Show & Tell #6

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great humility that I present to you my grade 11 sketchbook.

I was attending Westminster Secondary School at the time and had a wannabe crush on my grade 11 art teacher. She had mentioned that her training in “commercial art” (heh, the ole-fashioned moniker for “graphic design”) was through the bealart program at H.B. Beal Technical & Vocational School. I wanted to be a commercial artist just like her, so I decided I must go through the bealart program (it didn’t strike me as odd that she was actually a teacher, and not a practicing commercial artist).

It was not, however, merely a matter of changing high schools and signing up for courses – I was told that I would need to be “accepted” into the program in order to attend (epiphany: this is where my anxiety of being accepted may have kicked in).

What follows is, in fact, the very same “portfolio” (a 12×9 inch sketchbook) that I presented to Bevan Ling – Head of Bealart – in order to gain admission into the bealart program.

Note: All drawings were done before I’d learnt that there were options other than an HB pencil. I’ve heightened the contrast in several so they are somewhat viewable.

Self-portrait, 1985

Closet, 1985

T-shirt, 1985

Lynx, 1985

Dave Eating Licorice, 1985

Grandma, 1985

Dinner Time, 1985

Dentures, 1985

Drill, 1985

Album Cover (Queen), 1985

Lord love him, Bevan still invited me into the program after viewing the preceding 10 pages. Early on in the program I discovered I didn’t want to be a commercial artist, I just wanted to be an artist. Period.

And that folks is how I got my start in advertising…um…I mean, art.