unique narratives and to share their own story.

They are a front line worker at LOFT community services, facilitating therapy groups and working with young people one on one. This has allowed them to take art programming directly to youth who are desperate to share their own stories, and through collaborative projects everyone involved can learn coping skills and grow their art practice.   They are an organizer of the LOFT Identity(s) art show opening on May 9th and designer of the compilation art book that features all of the artists and their work that will be on display at the event.

My palette in its natural state.

An image of me wearing one of the masks that inspired us to name the art show Identity(s). Mask making was one of our Saturday art group projects at LOFT.

I really love reptiles for their unique physiology and interesting behaviour… Here is my lovely bearded dragon, Pumpkin.

A selection of zines and anthologies I have worked on and organized. To the far right is the first chapter of my current project, a graphic novel called “Waking Amanda”.

I love going outside and taking walks to help me realign and get some visual inspiration.

Houdini knows when I’m staying up too late to meet deadlines, and reminds me that taking breaks is important.

A process shot of some material experimentation.

This piece will be available at the Identity(s) art show; The Bouquet of Life and Death

What ‘hood are you in?

I live and work in Brockton Village.

What do you do?

I am an artist, illustrator and graphic designer with a strong community focus.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on an upcoming graphic novel, Waking Amanda. The first chapter has been released and will be for sale at TCAF 2018.

Where can we find your work?

The LOFT Identity(s) art show will be on May 9th from 6pm-10pm at the Super Wonder Gallery 584 College st. My own work can be found on my website www.devonserket.com and instagram @deblin.snerklet

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