Erik Evensen

Erik A. Evensen /EH-ven-sen/ is a graphic designer, illustrator, graphic novelist, and educator whose creative work often reinterprets topics from history, mythology, and folklore. As a creative director, he specializes in visual identity, story-driven media, and illustration-forward design work, with past projects recognized by Graphic Design USA. Erik is Professor of Design and Director of the MFA in Design at the University of Wisconsin–Stout, where his teaching load has included studio courses in design drawing and visualization, concept art, and illustration, as well as traditional graphic design and typography. At UW-Stout, he has been recognized with the College of Arts & Human Sciences' Outstanding Teaching Award, as a Faculty Ally, and twice nominated as Outstanding Graduate Faculty.

His comics work has been called "innovative and groundbreaking" by Graphic Novel Reporter. His debut graphic novel, Gods of Asgard, has long been the definitive comics adaptation of the Norse Myths, and received a Xeric Award for artistic, scholarly, and literary merit. Over the years, it has been featured and sold at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum and History Center, the Wexner Center for the Arts, in The Washington Post, and adopted as a textbook at several colleges and universities. His second graphic novel, The Beast of Wolfe's Bay, has been featured in several academic textbooks on Beowulf. His creative work with myth and folklore frequently yields citations, appearances, and speaking engagements about history, culture, and comparative literature. Additional comics industry credits include Ghostbusters and Back to the Future, both licensed properties from IDW Publishing.

Erik's game design credits include art direction for the tabletop games Distilled and Marrying Mr. Darcy. His MFA thesis on design research methods for tabletop games is widely cited in the research on educational game design, and is a featured case study in Convivial Toolbox: Generative Research for the Front End of Design, by Elizabeth Sanders and Pieter Jan Stappers. He has presented at and reviewed for academic conferences sponsored by the Design and Emotion Society, the International Association of Societies for Design Research (IASDR), Motion Design Education (MODE) Summit, the AIGA National Design Conference, and M+DEV: Midwest Game Developers Conference.

Erik holds an MFA in Design from Ohio State University, graduating Phi Kappa Phi. He received a BA in Studio Art from the University of New Hampshire, and a post-baccalaureate certificate from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Prior to entering academia, he worked as a graphic designer in the New Hampshire Seacoast and Greater Boston region. He is married to conductor/composer Erika Svanoe.

NOTE: Evensen is pronounced with a short E, just as it is in Norway.

FULL CV/RESUME