ILLUSTRATOR, DESIGNER, EDUCATOR AND CHAIR OF BFA ILLUSTRATION & BFA COMICS AT SVA

Viktor Koen is an award winning illustrator, designer and educator. He holds a BFA in Design from the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem and an MFA in Illustration with honors from the School of Visual Arts. His client list includes the NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Esquire, Nature, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Wired, ESPN, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Fortune, Money, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Penguin Random House, Doubleday, Harper Collins, Rizzoli, Houghton Mifflin, Tor Books, Atlantic Records, Virgin, BBC and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. 

He is the Chair of BFA Illustration and BFA Comics Departments at the School of Visual Arts and founded the SVA Illustration Residency in 2007. A TED speaker, Mr. Koen lectures for academic institutions and conferences worldwide while serving among others, on the Adobe Photoshop Advisory Council and the Photoville board of directors.

Distinctions include: American Illustration Awards, Graphis Gold Awards, 3×3 magazine Educator of the Year and the Communication Arts magazine Award of Excellence.

ILLUSTRATOR AND AUTHOR

(they/them) “sue-roo-me” is an author, illustrator and cartoonist from New York who now lives with their spouse and small, serious dog in Philadelphia. A gigantic text + image nerd, they studied sequential storytelling for an English BA at Harvard and an illustration MFA at the School of Visual Arts. Their first book, ACCIDENT! was an NPR Great Read and their second book, CRAB CAKE, won the Vermont Red Clover Book Award. When they're not inventing croissant-based animals, they like learning about ordinary and ridiculous history.

website

AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATOR AND EDUCATOR

Doug Salatiis the creator of the picture book Hot Dog, recipient of the 2023 Randolph Caldecott Medal and Ezra Jack Keats Award, and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews and the New York Public Library.  The first book he illustrated was In a Small Kingdom by Tomie dePaola, and his second, Lawrence in the Fall by Matthew Farina, was an Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award Honoree, a Society of Illustrators Original Art Show selection and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. Doug graduated from the MFA Illustration As Visual Essay Program at the School of Visual Arts in 2014. He was a 2015 Sendak Fellow. He lives and works in New York City.

website

FOUNDER OF CREATIVE PLACEMENT, SOLUTIONIST, TALENT CONSULTANT AND EDUCATOR

Karl Heine is the Solutionist at creativeplacement®, a talent consultancy dedicated to evolving brands, agencies, and organizations where creativity, innovation, and design thinking matter. He is also the Co-founder of SoNo Spaces, a coworking environment in the heart of South Norwalk, now operating across two locations.

With over 30 years of experience in creative talent consulting, Karl has helped grow major brands, agencies, design firms, and in-house creative teams. Throughout his career, he has remained hands-on as a creative professional, earning numerous design awards and industry accolades. His work and perspectives have been featured in Communication Arts — Insights.

Karl is also a frequent lecturer at design-focused institutions and industry associations, sharing his expertise in talent development, creativity, and the evolving landscape of design.

website

ART ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL AT EDWARD R MURROW HS

Spy Kontarinis is a dedicated educator and passionate advocate for the arts, currently serving as the Assistant Principal of Fine Arts and Career and Technical Education at Edward R. Murrow High School, a role she has embraced for the past 20 years. With 27 years of teaching experience, Spy has nurtured talent and fostered creativity among her students, guiding many of them into prestigious art schools where they can further develop their skills and pursue their passions. Spy's commitment to her students and the arts goes beyond the classroom; she continuously seeks innovative ways to integrate art into education, ensuring that the next generation of artists has the support and resources they need to succeed. Her journey from fashion designer to esteemed educator illustrates not only her versatility but also her unwavering dedication to empowering young minds through the transformative power of art.

CONCEPT ARTIST, VISUAL DEVELOPER, EDUCATOR

Anthony Macbain is an Illustrator, Concept Artist, and Creative Director who specializes in Visual Development with nearly two decades of experience in the video game/entertainment industry. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

website