Aaron Leighton . Canadian Illustrator

Aaron Leighton grew up in a small town on the Canadian prairies but was drawn to the chaos and

colour of urban life in the big city. He graduated in 1995 from the Alberta College of Art & Design

in Calgary, Alberta and has been working as an illustrator ever since.

Combining a love of line and color with a fondness for tribal artwork, cartoons, anthropomorphic

objects and bugs, Aaron Leighton’s work is both weird and wonderful.

He has a varied use of style and I can see diverse influences such as Miro, Picasso, Kurt Schwitters,

Klee, Keith Haring, Japanese Manga to name but a few creeping into his work.

I like this concept of creating a book of imagined creatures hanging around urban landscapes.

‘ Spirit City Toronto ‘, combines illustration and photography to depict a variety of homeless nature

spirits who, having lost their forests and streams, are forced to live in the forgotten corners of the city.

Many more examples of Aarons’ work on his site  and more interview info here.

He currently lives in Toronto. And loves it!