The more you see it, the more you believe it’s possible.
Gordon Rowe is a freelance illustrator and designer who predominantly focuses on hip-hop and Afro-centric artwork. He has also been selected as one of three finalists of the Welcome Toronto Creators Program, which is now in its second year of spotlighting emerging black, indigenous, non-binary, female, or racialized groups, creators and artists. One of the main reasons Rowe believed he could be in this position is because his uncle Clive Wallace was an illustrator back in Jamaica where Rowe descends from.
“At the back of my head, I said, ‘Okay, that’s possible,’” Rowe recalls of when his mom told him of his uncle’s exploits. “Him doing that paved the way for me, made me believe that if I ever wanted to do that, it’s actually feasible. I was always afraid of the starving artist part of being an artist, but seeing him living comfortably and doing well for himself made the whole thing more of a reality.”
Rowe has been drawing for as long as he can remember. One of his favourite hobbies growing up was to watch movies, pause his favourite scenes, and draw them out. His favourite movie? Jurassic Park. Rowe loved the movie so much that the VHS tape was pretty much all he needed if he was going to a friend’s house.
One fine day, Rowe’s parents told him he’d be going to visit a friend and so just like he always would, Rowe packed his Jurassic Park tape and was ready to go. Turns out, it was all a ploy to get him to his first day of kindergarten. Even with the cat out of the bag, Rowe tried asking around at the school if there was a way for him to watch the movie. That predilection for dinosaurs made a kid who grew up in Scarborough, Ontario fall in love with the Raptors without even having any true passion for basketball at first.
“I’ve been a fan for the majority of my life, really, for as long as I’ve known basketball,” Rowe said. “Started off not really knowing the team or sport that well but loving the logo.”
Loving the logo is an understatement, Rowe was addicted to it. Any space he could find to draw it, he would. Desks at school soon became his favourite canvas and if anyone came passing by he’d just try to hide it with a book or whatever he could find. Rowe couldn’t get enough of drawing and as long as the surface was compatible, he considered it fair game until it was made crystal clear to him what qualifies as non-canvas zones.
“I used to get in trouble for drawing on the walls at home so I stopped drawing on the walls at home,” Rowe said. “I definitely didn’t draw on the tables at home because I knew I would get in actual trouble. I didn’t mind cleaning up all the desks after school if I got to draw on the desks all day. That was fair compared to what home would be like.”
Rowe’s parents gave him all the paper he needed, and all the support, too. Family and friends consistently provided him with positive reinforcement to keep drawing, ideally more than just the Raptors logo. Rowe would draw seven-to-eight page comics with no words but knew they still told the story it needed to well.
Nothing got serious until well after he finished high school, because at that point he still had plans to attend the University of Toronto for kinesiology. There was an uneasiness inside him, a gut instinct that left him knowing his heart wasn’t all the way in. Two weeks before the program began, Rowe decided to take some time to figure things out and work random jobs until he did. While doing door-to-door sales for air conditioners and water heaters, Rowe crossed paths with a homeowner who also recognized his undeniable talent. While chatting, the homeowner noticed that his tracking sheet wasn’t keeping track of anything, it was just filled with drawings from top to bottom. Asked why he was knocking doors when he clearly wanted to do something else, Rowe knew it was time to go all-in.
Rowe completed a three-year animation program at Sheridan college and that further helped refine what he wanted to do with his future. There was a lot of three-dimensional work but his passion lay in two-dimensional work. He picked up whatever freelance opportunities came about, and as one job bled into the next, it became what he does to this day.
When the Toronto Raptors take on the Denver Nuggets Saturday night, it will be the turn of Rowe’s work to be featured. Without giving too much away, it’s the story of a dreamer, an aspiring hooper who grew up with the ‘Ball is Life’ mentality and he hopes it represents the story of that community of basketball lovers and fans. This game, in many ways, is an opportunity that brings Rowe’s dream full circle. Doing work for the team he’s loved, in a matchup that just so happened to be the first-ever game he attended back in 2001.
It just so happens that Rowe learned of the program by chance, too. Just last year, when Rowe was working with Ziggy Marley on a children’s book, he noticed his former classmate at Sheridan’s animation program, Julius Campbell, was having his work featured by the Raptors. He couldn’t believe he didn’t know about the program, but was ecstatic to see Campbell get his shine. He kept it in the back of his mind, then applied the second the program opened up this year. The cycle complete, Rowe hopes more members of marginalized communities see this opportunity to expand their platform exponentially and grab it with both hands.
“The most important thing is that you’re honest with your story and you give a piece of yourself in a positive way,” Rowe said. “Tell your story. It’s so hard to get seen a lot of the time for a lot of people and this program gives you an opportunity to really put your work out there. That’s important not just for the story but for the artists.”