Clarke, Robb

I’ve always had a love for illustration and character design. My inspiration comes from watching cartoons like Merry Melodies, Fat Albert and The Flintstones to name a few.

I was most amazed by Walt Disney’s clever drawings and smooth animation.

At a very young age I would use tracing paper over the popular characters before I began developing my own. By grade 7, I had created several comic panels including my own characters with storylines and dialogue. I would distribute them amongst my friends and family from whom I’ve gotten a lot of support from.

In high school, I designed nightclub and house party flyers for money using hand drawn images instead of scanned photographs. I also airbrushed artwork on clothing and indoor walls. I struggled through the years doing odd jobs such as business cards, banners, posters etc …

I started working in a barbershop cutting hair where I would use a T-blade outliner to sculpt artwork in the client’s hair such as sports team logos, graffiti lettering and city landscapes. I did this for several years. In 2000, I opened my own barbershop and I still use it as a small gallery today.

A few years later a client noticed my artwork on the wall and referred me to DC comic book artist Ken Lashley to sit with his team to get experience and learn about the illustration industry. I did that for about a year while I continued to work as a barber/freelance artist. At Draxhall Jump, not only did I get an idea of the amount of work involved, but I learned how to use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. A lot of scanning and enhancing of artwork was involved.

My portfolio was again noticed by an art director and friend at Saatchi and Saatchi, a media company in Toronto. They recommended Three in a box for representation and my artwork was published in their Groupbook 24.

Drawing gives me a piece of mind and I enjoy sharing it with everybody.