Tag Archives: neil swaab

Big News: Neil Swaab is a finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship

Illustration Faculty, News, , , ,

oscars
Parsons Illustration’s very own Neil Swaab [Adjunct Faculty and creator of the fantastic comic “Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles”] is currently a finalist for the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. His  movie script, EDDIE FANTASTIC!, was selected as one of the top ten of over 6,000 entries.

The Nicholl Fellowship is run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The Oscars) and getting this far is a very big deal. If you want to check out more info about the Nicholl Fellowship, you can read it here:
http://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/index.html

Variety also has a write-up here on the current finalists (including Neil):
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009717.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

The five recipients of the Nicholl Fellowship will be decided later this month. Winners get $30,000 and must write a screenplay in the next year.

Best of luck, Neil!  Go all the way!

[image by AMPAS]

MoCCA Follow-Up Week: Christine Young

cartoons, comics, Current Students, Events, Follow Up, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, Reviews, , , , , , , , ,

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Editor’s Note: This week, we are featuring three entries by students who worked at the Parson’s Illustration tables at the MoCCA Festival this past June.  Our final narrative installment is by newly minted Illustration Alum, Christine Young.

_____

The MoCCA Fest was so much funnnn! Even though it was really hot in there and I felt like I was about to pass out by the end of it, I would have gladly done so because it was such a great experience seeing a bunch of great art, comics, zines and shirts and meeting cool artists and people from all around the world all under one huge roof! Our Parsons Illustration table had a lot of great prints, books and zines by our fellow students (ya’ll rule), and we sold a bunch too! Among those who were there repping our department were: Beryl Chung, Sophia Chang, Katie Turner, Grace Lang, Sydney Seltzer, Kevin Lee, and Steven Guarnaccia.

Along with selling and trading, I did alot of buying cuz it’s really hard not to cuz of all the amazing things, which was very overwhelming, in the best way possible. I was running around like a school kid after lunch. There were Parsons teachers there too at their own tables such as Neil Swaab, Nora Krug and Tara McPherson selling mad stuff, ya know, no big. And, there were guest lectures by artists such as Adrian Tomine and Gary Panter who were signing stuff all day. Sophia got Adrian to sign her a poster and book, and he did a really cool doodle and I was jealous.

And soooo to sum it up, by the end of the day I went home from Mocca a very happy person with a bag full of awesome comics, zines, shirts and most importantly, a brand new list of art crushes.

_____

Thanks for the write-up, Christine!  Make sure to check out Christine’s website and her blog to see more of her work.

Neil Swaab At The Green Brain Comics Store In Dearborn, Michigan

comics, Events, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, News, Publications, , , ,

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On Wednesday, July 8th Green Brain Comics continues their 10th Anniversary summer event schedule with an appearance by cartoonist and animator Neil Swaab (Parsons Illustration Adjunct!).

To celebrate the release of the third collection of his weekly comic strip Rehabilitating Mr Wiggles, Brooklyn-based Michigan native Neil Swaab will be coming home to set up at award winning Green Brain Comics.

“We are excited to give people a chance to meet Neil Swaab, a unique talent and swell guy.” says Dan Merritt, event coordinator for Green Brain Comics “We are also excited to be making available a great collection of comic strips hot off the presses featuring Neil’s lovable, foul-mouthed teddy bear Mr Wiggles.”

It all takes place on Wednesday, July 8th with the signing at 5pm and it’s capped off at 8pm with Green Brain Comics monthly Comic Jam, where local cartoonists of all talent levels are invited to participate in a creative exercise that puts their drawing and improvisational skills to the test.

Green Brain Comics
13210 Michigan Avenue
Dearborn, Michigan
313-582-9444
www.greenbrain.biz

MoCCA Comic Art Festival this weekend!

Events, Exhibitions, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, , , , , , , , ,

The program for this year’s MoCCA Art Festival features a rich mix of animators, cartoonists, graphic artists, and writers. Our special guests include Jessica Abel, Rebecca Donner, David Hajdu, David Heatley, Chip Kidd, Alex Robinson, Frank Santoro, and Brian Wood. Saturday’s program opens with author Blake Bell talking about his new Steve Ditko biography, and closes with Dan Nadel in conversation with Chris Forgues (“CF”), whose comics, according to one critic, “exude the ease of someone just now putting all the pieces together to make for consistent great work.” Sunday’s program opens with an illustrated history of radical cartooning, by social movement cartoonist Nick Thorkelson, and closes with a screening of new animated shorts from Scandinavia.

Parsons Illustration associates will be out in force–Tara McPherson, Neil Swaab, Bob Sikoryak, Jillian Tamaki, Brian Wood, and Peter de Seve–so make sure you stop by and see their work!

The MoCCA Art Festival, now in its seventh year, is an annual fundraiser for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA). Each year the MoCCA Art Festival Award is presented to a creative figure whose work has elevated the cartoon arts. The Award was presented to Jules Feiffer in 2002, and in subsequent years to Art Spiegelman (2003), Roz Chast (2004), Neal Adams (2005), Gahan Wilson (2006), and Alison Bechdel (2007).

This year’s Award recipient, Bill Plympton, is an internationally renowned cartoonist, illustrator, and animator. His cartoons have appeared in major newspapers and magazines, from the Village Voice and the New York Times, to Vogue, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. He is the author and/or illustrator of numerous books and graphic novels, including Hair High, Mutant Aliens, Tube Strips, and The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton. He is probably best known for his short and full-length animated films, which include The Tune, I Married a Strange Person, Guard Dog, and Idiots and Angels, which premiered earlier this year. Bill Plympton will be introduced by the animator Signe Baumane.

The 2008 program is being held in tandem with an event at NYU that will take place the day before the Festival officially opens, on Friday, June 6. Sponsored by the New York Institute for the Humanities and MoCCA, “Post-Bang: Comics Ten Minutes After the Big Bang!” features roundtables and presentations on “key trends and debates facing comics in this new, ‘post-bang’ environment.” For more information about this, click here

MoCCA Comic Art Festival
Saturday, June 7th & Sunday, June 8th, 2008
Hours: 11:00am – 6:00pm
Admission is $10 each day / $15 weekend pass (weekend pass only $10 for MoCCA members)
The Puck Building, 293 Lafayette, New York, NY

Programming Schedule
Exhibitor List (Parsons Illustration will be sharing a table with Cat Lauigan at B45!)
Map of Exhibitors
Featured Artist Sketch Table Schedule (featuring Illustration Alum & Faculty Bob Sikoryak on Sunday!)

[MoCCA Art Festival poster art by Parsons Illustration Faculty Tara McPherson and DKC]

Illustration Faculty & Alumni Updates Digest

General Info, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, Interviews, News, Performances, Publications, , , , , , ,
russian mr. wiggles.
  • Adjunct Faculty Neil Swaab tells us that the Russian edition of his book, Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles: Volume 1, has just been released. Get your copy here.
philip fivel
  • Illustration Alum Philip Fivel Nessen has updated his portfolio with new artwork. See more images here.
bentfootes
  • Illustration and Alum R. Sikoryak created the animation and archival images for the mockumentary, The Bentfootes, a loving skewering of 200 years of American dance. Catch a free screening:

Saturday and Sunday March 29-30, Tuesday April 1 @ 1:00 pmFestivalHUB @ Seaport | LMCC Swing Space210 Front Street at Beekman Street, NYC

angie mason
jonathan jay lee
  • Illustration Alum Jonathan Jay Lee sent us an email recently saying, “I did some really exciting stuff in Hong Kong, I drew this comic book for this HK popstar called Kary Ng. She wanted to be a superhero, it was used for her concert and her new single. I did a cover for HK magazine, and I redesigned and painted the interior of this club in Lan Kwai Fong…If you get the chance, I posted links and pictures of my projects in HK at the end of my website.”
george bates t-shirt
yaccarino
  • Illustration Alum Dan Yaccarino is writing a screen adaptation of his children’s book, Where the Four Winds Blow as an animated feature for Fox/Blue Sky Studios, developing a new animated series based on his popular book Unlovable and writing and illustrating more childrens books.

Congratulations to all our faculty and alumni on their recent accomplishments!Want to see your news here?  Email us!

The Illustration Holiday Shopping List: The Finale

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Here it is, the last installment of the Illustration Holiday Shopping List. Make sure to check the other three episodes in the series!

art out of time

Illustration Faculty Dan Nadel completed his huge compendium work–Art Out of Time–during his time here at Parsons, and it’s a doozy. From the official write-up about the book:

Art Out of Time reprints complete comic book and comic strip stories, most of which are being reprinted here for the first time since their initial publication. Among the artists included are Rory Hayes, Gene Deitch, Dick Briefer, Boody Rogers, and Charles Forbell. In five thematic sections, this anthology is a counter-history of comics, containing nearly thirty often-unknown visionary American cartoonists from 1900 to 1969. These artists foreshadowed and influenced the innovations within the comics medium of today.

You can find copies of Dan’s book (as well as a plethora of other books, shirts, prints, etc.) at PictureBox, his publishing outfit.

blab 18

As previously reported, Illustration Chair Steven Guarnaccia and Illustration Faculty Nora Krug are featured in the latest issue of Blab! Magazine, compiled by Monte Beauchamp. Blab! is an annual collection of some of the finest and most exciting visual work out there today. Steven’s piece focuses on miniature golf, while Nora focuses on a more serious subject: No Man’s Land.

Get your copy from Fantagraphics!

teaching illustration

A plethora of Illustration Faculty members are included in Steve Heller and Marshall Arisman‘s great resource book: Teaching Illustration. The book includes syllabi from an array of Illustration courses and describes different teaching techniques that can be utilized to really help create more productive classes. From the official description of the book:

Teaching Illustration is a must-have for any college-level art instructor. Packed with a wealth of illustration course syllabi from leading art and design schools across the U.S. and Europe, it offers exciting ideas on topics from editorial illustration to animation, books, and the Internet. Each syllabus includes an introduction, course requirements, a weekly breakdown, suggestions for projects, and selected readings–a comprehensive array of topics, reading lists, and teaching tips for courses at all levels. For beginning educators seeking guidance or for veterans seeking new inspiration, Teaching Illustration is essential for the craft of teaching the next generation of illustrators.

Illustration Faculty members Viktor Koen, Trey Hoyumpa (also an Illustration alumna!), Neil Swaab, Nora Krug, and Dan Nadel all have featured syllabi! This is a great book for instructors, students, and anyone interested in learning/teaching more effectively. You can purchase the book here!

bossy bearugly target

Illustration Alumni Sun Min Kim and David Horvath have a ton of their incredibly popular Ugly Dolls available practically everywhere you go, as well as copies of David’s recent book (and toy) Bossy Bear.

You can buy both of these rockin’ items through Giant Robot, but make sure to check out David and Sun Min’s websites as well for news, artwork, and other bits of merchandise that might be out there.

best american comics

While we’re waiting for Illustration Faculty Ben Katchor to finish up his new book, you can check out some of his work in the latest volume of Best American Comics (2007), edited by Chris Ware. Publisher’s Weekly states:

This collection isn’t about such heroes or villains, it’s about humor, fear, the finely observed details of life, and things of a generally more personal and less world-threatening nature. That (as well as a predilection toward Midwestern artists) is what you get when Ware (Acme Novelty Library) is guest editor. The book includes work from 39 different artists, but it’s hard to find a weak entry…

Grab your copy here and then go over to Ben’s website for a comic archive, as well as more news about his goings-on.

The Illustration Holiday Shopping List: Part Two

General Info, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, Publications, , , , , , , , , ,

Here’s the second installment of Illustration’s shopping list, where we spotlight art, publications, and various wares created by Illustration Department alumni and faculty.

aaron stewart pillowsIllustration Alum Aaron Stewart has created a line of pillows in the shape of fantastic pooches and cute kitties. Here’s an official description:

Created by Aaron Stewart and Hornet Toys, this line of comfy, cozy pillows features our first edition designs of bow-wow-beautiful doggies and purrrfectly snuggle-worthy kitties. PillowPillowPillows make a great gift for family, friends and you (why not give yourself a bone?). They appeal to pet lovers of every age, from cat-crazy kids to pooch-loving grandmas. Our pillows look great on your couch, in your car, on the plane and atop your bed too!

Aaron is hard at work on the second edition, but in the meantime, you can buy pieces from the first collection here. Make sure to check out Aaron’s website as well, where you can submit pictures of your own pet for future pillow immortalization!

lawlor boathouse

Boathouse from The Central Park Drawings, Ronnie Lawlor

Parsons Alumna and Illustration Faculty Ronnie Lawlor has a series of drawings from Central Park available through Gallery 1482, a site that features a variety of artist and graphic communicators. As Ronnie says, “Studio 1482 consists of nine members with one common goal – to communicate visually in new, unique and exciting ways. Each member of the studio works both as an individual and in concert with the other eight. The studio is based on reportage – drawing and illustrating on site. This kind of engagement creates unusual visual solutions that are graphically appropriate for the problem at hand.” Soon, another series by Ronnie, called Sensations, will be made available.

our dumb world

Illustration Alumni and Faculty member Bob Sikoryak contributed several illustrations to Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition. Bob is also working on some animation and fake archival graphics for the feature film “The Bentfootes,” a dance mockumentary, which will be showing at the Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater, as a part of The Dance On Camera Festival, January 5 and 6, 2008. Program 9 on the festival features the Bentfootes & a few shorts and happens on Saturday, Jan 5th at 4 p.m. (repeats Sunday, Jan 6th at 8:30pm).

Walter Reade Theatre
Lincoln Center Plaza,165 West 65th Street
January 2-6, 11, 18-19, 2008

mr. wiggles 435

Illustration Faculty member Neil Swaab has two volumes of his popular comic, Mr. Wiggles available–Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles: Vol. 1 and Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles (Attitude Featuring) (Attitude). An interview with Neil once announced that, “rumour has it Mr. Wiggles may have been born out of some “orgy with Smokey the Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Snuggles the fabric-softener Bear (later murdered by Wiggles, see Vol 1) and a loose female Build-A-Bear.” DNA results are still pending.”

Catch more of Mr. Wiggles here and also make sure check out Neil’s antics at his website.