DOUBT on today’s FastCompany.com

Today’s FAST COMPANY features DOUBT, a wonderful book by creative extraordinaire, Paul Lavoie, and illustrated by yours truly.

A short while ago, I was excited to be contacted by Dave Watson, Creative Director at TAXI about doing illustrations for their agency design/philosophy book. TAXI is a really big deal. They’re a successful shop with agencies in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, New York and Amsterdam. I had illustrated an article before for Paul Lavoie, the agency’s Co-Founder and Chairman, so this would be an extension of Paul’s nuggets of wisdom and design approach. The book would be called DOUBT with the idea being that “DOUBT”, the character featured on the book’s cover, is a force to be reckoned with.

“Although he lives in a world where he is shunned by pop song lyricists, grandmothers, big-box shoppers, house cats, classic rock radio programmers, and all left-brain-thinking people, Doubt continues to throw dynamite at history and use his outlaw thinking to move us all forward. Some love him. Others hate him. But nobody ignores him.”

I was given a various “Doubtisms” wriiten by Paul and Jane Hope, TAXI’s Co-Founder and Vice Chair. It was a really fun job and the final book is really beautiful. It has an embossed cover featuring an illustration I did a while ago for GQ called “Breakfast Sucks” but became known as the “Don’t Call Me Character”. He was perfect for the DOUBT character as so much of what he represents is exactly what Paul thinks anyway. This was a dream job. It was all illustrated in black and white which really forced me to be aware of the tonal aspects of the works and I loved the challenge.

Please stay tuned for the upcoming American Illustration Annual (due out in November 2011), which features 4 of my DOUBT illustrations.

Please click HERE to see the feature!