BUI THACH

BUI THACH (TAK)

This Toronto cartoonist is the founder of Artattak Studio. He is a book illustrator and has created cartoon strips for various newspapers Toronto Star, National Post, Financial Post and magazines including Owl.

He was born in a village near Hanoi in Vietnam in 1950, the fourth child in a family of six. His father, a school teacher took his family and fled south to Saigon to escape the advance of Ho Chi Minh and his troops.

“I grew up among the political chaos, guerrilla terrorism, military curfews and countless military coups as the war intensified around me with the massive arrival of American armed forces. Within this surreal environment, I found escape in drawing war planes and collecting comics that came from Japan and France – and spent the rest of my allowance on pens and drawing paper.

In grade 7, I became friends with two other budding cartoonists and spent years drawing secretly at their places because my father forbade any activity that was not directly academic. In high school I began taking English lessons at the American library downtown, located amid barbed wire sandbags and M-16 toting U.S. Marines. At the library I started to read American newspapers and discovered American daily comic strips. I was hooked instantly!”

At age 17 Bui won a contest to attend 12th grade and live with an American family in Amarillo Texas. After high school he visited a family friend in Quebec City and decided to stay in Canada. He entered the Toronto New School of Art where he studied drawing, painting and began a career in cartooning in 1973.

Meanwhile, South Vietnam fell to the communists in 1975 and Thach’s parents became refugees. The boat on which they were escaping, capsized. Thach’s mother broke her hip and leg. She recovered and his penniless parents joined Thach in Toronto.

Somewhere between the Summer and October 1991, Thach along with Harold Eastman replaced Emily Hearn and Mark Thurman on “Mighty Mites“. He did the first “Mighty Mites” story in colour in the Summer 1993 issue. His stay however was short. Thach left the feature somewhere between the Summer of 1993 and January 1994.

About 1996, he created the cartoon strip “PC and Pixel” syndicated by the Washington Writers Group. It  appeared in the Toronto Star from 3 August 1996 to 3 July 1999, and then in the National Post from 10 April. 2000 to 26 August 2000.

Thach lives in Toronto (2012) with his wife Cathy McNeil and their two sons.

WORK:

CARTOONIST:

NEWSPAPER:

Content strip cartoon:

National Post, 10 Apr. 2000 to 26 Aug. 2000: “PC and Pixel”: W21Intermittently.

Toronto Star, 3 Aug. 1996: J12 to 3 July 1999: “PC and Pixel”: L13 Intermittently .

ILLUSTRATOR:

PERIODICAL TEXT & GRAPHIC:                                                                                    Published by the Young Naturalist Foundation

Content information:

Owl 19-4, April 1994: “Walruses.” Writ., Elin Kelsey: 5 & 6.

Owl, 20-1, January 1995: “In Your Face”: 7. Owl Communications.

Owl, 20-2, February 1995: “The World From eh? To Zed!”: 18-19.

CO-CARTOONIST:

PERIODICAL TEXT & GRAPHIC:                                                                                    Published by the Young Naturalist Foundation

Content information & adventure:

Owl …: “The Mites…” Co-car., Harold Eastman. Illus., Black & white.
16-8, October 1991: “… Find an All-Natural Raincoast”: 25-47. Frog protects itself against drying out.

17-8, October 1992” “… Discover a Secret Entrance”: 24-27. Enter a bird’s nest.

17-10, December 1992: “… Tight-Rope Trouble”: 22-25. Close encounter with a spider.

18-2, February 1993: “… Coral Caper”: 22-25.

18-5 May 1993: “… Turning Up The Heat”: 8-11. Encounter with Collar Lizard.

18-6, Summer 1993: “… In The Pirate Isles”: 27-28. First story in colour.

SOURCE:

Press Release:

PC and Pixel by Thach Bui. Presented by The Washington Writers Group, no date.