We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sean Fitzgibbon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sean below.
Hi Sean, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
Curiosity has always driven my work. I’m sparked by a drive to explore and develop a deeper understanding of the world and to communicate my findings visually through my art. I’ve always created art and make time to work on my craft daily. Many people find the hardest part of a project is starting. There is a certain preciousness at the beginning of a project and the best way to overcome that is to dive right in and start working. The preciousness then dissolves and then you can get messy, explore, work with various media, and see where the project takes you. I turn off distractions throughout the day and focus on creating art as my top priority.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a visual storyteller focused on creating nuanced, historical, hand drawn, and painted comics. Graphic novels and graphic nonfiction books appeal to both younger and older audiences and promotes reading and learning new subjects, strengthening visual literacy, historical agency, inclusivity, as well as multisensory learning and thinking. Graphic novels are a perfect confluence of art and literature and connect with a discerning and visually literate readership due to their nuanced and complex art styles as well as their high entertainment value. Historical narrative materializes the past and makes it tangible, providing space for readers to inhabit, imagine, and engage with the story in concrete ways.
As a visual storyteller my work explores real historical places and events. I’m a 2021 Artists 360 recipient and a 2022 recipient of the Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Award for my Kirkus starred, reviewed, graphic nonfiction book “What Follows Is True: Crescent Hotel”. I’ve exhibited work throughout the U.S. and recently completed writing and illustrating a fully painted, documentary-style graphic nonfiction that blends oral histories, old letters, and newspapers to explore the Crescent Hotel’s strange two years as the Baker Hospital, one of the darkest and most controversial legends in the town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I am currently collaborating with an archaeologist Dr. Paige Ford on a new “What Follows Is True” graphic nonfiction book about the history, folklore, and science surrounding Plum Bayou Mounds – an archeological site located in Arkansas. I’m also collaborating with art historian and author Jennifer Dasal on another “What Follows Is True” graphic nonfiction focusing on three strange, labyrinthine, historical locations found in Mexico, Italy, and the U.S.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Be curious. I can’t tell you how important it is to be inquisitive about the world around you. I’m always meeting new people and try to learn from everyone. I’m always learning. Not only does curiosity fuel my art and storytelling but it also informs my marketing and networking. I have a very interdisciplinary approach to my projects, and I’m always working with people from different fields of study ranging from archaeology, music, education, history, biology, engineering, and on and on. It’s these connections that not only enhance and strengthen the art but also provide me with lasting friendships.
Take chances and don’t be afraid of failure. Whether it’s developing skills as an artist or marketing art, I’ve learned that you must embrace failure and work through it. It takes years to develop strong drawing skills, and every artist has at least 1,000 mediocre drawings in them. They must work through those before they draw well. It’s a numbers games. I’ve submitted my art to some galleries and publishers that have shown little interest, and I’ve learned to keep moving forward and find those that are receptive. Variety is the spice of life, and it’s our differences that make us unique. We can’t create work that appeals to everyone, and that’s a good thing because if it did then it would probably have very little substance. Be true to yourself and cultivate meaningful work and meaningful relationships.
Stay present and focus on the primary objective. Each day I have a list of what is the most important artistic task of that day and quite often it is a project I’m working on. Avoid distractions. Be sure to work on your current project every day, and it will get done.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
After graduate school I signed up for Greg Spalenka’s “Artist As Brand” workshop to further my professional development. I cannot speak highly enough about this workshop. It positively changed the trajectory of my artistic career and life. Greg is an award-winning artist, mentor, and friend, and has produced art for clients ranging from Time, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal to name a few. He draws from his own professional experiences and offers the “Artist As Brand” workshop that offers countless benefits to artists and creatives looking to establish and enhance their personal brand. I learned more about the marketing aspects from Greg than I ever learned in all my years of college and art school.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.seanfitzgibbon.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanpfitzgibbon/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seanfitzgibbonart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-fitzgibbon-377aa655/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sfitzgi
Image Credits
Sean Fitzgibbon
