Pyle Chuck

..A Master Artist

Charles Pyle was born in Orange County, Ca., and spent most of his growing up years in Bakersfield. He always drew as a kid, for himself and friends. He did illustrations for his high school yearbook and cartoons for the spirit posters. His art heroes were in comics and especially political cartoonists, which he hoped to become.After a year in junior college, he visited the Art Academy, which was the Academy of Art College back then, and was hooked by what he saw on the drawing boards in the 2A studio at 625 Sutter. It was a magic moment to him, and those artworks were speaking to him.

The School of Illustration founding director Barbara Bradley interviewed him and suggested, trying Illustration. He has been with the Academy since 1972, first as a student, then as successful alum and now Department Chair.

When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?

It has always been a calling. You get picked by the muse in that it sets you apart from everybody else in class. It was what I was good at, though I did not assign much value to that for a long time.

Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?

A Mixed bag. Dad? No. Mom? Sort of. Teachers? Some worried about me, some encouraged me, but let me draw and paint. In junior college, my art teacher, Ray Salmon, said that I should go to art school and suggested that I visit the ones in San Francisco.

What kind of kid were you?

Painfully shy, goofball.

Where did you grow up?

Bakersfield, Ca.

What were your influences?

Mad, comics, sort of National Geographic Tom Lovell stuff, lots of books.

Your style is very uniquely classical. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you?

An iPad is a great tool, but I can work when the power is out. I can draw with anything that makes a mark and on anything that will receive it. Breadth and mastery of hand, eye and brain is what is key. Don’t be a one tool only artist.

It came out of discovering Norman Rockwell and Dean Cornwell at the end of art school. Prior to that I tried many approaches to being an illustrator, which was my major. Art should feed you was my attitude.

You’ve worked in a couple different styles. One traditional and one that is more caricature. How did that evolve and was that an asset for you or a problem for art directors?

Caricature was first. I wanted to be a political cartoonist like Thomas Nast, or Pat Oliphant. I wanted to bring Richard Nixon down. In art school, my teacher, Barbara Bradley suggested that I ‘try illustration’ and then spent three years broadening my horizons. The caricature side yet lives, though.

I notice you do a lot of life drawing studies. Do you do that on a regular basis?

Life drawing is key, keeping a sketchbook of the world around you is key to developing a way to process the world around you into what it needs to become in your pictures.

How has the computer affected your work?

HA! Computers have completely upended research, process, and delivery. Markets have died, been augmented, and replaced by computers. You can’t fight change. You can’t fight the ease and speed of results that they give.

Do you use the computer in your work at all??

Yes, for photobashing, adding type, color correcting and uploading to clients.

What’s going on in your head when you work on a piece/campaign? Your fears, anticipation, confidence , etc.

There is an arc to any piece. Research and excitement to come up with ideas that work. Anxiety and excitement of assembling the needed models, props, and components to make a painting or illustration work, and on a deadline. Time management constantly whispers in my ear that I am behind and that I am stumbling. Each successful step, though, builds a little excitement and AHA moment that this will be fun and a good job. The final execution phase is both serene and increasingly driven by the ticking of the clock. Sadly, the final result never ever quite matches the inspiration, but you have to keep trying.

How do you know something is finished?

Tough. It is a gut feeling for me. Enough paint on the surface, enough sense of whatever I want the viewer to experience showing up, the calendar says it is due at dawn tomorrow, and so it is done.

What made you focus on a traditional style of illustration?

I got into the business in 1976, so the choice to work digitally did not exist. I work in gouache, oil, watercolor, and even pen and ink. It just feels right. Style? The masters I revere all were able to draw people in situations well, and the evidence of their hand IN the art was clear.

Who if anyone influences your work?

Oh my. Rockwell, Cornwell, Bruce Wolfe, Barbara Bradley and all my teachers, Mort Drucker, Gibson, Flagg, Maynard Dixon, the Taos Masters, Howard Brodie, and so on….. Herblock, Oliphant, John Cuneo, Nast, Joe Kubert, Kley and on it goes

I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. Is there a certain type of project you gravitate towards?

I am better at people, and I prefer narrative that captures emotions. Not a pin up guy. Cartoons? People, a gentle satire, observing the foibles of friends, me, and the public.

What do you do to promote yourself and get work?

Lindgren and Smith. Linda DeMoreta, Workbook.

What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal?

If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why?

Obviously, if Rockwell wasn’t dead…but contemporary artists? Oliphant is retired…hmmm, draw alongside Will Weston for a week, because he is so good.