1992: There was something in the water at what is now known as OCAD. Amongst the bunch of budding artists, or wayward creative people, was this crop of comics fans who turned their pens to the page and made their own characters and books. It was an exciting time out of which came Tik Tok Tom, Little Grace, Interesting To Your Mother, and many others. We spent our days drawing and our weekends printing and binding zines and minis.
Our buddy Scott showed up here and there. He loved illustration, his style was unique, you could get lost in one of his pictures, he seemed to do so while making them. We worked on a lot of stuff together but one didn’t really collaborate with him… he’d just take an idea an go. And you’d always be amazed with what came back. His style was kind of anti-comics and by that I mean he didn’t really do sequential. Every frame stood on its own. Scott went on to do ads, editorial, album art, and we all kept doing comics long after we left art school.
But by now you will have noticed I talk about Scott in past tense. This story doesn’t have a happy ending. Scott suffered a heart arrhythmia and his family lost their son, their brother, we lost a friend, his fiancé Laurie lost the love of her life, and the world lost an artist. We can only imagine what Scott would have done if circumstances were different. For those of us who still have his work up, you glance at it and there’s an instant connection to a time, a place, and a person. We still have his art, and trust, he’s alive in it.
Out of which came Tik…
– Joseph Nanni
