Exploring Afrofuturism with Tim Fielder: Blending Black Culture and Science Fiction

Brief summary of episode:

Tim Fielder is an Illustrator, concept designer, cartoonist, and animator born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He has a lifelong love of Visual Afrofutuism, Pulp entertainment, and action films. He holds other Afrofuturists such as Samuel R Delany, Octavia Butler, Pedro Bell, and Overton Lloyd as major influences.

Tim has worked over the years in the storyboarding, film visual development, gaming, comics, and animation industries for clients as varied as Marvel Comics (‘Dr Dre: Man With A Cold Cold Heart’), The Village Voice, Tri-Star Pictures (‘The Mothership Connection’), to Ubisoft Entertainment (‘Batman: Vengeance).

He is known for his graphic novel Matty’s Rocket and his TEDx Talk and BLACK ENTERPRISE interview on the subject of Afrofuturism.
His projects, Matty’s Rocket, INFINITUM, Black Metropolis and High John Conqueror are graphic stories from his company Dieselfunk Studios.
Most recently, his work was showcased in a career retrospective exhibition at The Hammonds House Museum. The show was titled Black Metropolis: 30 Years of Afrofuturism, Comics, Music, Animation, Decapitated Chickens, Heroes, Villains, and Negroes. Very soon Tim will be devoting time the the book variant of Black Metropolis which will be his Memoirs.
He has also worked as an educator for institutions such as New York University, The School of Visual Arts, New York Film Academy and Howard University in the areas of digital animation, concept design, and illustration. Tim has also been an independent animator on his work-in-progress animated film, ‘Harbinger’.
Tim, is an accomplished portrait artist. For decades he has produced illustrations of people from all walks of life from regular folks in the community to Presidents and celebrities. Along with his twin brother Jim, created the art form called Glogging, which showcases his portraits and is implemented in their Youtube and upcoming streaming program called THE DIESELFUNK SHOW.

Due to his years as an instructor, Tim is also well versed and incredibly well-spoken in media and news environments making him ideal for marketing and promotional initiatives. Of particular note is his ability to energetically work with large groups of kids during workshops, as well as actively engaging on book tours to promote his projects.
Tim hopes to push forward with his art in the emerging digital content delivery systems of the day. Dieselfunk Studios is a multimedia company that specializes in narrative stories told in sequential, app, and virtual formats. We strive to move the form forward in traditional and emerging markets.
The artist makes his home with his wife and empty nest in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Harlem.

The Truth In This Art
The Truth In This Art is a podcast interview series supporting vibrancy and development of Baltimore & beyond's arts and culture.

Mentioned in this episode:
Dieselfunk Studios

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