Bob Kain’s career has taken him to big-city advertising agencies, a national television network and the formation of his own company.

And yet he is best known for creating a tiny, yellow chick named Chirp, mascot and central character in the children’s magazine of the same name.

“I can draw him almost in my sleep,” said the Barrie resident, who first drew Chirp in 1997.

Having landed an animation co-production deal with the Owl Group, publisher of Owl and Chickadee magazines, Kain was asked to tackle a new project.

“They were looking to produce a new magazine called Chirp for the preschool group, and they had never produced a magazine for that particular age group before,” he recalled.

Kain was asked to come up with the publication’s title character.

“I designed (Chirp) and showed it to their team of people – editors, art director, that sort of thing – and they liked the character.”

The artist, who grew up in Toronto and Hamilton, had no idea the huge role Chirp would come to play in his life.

Kain has always enjoyed drawing cartoons. At around the age of five, he practised by sketching superheroes like Captain Marvel, Flash Gordon and Spy Smasher.

After attending the Ontario College of Art for three years, he worked in junior positions with various advertising agencies before resuming his education at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Returning to Toronto, he worked as a freelance graphic designer, eventually starting his own company, Video Art Productions Ltd., which did film animation in the 1960s and ’70s for CBC, TV Ontario and others. Among the animation projects he worked on was the Canadian version of Sesame Street.

Nothing, however, brought him the same renown as Chirp.

Besides drawing for the magazine – the Chirp character appears on the jokes page, in a comic strip and elsewhere – Kain regularly teaches children how to improve their drawing skills.

“I very much believe anybody can be taught to draw,” he said. “Some will wind up better than others, of course…. I show them how to draw Chirp in stages. For example, his head is just a circle. Most cartoon figures are made up of geometric designs just put together.”

Children love it when they see him quickly produce a perfect Chirp drawing, said Kain.

“They get quite excited and, let’s face it, there’s no excitement like the excitement that stems from a small child,” he said. “I find it’s so much fun.”

Kain will be leading a cartooning workshop on Saturday for Quest Art School and Gallery.

Scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to noon at Holy Cross Lutheran Church (845 Yonge St.), the workshop is intended for budding artists between the ages of nine and 15.

The cost is $35, which includes all materials. For more information, or to register, call 549-5425.

tmealing@simcoe.com