Nancy Stahl is an American

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

. Stahl was an inductee into the Illustrators Hall of Fame by the Society of Illustrators in 2012.

Early life and education

Stahl was born in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. She attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.

Early work

Although she would be recognized as a pioneer of digital illustration, Stahl began her illustration career in 1971 working in

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...

, and developing a bold "poster style" which she credits as being influenced by

Ludwig Hohlwein Ludwig Hohlwein (27 July 1874 in Wiesbaden – 15 September 1949 in Berchtesgaden) was a German poster artist, a pioneer of the ''Sachplakat'' style. He trained and practiced as an architect in Munich until 1911, when he moved to Berlin and swit ...

, and more generally by the English railway and underground posters of

Edward McKnight Kauffer Edward McKnight Kauffer (14 December 1890 – 22 October 1954) was an American artist and graphic designer who lived for much of his life in the United Kingdom. He worked mainly in poster art, but was also active as a painter, book illustrator a ...

In the late 1980s, Stahl was invited by

Charlex CHRLX (formerly known as Charlex until 2014) is an American animation studio based in New York City that produces animation primarily for commercials. History Charlie Levi and Alex Weil founded Charlex (with the name being a portmentau of thei ...

(also known as CHRLX since 1998) to come in after hours to learn how to create digital art on their mainframe computers. Digital image manipulation was in its infancy at the time and the artist recalled that "you'd go back to this hazmat type of room—you know, those computer rooms where the guys would wear white and it was freezing cold—one huge room, full of tapes, and you'd load your tape".

Digital work

Stahl has designed

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

s for the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

and in addition to her stamp illustrations, she has been featured by print publications such as

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, and

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

and many others. Stahl has been an adviser for

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

along with other select digital artists, test-driving the unreleased

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the indu ...

versions. Stahl was featured in CA, Step-by-Step, Print, and Peachpit Press Illustrator Wow and Painter Wow books.

As an educator

Stahl has been an instructor in the Independent Study master's degree program at

Hartford Art School Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, and taught at the School of Visual Arts and the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

Wacom () is a Japanese company headquartered in Kazo, Saitama, Japan, that specializes in manufacturing graphics tablets and related products. Headquarters locations The main headquarters are located in Kazo, Saitama, Japan. Its office in the USA ...

used Stahl as a spokesperson for their professional pen tablet and recorded videos of her demonstrating the most advanced techniques of their recent product.

Honors and awards

* Hall of Fame Society of Illustrators inducted 2012 * Chairman of The Society of Illustrators Annual Exhibition (2001)

References

External links

Artists Personal web site

Artists portfolio at illoz.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stahl, Nancy Living people American stamp designers Women stamp designers People from Long Island University of Arizona alumni American women illustrators American illustrators Date of birth missing (living people) Women graphic designers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women