INNISFAIL - Dean Foster's long life changing journey to Canada from South Africa has taken a triumphant turn.
Seven and a half years ago the accomplished 53-year-old professional cartoonist and illustrator decided he needed a life change for himself and his family. They saw Canada as the best chance for that opportunity. It has not always been easy. In fact Foster has had to take on truck driver jobs to make ends meet and put his art career on hold.
But this year he saw an opportunity to reboot his once successful career he meticulously nurtured for 25 years in South Africa. He first seized upon an idea to create the world's biggest caricature and register it with the Guinness World Records. He then entered the Spread the Word radio contest at Calgary's CJAY 92 to create the best ad for the new Morning Show with Jesse & JD. The contest winner gets $25,000.
On Monday, April 22 he got the call.
"He did win. The winner was announced this morning," said Thomas Hanley, promotions coordinator for Bell Media, which includes Calgary's CJAY 92 radio. He said Foster's massive creation was picked over about 80 other entries. "Dean won (because) his was the most grand scale of all the entries. It was 130 metres in length and 100 metres wide.
"It created a lot of buzz online through social media. It definitely got the word out. That was the purpose of the contest, to spread the word," he said.
Hanley said Foster's entry, created to boost the public profiles of the Jesse and JD morning show after long-time host Gerry Forbes retired last year after 25 years on the air, was exactly what the radio station was seeking. "The detail was extraordinary because in our marketing campaign we did create caricatures of Jesse and JD and he did that to a tee on the the field, which is impressive," said Hanley.
In the meantime, Foster said he was overwhelmed when he received the victory call Monday morning after working so hard to complete his gigantic piece of art at his acreage 15 kilometres east of Innisfail. He began his creation on April 8 and completed it over the next six to seven days.
https://youtu.be/PXYqgzZNnT4
"It is a great feeling to win something like this. It's amazing, I've never had that before," said Foster yesterday morning on April 22 after CJAY 92 announced the winner. "I was wondering that maybe there was somebody who had not come across the contest and made a submission yet and was maybe way better than me. There was that anxiety the whole weekend but I had to put it out of my mind and just wait for their call.
"Yes, it is just a big relief because I put out a lot of money to do the whole job," he added, noting the prize money will clear up finances and help him rejuvenate his cartoon and illustration career. "The coverage I got was quite incredible. I had to be careful with the contest to not make it look like about me. The contest had to look like it was about them (CJAY 92).
"I got what I intended for them but at the same time it mentions my name so I am hoping people will pick that up, and I will try to get myself out there," he said. "With Google searches I am going to try to market myself as best I can so any web searches will lead to my website."
In the meantime, Foster now has the proof for the Guinness World Records that his creation for CJAY 92 radio is the world’s largest caricature.
The current record-holding work was drawn by Uruguayan artist Federico Delgado Herediain in 2011. It is 91.35 metres in length and 60.90 metres wide. That is a total area of about 631.20 square metres, or just over 6,794 square feet, about the same area as a football field.
Foster’s creation is an area of 10,000 square metres, well over Herediain‘s world record.
Video by Noel West
