The Imagyn Film Festival (IFF) is a student film festival against gendered violence. Gendered violence is any type of violence that happens more to one gender than another. For example, bullying and sexual harassment are common forms of gendered violence. IFF was established by the Women’s Studies Department at Laurier University in 2009 and held again in 2010. The festival features film screenings of work submitted by high school and post-secondary students, workshops, community speakers and panel discussions.

I was asked to design IFF’s 2009 promotional poster. The organizers wanted solid colours and a comic-style illustration to give visual weight and prominence to the poster. This is an example of where illustration can stand out against a sea of graphic designed posters and capture the target audience’s attention.

Check out The Imagyn Film Festival’s website or its Facebook page for more information.

Legal concepts tend to be abstract and, therefore, can be difficult for children and youth to understand. The Ontario Justice Education Network asked me to illustrate three short educational comics on the legal concepts of mens rea and actus reus. The comics elucidate the relationship between the two by depicting different types of mens rea and actus reus.

The comics explain two types of mens rea (intention and willful blindness) along with a scenario of no mens rea. Intention is when a person intends to commit the actus reus. Willful blindness is when a person knows the act is probably illegal but ignores the illegality of it. In some circumstances, a crime was committed with no intent in which case mens rea is not present.

OJEN believes that education is a vital component in creating a justice-literate society which, in turn, helps to reduce criminal activity. Visit the OJEN website to find out more about the great work it does.

Visit the Portfolio to see all the mens rea and actus reus educational comics.

Ben vs. George is a fan comic I drew in the summer of 2008 when I was really into The Hour and a big fan of George Stroumboulopoulos, The Hour’s host. I liked the show's catchy graphic design and George’s sharp attitude. The Hour is a current events and news show that was spurred by CBC’s reinvention in the mid-2000s to appeal to younger demographics.

The comic’s narrative is as follows:

The Conservative Government has decided to auction off the CBC, one of its top Crown Corporations. After interviews with Ben Mulroney, prominent CBC hosts start mysteriously supporting CTV’s bind to buy the public broadcaster. Operatives of the CBC plan foil the plans of the  CBC needs a saviour. That saviour is George.

Ben Mulroney and George Stroumboulopoulos are two Canadian television personalities at opposite ends of the media spectrum. Ben works for CTV, Canada's largest private broadcaster. He is bubbly and amicable in disposition, making him a good host for entertainment enterprises such as Canadian Idol and e-Talk Daily. George works for CBC, Canada’s national public broadcaster. He...doesn’t really fit into any category but he does like black.

It was a fun piece and a chance to indulge in some pure Canadiana.