My Photo
Illustrator Ken Gamage best describes his work as being perpetually trapped in his fondest of childhood memories. After studying Interpretive Illustration at Sheridan College (3-Yr Diploma) and Design at BCOU (Bachelor of Design), Ken began his now decade long trek through the world of illustration and animation. Through this time, Ken’s images have found a comfortable home in a wide latitude of media genres including corporate advertising, educational material, magazines, children’s books, television animation, greeting cards and children’s apparel. Sparklefish Studio is represented by John Brewster Creative Services (Connecticut, USA) and Meiklejohn Illustration (London, UK).

Jul 15, 2007

Case of the Gasping Garbage (SRA/McGraw-Hill)

Backtracking a bit and retro-blogging some noteworthy projects. “Case of the Gasping Garbage,” commissioned by SRA/Mc-Graw-Hill, was one of my first full-length book commissions, compressed into a short production time line. I remember, really wanting to push my creative muscles in creating images that were dense ‘total environments’ for children to really get immersed into. By chance, the project’s timeline coincided with my planned move from Canada to the United Kingdom. So amidst packing and moving to another country, I was grappling with moving from the comfortable working environment of my Vancouver studio, to drawing at coffee shops, on the plane...wherever really. I always had a portable scanner and laptop in my backpack. I’ve inserted a few photos to contextualize my quickly changing working environment over the course of three month. Special thanks to Art Buyer (at Pronk & Associates) and personal friend, Thao Lam (Little T) for being so patient in dealing with my changing phone numbers and addresses!








Above: Preliminary book sketches . Completed from my Vancouver studio
Above: Secondary sketches created in Toronto, days before flying to the UK.
Above: Final Artwork created from my 'portable' London, UK studio.