COURSE: Pictorial Problems, BFA Illustration and Cartooning

INSTRUCTORS: Peter Fiore, Keith Mayerson, Seth Tobocman, Tom Woodruff

THE ASSIGNMENT: Illustrate a fictional character from literature, drama, opera, dance, mythology or film.

The goal of the third-year thesis project—titled “Beautiful Losers,” in conjunction with a spring exhibition of the same name in the Visual Arts Gallery—is to comprehensively illustrate the narrative journey of a tragic or flawed hero/heroine using the formal structures of a source work from a different medium.

Medium: Oil on canvas

Source: Turandot by Giacomo Puccini

Description: The opera Turandot is the story of a ruthless Chinese princess who challenges her many suitors with three riddles. If one can answer all three, they will be married, but if a wrong answer is given, the suitor will be beheaded. A prince correctly answers the riddles and Turandot unwillingly goes to him. Seeing that she does not want him, the prince challenges Turandot to give him his name by dawn and he will disappear from her kingdom. In the end, Turandot’s cold heart is melted by the prince and she accepts him as her husband. Querney’s illustrations focus on the character Turandot and her struggles with possessiveness and love.