Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An haifi William Paterson Ewen a 1925 a Montreal, Quebec. Yana sha'awar zane-zane tun yana ƙarami, ya fara da sassaka ƙananan siffofi a cikin kakin zuma, kuma yana da shekaru goma sha uku ya roki mahaifiyarsa ta rataye zane-zane a bangon gidan Ewen wanda ba a yi ado ba a baya. Da farko a shekara ta 1944, Ewen ya yi hidima a rukunin masu leƙen asirin ƙasa a Yammacin Yaƙi (Yaƙin Duniya na II)
, amma ba a shiga cikin gwagwarmaya ba. Bayan ya koma Kanada, ya shiga Jami'ar McGill. Ya yi karatun ilimin kasa, amma bayan shekararsa ta farko ya fara fama da bakin ciki, kuma ya nemi taimako a cikin kwafin mujallu na mujallu da kuma zane-zanen shimfidar wuri a kusa da Jami'an Horar da Jami'an Kanada a Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier inda ya sake shiga aikin rani. Lokacin da ya koma makaranta a cikin kaka, Ewen ya yi rajista don zane-zane na zane-zane wanda John Goodwin Lyman ya koyar. Kwarewar, kamar yadda Ewen ta tuna, ba ta da kyau. A shekara mai zuwa ya koma Makarantar Fasaha da Zane a Gidan Tarihi na Fine Arts na Montreal, inda ya yi karatu a karkashin Goodridge Roberts, Arthur Lismer, Moses Reinblatt, da Jacques de Tonnancour. Ewen wani lokacin yakan tuna wannan lokacin, wanda aka kama a cikin Goodridge da kuma "yanayin tausayi", na shirin, a matsayin "ranaku mafi farin ciki na [ransa].