Category Archives: design

Quick Hit: Rachel Nolasco on Threadless!

Parsons Illustration Rising Senior Rachel Nolasco is a winner!  She was chosen by her classmates in Isabelle Dervaux‘s Junior Concepts class as the winner of a classroom competition based around the creation/design of a t-shirt design for the mega-cool and creative Threadless.  The t-shirt design was featured in a Threadless newsletter!  Rachel calls the shirt, “Mutual End” and describes it thusly: “The concept for this design is the juxtaposition of life and death and how they both exist together and are shared by every living thing.”   You can see Rachel’s design on the Threadless site here.

Congrats on your success, Rachel and luck in the future!

Quick Hit: Speed and Glamour–Early Automobiles and NYC at MCNY tonight!

Tuesday, April 20, 6:30 PM

Speed and Glamour: Early Automobiles and New York City

New York City played an important role in making the automobile an icon of modernism.  Join Phil Patton, automobile design expert and co-curator of the Museum’s exhibition Cars, Culture, and the City, for an in-depth look at how New York influenced the design of early cars and parkways and promoted speed and glamour, from Gatsby’s Rolls Royce to the Ford Mustang.  Presented in conjunction with Cars, Culture, and the City.

Reservations required: 917-492-3395 or programs@mcny.org

$6 Museum members; $8 seniors and students; $12 non-members

$6 when you mention Parsons/New School

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street
New York, NY 10029
www.mcny.org

American Artifact: The Rise of American Rock Poster Art at SI

American Artifact: The Rise of American Rock Poster Art is the story of one of America’s truest folk art forms, the rock poster. The film explores the history/rise of the current rock poster movement in America, and features a cast of quirky/interesting, and extremely talented rock poster artists talking about what inspired their work, and telling the story of their underground art movement. It features interviews with renown artists as well as fans, collectors, and musicians.

Featured Artists: Stanley Mouse, Frank Kozik, Art Chantry, EMEK, COOP, Derek Hess, Mark Arminski, Tara McPherson, Justin Hampton, Victor Moscoso, Jermaine Rogers, Jay Ryan, Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan, Lindsey Kuhn, Leia Bell, Jim Pollock, Randy Tuten, Jim Sherraden & Hatch Show Print, Scrojo, Winston Smith, Print Mafia, Paul Imagine, Kevin Bradley, Julie Belcher, Jeff Wood, Steve Walters, Mat Daly, Stainboy, David Singer, Dennis Loren, Mike Martin, Gary Grimshaw, and Chris Shaw. 88min.

About the Director: Producer / Director Merle Becker is a 15+ year veteran of film and television. Her films have been included in the permanent collection at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

For more information go to: http://www.AmericanArtifactMovie.com

$15 non-members $10 members $7 students
RSVP jessica@societyillustrators.org or call 212 838 2560 www.societyillustrators.org

Tonight: Peter Blegvad’s “A Brief History of Amateur Enterprises”

Peter Blegvad
A Brief History of Amateur Enterprises
April 16th, 7-9 p.m.
2 W. 13th, Bark Room (in Lobby)
Free and Open to the Public!

Peter Blegvad is a writer, illustrator, songwriter, broadcaster, and teacher.

Since 1975 his drawings have been published in magazines, books, on record covers and websites internationally.

He wrote and drew “Leviathan”, a weekly comic strip (starring a faceless tot of philosophical propensity), for the Independent on Sunday Review, from 1991 to 1999.

As a musician Peter has been involved in the making of more than 20 albums and has performed extensively. He was active in the avant-garde music scene of the 1970’s & 1980’s, in Germany and England with Faust; in England with Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, the Art Bears, Andy Partridge of XTC; and in the States with The Golden Palominos, John Zorn, Arto Lindsay, Jack Bruce and Carla Bley.

Peter Blegvad’s work contains some of the most oblique and poetic wordplay to ever make its way to song. It’s a testament to his hard work and clear vision that, though his references can sometimes be too arcane, literary or personal to be widely recognized, the completed form of his work is generally downright friendly and inviting. (The Trouser Press Rock Guide)

Since 2002 he has written, performed and produced ‘eartoons’ (audio cartoons) for “The Verb” on BBC Radio 3. His series “Static in the Attic” featured a “singular double act” — the two halves of his divided self in conversation.

He was awarded the Ordre de la Grande Gidouille by the Collège de ‘Pataphysique, Paris, in 2000, and won a Sony award in 2003 for “Eartoons for the Verb.”

The Strand Tote Bag Design Contest

The Strand Book Store has partnered with the School of Visual Arts, TOON Books, Drawn & Quarterly and Fantagraphics Books to host a tote bag design contest.

Beginning March 1, 2010, artists from around the world are invited to submit original illustrations featuring the Strand Book Store.

In June 2007, the Strand unveiled the first Artist Tote Bag: Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman loaned his iconic Maus image for the first time ever to celebrate the Strand’s 80th birthday. The Strand then partnered with artists each year, including Adrian Tomine, Seth and Parsons Illustration Alum and Faculty member R. Sikoryak, creating the Strand’s Artist Tote Series. Now, the Strand Book Store wants to give emerging artists the opportunity to have their artwork featured on a Strand tote bag.

Now, the Strand Book Store wants to give emerging artists the opportunity to have their artwork featured on a Strand tote bag.

Contest Dates

March 1-March 31, 2010

Design Requirements

  • The illustration must represent the Strand Book Store.
  • The illustration must include the artist’s signature, “Strand Book Store NYC” and “strandbooks.com” or a representation of the Strand logo (as seen on this page).
  • Size of Illustration: Artwork must be no larger than 11″w x 10″h.
  • Line Weight: Use a minimum of a 2 pt. rule.
  • Halftones: Must be at a 40 line screen or less, with percentages no less than 20% or greater than 60%.
  • No Trapping: If colors come in contact with each other they CAN NOT overlap.
  • Typestyles: Should be no smaller than 20 pt. on 15 oz. fabric with a minimum of 2 pt. rule. Do not use reverse type smaller than 22 pt. with a minimum line rule of 3 pt. Avoid serif typefaces! Their detail tends to get lost in the canvas.

Contest is open to all, aged 18 and above. The Contest is void where prohibited. Please see official rules below.

Judges:

  • Françoise Mouly, Art Editor of The New Yorker & Editorial Director of TOON Books
  • Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize winning comic artist
  • Steven Heller, co-chair MFA Designer as Author Program, School of Visual Arts
  • R. Sikoryak, creator of the book, Masterpiece Comics
  • Adrian Tomine, author of the bestselling book, Shortcomings

Prizes

Grand Prize

  • artwork on Strand tote bag, sold in store and online w/ attendant marketing-artist name on all materials
  • an afternoon with Françoise Mouly and staff at TOON Books offices
  • complete set of Drawn & Quarterly’s 2009 titles (value: $450)
  • a selection of new and recent Fantagraphics Books releases (value: $450)
  • complete set of TOON Books (value: $150)
  • $100 Think Coffee Gift Card
  • artwork featured in slideshow on partners’ websites

Second Prize

  • complimentary Continuing Education class at School of Visual Arts (value $470)
  • a selection of signed Drawn & Quarterly books (value $90)
  • “I Don’t Like to Read” TOON Books basket (value: $70)
  • a selection of new and recent Fantagraphics Books releases (value: $50)
  • $100 Think Coffee Gift Card
  • artwork featured in slideshow on partners’ websites

Third Prize

  • DaVinci Artist Supply Gift Card (value $300)
  • “Beginning Reader” TOON books basket (value: $70)
  • a selection of signed Drawn & Quarterly books (value $50)
  • a selection of new and recent Fantagraphics Books releases (value: $50)
  • $100 Think Coffee Gift Card
  • artwork featured in slideshow on partners’ websites

20 Finalists will receive a Strand tote bag filled with Fantagraphics & TOON Books gifts and a $20 Strand gift card.

r. sikoryak's tote for the strand!

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