Pilar Newton (’20) is recognized among 10 notable Black animators for her contributions to the industry

We’d like to congratulate Pilar Newton (’20) for the well-deserved shout-out on ‘CinemaBlend’ and ‘SVA in the Press.’

Pilar was mentioned along with other amazing storytellers in an article titled ’10 Black Animators Who’ve Done Exceptional Work For Disney And Other Studios.’

Other animators recognized were Floyd Norman (‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’), Bruce Smith (‘The Proud Family’), and Sonya Carey (2011’s ‘Winnie the Pooh).

Pilar is an animator, cartoonist, and educator who studied art at the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. She furthered her animation talent at the Rhode Island School of Design and went on to get her start doing animation production art on shows such as ‘Courage the Cowardly Dog’ for Cartoon Network and MTV’s ‘Daria’. After starting her Brooklyn-based production company PilarToons, LLC and becoming a professor at the City College of New York, she decided to pursue her MFA in Visual Narrative at the School of Visual Arts.

Pilar’s work as a student at MFAVN was always greatly anticipated by her fellow students and faculty. Fast-paced and joyfully illustrated, her stories had strong, relatable characters in fantastic worlds. With the guidance of her mentor Sara Varon, Pilar created her thesis story, ‘Snozzlewinks.’

Snozzlewinks is about twelve year old Stella, who loves to draw crazy creatures in her nifty sketchbook and go everywhere with her best friend, Sam the iguana. When they are chased by the school bully, Stella and Sam stumble into a dark hole and find themselves in a strange and magical world of The Snozzlewinks. There they meet new Snozzlewink friends, Winkle and Maria. When they all find themselves captured by the villainous Taggoff and his evil army, Stella will need to have confidence in her talents – her art may just save the day!

Pilar talks about the story and its origins in her thesis presentation video below.