With this 6th edition of the illustrated 'Year in Review', I was reminded why I commit to this project every year. It helps me, and hopefully you, the viewer, mark time through a visual archive of the twelve months. As we get more removed from 2025, we can go back to this archive to remember the not-too-distant past and refresh our memories on the moments that forever changed history and those which become smaller footnotes. All the events are organized across a rectangular calendar in the way I mentally picture the year, a phenomenon called “calendar synesthesia.” With each new edition, the visual styling shifts, recalling a visual syntax from history. This edition is inspired by one of my earliest childhood inspirations: comic books, in particular the halftone color and dramatic inking of 1960s superhero comics.
The above video shows how the 3 layers of colour (Cyan, Yellow, Magenta), set to multiply, can achieve a range of additional colours by overlapping the halftone dots. In order to achieve the right hue and shade the correct size of halftone dot had to be used. I worked with RetroSupply's Color Lab brushes.
This year I took inspiration from the most contemporary reference point yet, comic books of the 1960s. I grew up looking at comics from this time period when I was first learning how to draw, mimicking the superhero poses and enjoying the colour halftones on the rough cream-coloured pulp paper. The panel framework of this annual project lends itself to the comic frame borders. The style also felt fitting for a year full of twists and turns that sometimes felt surreal in all that we lived through.
Calendar synesthesia is when a person automatically perceives time units like days, months, or years as fixed spatial layouts in their mind. It forms the rationale for the 12 month layout of this project. Typically I can fit 4-6 events within each month panel. Some months feel more compressed in time than others which is reflected in the framework. You can see the rough sketch above where I plan the general imagery for each event to be represented.
In November I held an interactive brainstorming session with friends to help gather ideas on what to include in this year's edition. Writing on the wall friends jotted down memorable memes, political evens, sport moments, and media we consumed in the year. This collaborative curation was helpful when it came time to work on the final illustration.
MONTHLY VISUAL 'KEY'
JANUARY
(6th) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promises to resign once a successor for the Liberal Party is found.
(7th) Extreme Santa Ana winds cause wildfires across Los Angeles, including the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst, causing tens of thousands to evacuate.
(16th) Justin Baldoni countersues Blake Lively for $400 million for defamation and extortion over their film It Ends With Us, after Lively earlier sued him.
(19th) Israel-Hamas ceasefire comes into effect in Gaza.
(20th) Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th U.S. President, immediately issuing executive orders cutting federal DEI initiatives, pardons January 6 insurrectionists, declares a southern border national emergency, and withdraws the U.S. from the WHO and Paris Climate Agreement.
FEBRUARY
(1st) Trump announces 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on China. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau announces retaliatory tariffs of 25%.
(9th) Kendrick Lamar performs at the halftime show for Super Bowl LIX and the Philadelphia Eagles win the series.
(16th) The White Lotus Season 3 premieres, set in Thailand.
(16th) Saturday Night Live celebrates 50 years with a special anniversary show.
(17th) An airplane crashes and flips over at Toronto airport, injuring 21 people.
It is the fourth major aviation accident in North America in a month.
It is the fourth major aviation accident in North America in a month.
MARCH
(2nd) 97th Academy Awards: Best Film Anora; Best Director Sean Baker; acting awards to Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Kieran Culkin, and Zoe Saldaña.
(7th) Lady Gaga's seventh studio album Mayhem is released.
(18th) Israel launches airstrike attacks on Gaza, killing at least 404 people and injuring 562 others, ending the ceasefire agreement reached in January.
(24th) The Atlantic publishes a story claiming the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, included a journalist in a group chat detailing airstrikes in Yemen.
APRIL
(3rd) Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan, premieres.
(21st) Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church since 2013, dies.
(24th) Pop Mart launches a new collection of viral Labubu collectible dolls, sparking huge demand and high resale prices.
(28th) Canada reelects a Liberal government led by new Prime Minister Mark Carney, prompted by the trade war with the U.S. and comments made by U.S. political leaders about annexing their country.
MAY
(6th) Lindt launches its Dubai-style chocolate amid a viral popularity of the flavour.
(8th) Cardinal Robert Prevost is elected as the 267th pope of the Catholic Church; the first American to hold the office takes the name Pope Leo XIV.
(9th) PinkPantheress releases her second critically acclaimed mixtape, Fancy That.
(27th) King Charles III reads the Speech from the Throne in Canada.
(28th) Elon Musk steps down from his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) role in the U.S. government.
JUNE
(1st) The Hudson's Bay Company closes its remaining stores, marking the end of its retail operations after 355 years.
(9th) Freedom Flotilla Madleen, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, is seized by the Israeli Navy, and volunteers, including Greta Thunberg, are detained in Israel.
(17th) Florida Panthers win their second consecutive Stanley Cup Final, once again defeating the Edmonton Oilers.
(20th) KPop Demon Hunters is released and becomes Netflix's most-watched film.
(26th) Anna Wintour announces she is stepping down as editor-in-chief of American Vogue after 37 years.
JULY
(7th) Superman, directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet, premieres.
(15th) A viral moment involving two tech executives caught in an intimate embrace on the "kiss cam" during a Coldplay concert.
(17th) CBS announces the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
(22nd) English heavy metal vocalist, Ozzy Osbourne, dies of a heart attack at 76.
(23rd) Sydney Sweeney's controversial "Genes" ad for American Eagle launches.
AUGUST
(7th) OpenAI launches GPT-5, and Google announces the public release of the Nano Banana AI image generator (26th).
(11th) Trump orders the National Guard to be deployed to Washington, D.C. The move sparks controversy and debate about federal authority and public safety.
(18th) Leaders from across Europe join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a summit meeting with U.S. President Trump at the White House.
(26th) Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce reveal their engagement.
SEPTEMBER
(8th) The United States House Oversight Committee releases a "birthday book" compiled for Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, including a letter allegedly signed by Trump.
(10th) American conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, is shot and killed at 31 during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University.
(14th) 77th Emmy Awards: The Pitt wins Best Drama.
(21st) Australia, Britain, Canada, and Portugal declare support of statehood for Palestine.
OCTOBER
(1st) Jane Goodall, British primatologist, anthropologist, and writer dies at 91.
(11th) Diane Keaton, American Academy Award-winning actress, dies at 79.
(13th) Hamas returns the last 20 surviving Israeli hostages, and Israel frees about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
(19th) Thieves disguised as construction workers steal eight pieces of Napoleonic jewels worth over $100M at the Louvre Museum.
(27th) U.S. military sinks four civilian vessels in three strikes, suspected drug trafficking in the Pacific Ocean.
NOVEMBER
(1st) The Toronto Blue Jays lose in Game 7 of the World Series to the LA Dodgers.
(4th) Zohran Mamdani is elected as the 111th mayor of New York City.
(5th) Alex Ovechkin becomes the first NHL player to score 900 career goals.
(21st) Wicked: For Good is released in theaters.
(28th) Heated Rivalry, the hockey romance book series, premieres its first two episodes in the US on HBO Max and in Canada on Crave.
DECEMBER
(6th) Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry officially confirm their relationship.
(11th) TIME names “Architects of AI” as Person of the Year.
(14th) Actor/director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner are murdered.
(14th) Father-and-son gunmen kill at least 15 and wound dozens at a Jewish Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.
(31st) The series finale of Stranger Things is released.
