Bado’s journey

Guy Badeaux (Bado) was born in Montréal on May 21, 1949. He became interested in drawing in school, where he spent his time sketching in the margins of his notebooks. This passion prompted him to enroll in the Institut d’art de Montréal, formerly the Institut des Arts Appliqués, recently incorporated into the CÉGEP du Vieux-Montréal. He then travelled to Europe, where he had the opportunity to perfect his technique.

Drawing by Bado, entitled Hey Jude, created in August 1968.

Drawing by Bado, created on September 27, 1970.

Drawing by Bado, created in 1976.

Upon his return from the old countries, he was noticed by the editors of the economics pages of The Gazette. He later moved to Le Devoir, then to the La Presse sports pages and eventually to the Jour Hebdo editorial pages. Alongside his work with the various dailies and weeklies, he contributed to several publications in which the 1970s counter-culture was building up steam. Le Temps Fou, Baloune and the iconic Croc all published his drawings.

Caricature of Pierre Eliott Trudeau in Le Jour.

The cover of the first edition of Baloune, drawn by Bado in 1977.

The “Les Gagas” cartoon strip that appeared regularly in the popular Croc magazine. From the October 1979 edition.

In May 1981, Guy Badeaux was hired as caricaturist by Ottawa’s Le Droit. It published his first caricature, a self-portrait, in its May 20, 1981 edition. For more than 40 years he has been covering the myriad of topics of concern to the federal capital region and the Francophonie. Throughout his prolific career, he received numerous prestigious awards, including the 1991 National Newspaper Award for the best editorial cartoon, which depicted Robert Bourassa and his (torturous) constitutional position.

First caricature by Bado in Le Droit, May 20, 1981.

Bourassa clarifies his constitutional position. This drawing received the National Newspaper Award for best editorial cartoon in 1991.

He was editor-in-chief of the annual Portfoolio: The Year’s Best Canadian Editorial Cartoons and, for a few years, President of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists, which provided the opportunity to disseminate his work nationally and internationally. Since May 2016, he has been splitting his talents between Le Droit and Francopresse, a print media dedicated to French-Canadian information.

Bado: The Francophonie Through Pencil Strokes. Enjoy the video with an English transcription.

For Bado, when it comes to being a caricaturist, the three essentials are an interest in politics and current affairs, solid drawing skills, and a highly developed sense of humour. Familiarity with current affairs issues comes in very useful during editorial meetings where you have to defend your opinion cartoons. Every morning, he prepares a list of potential topics and sorts them according to the ease with which the chosen topics can be illustrated. Some good ideas never make it to the drawing board because it is too difficult to properly illustrate the latest developments. He also finds it easier to draw some public figures over others.

BADO – Creating a caricature. Enjoy the video with an English transcription.

He is highly demanding of himself, and often looks back on his older drawings with regret, seeing things that could be added or perfected. Some people have on occasion reproached him for going too far. But those comments hold no sway for him because his drawings reflect his opinions and deep convictions.