Jim Fitzpatrick is an Irish artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 famous for Irish Celtic Art. Perhaps his most famous piece is his iconic two-tone portrait of Che Guevara created in 1968 and based on a photo by Alberto Korda.

In 1978, he wrote and lavishly illustrated a book called The Book of Conquests, the retelling of a cycle of Irish myths, the Lebor Gabála Érenn

Lebor Gabála Érenn

Lebor Gabála Érenn is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages...

. The book retells the legends of the coming of the Tuatha dé Dannan to Ireland and their fight with the Fir Bolg, interrelated with a linear story via a series of exceptionally detailed illustrations matched with text of the deeds of might and valour contained in the myth. It is replete with intricate Celt

Celt

The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic scrollwork and knotwork. This was followed up by The Silver Arm, which retells further portions of Irish myth, this time based on the deeds of Nuada of the Silver Arm and the deeds of Lugh in their fight with the Formor. This second book is drawn in a more sophisticated style, not so close to comic book style. A third volume, The Son of the Sun, is listed as 'in preparation' as of 2004, but the artist sometimes hints that some editorial conflict precluded its appearance. The artist mentions that the two former books were more ambitiously illustrated, but the projects were curtailed. Another book, 'Erinsaga', is a loose recompilation of his work, from early jobs to his most famous books and freelance illustrations, including 'the making of...' several projects.

He has also produced much artwork for Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...

, for Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

's 2000 album Faith and Courage

Faith and Courage

Faith and Courage is the fifth full-length album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released in 2000 on Atlantic Records. It was O'Connor's first release in three years, her previous album being the greatest hits package So Far.....

 and for The Darkness' 2003 single Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)

Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)

"Christmas Time " is a single released by The Darkness in the UK during December 2003, to fall in with the famous UK Christmas Number One Race.-Race for Christmas #1:...

.

In 2011, Fitzpatrick announced his intention to copyright the iconic red and black Che Guevara graphic, which he initially released copyright-free for intended use among revolutionary groups in Europe and elsewhere . He blamed "crass commercial" utilization of the image for his decision and plans to hand over the copyright and all rights, in perpetuity, to the family of Guevara in Cuba.

Books

• The Book of Conquests 1978 p/b ISBN 0-525-47511-7, 1991 p/b ISBN 0-905895-14-2
• The Silver Arm (1981) ISBN 1-85028-081-9
• The Children of Lir (with Michael Scott) (1992) ISBN 0-7497-0888-3
• Erinsaga. The Mythological Paintings of Jim FitzPatrick.

Education

• Jim was educated at the Franciscan College Gormanston
  Gormanston
  Gormanstown could refer to:* Gormanston, Tasmania, town in Tasmania, Australia* Gormanston, County Meath, a village in County Meath, Republic of Ireland* Gormanston railway station, also in County Meath* Gormanston Aerodrome, County Meath...
  
   Co. Meath, just north of Dublin.

External links

• Interview with Jim Fitzpatrick by Aleksandra Mir, January 3, 2005.
• Jim Fitzpatrick's site on flickr
  Flickr
  Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
  
  
• Marking Che Guevara's Limerick Link Limerick Leader, December 4, 2008
• Jim Fitzpatrick's Gallery with biography and artbooks on Inside Your ART