Chuck Pyle

When Chuck Pyle arrived at San Francisco’s Academy of Arts University in 1972, hw was an 18-year-old with big plans: Take a few classes at the Academy, then head off to New York, become a famous political cartoonist — and bring down Nixon.

Today, more than 40 years later, he is director of the Academy’s School of illustration (a post he’s held since 2003), and one of the university’s most beloved instructors. Pyle is known for his dapper appearance, dry wit and accessible style of teaching. His passion for the art of storytelling through imagery is summed up in the advice he gives to students on a regular basis: “Look for new ways of saying things.” In 2015 Pyle received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Society of Illustrators.

A native of Southern California, Pyle resides in Petaluma, Calif., with his wife Tina. In addition to teaching and serving as Chair of the Society of Illustrators’ Educators Symposium, he worked as an apprentice under James Sanford and maintains a robust freelance illustration career to uphold “street cred with his students. He is represented by Lindgren and Smith and his clients have included Microsoft, Safeway, Avis, Sun Microsystems, Reader’s Digest, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Atlantic Monthly, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, McCall’s, Penguin, Bantam, Houghton Mifflin, Seattle Opera, and the Chicago Museum of Science and Technology.

In Pyle’s piece he creates a haunting depiction of a disappearing veteran. He visually depicts how many homeless veterans are seen, or more accurately, not seen, ultimately overlooked.