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My website is https://www.seanfitzgibbonart.com

NEW WEBSITE

Be sure to visit the new SEANFITZGIBBONART.COM.

Check out this blog for archived content.  I'll be posting new material directly to my new site.  

Check out eCloud.  I saw this installation at the San Jose airport and was really intrigued.  eCloud is an idealized cloud inspired sculpture made of polycarbonate tiles that fades between transparent and opaque states and the patterns shift depending on current weather conditions.

While back in grad school I wrote paper on the 1960's era non-profit organization Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) established to develop collaborations between artists and engineers and further breaking down barriers between the arts, science, and technology.  I've always been fascinated by this and interdisciplinary approach and will be introducing more into my upcoming projects.    

2013 Spring Semester Art Courses I'm Teaching

ADVANCED GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION      

SP 2013 / CRN 21735 / CRS 2364 / Sec 01 / BH 1116 / NWACC

One-semester course covering illustration and design through a series of drawing, collage and painting activities.  Students will learn to use various media, including watercolor, acrylic and scratchboard as well as develop digital illustration techniques. 

INTRODUCTION TO DRAWING 

SP 2013 / CRN 21421 / CRS 1303 /  SEC 01 /  BH 1021 / NWACC

One-semester course covering the fundamentals of drawing. Intro to Drawing is a studio course focusing on projects dealing with the materials and techniques of drawing, including basic concepts of line, perspective and value.

Spherical Alien Design

Been sick all week with the cold/flu ugghhh....  I'm gonna keep this blog entry short.  

Meant to post this a while back.  Thought I'd showcase a tiny bit of my spherical, red, rolling alien designs and collaborative efforts with CG artist extraordinaire Johan Steen (bottom two panels are Johan's CG sculpts) for the upcoming science fiction TV show Command Magellan.  I've shown some of my poster art for the series but never any of the alien concept art.

Working primarily with Johan, Duane Bruner and Leigh James we went through many roughs until settling on a design that worked well with the story.  Johan then created  CG renderings based off my drawings and is now bringing the alien to life with CG animation.  Great work Johan. 

 More of Johan's fantastic work can be seen at artstorm.net.

This series is based on Fredric Brown's science fiction short story Arena first published in 1944.  

Other Worlds Fantasy Fest

Award winning writer Kevin Brown and myself will be giving a presentation: The History, Potential, and Techniques of the Graphic Novel on January 26, 2013 from 2:00-3:30pm at the Other Worlds: Fantasy and Horror Writers Festival at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, AR.  

This will be an in-depth discussion on the history and potential of the graphic novel.  We will also discuss our up coming documentary graphic novel What Follows is True...Crescent: The Baker Years.   

This event is made possible by the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow and the Crescent Hotel.  Special Thanks to Keith Scales and Elise Roenigk.  

Writer Kevin Brown has had Fiction, Non-fiction, and Poetry published in over 100 Literary Journals, Magazines, Anthologies, and Best Of… Anthologies, as well as having multiple stories turned into Audio Performance Productions.  His two collections of short fiction, Ink On Wood and Death Roll, were published in the Fall of 2010 by Virgogray Press and Lame Goat Press, respectively.  He has won numerous writing contests and competitions, such as the Midnight Sun Fiction Competition, the Touchstone Fiction Contest, and the Baucom-Fulkerson Memorial Award.  He is also the recipient of several fellowships, including the Walton Fellowship for Fiction, the Lily Peter Fellowship for Fiction, and the Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Award.  He was nominated twice for the Best American Short Stories, a Journey Award, and three Pushcart Prizes--the most prestigious prize given for short fiction.  He co-wrote the screenplay Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver, that was made into a film in 2006, and worked with Linda Bloodworth (creator of Designing Women) on a television pilot, which he helped pitch to FOX, HBO, ABC, NBC, and CBS. 

Up Among the Hills Newspaper Article

Just like to thank the Insight Newspaper staff for the great write up in the December issue about my involvement in the documentary film Up Among The Hills written and directed by Emmy award winning filmmaker Larry 
Foley and narrated by President Bill Clinton.

Special thanks to film writer and director Larry Foley, director of photography Hayot Tuychiev, Ryan Sloan, and the rest of the team.

Copies of the film are available for purchase from UA Press or Amazon.  

Crystal Bridges Figure Drawing Series

Join us at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in January.  I'll be a teaching a figure drawing studio series class on January 9, 16, 23, 30 from 6:30-8:00 pm.  

In this class students will study the figurative  works of artist Thomas Eakins and gain a greater understanding of the basic proportions and anatomical structure of the human form by drawing from both the human skeleton and live model.  Students will render volume and form using tonal and linear methods and create dynamically composed figure drawings within the pictorial space.  

The above skeletal and muscle studies were rendered by one of my students for a project in one of my figure drawing classes.  For more information and to purchase tickets visit them on the web at Crystal Bridges: Figure Drawing from a Thomas Eakins Perspective, Studio Series.

Preliminary Scout Ship Concepts

A few months back I posted some concept renderings of my scout ship design for the upcoming sci-fi TV series now in production entitled Command Magellan by Duane Brunner and Johan Steen along with Leigh James and Paul Bradley.   Here are just some of the original preliminary renderings leading to the final version.  

Thanks to Duane Brunner, Johan Steen, Leon Maki Maki Kitchlew, and everyone involved in this exciting project.  

I'm getting caught up on projects over the break so I'll  post more soon.  

Tree Design

The last couple of months I've been busy drawing and sculpting a tree design to be constructed by Nature Makers in Carlsbad, CA.  Working on interior and exteriors of this massive artificial walk-in oak tree that is proposed to be installed in a children's department.  Here are just a few examples of my designs for this project.  

The enormous tree will stand at 13 ft with a 40 ft canopy.  The tree interior will be about 80 sq. ft accommodating almost 30 kids.  Notice how the tree appears to be busting through the floor and ceiling as if it were taking root in a lower level beneath the children's department.  

I did quite a bit of research on oaks for this project and found that there are over four hundred varieties of oak trees.  Oaks belong to the genus Quercus and members of the beech family.  Oaks consume large amounts of water and mature oaks can absorb more than 50 gallons a day.

Thanks to everyone involved in this exciting project.  

NWA Community Creative Center Holiday Bazaar

Join us this Saturday, December 1, 10-4 and Sunday Dec 2, 12-4 at the NWA Community Center Holiday Bazaar.  I'll have original art, prints, and books available for purchase including the original DVD cover art for the documentary film Up Among the Hills  as well as prints of the cover art and production art.  Hope to see you then.  

For more information visit them on the web at www.nwaccc.org.  

Illinois Central College Exhibit / East Peoria

Be sure to check out my exhibit  at the 305A Gallery at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, IL which starts today.  The exhibition  runs from November 21 thru December 7, 2012.  Thanks to Gallery Curator John Heintzman and the Illinois Central College Art Department for this fantastic opportunity. 

John Brown University Lecture

Yesterday I gave a lecture at John Brown University on graphic novels and narrative art.  Just like to thank professor of visual arts Joel Armstrong for inviting me talk to his art students and the english department.  A fantastic group and look forward to seeing the interdisciplinary student, narrative projects.   

Up Among The Hills Documentary Available On DVD

Recently I contributed time lapse production art and cover illustration for the documentary Up Among The Hills written and directed by Emmy award winning filmmaker and University of Arkansas professor, Larry Foley and narrated by President Bill Clinton. The film is now available on DVD through Amazon.  The film was funded by the Fayetteville Public Library Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Video of the film introduction and my time lapse sample is available here.

The film will also be available on AETN.  For AETN's December broadcast schedule "Up Among the Hill" will be viewed three (3) times by a statewide audience.

Approximately 300,000 households watch AETN weekly. Any one program can
expect to have about 11,600 viewers at each prime time ( 6:00 p.m. to
10:00 p.m.) broadcast. From sign on to sign off, the number of viewers is
about 6,000 at each airing.

The airdates are as follows:
Dec. 3 at 8:30 p.m.
Dec. 9 at 2:00 p.m.
Dec. 30 at 3:00 p.m.

In addition, the program will receive multiple repeats in 2013 and beyond.
Check your local listings each month for the exact dates and times.

Public Screenings of Up Among The Hills Documentary

Public screenings of the film Up Among the Hills will be held on Tuesday, November 6th at 6:00pm, and Sunday, November 11th at 2:00pm in the Walker Community Room at the Fayetteville Public Library in Fayetteville, AR.  I'll be sure and post when the film is available for purchase.  I contributed time lapse production art and cover illustration for this film.  Video of the film introduction and my time lapse sample is available here.  Up Among the Hills is directed by Emmy award winning filmmaker Larry Foley.

Recent Lecture

Recently gave a narrative art talk at Hass Hall Academy.  Just like to thank my friend Basil Seymour-Davies for having me talk to his art students and Sabine Schmidt's German class.  A fantastic group and really enjoyed seeing the students' narratives.  Great work!        

Halloween Continued

Recently went to a Halloween party as Abe Lincoln (of the vampire slaying persuasion).  I put together this hat and painted this toy axe and good to go.  Since I'm on the vampire theme, thought I'd share a couple pen and ink drawings of fright film legend Christopher Lee I did quite a while back.  

HALLOWEEN SCREAM!!!!

Wishing everyone a fright filled Halloween!

Documentary Time Lapse Production Art

Preliminary drawings for the documentary film Up Among the Hills and preproduction stills of myself working with director of photography Hayot Tuychiev.  Up Among the Hills is directed by Emmy award winning filmmaker Larry Foley. 

The overhead mounted camera recorded my renderings using stop motion image capture software.  The image then comes to life merging with moving imagery.  The trick was to keep the rendering on registration working fairly quickly until the scene is complete. 


Video of the film introduction and my time lapse sample is available here.

Workshop and Presentation Pics

Here are a couple of pics from the Make Your Own Graphic Novel Teen Workshop and presentation at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  

Thanks to everyone that made it out and thanks to Sara Segerlin for the images and all her help putting this together and making the presentation and workshop possible.