Category Archives: Illustration Industry

From the Vault: Noel Claro gets interviewed on Sprayblog

noel-claro-squibbies

Illustration Adjunct Faculty Noel Claro was interviewed by Spraygraphic’s Sprayblog last April and I just now found out about it!  She talks all about her art, her creative process, and her inspirations.  Here’s a portion of the interview:

SG: What mediums do you work with?

NC: When I’m art directing and designing print work, my main medium is software: InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. For my products, I work with fabric, yarn, vintage papers, special waterproof paper, gaffer’s tape and fun fur.

SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.

NC: I start by researching the subject or the company and determining who my audience is. Then I do sketches in InDesign…I rarely sketch in pencil because I’m not very comfortable drawing. My first round of sketches is usually chockfull of obvious solutions but it’s stuff I need to get off my chest. After that, it becomes more of a challenge to dig more deeply and try and discover a new direction for something.

SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?

NC: Some projects are definitely easier to work on than others. If I’m blocked, I usually bake. I’m an avid baker and I’ve been doing it for years. I bake almost every day and it’s a wonderful distraction when I’m having trouble solving something visually. I make up lots of my own recipes so it’s still a creative process but it’s so different from the design work that I do, that it helps transport me away from that whole world sometimes.

Make sure you read the rest of Noel’s interview here, as well as checking out more her work at her official website.

Catch Parsons Illustration at Mocca this weekend

MAF09-med.jpg

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival 2009
June 6th & 7th

Parsons Illustration will have a strong presence at the Comic and Cartoon Art Festival this weekend–Stop by and talk to Steven Guarnaccia, the chair of the program, or visit with some students and look at their work!  Interested in Illustration?  We’ll have info about the program and Parsons in general.

Ask questions, see what’s going on, and look a little deeper into the world of Parsons Illustration!  Never been to MoCCA?  Now’s the perfect time.  And here’s the full description of the Festival itself:The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is proud to announce MoCCA Festival 2009 will be held June 6th & 7th at the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street in New York City.

The Village Voice calls the MoCCA Festival “”the best small-press nexus (anywhere!)” Now BIGGER than ever! An incredible weekend of comic and cartoon art exhibitors, panels, lectures, sketches, autographs, and more! Thousands come every summer to meet and purchase works from some of the world’s best cartoonists, animators, and graphic novelists.

Where?
69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue, between 25th and 26th Streets

When?
June 6th and 7th, 11am-6pm

Cost?
$10 per day
$15 per weekend

MoCCA Members: $10 per weekend

More information available here.

Hope to see you there!

Quick Hit: Cartooning and Comics for the Kids

adventures cover

James Sturm and two of his former students, Alexis Frederick-Frost and Andrew Arnold, have created Adventures in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles Into Comics.  Here’s the official description:

In this action-packed cartooning adventure, kids will have as much fun making comics as reading them!

Once upon a time . . . a princess tried to make a comic.  And with the help of a magical cartooning elf, she learned how – well enough to draw her way out of an encounter with a dangerous dragon, near-death by drowning, and into her very own adventure!  Like the princess, young readers will discover that they already have the drawing and writing skills it takes to make a comic – they just need a little know-how.  And Adventures in Cartooning supplies just that.

adventures013jpg

Here’s what Booklist has to say about it:

Not quite a how-to book, as the cover might suggest, this is rather a stupendous new high for children’s graphic novels, spearheaded by comics maestro Sturm (Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, 2007). Ostensibly, this is the adventure of an eager knight, a sweet-toothed horse, and a magic elf hunting down a gum-chewing dragon, and those reading for the adventure itself will not be disappointed, filled as it is with humor, action, and a great girl-empowering twist. But along the way, lessons in the language of sequential art are woven seamlessly into the narrative, explaining the basics of how elements such as panels and word balloons work, while concluding bonus features offer specifics on terminology (like gutters and stems) and common symbols (like speed lines). Newcomers Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost, using varying page compositions to keep the sizable volume visually captivating, have constructed a tale that works just as well as a read-aloud for the very young as it does a lesson for everyone from fans of the form to the wholly uninitiated. As an examination of the medium, it’s a supremely worthy spiritual legacy to Scott McCloud’s seminal Understanding Comics (1993). As a straight-up graphic adventure, it may be the best of the year.

Grab a copy for your little one (or yourself) here.

Art, Media, and Technology BFA Exhibition Show opens tomorrow!

AMT BFA show

School of Art, Media, and Technology Thesis Exhibition

Friday, May 15-Saturday, May 23

Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, 66 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY

Parsons presents an exhibition of work by graduating students in the Communication Design, Design + Technology, Fine Arts, Illustration, and Photography programs. This is the first time all programs in the newly formed School of Art, Media, and Technology will be exhibited together, in an exhibition curated by the architect Ivan Kucina, a Visiting Scholar at Parsons this spring. During the opening, there will be a public screening in the Kellen Auditorium of work produced in the course Visual Music (co-taught by Associate Professor of Illustration, Nora Krug) a collaborative studio that brings together jazz, communication design and technology, and illustration students.

Opening Reception is tomorrow–May 15th from 6-8 p.m.–and everything is free and open to the public!

Congrats to all the Illustration students whose works were chosen by the jury:

Beryl Chung
Zachary Zezima
Christine Young
Ana Mouyis
Hannah K. Lee
Roxanna Vizcarra
Lilah Montgomery
Shu Okada
Gabriella C. Garson
Liz Whelan
Dawoon Jung
Kristina Reddy

There will also be a selection of books by different Illustration students included in the exhibition.  Don’t miss it!

Quick Hit: Educating Illustrators panel tonight!

sg-soi
Featuring Ann Field (Art Center, L.A.), Steve Guarnaccia (Parsons The New School for Design) and Tom Woodruff (School of Visual Arts).

The Chairs behind the illustration programs of three of the top art schools in the United States will discuss how they educate each next generation of illustrators; what their goals are for young illustrators in the real world; the differences among their programs; the endless possibilities found in the illustration market today; the role of fine arts and graphic design in illustration; and trends in the east and west coasts.

Moderated and coordinated by Fernanda Cohen.

$15 non-members $10 members $7 students and educators

RSVP kevin@societyillustrators.org or
call 212 838 2560 www.societyillustrators.org

Follow-up: More pictures from Pictopia and Pictoplasma!

Editor’s Note: Please enjoy this selection of photos taken by friend of the department, Lasse Krug.  They were taken at the “Ugly is Beautiful” exhibition at the Pictopia Festival in Berlin this past March.  Thanks, Lasse!

Illustrated Sound contest with Geneva Sound System

You Jung Min - Wave of Music

You Jung Min - Wave of Music

Noel Claro‘s Beyond the Page class has collaborated with Geneva Sound System to create unique GelaSkins for their product.  There will be a contest to vote on which one should be put in production.  You Jung Min’s contribution is above and a gallery of all the finalists is below.  Also, here’s the official information about the contest, exhibition, and opening reception:

ICFF – Illustrated Sound
Reception: Saturday, May 16, 7-9pm
Installation up: May 16-19

Design Within Reach pairs sound with color as Parsons illustration students move “beyond the page” to illustrate a one-of-a-kind vinyl skin created for the Geneva Sound System, a modern “hi-fi” with a CD player, FM radio and iPod dock all encased in a piano-lacquered wooden box. Experience the intersection of music, illustration and design, and enter to win the medium Geneva with its unique Gelaskin.

RSVP for the reception to tflsoho@dwr.com.

Also, you are invited to vote for your one favorite design and get a chance to win a GenevaSound Medium for yourself.  Go here and vote by 11:59 p.m. on May 19th!

Congrats to all the participants and good luck with the contest!

DWR Tools for Living Window Painting tomorrow!

DWR

Illustration students from Noel Claro‘s Beyond the Page class are taking part in an exciting project tomorrow at the SoHo Design Within Reach store.  Here’s the official press release from DWR:

Design Within Reach is once again collaborating with Parsons The New School for Design and its acclaimed Illustration Program. In celebration of the upcoming International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), Parsons students will paint iconic tools on the windows of the DWR: Tools for Living store. They’ll draw on the visual vocabulary of the existing store identity but apply it with a twist, using bright window decal paints and hand-drawn letterforms. The result will be a bold reinterpretation of the store’s inventory.

The collaboration is part of Parsons’ Beyond the Page illustration course, which explores the application of illustration to contexts other than the printed page. Through in-class exercises inspired by a range of references and visits with artists in the field, students are exposed to a well-curated sampling of the increasingly diverse world of illustration. The class also designs objects and products featuring the students’ illustration work, providing them with real-world creative experience.

The students will paint the windows live during the event on May 7 and the display will be up through May 19th.  . Join us to witness their work and place your vote for which student’s illustration will be selected to become a custom “skin” for a medium Geneva Sound System unit [editor’s note: more info on this tomorrow!], to be revealed during ICFF.

Date: Thursday, May 7, 2009
Time
:  7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: DWR: Tools for Living
Street: 142 Wooster Street
City/Town: New York, NY

Make sure to stop by and check it out.  Also, come back here tomorrow for more information about the Geneva Sound System project!

Art T/K: Parsons Illustration Senior Show on May 11th

arttocomeinvitation

ART T/K

Monday, May 11 5 p.m..-11 p.m.

Parsons The New School For Design, Illustration Program
Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center

66 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

Admission: Free and open to the public

Parsons The New School for Design presents a one-night curated exhibition of work based on the theme of “obsession” from 35 graduates of its BFA illustration program. The show will feature thesis work as well as other pieces exploring this theme.