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Spilling The Means
Conversations about Inspiring Biographies.
Spilling The Means
EP4 Kevin Tobin | KT Creative on #SpillingTheMeans
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Ink in the Blood: 40 Years of Satire with Cartoonist Kevin Tobin | #SpillingtheMeans
In this episode of #SpillingtheMeans, host Gerry Carew sits down with legendary Newfoundland and Labrador editorial cartoonist Kevin Tobin to discuss his remarkable 40-year career. With over 8,000 cartoons to his name, Kevin shares the stories behind his beautifully crafted retrospective book, "Fly on the Wall: The Best of Kevin Tobin", published by Breakwater Books.
Episode Highlights:
The Origin of the Fly: Kevin explains how his signature "fly on the wall" motif started in the 1990s as a cheeky commentary on politicians, noting that flies naturally chase after garbage and political "BS".
Celebrity Encounters: Hear incredible behind-the-scenes stories about Kevin's interactions with notable figures, including broadcasting legend Bob Cole signing 40 prints of a commissioned portrait, and a hilarious bookstore meeting with Gordon Pinsent where the actor slipped right into his "Boris Becker" persona.
Early Controversies: Kevin recounts a 1985 cartoon featuring Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, and Live Aid that provoked open-line radio callers and nearly ended his career before it even began.
The KT Signature: Discover how a professional photographer's unique signing style inspired Kevin's distinct "KT" bracketed signature on his cartoons.
Support Our Sponsor:
A big thank you to our sponsor, **Wordsworth Gifting**. If you want to move beyond generic corporate gifts, Wordsworth Gifting offers curated book collections that let your recipients choose their own read—providing personalized marketing with a real social impact.
Connect with Kevin Tobin:
You can find Kevin on Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn under the name Kevin Tobin or KT Creative. Be sure to pick up your copy of "Fly on the Wall" at Breakwater Books on Duckworth Street, Chapters, or Coles.
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Timestamps or Chapters:
00:18 - Sponsor Message:A word from Wordsworth Gifting about their curated book collections.
00:45 - Episode Intro:Gerry introduces Kevin and reads the emotional dedication from his new retrospective book, Fly on the Wall.
4:58 - Early Beginnings:Kevin introduces himself and discusses starting his cartooning journey at age 14 in Stephenville.
6:45 - The "Gang" Series:Kevin talks about publishing his first 10 books of editorial cartoons between 1992 and 2000.
10:02 - Inherited Talent: Kevin shares how his mother's artistic abilities inspired him to start drawing when he was just a baby.
12:02 - Drawing as a Superpower: Using his art skills to draw superheroes and avoid childhood bullying.
14:43 - The Bob Cole Portrait:The story behind painting the legendary broadcaster and having him sign 40 individual prints.
18:18 - "The hand has a memory":Kevin explains how sketching people allows him to instantly recognize their faces in public.
20:43 - Meeting Justin Trudeau:A surprising encounter where Kevin told the future Prime Minister about a cartoon he drew of Pierre Trudeau.
24:39 - Tribute Cartoons:The thought process behind memorializing figures like Ray Guy and Mary Pratt, and why he never includes his signature fly in these pieces.
26:41- Early Controversies: How a 1985 cartoon featuring Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, and Live Aid provoked angry callers and nearly ended his career.
31:27 - Dual Identities:How Kevin separated his day job as a graphic designer from his edgy persona as an editorial cartoonist.
32:13 - The "KT" Signature:How the branding of 1970s professional photographers inspired his distinct bracketed signature.
36:03 - A Day in the Life:Kevin outlines his typical Monday routine, dealing with deadlines, and bouncing ideas off creative writers.
41:42 - Family First: Kevin discusses semi-retirement and putting his pencils down when his grandchildren are visiting.
48:01 - The Gordon Pinsent Encounter:The hilarious, multi-part story of a phone call with Gordon Pinsent that culminated in the actor slipping into his "Boris Becker" character at Chapters.
54:48 - 8000 Cartoons:Kevin reflects on the sheer volume of his 40-year body of work.
1:00:55 - Origin of the Fly:The true meaning behind his "fly on the wall" motif and how it started as a commentary on political "BS".
1:02:30 - Pandemic Portrait:The story behind creating a highly detailed, colourful self-portrait to pass the time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It's building the beans. Conversations around inspiring biography. A big thank you to our sponsor, Wordsworth Gifting. If you want to move beyond generic corporate gifts, Wordsworth Gifting offers curated book collections that let your recipients choose their own read. From starter to strategic packages, it's about personalized marketing with a real social impact. Check them out to be an early adopter. Well folks, I am really excited today because we're recording an episode of Spilling the Means. The episodes have been few and far between, primarily because I'm busy with another podcast, Gale Force Wins. That being said, the inspiration for Spilling the Means is books, primarily biographies. Today's guest has one of the most interesting books you will ever see. Before I do that, I want to mention our sponsor. Our sponsor is Wordsworth Gifting. And it's funny, actually, I was saying to Kevin before I hit record, I think my customer, my sponsor's changed his name. I should have checked with him before I sat down here. But it's it used to be called Biblio gifting, and when I go on here now, it's Wordsworth Gifting. Why does that matter? Well, it matters because listen to this Why Books? Why Canadian Why Now? Wordsworth Gifting was built on a simple idea. A good book is the rare gift that leaves a piece of someone with you. Alex Lyott, who I met in the newspaper business, a digital marketer, created this. And corporate gifting of books, we're gonna have a book conversation here today. Makes a lot of sense. So before we go over to our guest, I want to focus on the book that our guest wrote, and I'm gonna read something. I don't normally do this, but I do want to read this dedication. This really grabbed me. This really grabbed me. So this is the dedication to Fly on the Wall, the best of Kevin Tobin for by Mark Critch. We're gonna get to them in a second. Hang on. Dedication. Most people have heard the phrase ink in the blood. It means to have a natural predisposition toward a passion for the written word and the way it captures life. For me, the ink in my blood is what gives life to the cartoons I draw. As a child, I had a passion for doodling and soon discovered an interest in the written word, comics, books, newspapers. I have fond memories of my father reading the Western Star Daily Newspaper after supper each evening, and I particularly enjoyed the colored comic strips in the Saturday morning edition, the sweet smell of newsprint and ink coming from the pages. At school, I was a notorious doodler, the margins in my books filled with epic battles of superheroes, robots, and hockey players. After school, I even joined the forces of child labor, now extinct, the proud neighborhood paperboy. Love the way you wrote that. Over a decade later, in the mid-1980s, my editorial cartoons would appear each week in the local Robinson Blackmore newspapers. I remember those well. At first, it was one editorial cartoon a week, eventually appearing in the Evening Telegram. In the 1990s, it snowballed to six days a week, and then more recently it went down to three cartoons a week. But technology changes, and with it, the way people consume media. It's a deadline journalists and printing press staff in St. John's have been dreading. I personally was affected by that. This is why I have to read this. The final edition of the Telegram Daily Newspaper. That's what people have been dreading. The presses have stopped in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Telegram is now a weekly, and I am honored to contribute each week to their opinion page. After a 145-year run, the People's Paper is now fully embracing the fast-paced world of online daily news. But I think of all the talented people who worked at the daily newspaper over the years reporters, editorial staff, press operators, columnists, newspaper carriers, writing, printing, and delivering the stories of Newfoundland and Labrador, all born with ink in their blood. I dedicate this collection of 40 years of my editorial cartoons to my hardworking colleagues at the People's Paper. I gotta say, Kevin, that that is actually I get goosebumps reading that. It's a bit emotional for me. With all that said, I want you, Kevin, to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are. And we'll take it from there.
SPEAKER_03Okay, Jerry, well, thank you very much. Um yeah, so I'm I'm an editorial cartoonist and I've been doing started the cartoons I say 1985, but in reality I started in my local the Georgian, which is the Stevenville, Georgian, the Robinson Blackmore newspaper, when I was 14 years old. Did you grow up in Stevenville? I grew up in Stevenville. Yeah. And I s uh me and my buddy Draard, Draard, if you're if you're watching, hello. Um yeah, so we created this little it was a summer job thing, and uh it's funny because it was three summers in a row. I I delivered the newspaper, which was the Western Star, and so then I started, okay, well I think I could do cartoons in the newspaper. Here I was grade 10, and then I started. So uh so anyway, for 10 years just dabbled in it, and then in 85 I started to pick it up a little more serious. Uh it was a part-time job, I guess, because I was working in uh I was working at as a graphic designer at the university in 85 and around the same time I started. So it's been uh part-time but a love affair, and for the last decade it's been um my primary focus. Uh well until the the telegram went to uh from a daily to to uh you know to the to once a week, a weekly, right? So uh but I'm still doing cartoons and I had 40 years of my work, so I I've been wanting to do a book that kind of you know culminated the whole 40 years. Uh to say this is my first book of editorial cartoons wouldn't be true because I did 10 books of editorial cartoons from uh 1992 to 2000. And uh What was that one called? Well, there were several. There was, you know, the first one was ten books, you said? Yeah, yeah. So the first book I of editorial cartoons or you know, uh a collection of my cartoons was in 1992, and the book was called The The Gang's All Here. And the funny thing about it, I you know, I I thought that was the only book I was gonna do, and then the next year I did The Gang's Out to Lunch. And then the next year I did a collection of all the cartoons from the year, The Gang's Gone Fishin'. And that was during the moratorium. And then the fourth book, I guess you can see the pattern here, the fourth book I did uh The Gang's True Confessions, and that was all about uh a lot of my cartoons was about Mount Cashel and and the Christian Brothers and that whole scandal. Are any of these books still available? Yep. Yeah, and where can you get them? Uh I I just I think online. Okay. You know, I notice uh, you know, um yeah, you can't get them in the bookstore, you can't get them in the bookstores, you know, anymore or whatever. I still got a few uh copies of myself kicking around.
SPEAKER_01Maybe you should re-uh invigorate the printed book again.
SPEAKER_03So, but but so the fifth book, so I thought I was only going to do four books, and they're all the gang, the gang, the gang series. The problem with the gang series is that you run out of metaphors or or or you know, or ways to say the gang, so then I start changing, you know, yeah the titles and all the stuff. So anyway, I did ten books, and I then a decade went by where I didn't put out a book because I felt the ten books said what I wanted to say. But when you then get 40 years of your cartoons, you know, what does it make a difference if it's 39 years or 42 years? No, forty is the big one, and I thought, you know what? Uh it was it it was last year that uh I wanted to put out the book. It was my father's passed away uh you know in in 2007, and he uh he would have been a hundred. So I was trying to kind of do something on his a hundredth year, even even though he's he's not with us. He's with us, but he's not with us. Uh his hundredth year, and I want to do something special and different for me. So anyway, yeah, so I put out the book. Breakwater. I've been dealing with breakwater books, they're fantastic, and um, you know, you know, uh Rebecca Rose is great, and they've been very supportive and very creative, and uh and they helped me and she helped me in particular to put this book collection.
SPEAKER_01I I'm gonna interrupt you there and say, yeah, I would agree with you. And we were talking before we hit record, the quality of this book is off the charts. It's so well put together, it is the right size, and the feel of it in your hands, and I I even comment on the inside of the cover, like you can feel whatever I don't know what the I used to know all the names of the paper being in the paper business, but I don't remember what they are now. But I guess yeah, yeah. Rebecca really did you well in this book, without a doubt.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Before we delve more into the book, I want to go back a little bit to your beginnings. Um, you know, in that dedication you talked a little bit about doodling on the side of the pages and all that. Yeah. So you're growing up in Stephenville, had anyone in your family ever shown any ability to draw?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so my my mother was a very uh I I would say multi-talented uh person. Uh she could draw, and she uh she could play the wicked uh pots and pans with her uh with her wrist and and uh she was a good singer, dancer, and um yeah, so I would I would say my interest in drawing came from her because as a you know I was telling you the story last week. As a kid, uh that you know, as a baby, uh she knew that uh I understood the purpose of a pencil. So that like for instance, no no one year old, two year old would you give a pencil or you would be very cautious because you think they're gonna eat it or poke their eyes out or poke their brothers and sisters' eyes out. But I knew the purpose of it because I seen her draw at the kitchen table. I knew it was for drawing, and I just instinctively drew. And they, you know, she said, you know, they could pick out whatever I was scribbling, and I can I even my mind kind of I remember my drawing process, the evolution of my drawings. Uh, like how one came all dark and then the face became white, and then the more detail, and it's funny, I I I can remember it, and so I mean I I had to be very young. So I drew at a very young age, uh, and she felt that uh, and this is something I don't I haven't told a lot of people, but for six months when I was born till I was six months old, I never smiled. I was always a grumpy kid, or uh or just you know, watching my mother and you know moving around on my brothers, and so very, very taking it all in, not really commenting, much like the what I do today, I guess, in my cartoons, and uh but with a pencil, I I would giggle and and and and laugh and enjoy myself or whatever. So uh yeah, so that so that's the early days, and then when I went to school, uh I realized it uh you know, every child has uh their own gift, their own superpower. And so my superpower was the ability to draw. Kids would come up to me, draw me Batman, draw me Spider-Man. I got out a lot of uh bullying, uh uh potential bullying, you know, like all kids experience it, and some I fought back, and others I yeah, here's the drawing, leave me alone. And uh and actually, and I did it right up until uh you know, right through school, like literally when I wrote that uh uh introduction to this or dedication, that's true. Like I did, my books were full. I you know, if I still got books around the house now, all the marriages and everything of sketches, and you know. So yeah, it's it's something that uh uh I just enjoy doing it and I've been doing it ever since.
SPEAKER_01That's fascinating. So your mom did do you have any of your mom's drawings? No. It wasn't something that was thought of well, I better keep this. No, no.
SPEAKER_03I I have it's funny, I have drawings, uh obviously like most parents, I have drawings that my children did. They're now in their 30s, and I got them at home, and I have drawings. I think my the earliest of my own drawings go back probably 15, 16 years old. They must have held on, my parents held on to them for me, and when I eventually moved out, you know, they gave me uh you know the exercise book or or or whatever I sketched on. Uh so yeah, I've got drawings going back, you know, fifty years.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. Uh you know what a question comes to mind? Um have you put any of them on the wall or are they stored? Yeah, so both. Which leads me to another question after that. Your your walls are your house, are they full of all your art?
SPEAKER_03But Yeah. My wife would say uh too too much. Too much. Yeah, too much, you know. But yes, so but that's only something started recently because I I've I've done a lot of um hockey paintings and uh and I've you know I've been putting them in the corner somewhere, and then all of a sudden, yeah, so now I do have a gallery at home, and it's it's my homework, and I haven't uh I haven't invited anybody in to look at it because uh it's it's uh it's more personal, you know, but no reason other than you know it's that you know, so I have my studio and then I have a gallery, and if you were in my gallery, it's surrounded with my drawings and paintings.
SPEAKER_01And is that stuff that is public or is it a portion of that stuff that no one has ever seen?
SPEAKER_03No, I I think most of it, like certainly with social media, yeah, I would have posted it. Uh, you know, the hockey paintings that, you know, John Bellivo, uh uh uh you know Ovechkin, Bob Cole. I did paintings of Bob Cole and Prince, and so all of that would be, yeah, that's that's on online.
SPEAKER_01Well I know in in the book you talk about Bob Cole a little bit. He's uh he signed his own, did he not?
SPEAKER_03Tell us a little bit about that interaction. Yeah, so I uh I painted Bob Cole. Uh so I'm involved with the uh hockey team, a junior hockey team, junior renegades, and the executive. So uh one of my gifts to the team is to do a painting every year and an actual painting. An actual painting. Not a drawing. No, a painting, and I run off prints, and then the prints go to all our sponsors. So say we have 30 sponsors, you know, because a great idea. Yeah, so this is their way, they're giving the money, they're sport, uh local sports, and you know, certainly uh local hockey junior hockey team. And uh yeah, so when I do the painting, so when I did the painting of Bob Cole and I knew I was doing the prints, so I contacted him. Now, in my past life, I was a creative director in an ad agency, one of the major ad agencies in town, I guess you know, in Canada, really. Yeah, no doubt M5 is the name of it. Yeah, so uh, you know, I had a 25-year career there. So anyway, I worked with Bob Cole a couple of times. Bob did uh General Motors some commercials that we did, and he was kind of a spokesman uh and he was a fantastic, as you know, announcer and broadcaster, Hall of Famer, hockey hall of fame. And uh so anyway, I worked with him, so I kind of knew him a bit over the years, and I approached him about four years ago. This was he wasn't well, but you know, he he he was he was a good sport, and uh I said I was gonna I told him exactly what I was gonna do with it, and he he supported it, and he said, uh you remember him saying to me, you know, he says, uh Kevin, he says, as long as you're being reasonable, as long as this is within reason. And what he meant by that was, you know, and I wasn't trying to sell the original, make all, you know, like make a big Interesting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So so the so that painting actually is in my my little gallery, the original. And he signed that. He didn't sign the original, but he signed all the prints.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_03And all the prints then were given uh to uh you know all our sponsors, right? Individually individuals or did you copy his signature? No, he he signed You gotta be kidding me. No, he did. Uh I asked him, he said, Well, how many you want me to sign? How many you got here? Use a bit grumpy on some days, right? So uh how many you got here? I said I got 40 here, 40 prints, Bob. That's what we got, that's what we do every year, 40 prints. But I said, uh you can sign, you know, and take whatever you want for your family. The first children and you know, family members. Yeah. So he took uh seven, and I uh I said, just sign, you know, there's no rush. Uh just sign whatever you want to sign, however you feel. We only signed five, if you signed ten, but he called me up one day and says, Kevin, I got them all signed. And I, you know, and again for um at this point part of his life, you know, and uh uh anyway, I was very grateful and and I dropped by his his place and and picked him up.
SPEAKER_01So Kevin, it it's certainly not lost to me that you know the people that you've characterized, is it is that caricature or caricature. Have you met most of them? Or like how how has that been working in your life? I mean Mark Critch did a really by the way, I meant to mention that, he did a really nice forward at the beginning. Uh very, very neat. Uh I love the way he wrote that book. Yes. Have you met most of them? I wouldn't say most.
SPEAKER_03No. Uh but uh I've met several. You know, I've met um and and uh it's funny, and uh this you know I've often said that, and I don't know, I'm not certainly not the originator of this quote, but somebody told it to me. But the hand has a memory, and as weird as that sounds, like I'll see somebody in a room, say we're you know, could be in the in the airport or we could be in the um you know somewhere, right? And it's a room full of people, and I'll see somebody and I'll recognize that face because I'll and I'll look at them, I'll look at the way the nose and the smile and the glasses or whatever, or her hair and that. I've sketched that. I you know, I've when I'm describing stuff to my wife sometimes, I'll when I'm you know, it's like I'm drawing in the air, right? Like uh, you know, air guitars, air, air sketching, air cartooning. And uh and I just so the hand has a memory, so uh uh then I will go up to them because they would have probably been gifted, you know, the drawing or the caricature because I I do it let's say for an anniversary or someone's birthday and that, yet they haven't met me, and I'll go up and introduce myself and uh and most of them, you know, most of them are you know, oh yeah, you did the drawing. Great. I remember that. I got that hung up at my studio and so I kind of like uh you know, I'm I'm I I think I'm in this business uh because I'm interested in people. I'm interested in faces, I love faces. I remember my father's face, I still remember it vividly, you know, the the the wrinkles and on the forehead, you know, he was you know obviously 30 years older than me. And now I see those wrinkles because I studied his face so much, I see those wrinkles in my face, right? When I when I look in the mirror, I was like, and that's and that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing, because it makes me think of my father, it makes me think of you know, like uh uh experiences in life, and uh so yeah, so uh uh I've met several in the politicians, I've met a few, and uh you know, Walter Carter, uh just you know, John Crosby, yeah, uh uh Fabian Manning. Some bigger than life personalities. Yeah, Justin Trudeau.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh I did a drawing one time of uh Justin Trude of Pierre Trudeau. I know let's not get into uh fans of the Trudos or whatever. But anyway, I uh I did a drawing of uh of uh Pierre Trudeau and I had him as uh it might it's in the book as well. I had him as uh kind of like an Elvis, you know, you remember Trudeau Mania, and he was kind of a an Elvis character, so I got him dressed like Elvis and you know he's singing the Meech Lake Accord or something. I can't remember exactly now. But anyway, I was at this function and Justin Trudeau was there, and this was just before he became prime minister. And he's going out, he's shaking hands of everybody, and then I'm standing there. It was actually in a rink, and um he he took my buddy's hand and he shakes my hand, and I got I figure I got about five seconds to say something. So when he shook my hand, I just held on to it and I said uh you know, I said many years ago I I did a cartoon of I sketched your father, and he stopped and he was talking, he said, You do cartoons? And I said, Yeah, I said I drew your father. And I and and I've drawn several cartoons of Justin Trudeau since, yeah, but none up to this point. And he held on my hand and he says, uh, uh, give him give your contact info to this guy. He said, Oh, I'd love to see that drawing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Wow. And and it happened? No. Oh no, you never got it to him. I didn't no, I never got it to him because then he became a politician. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's like um nah, I just I just wanted him to know that. That's all, you know. Like, you know, yeah, it's not always about you know, negativity about you know about Pierre and you know his dad and whatever. Uh anyway, I just whatever, just came at the moment. I had I never even thought I was going to mention to him, but I did mention to him, and and um we didn't go down that. Path and never never but I've done several of him and uh and I've done cartoons with him with other politicians who have bought them, you know, who've purchased the cartoons and and hung it in their office, and I'm sure if he's ever in there, uh you know they would have saw it, right?
SPEAKER_01So Kevin, I it's so interesting to sit with you. I mean, I've tried to draw you said the hand has a memory, is that what you said? Yes, yeah. And my hand doesn't have a memory. As you were saying it, your hand has a memory, mine doesn't. Now I do have uh an 18-year-old who's soon to be 19 who can draw. Yes. We actually have I'll show it anyway out upstairs on the fireplace. Yeah, and I'm always in awe of my brother, he could draw, and he doesn't do it much anymore. But the ability to just take a blank piece of paper and sketch something amazes me. It's it's incredible. Like you you realize how important your gift is, I guess. I don't need to remind you of that.
SPEAKER_03Well, it it it it so it comes from you know drawing, you you know, it's like like hockey, it's like anything else, the more you do it, you know, the better you become. But also it's it's drawing is in the hand, yes, but it's it's what's up here, and you be you begin to trust your gut uh a bit more, like uh certainly from an editorial point of view, like you'll come up with some an idea, for instance. It all starts with an idea. Actually, it all starts with doing your homework, which is reading the news. I'm a news junkie, I know you are as well. Yeah, uh, and so you've you follow the news, you form your opinions, and then you kind of you work on it, work on it all in your head, and then eventually, you know, then you do your sketching, and then you know, then it make becomes a cartoon. It was easier when I was doing four or five a week because there was no such thing as okay, well, that's four or five ideas. Well, there's four or five ten ideas going on in there at any time, right? So then you put that aside. Now that's more of a midweek one, and that's more you know, national, because I used to uh try local, provincial, national, uh uh just more of a uh an issue like uh like cancer, like you know, drinking and driving. Like it doesn't have to be the political nature. And and that's why, you know, years ago it was called a political cartoonist, but now we're called editorial cartoonists because it's not all about politics, right? It's not all political. Uh there are some cartoonists who do all political, but I do I'll do everything from icebergs to tourists to um the codfishes back to uh Mount Cashel, I'm talking about just summary over the years, yeah, to tributes. I I really done in this book Fly on the Wall, and we can talk about that title a little later, but uh anyone who's familiar with my work, but you know, I've done this 30 tributes of people who've passed away, you know, if they made an impact, positive or negative, but they've made an impact to uh to our culture, to our province, to our country, and you know, it's it's it's not a time to make a cheap shot, then it's more like well done.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's interesting you say that, as Mark Critch said in his forward, you know, when you did the thing about his dad and the fly and all that, you don't put that in anyone who's deceased, you never have a fly in the picture. Yes, right, right. Uh you're very passionate about those tributes, I can tell. Yes. Yeah. Let me ask you something kind of off that topic. I I'm not to take you into a negative road, but I I I I think about you did five cartoons a week for a long time. 30 years. Is there one that A, you regret putting out there, or B, it caused a stir that you were like, crap, that's a little bit more than I imagine thought.
SPEAKER_03Tell me a little bit about that. Well, and this is I've spoken about this a bit before, and it and it's in the book as well. So uh and my friend uh Paul Bickford actually came up with this idea, and I've worked on, you know, certainly when I started out initially in the n in the 1980s with Paul. Actually, Paul was a reporter at Robinson Blackmore, and uh he worked on uh uh Grand Falls Advertiser, I don't know, 78, 79. Anyway, we became fast friends, and so 1985 I run into him again in town. I'm in St. John's working then, and so was he. And he had this idea for a cartoon, and I approached him that I wanted to do cartoons, but I wasn't ready yet for my ideas point of view. You know, my ability to draw was there, but my ability to think and interpret the news wasn't there. 23 years old, wasn't mature. Um Paul was 25, two years in the difference, but a little more mature in his view, and certainly more aware consciously and politically and socially, well, whatever was on the go. And anyway, so he had this idea. So so I did this cartoon. Now, this is right at the very almost the very beginning, 1985, in the telegram, and uh and my career was almost over when it's before it even started.
SPEAKER_02Really?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, okay. Yeah, so I did the cartoon. If you so this was during live eight, and uh uh Tina Turner came here, I went to her show, and I remember walking back. I lived on uh Empire Avenue at the time, and I remember walking back to my place, and I mean the show was fabulous, you know. She was in her mid-40s, and she was brilliant, and the music was great, and I know this was in you know in the mid-80s, but uh but it was just like wow, she's back, and she's not back, you know, she was back, you know. Yeah, beautiful, fantastic. So so at the same time, this was you know, live aid, and and so the week the week after that she went to Philadelphia for that concert, and she's on stage, you know, singing with uh Brian Adams and uh Mick Jagger and Ronan Stones, of course. Anyway, so in the cartoon is and if you know about live aid, this was about you know uh you know the the bad conditions in third world c countries and and Africa and then uh you know trying to raise some money and the the the uh the musicians and the artists trying to raise some money. So anyway, she's on stage in the drawing, there's her and Mick. And one thing I always tried to do, and I still do it, but this one I kind of broke the rule a little bit, which is I don't like to label my cartoons. In other words, I I I I feel that I can draw Tina looking like Tina, and I can draw Mick looking like Mick. And and you don't have to guess, you just because if you're who's that? Who's that? That's got me in trouble later, but anyway, this particular cartoon. So here's Mick Jagger, and he's he's uh and it was kind of a different style, it was more brush. But anyway, Mick says to her, Tina, he says, uh live aid sign, and he says, Tina, he says, uh, you know, do you know what it's like uh in third world countries? Have you you know ever been, you know, the the the trouble in third world countries? And she says, Well, yes, Mick, I just came back from Newfoundland, Labrador. And at the time our fishery, you know, was was you know in trouble. Yeah. Right? Highest unemployment. Yeah, yeah. Highest, you know, uh unemployment, economy wasn't very good. This was, you know, uh Peckford and Sprung, right? I know there was some and peck, you know, anyway, so there was a lot of so that was the cartoon.
SPEAKER_01Anyway in the telegram.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, in in in the telegram. And so then the um the next day, so after the or the day off, I guess, because the paper would come out in the morning, uh Paul calls me. He says, Kevin, he says, uh Paul Sparks. No, Bickford. Oh, Bigford, yeah. The gentleman that him and I worked on these ideas, right? So anyway, he says, Kevin, you you got the radio on today? I said, No. And he said, Well, you might want to turn on the radio, but I said, I'll tell you anyway, because uh the open line has gone mad. Yeah. Yeah. Who'd you? Yeah. Wow. Because my name was on the cartoon. You're still in your you're young. I've just started out, so I was uh so I was 26, maybe 25, 26. And and when I drew that, nothing in my stomach said because that's usually your little warning, right? Like yeah, I was like, come on, there's nothing, you know, it's about Tina, and but but a lot of people uh was really offended by it. And uh and so that's the cartoon that you know you know Herter could have Steve Herter, who was the publisher of the Telegram at the time, could have easily, you know, stopped me then, but it didn't, and it just kind of it just kind of continued and become, you know, you can't they can't all be edgy, you know. I know cartoonists and and artists and would all love their work to be edgy, and I would love my stuff to be edgy, but you know, you you know, and I've done a lot of Mount Cashel that uh you know uh just by subject. Now you could do it today and you would say, okay, there's nothing edgy about that, but at the time, nobody wanted to believe. Yeah, right? I remember, you know, somebody was telling me, and I can't think of who it is, but you know, you would look at a cartoon and say, that's not gonna offend anyone unless they're 50 years old, you know, 50-year-old male that's gonna offend. And that's the reader of the newspaper at the time. Yeah. Right? So, you know, you you don't offend them. That's you that's who's reading the newspaper.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know what? You're a young guy at the time, but it's not lost on me. There were layers of editorial people that looked at that and let it go as well. Right, right. So not but it but still, how at that age did you you know shoulder the burden of that? Like you must have some really good support people around you. I did, but you know what?
SPEAKER_03It it it's almost like where I was working uh as at the time I was working as a graphic artist at the university.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_03So I saw Kevin Tobin as the graphic artist at the university, and KT is the cartoonist. That's how I kind of you know I separated my cartoons from what I did daily. It got to a point where after so many years, it became the same person, right? Yeah, yeah. And uh which it was always the same person, I know, but that's how I separated it in my head. So my that's why, you know, I started out initially going signing my cartoons, Kevin Tobin, but you know, it it just kind of confused everything. So I said, you know what? KT is the cartoonist, Kevin Tobin is the graphic artist. I gotta ask you. That's how I saw it.
SPEAKER_01Well, that you know, when you sign, I really find it interesting. Your your KT on a lot of them has a little square bracket around it. Yeah. Can you just tell me a little bit about that? And I don't know if you can see it. I'll zoom in on it. Like, I find it really, really neat the way you sign these.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, it it came from the idea of um uh, you know, a lot of the uh photographers uh, you know, back in the 70s, you know, I think they used to go when they went to photography school, school, you know, they learned how to have like Hubert Best. Do you remember Hubert Best? I shot wedding videos, so I know Hubert very well. Fantastic guy. If he's watching Hubert, hello Hubert. Well, he had a really interesting interesting way to sign best photography, and apparently they learned like how to do a professional signature to make it unique to you, uh, Sarah Rostofsky, right? She's got a beautiful way of doing it, which is very similar, of course, to what her father did. Anyway, so this kind of that that style uh you know of doing something that's uh that you can say is your own, right? And so that came from if you look at again, if you'll see it in the book, you'll see Kevin Tobin written out, you'll see KT with it with a dot and very small and timid, and then you'll see it bigger and bolder, and and then I try to get it always in the upper right, but I don't always work because sometimes the captions are in the right or whatever. But most of my cartoons I try to get it in the upper right. Yeah, so it's actually uh that has evolved over the years.
SPEAKER_01It's interesting to listen to you talk about that because you know when you look at a cartoon, I mean I know we're delving into the details here now, but it's it's fascinating to get the detail of what goes into this. And frankly, from a video perspective, it's always a challenge to figure out where to put the logo. It's gotta be watermarked, it can't be color because the colors don't let it be seen. Yeah. Top right, top left. Anyway, I I just love it. I just find KT is and it's almost like you you and the other thing is you talk about almost like that's one personality, and your graphics and and advertising was another. Now you've retired from that, correct? You're out of that advertising space. Yes.
SPEAKER_03I I'm I'm out of that now. Uh so I left uh M5 marketing in 2014. Wow. So I dabbled in it in some video work afterwards because I thought I could more or less freelance. But um what is like anything, you get out of advertising and you become forgotten.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03In that line of work.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right? Some people have been very successful at getting out of it and kind of dabble in it, but you're either in it or you're out of it, you know? And so I'm out of it. And uh but the cartooning is something that, you know, I mean, I'm I'm interested in the news. I'm you know, uh I'm interested in people that go back to that point, and good or bad, uh, you know, we used to be uh back in Steve Mow days, I'd be looking out the window and I'd be looking out across the street and see some these people and whatever. And my father said, Kevin, you're nosy. Don't go looking out the window, you're nosy. And I thought, like, ah, you're no my wife says I'm nosy too sometimes. But I says, I'm interested in people. Right? Nosy is someone that wants to know other people's business. I don't care about other people's business. I'm interested in you know how it affects them, you know, what has happened to them. Yeah and uh and I'm interested maybe in sketching it.
SPEAKER_01You know, so sketching it. Let's talk a little bit about you know today. You're in you're into this for now, you're 12 years kind of on your own, yes. Yeah. What work from home, yeah. What's a day Kevin Tobin's day like?
SPEAKER_03Well, Kevin Tobin's day. So uh so Mondays, when I get up Monday mornings, that's the only day that I have a deadline to do an editorial cartoon. Right. The telegram needs to have the cartoon by noon. Which used to be daily. Which used to be daily. I know daily deadlines, they're intense, but anyway. Yeah, but it was daily, plus I was working full-time in advertising. So I used to do all my cartoons in in during my lunch hour. That one hour. And so whatever had come up with, and that gave me a way of uh editing my work that has helped me immensely later in life. So in other words, I would look at something, say if I had an idea, and I was very fortunate I worked some, and I don't mind saying it, they're listening, some very, very creative writers in at M5, that I would go, okay guys, you know, I'd run into their office and close the door, you know, just ten minutes before lunch. I got this idea, you know, uh uh uh Danny Williams, and you know, he's he's he's on a ship or whatever, whatever. I'd had I didn't quite have the caption figured out. And they would they would say okay, and then they would because they were full of you know puns and well-read, and they would kind of say something of them.
SPEAKER_01They must have loved me part of that. Pat themselves on the back. You know, we we helped him out, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think initially until uh probably I kind of uh you know overstayed my welcome maybe a bit. Uh but I was like, I was more I was ruthless then, right? Like I gotta get this cartoon done, I gotta spend an hour, you're gonna go enjoy Tim's, and all you gotta do is take ten minutes and kind of listen to me. Yeah, and they and they were so gracious and did, but I think I think initially, yeah, way to go, we're part of it. But then I think at the end of it, it's like, Jesus. Oh here he is again, there he is again. I was desperate and I, you know, and I did it, and I did it a lot, and I don't mind saying it. Like I said, I was ruthless. But they they you know and sometimes they go, nah, don't do that. You've done something like that a couple days ago. How about this? Yeah, I heard on the you know, as I was coming in this morning, I heard that uh, you know, light and power, you know, and the rates are going up. What about and then they they make something uh, you know, and then I would judge, like, okay, I got one hour to draw this, so that's probably quicker to draw than you know, drawing, you know, Danny Williams. But I got Danny Williams. I mean, I got to a point where the hand has a memory. I didn't have to look at a picture to draw Dan. I drew Danny. If you look at the cartoons in there, you would look at it and you'd say, Yeah, it looks like Danny Williams, but that's not identical to Danny. No, it's not identical to Danny Williams, but it's how the hand has a memory. It's how I would draw him, right? And Justin Trudeau, the same thing, right? That's a good one there. Just flipped it open to Justin Trudeau. So that's actually Justin Trudeau and the little baby he's kissing. Yeah. That's my granddaughter. Oh, go on! Yeah. So I always put in, I mean, I gotta draw a baby, and I'm looking at this baby all the time, you know, when she was born in it, uh, now during the pandemic. So anyway, I sketched her in it. So back to your week, you know, okay. Get up on a Monday. Yeah, so I get up on Monday, so I do that cartoon before uh, you know, get that before noon or whatever, have it all figured out, uh, and I draw it. And then what I do is uh I do a lot of caricatures. So I uh so I do a lot of uh like I just finished uh a couple of uh uh so these would be 24 by 30 original paintings for uh people's 50th anniversary. And uh and I think they're hiring you to do this now. Commission me. Yeah, and and I find a lot of them are return business. So not necessarily the people I'm drawing or painting is a return, but the people who've contacted me, I've done something somewhere in the past, you know, that and they know the quality of the work, they know you know the the uniqueness and the fun, and they also know the one thing about it, and I and I'm gonna pat myself a little bit on the back here, but go ahead, you deserve to. But the body work like this, go ahead. Well, it's just that uh uh most people love it, and most people get it. Like most people know that at the end of the day, their caricature framed on the wall or or whatever painting, it's it's gonna be hanging in their rec room, in their study, in their live living room, in their shed, in their cabin. And it's only them, you know, sipping on their drink or coffee, looking at it, and uh it's something that it's uh you know, something that they can leave, you know, like you know, they've reached a certain point in their life. I don't uh like very rare do I do babies or kid I don't know, sketch them, but I'm talking about as in caricature because they their personality changes. No, they're not developed, you know, like they haven't done anything, the face hasn't developed. Give me a face like I was mentioned earlier about with the wrinkles and the you know and the beard and the you know and the beautiful big uh you know hair and lipstick and anyway, just give me some wonderful faces, colorful faces, and and then uh then I work on them and and a lot of times I that's that's not a set that's throughout the week until uh until I get it finished, which may take a few weeks, right? And so I try to do a caricature, I try to do a caricature painting a month. So it takes me four roughly 40 to 50 hours to do a painting. Yeah, but that's but I'm not sitting at it at the easel for 50 hours straight, you know. I'm sitting five hours one day, you know, eight hours another day, whatever. Um also uh I just mentioned that picture which was my granddaughter. You know, I I'm me and my wife are part of helping, you know, she gets off school every day, so she comes over to our house every day. Right. So I don't work when when grandkids are at the house, right? Life is short and and we're trying to make memories for them. And so yeah, so grandkids are around and I don't get any work done, but uh but other than that, yeah, so I try to keep myself uh pretty busy and I you know I do maybe 10 to 15 paintings a year. Uh and I and I work that in as and it's been uh I'm you know, I said to someone one time, Are you busy? They asked me, and I said, I'm as busy as I want to be.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, and so I'm busy. I'm not retired, but I would say semi-retired, and I take on projects that interest me. Uh it's not about the money, although we all, you know, we have to live, and you know, we you know, and I've been doing this a long time, so this you have your rates, let's say. But um, but uh if a project comes by that I want to be involved in, I'm very interested in, uh, or I think it's gonna be fun. You know, I love being a part of it. And I'm not at this point in my life that I can do that. If they've reached out to me, meaning they want me to be a part of it, and then I think about it, I've done enough things over the years to say, yeah, that's that's either different, I haven't done that, or if I'd done it, I haven't done it that way, or it's a very interesting project, then you know, I'll sit seriously consider it and try to make it work.
SPEAKER_01It's funny, you know, I feel that way in life as well. I mean, I punched in almost 30 years in the advertising business, not unlike you. Yeah, we only met each other for the first time last week, but being able to be in a position where you can do the things you love when you want to do them. Yeah. And the fact that you spend time with your grandkids is beautiful. I really uh commend you for that because you're right, life's too short, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And and I feel, like I say, it's it's it's we're in our la I'm in my last 20 years on this planet. I like to say it's 30 years, but but let's let's be honest. So say 20 years. Yeah. It might even maybe be less than that. So I'm gonna continue to work, continue to draw, continue to create, but I'm also gonna continue to to and I say memories because my granddaughter is seven, my grandson is two. So if you think about it, if I'm in my last 20 years, that that puts them in their twenties when I'm gone. So, or my wife is gone. So I I you know, I want I'm not gonna remember it. 20 years, what what what we're doing, but I hope they and I hope she in particular because she's seven right now and she remembers stuff I can remember at seven, you can remember at seven, so she certainly is gonna remember like like oh yeah, like they're part of whatever, you know, whatever school, whatever soccer, whatever skating, like and she also goes down to my studio a lot of times. I'm drawing, I look over and she's drawing, nice, yeah, or painting, or yeah, so you know, yeah, so that's uh that's that's great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, question maybe I'm gonna put you on the spot with this one. Is there you probably get asked this a lot, is there one caricature painting, anything that really stands out, and you say to yourself, you know what, I'm really proud of that. Is there any like I I I I'm probably making it hard for you because I look at all this and I think I'll be proud of every bloody one of them. Yes. Um there's one I saw there with uh Joey in a Beetlejuice outfit. Yeah, yeah. Um hard question, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02It is, yeah. 40 years of work, putting you on the spot, it's not fair, is it? Um okay, well let me just have a quick glance.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, it's it's I like my tribute cartoons, the to be honest with you. Yeah, you know, like there's uh Ray Guy. Yeah. Yeah so I met Ray Guy, I guess. So um and you know, and of course he wrote the the book That Far Greater Yeah They and I went uh my punchline is that far greater Ray. And uh so I I I was pr I'm proud of that drawing, and I would say my tribute cartoons I'm probably most proud of because I'm there there yes, there's no flies, but also because uh you know I have been contacted by you know the family member, you know, the the the the wife or the um or the daughter or the son you know of of many people who you know and you you only know their their parent who's this you know politically active or whatever and and you know to get contacted and saying, you know, right that's I love that picture of my dad that you drew or my or my mom and uh yeah I'm I'm very pleased on that. So I can't pick just one. I do like the Ray Guy one, I do like yeah, that one there. That one. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Ron Hines. I mean it's amazing. I'm I'm on uh we've got them kind of put together. Mary Pratt, Christopher Pratt.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I I also Rex Murphy. I'm I've seen cartoonists, you know, and caricaturists when they do tribute cartoons, but I've seen other work and and it's great work and that, but I'm not trying to make a caricature when I'm doing a tribute, you know. I'm I'm trying to do more of a sketch and and more of a complimentary way, you know, how we remember them and uh and how they impacted us, good or bad, right? Good or bad. They they they you know they a lot of these people have been, you know, they're in our Newfoundland consciousness, right? Ron Hines is part of what makes Newfoundland Labrador what we are, and and and uh you know, we wouldn't be without without the great music and the great writing of Ron Hines, without the great writing of Ray Guy and the great art of um you know of Mary Pratt. And anyway, so so I just like to acknowledge it, I guess, you know, through my drawings, through my cartoons.
SPEAKER_01Uh look, I mean they're stunning. I'm just leafing through them as you're talking about uh the tribute ones, uh Christopher Pratt and Ray Guy and Rex Murphy, and this one I really like. Uh Gordon Pinson, Rowdy Man Mentor Legend, and you've got some of the people I guess he mentored in the background. Yes, and and very interesting.
SPEAKER_03The thing with uh I'll tell you quickly, uh so there's a draw a tribute drawing in there of Gordon Pinson. Yeah. Uh you know, again, sorry that.
SPEAKER_01That's okay.
SPEAKER_02Gonna tell you this little story.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So uh Gordon Pinson, if you remember, was um uh at he was about you know 15 years ago, I guess, or whatever. He was in the Republic of Doyle and he was um Morris Becker. I think that's his name. You're gonna have to Google that, but he was the criminal, criminal mind, Morris Becker. So anyway, I did a drawing of him uh in the cartoon that he um he uh you know acknowledging you know uh uh Republic of Doyle was uh given another season by CBC. So I drew him, right? So uh so I'm on my patio on a Sunday afternoon, and I'm uh I get a phone call. My wife answers the phone, she says, uh Kevin, she says, uh, you want on the phone? She said, she says, I believe it's Gordon Pinson. I've never spoken to the man, never met the man before. And I've after getting phone calls, by the way, she's John Crosby a couple of times, you know, like uh, you know, anyway, so Gordon Pinson. And I uh you know, yeah, right, it's Gordon Pinson, so hello. He goes, Hello, he goes, Who am I speaking to? And I said, Kevin Tobin. He says, This Kevin Tobin, the cartoonist, you know, that I'm I'm in my, you know, in the hotel room at the Delta, and I'm looking at the newspaper, and I said, What am I gonna do? And he's going on and on, right? And he's very dramatic. And he said, and I'm turning the page, and it's same old news on page three, and then I turn over the page four, the editorial page, and then he laughs, like genuine laugh. And he said, and he sees himself, right? And he says, and then he got his laugh, and he's a big good, hearty laugh, and he says, uh, you know, he was here for um it was Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and he was one of the hosts, Black Tie Fair at the Arts Cult Center, so he was staying at the Delta, and then so he happened to look at the cartoon on the Saturday and saw him. So he said, Well done, Kevin, and you know, he said great job and all this stuff. And he said, Now, how would I go about uh you know acquiring a copy or or you know or the or print or you know, he's going on trying to find the right words. Now in the meantime, I knew he was a in his earlier day was a commercial artist and the you know a graphic artist, a painter, all fantastic. Yeah, yeah. So he knew he was just kind of you know kind of going around about it, I guess. And I said, um, I said, well, I said, the original, I said, I sell my originals, I told him the price, and he he said, and I said, oh, I can get a print, and I was starstruck, right? So I said, or I can get a print done. And and I told him what the price was, the original, and I said, a print. And he said, a print, he said, what would that cost? And I said, oh, no cost. So he goes, you know, $200 a cartoon or free. $200 a cartoon. And he said it three or four times over the phone, right? Yeah, and he said, it's not that I'm being a cheapo, or and if these aren't the right words, you know, basically is what he meant. Anyway, he said, it's just that if you were in my studio in my my apartment in uh Toronto, and he said, You see the walls, everything, and apparently people told me. I mean, he's just blocked with his own drawings, his own paintings, other things that he's collected, awards, whatever. He's basically trying to, you know, calm down and taking on stuff. He said, But I would love to have a print. So I said, Okay. And he said, uh, what would it cost now to post it, you know, ship it to me? Yeah. And I said, uh, again, starstruck. I said, Oh, yeah, no, I'll I'll send it out to you, no problem. So he says, Okay, so I buy the original for this, or I can get it shipped out to me and a print at no cost. Like he's let's be clear, and I said, Yep, no problem. So I uh so I got the original, and anyway, he had a book, he put out a book. I knew he was going to be in town, right, in in uh uh chapters, and he's book signed. So I'm in the lineup of the of the thing, and I brought the original, so he has a print, and I have the original, and it's another little story to that. I know I'm Tennessee rambling, but it's so I'm in the look. I'm in the lineup, and all these people are getting him the sign, this book he just put out. And um, and I walks up to him and he's standing there and he kind of looks at me and he's sitting down. I'm standing there, he's sitting down, and then I just show him the cartoon. Because he knows he got the print, he knows the whole conversation that we had earlier that year. And he gets up and laughs again, same hearty laugh, and hugs me. We hug. This is like in chapters blocked with people. Everybody thinks like we're long-lost friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've never met him before. So um he says, uh, oh Kevin, oh thing, you know, we shake hands and all this stuff. And he says, Okay, he says, I said, I got a book, I want you to sign the book, but I said, I'd like for you to sign the cartoon too. You got to print, I got the original sign. So he said, in uh I said, Well, you gotta do me one favor, and he said, What's that? I said, I love your character, Boris Becker, on Republican Doyle. And then he turned right into Boris Becker. No way. Yeah, so and all the people who haven't heard this conversation, they see him there and think, What's going on? Is he having a stroke or something? What's on the go? So uh so Sherry, my wife, took a picture of me and him, and I'm I got my arm around him, and he's like he's like uh getting uh like the criminal uh in the police lineup, right? Yeah, yeah. Oh, it was so funny. And anyway, he signed the cartoon, which I got in my studio, hung in my studio, and it's in the book, and I put it the way he goes, To Kevin the Great. To and he said it as he signed it, to Kevin the Great, Gordon Pinson. But the way I took it and the way he's got it written is to Kevin, the great Gordon Pinson. Right? And uh anyway, so uh so and I ran off one more print.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So he I got the original, he's got a print in his place somewhere in, you know, probably in the museum somewhere now. And the other one is hanging on the walls of my favorite pub, the Duke of Duckworth.
SPEAKER_02No way.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Because uh if you look at the cartoon, he said the Duke.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Right? He says, uh but you're yeah, it says, Don't get too rowdy now, Jake. Bye. Yeah. But your happy hour is back at the Duke. Right, because the Duke was, as you know, or uh So they acquired that print, right? Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And they got a frame right nice behind the bar, and every time I go there, I got to, if I see someone like you talk about going up to people, well, that's an example of me going up and saying, you know what? I drew that.
SPEAKER_01Kevin, you must have so many stories. Like I'm totally, totally into every story you're telling.
SPEAKER_03Well, each cartoon has a story, and I figured out mathematically, I've drawn over 8,000 cartoons.
SPEAKER_01It's funny you say that. I was trying to figure out, given how many you're writing for the telegram or jumping for the telegram. But 8,000.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, roughly. Yeah. And so I figured that out, and someone came up to me, and I can't remember who. Uh the hand has memory, but sometimes the memory don't remember. But anyway, uh, yeah, so someone figured that out as well. I can't remember who.
SPEAKER_01Kevin, it that body work, that 8,000, um, it's it's something that you really must be proud of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like reflecting. I mean, you know, you said you hopefully got 20, maybe 30 more years, but let's just reflect a little bit. What does it mean to you to have this book fly on the wall, the best of Kevin Tobin, that is an absolute gem. What is it, what does it mean to you?
SPEAKER_03It's uh I I'm I'm just pleased that I've been around this long, you know, that that that my work is still relevant. You know, I feel it's relevant, and um and and I'm still interested in what I do, and you know, people have this came out last year, so it sold, you know, fairly well, is what what what I can tell. But it's not about, even though Rebecca would disagree, you know, maybe, but it's not about the book sales, it's about I wanted to have something uh, you know, that that years down the road, you know, getting back to my grandkids again, again, Emmy and Austin, that they would be able to, you know, have something that this is you know, this is an example of what my grandfather did. Right? And uh and also it has a uh historic connection, you know, and my best subject in school was was history, and uh and my history teacher, you know, uh advised me, you know, uh as a career, maybe become a cartoonist, uh, or political cartoons or whatever. So I certainly always remember that in the in the back of my mind. And uh I just um yeah, I just think that it's kind of summarizes the book kind of summarizes uh 40 years of why it has happened in our province, you know. And even when I do like a lot of people, I lately I've been doing a lot of Donald Trump cartoons, but I kind of was turned off from Donald Trump, uh, which is weird for a cartoonist because you want all that, right? He's he provides so much information. But as a cartoonist, you shouldn't be more just dive into it or whatever. But I kind of like, oh, I didn't want every other cartoonist, you know, was on him, yeah, drawing him, and I didn't want to be one of them. But but then when they uh the the tariffs went up, and then how we're affected, you know, how Canadians, Newfoundlanders, and Labradorians are affected, so then it affects us, therefore he's he's he's back on my radar again, right?
SPEAKER_01Is there any caricature that you want to do that you haven't done yet, or is you've done so many 8,000 pieces of of art?
SPEAKER_03I I'm I'm I'm um no, I don't think I I know in the past, you know, uh, and I used to get a few letters to the editor on this, rightfully so, uh, in the past, because the bulk of the uh politicians were men. So a lot of my, if you look at the book, a lot of a lot of the cartoon that's just reality, you know. Like uh so I'm I'm conscious of that, that when I'm doing cartoons, let's say there's just uh people in Tim Hortons, that I try to make sure uh, you know, that uh to be aware, like you know, instead of the man doing the punchline, can can a woman do, you know what I mean? Like uh, and I don't want to get anybody offended here now, but I'm just more conscious of uh of the world today than what the world was in 1980.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Or 1990, you know?
SPEAKER_01I I I get that. Kevin, honestly, it's an absolute pleasure to sit with you. We've been talking now for about 58 minutes, and it felt like five minutes. Um talk about the book. Where where is it available?
SPEAKER_03Yep, so it's at uh so it's chapters, uh you know, it's at both uh Cole's, you know, Avalon Mall and the Village Mall. They've been very helpful with with book signings and you know, and the book launch, of course. Uh it's at uh it's at Breakwater Books itself on Duckworth Street, beautiful new location that opened last fall. I think they had their launch in November. Uh it's it's bringing back breakwater back to downtown, right? You mentioned you were at the previous location, I believe that was on Water Street. Uh so this is this is this big, beautiful building there on Duckworth Street, and you can get it there. It's also uh in in many different uh uh locations across the province. Well, of course, where I'm I live in CBS outside of St. John's, as you know. So I'm I'm familiar with with the with the local areas and stuff like that. It's downtown. Yeah, uh it's on some in some bookshops down on uh Water Street as well, right?
SPEAKER_01So it's an incredible body of work. Um I am so pleased to have met you and for you to be willing to share your story. I would imagine anyone who's watched this has enjoyed every minute of it. Um again, you know, 59 minutes of conversation. I could probably go on for another hour, um, but we won't do that today. Uh you've got to get to your grandkids. Um how do people connect with you for the other part of your business? Well how do they find you?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I'm on social media, so I'm on like everybody else these days, right? So I'm on. How socials are you on? Yeah. I'm on Facebook and I'm uh Instagram, well, X, and LinkedIn as well. Uh so it's only just seek me out. But um, so could you define me as Kevin Tobin uh or KT Creative, which is you know my my company, I guess, uh self-employed and uh freelancer, and uh yeah, I'm I'm kept as busy as I want to be, but always interested in, you know, like I said, I'm interested in people, I'm interested in in ideas, fun ideas. If somebody has a fun idea and they want to have a chat, uh, I feel like I'd have you know a good uh you know amount of experience in in marketing and advertising, uh, but it's cartooning that that we're speaking about today. And and if I could add one final just a final point, uh, and it's about the fly, you know, fly on the wall. Yes. So I do see myself as you know, as a fly on the wall, you know, even though I'm doing a lot of chatting here now, uh most most people would know me, you know, I'm I'm pretty quiet, uh, you know, like I was when I was a baby. I'm kind of you know sizing things up and looking around and and listening uh and forming my opinions. And so the fly came from that. It also came from when you know when I started adding flies in the 90s, you know, uh flies chase after junk, you know, garbage trucks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And so uh some of the politicians at the time I felt was there was a lot of BS they were shooting, and and still today, sorry boys, no offense, but uh so the flies kind of there's a bit of that, uh yeah, especially if there's a lot of flies. You know, that's usually like come on, come on, like you know uh and that's where I mean I I I've tried to talk about it, and I know in the past I've kind of maybe said something else, but in reality, the flies come started with that, with with certain characters that I felt that you know uh you know I didn't agree or or whatever. So anyway, and now I don't even know some it's like you know, it's like uh I'm just sketching flies, it's all part of the drawing, and it's all part of the illustration, but I just think it's my own little uh trademark as well, you know. The the it's me watching what's on the go or part of what's on the go, but uh also there's still shit being you know shot, and uh and you know, so I'm commenting on that. That's why the flies.
SPEAKER_01Um just before I let you go, I gotta ask you about this one in particular. Yes, tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so that's uh uh it was during the pandemic, and every five years or so I I do a self-portrait, and not because uh, you know, my my wife says sometimes, you know, my wall of fame, you know what I mean? Yeah, my pictures and that. But I've seen other artists and other illustrators uh and cartoonists that you know they sketch themselves. I mean it's a it's an easy subject, especially with the with you know as as your face ages. Well, I had a couple, but I never had with uh believe it or not, it just shaved my beard off in January. So I had this big white beard, and it was uh if you see that, that's actually a painting, and it's in color, and in my white beard is blue and red and greens off just because when I'm painting, I have paint all over me. Right.
SPEAKER_01So at even in my beard. You cleaned up well every day. Yeah, look at this. That's my son did that. That's appropriate to leave that there.
SPEAKER_03Well, perfect. So, yeah, so uh so the painting was more a self-portrait, but it was done during the pandemic because I wasn't busy at the time. Right. And I had to keep busy. So uh, you know, I was like, you know what, I haven't done a portrait in a while, I'm not busy, I got all the acrylics and whatever. And so it was kind of and if you saw, if if you get to see the original, which means you're gonna have to be in my studio, and uh everybody out there, I don't know if you ever get into my studio, but anyway, uh I I spent a lot of time and detail, not because it's me, but because it's what I enjoy doing, the eyes. So the eyes were you know, you you can't really tell from the black and white, yeah. Right? But the eyes they're they're they're almost like marbles. They're uh I spent a lot of time, less on the you know, the wrinkles and the beard and all that, but more more time on the eyes, and and uh, you know, again, it's you would probably see it on if you go check my social media page, you might see the you know, copy of it, you know, one of my images.
SPEAKER_01Kevin, um I gotta say thank you. Thank you. Um once we're finished recording. If if would you sign my book for me if I were to do that? Yes. I should have brought a pen out here. Yes, no, um I I I have enjoyed this. Um I've been involved in around 5,000 interviews in the last six years, and I gotta tell you, and this is going to anyone who's what been on interview, this is probably my favorite. Only because your body of work is just stupendous. It's incredible. It it is a historical document of this province, and uh you are an incredibly talented guy. Keep going. Um here's to another 40 years. How about that? Yeah, well, thank you. Oh, you're more than welcome. Thank you. I don't know, where do you normally sign? Yeah, right here. And Jerry appreciate this. Jerry, G-E-R-O-Y. Thank you for watching or listening to Spilling the Means. Please like, follow, and share our content. I am a big thank you to our sponsor, Wordsworth Gifting. If you want to move beyond generic corporate gifts, Wordsworth Gifting offers curated book collections that let your recipients choose their own read. From starter to strategic packages, it's about personalized marketing with a real social impact. Check them out. To be an early adopter.