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It's like Man Bites Dog when....
ARTIST SEEKS AUTHOR
by Eric Shackle
Talented Canadian artist Terry Saxby has a problem: he has drawn dozens of weird animals and needs
someone to tell their story. Usually, it's the other way about: writers
often seek artists to illustrate their work.
Saxby, a 49-year-old real estate salesman in Trenton, Ontario, dreams
of seeing his fantasy creatures, which he calls Little Guys, featured in
children's books, or as animated characters on movie and TV screens.
"I have a rough idea for a story line to go along with these characters, but
need help from someone skilled in writing children's books," he says. "Children
find the Little Guys interesting as they are quite different from anything
they've seen before. I've sold a few thousand dollars' worth of children's
products that incorporate them."
Saxby began drawing his Little Guys more than 20 years ago, to amuse his two
daughters Cheryl and Tina, then aged 11 and 10. These days, he's drawing more
Little Guys for their children.
"My kids showed so much enthusiasm I just kept on drawing," he says. "I
remember sitting with my girls and their friends, coloring these sketches. The
youngsters quickly learnt to unlock their own imaginations and to draw their own
make-belief characters."
Saxby's grotesque figures reflect his admiration of Haida [North American
Indian], Maya and Aztec Indian artwork.
"I've tried to create a drawing style that is readily recognized as
being distinctly Canadian," he says. "The Maya, Aztec and Inca tribes all
have their own particular look. I'd be pleased if I could be instrumental
in establishing a new Canadian look, a look that, like Haida artwork, is not
shared by any other country.
"Most of my drawings were designed to appeal to children, but lately I've
been encouraged to create more of the bird images favored by adults. Most of my
characters are meant to live in an underwater environment."
Although Saxby's characters have not yet appeared between the covers of a
story book, they have been successfully promoted in other forms. In the early
80s he put together a small number of sticker books, printed in black and white
with yellow front covers, for his children.
"To my surprise, they sold $65 worth of these at 25 cents each to their
friends, from the front step of the house, in one and a half hours," he recalls.
"Since then, I've sold T-shirts and prints to people from all over the world.
One Japanese couple told me they were going to tell their friends that I was a
native Canadian artist."
Saxby has amassed several hundred drawings with about 80 or 90 different
characters. So far, none of the Little Guys has a name. He prefers to leave that
to the children's imagination.
If he finds a suitable author, what would be the guidelines? "The story line
that I have in mind would involve an elder of the Kanehda, a previously unknown
native culture, charged with teaching the children during the tribe's wanderings
and hunting trips," he says.
"In that way, Canadian children could learn something of the ways of the
Kanehda, using entertaining characters that young readers could easily relate
to."
What do the artist's grandchildren think of the Little Guys?
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