Q Who the heck are you?

A My name is Trevor Johnston. Among other things, I am a visual journalist, digital illustrator, infographic artist, creative problem solver, master of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator and the answer to your illustration and graphic woes. Oh, and a happily-married, photography-obsessed father of three talented young ladies.

Q How long have you been all of those things?

A More than half my life, the photography even longer.

Q But, you’re so young!

A Not a question, but we’ll allow it because it’s a valid and worthy point.

Q Is it true you were one of the early pioneers in digital infographics? How is that possible if you’re really so young?

A Sorry, limit of one question at a time. Let’s go with the first one. My career as a digital news artist – one of the first in Canada – began in 1987, cranking out daily news graphics on a MacPlus for the London Free Press. The concept of covering news stories using infographics was relatively new and in my three years at the Free Press, I helped establish the paper as a leader in the field, not just in Canada, but in North America. My success there led to my recruitment by Southam News, Canada’s premier news agency at the time. There, I helped launch their graphics service, providing news graphics to 30 Canadian daily newspapers. My award-winning work at Southam News subsequently caught the attention of the Los Angeles Times who in turn hired me as Senior News Artist. After two years at the Times, covering major news stories like the Northridge earthquake, I returned to Canada in 1995 to strike out on my own. Flash forward almost two decades and I continue to produce compelling illustrations and infographics for some of the biggest names in publishing and for government agencies, advertising and the corporate world.