Todd Lawson
“Visual Glutton”
Artist | Designer | Senior Art Director
Toronto, ON Canada

ph: 647-338-2350
em: todd [at] toddlawson [dot] com

I have worked as a commercial/gallery artist, designer, and art director for over a decade. In that time I have worked in publishing, CGI, graphic design, illustration and advertising (print & interactive).  I recently resigned my position as Senior Art Director for award winning, interactive agency Dashboard after three plus years to pursue other avenues and now work at Grey Canada as a Senior Art Director as well as also working as a contract Creative Service provider for my own company Miner Thought which focuses on the marriage of commercial, branding and artistic endeavors. I have also worked as an instructor for Sheridan College’s Illustration program, teaching alternative thinking.

What does that all mean? I love to work on creative challenges and the excitement of working with very talented people to bring ideas and stories to life and am always interested in change. I welcome discussion for new projects and challenges as well as senior, creative management and/or partnership opportunities within any creative industry or avenue.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: Born in Canada, Todd Lawson grew up in Southern and Central Florida. After an often turbulent youth built on travel, punk and hardcore music shows, skateboarding and friends he left the south to return to Canada where he attended Sheridan College’s Illustration and Post-Graduate Illustration programs. He currently lives in Toronto with his wife; fellow artist Elesavet where he has also worked as an Art Director and Graphic Designer for over a decade in advertising, publishing and interactive mediums. Todd’s artwork has graced many international commercial projects and has been displayed in art galleries throughout North America; including Atlanta, Los Angeles, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle, Toronto, Utah, Vancouver and the UK.

ARTIST STATEMENT: Todd’s artwork explores the similar visual aesthetics and complex narratives he grew up admiring, pulling roots from folk art, pop art and art deco, while helping him to create paintings and dimensional work that tends to pull very strong influences from Americana’s past; comic books, science fiction, pulp art, fantasy, classic toys and retro paranoid advertising. Always symbolic and often surreal, the work juggles story telling within a staged setting with emotional and sometimes awkward personal statements expressed through the various figurative characters who populate his worlds. He continues to explore these strange imaginative places in an effort to expand the horizons of himself and those who like how his brain works.

RECENT CLIENTELE
AXE, Acura on Brant, AIDS Committee of Toronto, ATI, Atlanta Magazine, BlackBerry (RIM), Blue-Kote, Burlington Ribfest, Canadian Online Gamers Network, CDRS Hamilton, Corus, CosmoTV, Cruzan Rum, CCSC, Dofasco, Débaufré, Elm Street Magazine, Enroute, Euroglass, Exclaim, Fortune Magazine, Hellmann’s, H&R Block, Home Hardware, InBurlington, Independent School Association of Ontario, LCBO, Lexus of Oakville, Milk, Ontario Toyota Dealers Association, Playtex, Scotiabank, SevenStar Sports, Sunlight Laundry, Sunveil Sunwear, St. George Apple Festival, Swiss Herbal, Toyota Canada, the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, Vaseline, Wrigely’s Juicy Fruit and W-Network (Partial list)

* Project Management

* Senior Level Art and Creative Direction

* Print, Interaction, CGI, Motion, Illustration and Dimension

Industry Experience

(October 2009-Present)
Creative Director | Owner
Miner Thought (formerly Toy Twuk Studios www.minerthought.com)
(Originally formed in 2005 - relaunched in October 2009)
Miner Thought’s goal is to open the eyes, minds and hearts of our clients and their customers with original content and visual communications. At Miner Thought we are masters of interactive, experiential and traditional mediums in marketing, branding, design, illustration, photography, motion graphics and campaign ideation. We focus on creative marketing strategies built to offer guidance and clarification, often helping new brands and products find their independent identity. We practice the marriage of unadulterated creativity and business dialogue that take the needs of those we help seriously. Located in Toronto Ontario, our clientele experience is worldwide. Industry experience includes automotive, alcohol, packaged goods, marine, retail, wholesale, audio, educational, not-for-profit, social communities, publishing, government, health care, sports, fashion and technology.

MT considers itself an SSPCA (Semi social profit creative agency).

(April 2010 - Present)
Senior Art Director
Grey Canada,Toronto, ON
(www.greycanada.com)
My primary focus at Grey Canada (Toronto HQ) is offering interactive creative guidance, inspiration and creative forward thinking to clients and fellow staff. With a heavy concentration on new technology possibilities, alternate thinking and engaging interactive content - whether it is a site, banner, campaign, digital billboard, touch surface, data visualization or whatever else is new and useful to developing cool ideas. I am also active in helping on new business pitches and presentations. I work closely with senior management, production and client on helping brands brave digital in new ways beyond the website and beyond the home computer. I am also looking forward to guiding projects and campaigns on all levels beyond simply interactive including direct, broadcast and print while at the company.

Accounts worked on so far: Blackberry (RIM) [interactive concept development], Energizer Canada’s Playtex [social youth focused interactive], Grey Canada [Internal experimental interactive], Eli Lilly Cymbalta [interactive concept development] and Scotiabank Caribbean & Central American Region [interactive marketing and branding]

(January 2007-March 2010)
Senior Art Director
Dashboard Brand Communications,
Toronto, ON (www.dashboard.ca)
Senior Art Director for interactive strategic branding agency Dashboard. Developing and directing creative marketing projects including both online and offline solutions. Providing leadership, guidance, inspiration and excitement to junior and intermediate creative staff, while working closely with Agency Senior Management in day to day operations across various media outlets and brands.

Accounts worked on: AXE, Corus, CosmoTV, Cruzan Rum, Hellmann’s, H&R Block, Home Hardware, LCBO, Milk, Ontario Toyota Dealers Association, Sunlight Laundry, Swiss Herbal, Toyota Canada, Vaseline, Wrigely’s Juicy Fruit and W-Network. (Partial list)

(2006 Fall Semester)
Sheridan College Part-Time Instructor
Sheridan College, Oakville, ON
4th year Interpretive Illustration Instructor at Sheridan College in Oakville; working to educate and expand students horizons in multiple fields and industries. We covered hands-on development and implementation of projects outside of traditional illustration instruction to show alternate possibilities for the soon to be graduated. Instruction included graphic design, art direction, illustration, product branding and self branding, avenues of promotional and advertising, and packaging design.

(February 2005-October 2006)
Lead Art Director and Designer
IN Burlington Magazine + Little Green Tree
Burlington, ON (www.littlegreentree.com)
Art direction and design of a quarterly 72 page regional magazine with a circulation of 20,000+. Design direction and development of approximately 75-100 projects annually including advertising, multi-page collateral design, new media and packaging design/illustration. Worked with editors, junior designers, publishers and sales department in team based and leadership environments. As well as with various print houses from the file supply stage through to final proofing and approval of printed projects. Clients included: Acura on Brant, Burlington Ribfest, CCSC, Dofasco, Independent School Association of Ontario, Lexus of Oakville, SevenStar Sports, St. George Apple Festival, Sunveil Sunwear, (Partial list)

(May - August 2004)
Web & Print Designer
Community Centre for Media Arts
Hamilton, ON (www.ccma.ws)
3 month contract to develop youth focused database web sites and print material. Worked in a team of 10, working closely with project coordinator, two programmers and content development team. Actively participated in development meetings and projects design direction.

(August 2001 - July 2004)
Owner
Toy Twuk Studios
Hamilton, ON
Multimedia development illustrations,graphic design, web site design, 2D and 3D computer animation, video game pre-production and character design.

Technical Skill Set
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Flash, 3D Studio Max Character Studio, Maya, Quark Xpress, Microsoft Office and Visio, basic knowledge and understanding of: HTML, PHP, CSS.

Awards

2009 Applied Arts Interactive Award - Hellmann’s eatrealeatlocal.ca Real Food Movement site
Unilever Global Award - Best Performance (internal) - Hellmann’s 09 Real Food Movement
2008 Applied Arts Award - H&R Block Facebook Campaign
Davey Silver Branding Award 2007 - Hellmann’s Eat For Real
American IllustrationApplied Arts Annual 2002
Applied Arts Annual 2003
2002 GXXi Graphic Exchange (bronze)2003
GXXi Graphic Exchange (bronze)
Sheridan Silver Medal
Sheridan Scholar

BUZZ AND RECOGNITION

Press
- Encore Magazine feature | November 2004 Issue
- Hamilton Spectator Newspaper | artist/show interview
- View magazine | artist & show interview
- Antipoda | member & interview
- Noun | interview & feature
- Computer Arts Magazine |Issue 98, UK

Speaking
Guest speaker at Sheridan College, 2004,
3rd year Illustration class with illustrator Julia Brekenreid.

Education (as if it matters…)
2002 Advanced Illustration, Sheridan College (1yr Post-Grad)
2001 Illustration, Sheridan College (3yrs)
1999 Art Fundamentals, Sheridan College (1yr)
1996 Coral Shores High, Florida Keys
1978 Born

Xbox GT: eletodd

Proud XCL member since 2005