Pratt Faculty Member Tim O’Brien is an illustrator and portrait painter whose intricately detailed and imaginative illustrations have most recently been translated to the big screen courtesy of the box office smash, The Hunger Games.
O’Brien, an adjunct professor in Pratt Institute’s Undergraduate Department of Communications Design, illustrated The Hunger Games’ three covers for book publisher Scholastic, including The Hunger Games logo. Film distributor Lionsgate has turned the bestselling series into a film franchise, using the logo as the basis of the movie poster and for the mockingjay pin that is on view in the first installment of the series. The film recently set records for having the strongest opening weekend total for a spring release in film history at $155 million and has since exceeded the $300 million mark at the box office. The story, which was originated by author Suzanne Collins, follows a 16-year-old living in a post-apocalyptic world as she is forced to compete in a national televised battle in which only one person can survive.
“It is incredible to watch the illustration I created for The Hunger Games used all over the world and to see it most recently on every cab, bus stop, and billboard in New York City,” said O’Brien. “Seeing the image everywhere is a real ‘pinch me’ moment for me. Illustration is everywhere and brands much of what we see and understand visually, and this is just one example of its power,” he added.
O’Brien has taught at Pratt since 2007 and lives in the Prospect Park South neighborhood of Brooklyn. He has had work published extensively in periodicals including TIME Magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The Atlantic Monthly, Entertainment Weekly, and by book publishers including Scholastic, Harper Collins, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster. He more than a dozen paintings in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and has also designed several stamps for the U.S. Postal Service.
O’Brien has been a recipient of the prestigious Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators, and his work has been recognized by publications and organizations including Graphis, Print, Communication Arts, the Society of Publication Designers, and the Art Directors Club. He is vice president and museum chair of the Society of Illustrators and is on the Illustration Advisory Board of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts. For more on O’Brien and his work, please click here.
Pratt’s Undergraduate Department of Communications Design teaches students to craft the strongest and most impactful communications possible through nimble and creative problem solving and elegant image making. The communications design major at Pratt is the only program in the country that recognizes and embodies the convergence and integration of illustration, advertising, and graphic design as the primary forces for the visual expression of ideas. The department is chaired by Kathleen Creighton and is part of the Pratt Institute School of Art and Design, which is led by Dean Concetta M. Stewart.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Amy Aronoff at 718-636-3554 or aarono29@pratt.edu