Bio

Education:

School of Visual Arts, NYC

Master’s of Fine Arts Illustration, 2004


Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT

Bachelor’s of Sciences in Art Education, 1999


Summary of Qualifications:

  1. -Classically trained artist.

  2. -Five years experience of work and research at The American Museum of Natural History with Gary J. Sawyer and Ian Tattersall.

  3. -Advanced experience and Knowledge of drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic design, adobe Photoshop, Zbrush, Adobe indesign, illustrator, Quark and carpentry/construction.

  4. -Advanced knowledge of anatomy and human evolution.

  5. -Gross anatomy dissection work at State University of New York health Science Center of Brooklyn,

Downstate with Dr. Samuel Marquez.

-Advanced knowledge and experience with model making, set design, and special effects.

  1. -Experience with exhibit design and floor plan layout.


Awards:

Choice Award top 10 science books of 2007 - The Last Human

Gold Independent Publishers Award 2007 - The Last Human


Experience and work:


Highlights:


-78 ft by 10 ft photo-real mural of Human Evolution in Ethiopia for the traveling exhibition known as, “Lucy’s Legacy.” The exhibition premiered at The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, Houston, Texas in August of 2007.

-The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty Two Species of Extinct Humans, Co-creator, reconstruction artist, digital artist, and co-author. published Yale University Press released February 2007.



Current Works:


-Producer, consultant, model maker, concept designer, and digital artist for upcoming NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL television special about human evolution. Produced by Evergreen Productions and airing spring / summer 2010.


-Developing and designing new artwork for “Lucy’s Legacy” exhibition coming to NYC June 2009


-Consultant, model maker, concept designer, and digital artist for upcoming NOVA documentary on human evolution produced by Shining Red Productions to air Fall 2009.


Completed Works:


-Illustration for Scientific American magazine January 2009. 2008

-Consultant and concept designer Pacific Science Center, Seattle, WA. 2008

-Sculptor and painter for Sam Simon Studios NYC. 2008

-Cover Natural History Magazine October 2007.

-Created Main webpage illustration for Redroom.com. 2007

-Artwork featured in the Hall of Human Evolution and the American Museum of

Natural History NYC.

-Work featured in “Natural History Magazine” February 2007. The issue featured 15 original pieces from “The Last Human,” in an 8 page article about the history and

merger of paleoanthropology and forensic paleo-arts.

-Created the cover image for “Natural History Magazine” February 2007. 2006

-Created a small scale model of Homo georgicus for Alexis Rockman. 2006

-Special effects artist for an independent film titled “The Circuit.”. 2006

-Digital artist on “Fat Free” graphic novel by Jude Milner. 2006

-Model maker on “Olivia” animated feature by Ian Falconer. 2006

-Worked with the British Broadcasting Company on a television program about

early human remains discovered in Indonesia. 2006

-Sculpted a Neanderthal reconstruction for The Science Channel‘s special “Neanderthal: The rebirth,” which aired August 20, 2006. I was filmed working on the face.

-Illustration work for Japanese Science Times pages 16-17. April 2006

-Illustration work for Geo Magazine page 174. January 2006

-Illustration work for Natural History Magazine page 56. November 2005

-Co-designed an exhibit on dinosaurs and extinctions at the Maritime Museum in

Norwalk, CT. August 2005

-Sculpted the dinosaur Dilong paradoxus for the “Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries,”

currently on display at the American Museum of Natural History. Featured in Newsweek

pgs. 48 and 49 June 27, 2025 and the New York Times Metro Section February 2, 2005.

-Completed concept designs, floor plan, and exhibit layout for the upcoming Napoleon exhibit produced by Tonia Barringer and The Russel Etling Company at The National

Geographic building Washington D.C. 2005

-Reconstructed a full figured and fully finished Neanderthal over the world’s first fully articulated

Neanderthal skeleton for the Natural Science Museum of Tokyo Japan. 2005

-Illustrated a series of sixty pencil drawings of Paleolithic tools for a major paper by

anthropologist ,Sylvana Vitagliano. 2005

-Researched and reconstructed the nasal anatomies of Neanderthals for a major paper and

presentation by Dr. Samuel Marquez for the annual meeting of The Paleo-anthropological

Association. 2005

-Photoshop artist for the book “Encyclopedia of Evolution” by Richard Milner. 2004

-Illustration in Playboy Magazine June 2004.


Professional affiliations:


-The National Geographic Channel

-Twentieth Century Fox

-Nova

-Scientific American

-Shining Red Productions

-The American Museum of Natural History

-Houston Museum of Natural Sciences

-The School of Visual Arts

-Columbia University Department of Anthropology

-Natural History Magazine

-State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Downstate

-Ossa Anatomical NYC

-Maxilla and Mandible NYC

-Alexis Rockman – Rockman Studios NYC

-Milner Studios NYC

-Bone Clones Int.






Born in a land once called home to many Neanderthal families, Viktor Deak came into the modern world in a place we now know as Budapest, Hungary.

He and his family migrated to America and settled into the leafy woodlands of New England. From a very early age, Viktor was always drawing skeletons and taking out books on human anatomy. While most kids were reading Dr, Seuss, Viktor was reading Dr. Grey and Dr. Leakey.

His parents and grandparents nurtured his curiosity, giving him many more books on human evolution and anatomy as well as taking him on countless trips to museums of all kinds. As he got older, his fascination in origin of the human form and mind evolved into an obsession.

By the time he became an adult his artwork had become his voice. He has merged his passions of science and art to communicate an understanding of our primordial past in a way that words cannot.

Living and working in New York City, he has utilized the modern technology of his Homo sapiens brethren and merged the tangible forensic sculptural world with the intangible digital realm to re-create a vision of our beginnings more vivid than ever before.


“Since (for the time being at least) we cannot go into the deep past and far off future, I suppose I will listen to Albert and bring it to us,”

-Anonymous 21st century paleo-artist.