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Illustration?

Reveal.

The Ugly Dolls story.

David Horveth and Sun Min-Kim were

boyfriend and girlfriend They were both

illustrators [here at Parsons]. At one

point Sun went back to Korea, and they

would write “mash notes” to each other.

David would draw these little doodles

of these weird characters at the bottom

of his notes, and at one point Sun sent

him back a sewn version of one of

these. Eric Nakamora at Giant Robot, a

gallery and shop in LA that publishes a

magazine as well, saw the doll and said

that he wanted to carry them in his store.

They put it in the magazine, and Ugly

Dolls became ubiquitous to the extent

that they were all over the news when

the Obama kids went to their first day of

school. They had Ugly Doll backpacks.

People recognize that so they always

talk about it at admissions things, but

you know there probably wasn’t even a

toy design class when they did it. They

just did it. Through your projects if you

just keep steering toward something and

keep driving at it, you’ll have success.

“ I h av e a lway s t h o u g h t o f f I n e

a R t a s b e I n g a c o n v e R s at I o n w I t h y o u R s e l f

t h at y o u h av e b y m a k I n g I m a g e R y,

a n d I l l u s t R at I o n I s a c o n v e R s at I o n y o u h av e w I t h a n

a u d I e n c e . ”

S t e v e n G u a r n a c c i a

Work by Parsons illustration adjunct Faculty Jeff Quinn

advice.from advisor, Paul nicholson

There is no way an

Illustrator who is freelancing

and trying to get gigs could not

have a web presence. Literally

everything has a web site. My

backyard has a web site, and I

can’t understand someone who

is a senior who does not already

have one. Even if it’s “ghetto”.

Also, people who sometimes

don’t like computers are

exposed to one certain program

[and love it]. And they realize

that everyone else is new in the

class. No one knows Maya on

the first day and then takes

the Maya class. They play

with it, and they may find

they love it. Everyone should

be able to scan in their work

and touch it up in Photoshop,

then use some sort of page

layout software. You are an

Illustrator so you’ve got to

have the know-how. That

stuff is super important.

-Paul Nicholson, Illustration and Fine Arts Advisor

opposite page: work by Paul Nicholson

know.steven guarnaccia speaks.

wor

k by

Ste

ven

Gua

rnac

cia

“Illustration is about telling stories through pictures.

I have been illustrating professionally

since 1977 and I taught at Parsons between

80’ and 90’. I have been chair for the last

five years and my goal has been to align

the department with what I think the field

[of illustration] is about. Most illustration in

the past was illustrating books, magazines

and newspapers. It was illustrating verbally

expressed ideas or stories. And an illustrator

at their best didn’t just reiterate the story, but

they told their own take on that story so the

combination of picture and words made

this completely new thing. It was almost

entirely a commissioned field. In other words

you waited for the phone to ring. Then you

responded.

Print media’s role in the culture has

This page: work by Parsons

Alum, AJ Fosik

Opposite page: work by Parsons

Faculty, Caty Bartholomew

changed a lot. Among the outcomes of that

change was that commissioned illustration

to accompany text diminished considerably.

I used to tell my students in the 80’s that,

“if every one of you in my class went out

into the field today, there would be more

illustration work than you could actually get.”

That is actually not true anymore.

As early as 15 years ago, most book

jackets and magazine covers were illustrated.

That is not the case now. There was a

general feeling in the field that illustration was

dying. In fact that was not true because

what was equally obvious was that the

visual of the culture was on the ascendant.

Certainly screens were a big part of it, from

cell phone screens, to computer screens,

to TV and movie screens, to all the other

screens in between. And now we can have

screens on the side of buildings! Really interesting.

You could not say you were an illustrator

unless you had clients. You could not just sit

at home and make illustrations. You could

say you were a painter, but being an illustrator

used to be responsive. What started to

happen was that when the commissioned

work started to diminish, illustrators were still

being educated to illustrate, and there were

people who made stuff who didn’t want to

make big oil paintings for gallery walls. They

wanted to make stuff to be distributed in

mass quantities within the culture. It is

not just, “Oh, I want to be a painter except I want to make a living.” It is also, “I want my stuff to be in everybody’s hands. I don’t want people to have to come to one spot and look at the original. I want to tell stories.” They continued to create,

but the originals used to be so unconsidered

that the magazines would regularly throw out

tons of original art work. The illustrators did not

complain because to them, the value was in

the printed piece. There was a small core of

people who thought that it was really cool to

own the original of something they had seen

in print but most people saw that as devaluing

the work.

Leonardo DiCaprio and

Whoopie Goldberg were two of

the first people to buy original illustrations and

not think there was anything wrong with it.

Illustration imagery is extremely accessible. It

tends to want to communicate. The galleries

that tried to sell illustration in New York did not

really do that well, but there are a couple of

really significant galleries out in LA that were

very successful. A whole industry of illustrators

making work for the wall, one of a kind images,

grew.

It seemed strange to say that the illustration

culture was dead when some of the very top

grossing movies were animated. They began

with drawings. This was all stuff that was not

really acknowledged when I came into the

department [at Parsons]. I said, “Okay, illustration isn’t dead. There is just a whole new range of ways in which illustrators are expressing themselves.” And we

have actually been at the forefront of this stuff

without even knowing it.

We still also have a curriculum that is

work by Laura Corradi

work by P

arsons faculty, Guy B

illout

grounded in drawing and painting, and still has

some vestiges of print culture. Beyond Editorial is one of our signature classes,

and likely is our most popular. All the kids got

to customize a batch of Adidas sneakers last

year. We also got a big bunch of skateboards,

and the kids got to design on those as well. We

have classes that are about type. Animation

is shared between CDT (Communication

Design and Technology) and Illustration. We

started a co-lab last year where we had a

live jazz group, live programmers who moved

images around, and some previously created

illustration for backdrop. Some performances

were very conventional, and some were very

experimental motion/image/sound pieces.

The idea was that none of them fit any

particular commercial model.

No matter what our department is doing,

we are always telling stories. Illustration does

not exist in a vacuum. We work in all areas. I

believe that for survival everyone has to be

able to tell their own stories. They should not

just be waiting for a text and then making an

image that sums up someone else’s idea. I

am very excited about Illustration. I think it is

very vibrant and vital, and one of my goals has

been to convince everyone that Illustration is

absolutely alive and necessary.”

work by P

arsons faculty, Guy B

illout

emph

asis

.w

ork

by E

dwar

d de

l Ros

ario

This course gives the illustrator/designer hands-

on opportunities to learn basic principles of

graphic design and utilizing typography. The

illustrator/designer must know how to marry

type to image just as the graphic designer

must marry image to type. Typography and

illustration/design are not ends in themselves,

but a means of communication that can impart

meaning. This course encourages innovative

solutions using typography design as the

foundation.op

posi

te p

age:

wor

k by

Lau

ren

Red

niss

type.ography.

Painting & drawing.

work by Tara McPherson

This painting/drawing course

encourages students to take charge

of their careers before they graduate.

Each student plans their semester

and evaluates it at the end. Students

choose their own media and set

individual challenges while working

towards finding their own voices.

Students work on their own with the

instructor as a facilitator. This class in

particular welcomes students from all

departments.

beyond editorial.

This class will explore the ever

expanding territory where illustration

meets design. The hybrid designer-

illustrator is head and shoulders above

the pack. With drawing skills, a keen

sense of color, typography, layout and

an interest to do it all, today's new

breed is poised for a long and varied

career. Guest speakers who exemplify

these virtues will present case studies,

slide show lectures will provide

inspiration, and practical assignments

will afford students opportunities to

pull it all together. Assignments will be

a range of packaging, objects, logos,

animation boards and advertising, all

using multi-disciplinary approach. The

result will be to inspire students that

drawing skills have wide and varied

applications.

materials & methods.

The purpose of this course is to

introduce students to the methods of

using a variety of media. Techniques

will be taught in black and white as

well as color. During the course,

twelve to fourteen projects will be

produced to give students a thorough

understanding of a range of versatile

materials.

This class is devoted to the

development of individual senior

portfolios. Here, students will

combine their most successful

work from previous semesters

along with new works to create

professional portfolios. Each class

has a corresponding section in

which students expand their work

into a digital portfolio. Students learn

to organize their work, promote

themselves and send work to clients

digitally. There will be a focus on

scanning portfolio work, web site

design, use and upkeep, and PDF

workflow.

Portfolio & Professional Practices.

Nic

ole

Pim

ente

l

On major change:

I wanted to be in the fine arts

department. I loved the space

everyone had and the freedom

to do whatever they wanted. But

at the same time, there seemed

to be no connection between the

teachers and the students. The

teachers would basically tell the

students to do what they wanted

and have a critique at the end of

the semester. I then joined the

illustration department and was

lucky to become friends with

teachers that were involved wit

both Illustration and Fine arts.

Nic

ole

Pim

ente

l

On challenges:

There will be many times where

either personal situations or

issues at school will affect your

work and how you manage your

time but I feel most of the help

comes from the teachers I’ve

gotten to know. I’ve had teachers

that told me to “deal with it” but

there are others who really listen.

There are also some teachers

that do similar work that I am

really interested in, and they are

really great resources.

discuss.

Ana

stas

ia M

ouyi

s

Anastasia Mouyis, a senior in

Illustration says there are some

teachers you just cannot pass up.

Here is a short list, so look them

up!

Jillian TamakiSergio RuzzerJordin IsipNoel Claro

Pursue.“Being self-driven is the

most important thing to

remember while being a

student in Illustration at

Parsons.”

Check out more of Anastasia’s work on line at http://anamouyis.com

thank you.

this book would not have been possible without the graciousness of certain busy individuals who offered up a chunk of their day to help me gather information about the illustration department at Parsons. On behalf of myself as well as anyone else who may benefit in the future from the information they gave me, i would like to sincerely thank Steven Guarnaccia, Paul nicholson, nicole Pimentel, anastasia Mouyis, and nora Krug. also, any individuals mentioned in this book through their artwork, thank you for allowing me to use your piece to represent the illustration department to new and perspective students. Sincerely, ciara Gay

certain images and text used in this publication were pulled from the following sources:

Parsons the new School For Design. Parsons illustration Blog: Words&Pictures. http://www2.parsons.edu/illustration

ugly Dolls. Big toe. http://www.shopatron.com/product/part_ number=10171/322.0.43023.0.0.0.0

ugly Dolls. Suntan target. http://www.shopatron.com/product/ part_ number=10291/322.0.19427.0.0.0.0