Ben Weeks
| Ben Weeks | |
|---|---|
| Born | Benjamin Weeks Toronto, Canada |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Canadian |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Sheridan College |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Notable work | They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children |
| 🌐 Website | www |
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Ben Weeks is a Canadian artist, illustrator, art director and motion designer. He is known for large scale drawings and paintings.
Early life and education
Born in Toronto, Weeks grew up in Limerick, Ireland, before returning to Canada. He studied illustration at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, and in 2004 was awarded a full scholarship to the University of Huddersfield’s MA program in Creative Imaging, where his degree was conferred by Sir Patrick Stewart. While a student, his work won recognition from Applied Arts, Coupe, and American Illustration.
Early Career
The MA program at Huddersfield was developed in partnership with the design agency Attik as a way to mentor and recruit top emerging creatives. After completing the degree, Weeks was recruited to Attik, a studio originally funded by the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) through The Prince’s Trust and later acquired by Dentsu for $30 million. [1][2]At Attik, he contributed to projects for Nike, Toyota Scion, AOL, Smith Barney, and Electronic Arts, [3] working under James Sommerville, who would later become Global Vice President of Design at Coca-Cola.[4]
Career
After returning to Toronto in 2005, Weeks founded his own studio. His 80-page continuous line drawing for PEN Canada’s annual report, created with Soapbox’s Jim Ryce and Gary Beelik, won a D&AD award and led to a national campaign for Honda. He went on to produce book and magazine illustrations and advertising campaigns. Weeks illustrated They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children by Roméo Dallaire[5] and has contributed to publications including The Walrus, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Magazine, as well as creating motion design and providing business strategy consulting.
In 2010, he designed the cover and interior artwork for Juno Award–nominated jazz musician Laila Biali’s album Tracing Light.[6] In 2015, documentary director Mark Bennett released The Illustrator, a short film based on Weeks’s work.[7] In 2017, Weeks released a compilation of his motion design projects for organizations such as the Toronto Star, Cossette, Juniper Park, Desiring God, and Staples. He later produced motion design for Canada Goose and art direction for Wealthsimple and the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Weeks has served on Sheridan College’s Professional Advisory Committee, chaired judging for its graduate exhibitions, and taught there for one semester. He later taught at Miami Ad School Toronto for seven years, through 2024, and also wrote design curriculum for Redeemer University in 2025. He has collaborated with non-profits including YMCA, Habitat for Humanity, PEN Canada, and College Track.
Awards and recognition
For his work, Ben was awarded by D&AD with 2 Wood Pencils,[8] Advertising and Design Club of Canada with 2 Golds, 2 Silvers and 10 merits, Association of Illustrators's Silver Award,[9] American Illustration with 3 selected, 2 chosen), Applied Arts, Coupe, Design Edge Canada, Creative Review and Communication Arts magazine. His work has also been published in books by Taschen,[10] Index Book, Die Gestalten Verlag[11] and Princeton Architectural Press.[12]
Weeks’s work has been included in exhibitions juried by Tim Marlow (White Cube, London), Simon Groom (Tate Liverpool), Robert Smigel (Saturday Night Live), and David Liss (Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada).
In 2015, Weeks designed the cover artwork for The Business of Graphic Design: The RGD Professional Handbook (ed. Hilary Ashworth), the official professional reference for registered graphic designers in Canada, published by the Association of Registered Graphic Designers.
Weeks’s work is included in Archive/Recollection: 75 Years of the Advertising & Design Club of Canada (2024), a limited-edition 240-page book showcasing a curated selection of Gold award-winning work from the ADCC’s archives. Only 500 copies were printed, highlighting the most influential Canadian advertising and design from the past seven decades.
References
- ↑ O'Leary, Noreen (2007-10-26). "Dentsu Acquires Attik". Adweek. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
- ↑ Lepitak, Stephen (2012-09-11). "Attik co-founder James Sommerville walks away from Dentsu agency after 26 years". The Drum. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
- ↑ "Creative masters launched". Times Higher Education World University Rankings. 2002-05-03. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
- ↑ Industrial Designers Society of Americahttps://www.idsa.org/profile/james-sommerville/
- ↑ Dallaire, Roméo. They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children. Hutchinson, 2010.
- ↑ Goddard, Peter (2012-02-09). "Laila Biali and the womanly wave in jazz". The Star. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
- ↑ Bennett, Mark (2015-04-19). The Illustrator.
- ↑ "Ben Weeks Has Many Loves". D&AD. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
- ↑ "Ben Weeks". AOI. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
- ↑ Wiedemann, Julius (2011). Illustration NOW! 4. Cologne: Taschen. pp. 428–429. ISBN 978-3836524230. Search this book on
- ↑ Antoniou, Antonis (2014). Visual Families: Graphic Storytelling in Design and Illustration. Berlin: Gastalten. ISBN 978-3899555400. Search this book on
- ↑ Perry, Mike (2008). Over and Over: A Catalog of Hand-drawn Patterns. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 978-1568987576. Search this book on
External links
Category:Canadian art directors
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