West Edmonton Mall caricature artists take different paths

By Aden Cruz

EDMONTON — If you’ve been to Galaxy Land at West Edmonton Mall, you’ve most likely seen or walked by caricature artists Claude St-Onge and Rob Guthrie. They’re professional cartoonists who have set up shop there.

At first glance it may seem like both artists are offering the same thing: caricatures of their clients. However, a closer look reveals that they each offer their own unique take on this art.

Against technological tides

Technological changes have produced both challenges and opportunity for many, including artists.

Claude St-Onge has been producing caricatures at West Edmonton Mall since 1995 and he isn’t approaching technology as a tool, he’s sticking to traditional methods.

“The cost of living in Alberta has been rising quite a bit. So it’s more expensive to live here and new technology for me is too expensive,” said St-Onge. “I don’t want to be investing in the new technology at all.”

By not investing in new equipment, St-Onge says he’s able to save money.

However, expense is not the only hurdle for St-Onge when it comes to new technology. He finished design school back in 1978, right before computers were introduced to the design program he had taken.

“…I’m not familiar with all the technology. When I studied art, like photography, and all those things, I studied it the old fashioned way.”

Despite challenges, St-Onge carries on still being able to make a living doing what he’s passionate about in the traditional methods he’s so committed to.

“I don’t need technology to make my living,” said St-Onge. “I’m kind of glad I don’t have to rely on it.”

He even uses markers that have been discontinued for about 12 years now. He recycles and reuses these markers, being committed to his style and quality of art.

St-Onge says he also acquires clientele the traditional way, often getting repeat customers happy with his work as well as new customers through word of mouth.

Going with the flow

Rob Guthrie, on the other hand, gets most of his income from customers ordering and booking his services online.

“I’m taking advantage of it. I’m doing most of my advertising online.”

Guthrie drew from his experience working within the pre-press graphics industry to create his own system of producing digital caricatures.

“So what I did was I created a library of 300 body situations, and now basically I just draw their heads, scan it in, colour it, and I stick it on the body, and every caricature takes the same amount of time now,” said Guthrie.

“It’s a lot less stressful, especially when there’s a big crowd and someone’s asking for some huge project that’s going to take forever to do.”

Available all year round

Both St-Onge and Guthrie have set-up shop at West Edmonton Mall’s Galaxy Land because there they can have steady work at any season. Other tradeshows and carnivals only operate at certain times of the year.

“It was in 1994 that I came to West Edmonton Mall and discovered that this place was open, you know, everyday of the year, and so I could actually make a living doing it here, like, on a daily basis,” said St-Onge. “Since I moved to Edmonton I’ve been producing about around 3,000 or so pictures a year, which was impossible before…”

Here are the artists’ information:

Claude St-Onge

Cartoon by Claude –

1 person

Black & White – $7

Color – $15

Rob Guthrie

Toons Tent – www.toonstent.com

1 person

Black & White – $10

Color – $15