Emerging Illustrator Earns Recognition

Just before graduation, illustrator Julie Benbassat 19 IL earned an Adobe Design Achievement Award for a project she completed last summer as a National Park Service (NPS) Student Artist in Residence at the Delaware Water Gap, which straddles the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border.

Welcoming the opportunity to immerse herself in nature and live at the park during the NPS residency, Benbassat focused closely on the details of the wonderful setting. She used pencils, pens and watercolors to sketch scenic riverbanks, mountain trails, Hemlock forests, wild animals and more, along with the park’s historic landmarks and artifacts inside.

Benbassat then referenced her diverse collection of sketches as she worked in Illustrator to make playful images for the NPS Kids’ Guide to the Gap publication.

The new grad couldn't be happier to have won a Top Talent of 2019 designation from Adobe’s international panel of judges, who reviewed thousands of entries from a wide variety of emerging artists.

While still a student she also earned recognition in Society of Illustrator competitions in both New York and Los Angeles and won a silver medal in this year's 3x3 International Illustration Show No. 16.

“My work delights in the eccentricities of the natural world,” says Benbassat, “indulging in the quirks of folklore and highlighting the bridge between the cute and the horrific.”

“Julie is super talented and hard working,” notes Illustration Department Head Susan Doyle 81 IL/MFA 98 PT. “It's great to see her work acknowledged.”

June 18, 2019