TORONTO—Gary Taxali's work is nothing to be toyed with.

Well, that's not entirely true. His illustrations have become the inspiration for toys. In fact, he is the creator of Chump Toys, which started in 2005 with the launch of Taxali's original toy monkey, heard the room full of people attending CreativeMornings/Toronto at the monthly event's new home, the Gladstone Hotel.



"I do the packaging and typography myself for the toys," he said.

Some of the toys for sale online include wooden yo-yos, "trapeze monkey," and "chalk draw" (the latter which is what you think it is: a chalkboard).

When creating toys that are three dimensional, "I  do the drawings from different perspectives," said Taxali. He then works with companies — including Bigshot Toyworks — to make them a reality. "They understand the engineering to make it work."


But his illustrations pop up in many more places than on toys. His work has ended up on cufflinks, as tattoos, in magazines and books, and more recently, on five Canadian quarters from the Royal Canadian Mint (there's a sixth coin coming out this fall). His font, Chumply, was also used as the typeface on the coins.

His love for drawing can be traced back to Mad magazine, he said. The magazine's late artist, Bill Elder, was a particular inspiration for Taxali. "The one thing I learned from Bill is filling the page up with stuff, that the sum would be greater than its parts," said Taxali.


Taxali said he has a history of doing his own thing, which fortunately for him garnered commercial attention, he explained. But he added that it's important to draw just for your own advancement sometimes. "You must always create personal work, it's the only time you're growing," he said. He added a bit later in the talk, "It's nice as an artist to get hired and not be constrained. It's up to us as graphic artists to convince clients that we have a point of view."

When asked about his unique 'vintage' illustration style, he offered, "I have no idea (where it came from). Maybe I should've been born then, maybe I was, I don't know. I just liked the way things looked back then."