RIC HEITZMAN

Ric Heitzman Artist/ Designer / Director
My career started with an education in the fine arts.  I received a BFA in Studio Arts with an emphasis in printmaking from  East Texas State University/ Texas A & M.  While achieving a master's degree at the Art Institute of Chicago, I was given  the responsibility of teaching both Serigraphy and Lithography courses.  In my second year of graduate work I developed  an interest in film.  I switched my masters to filmmaking and was given a teaching assistant position in sound design for  film.  Upon graduating, I taught an animation workshop for elementary and secondary students at the museum of the Art  Institute of Chicago. My film and television design career started at this time.  I began as an animator, trained by one of Disney's grand old  men of animation, Tex Henson.  He was the lead animator for a number of Disney features and the director of Rock and  Bullwinkle.  This employment was the most valuable on the job training in the field of animation.  After working with him  for 7 months, I joined a cameraman and agent to form a small studio designing animated title sequences for television  and animating commercials.  After a few years, I moved to New York.  There I worked for ABC-TV as a designer and  freelance graphic artist.  During this time, I also freelanced as an illustrator and gag cartoonist while writing and drawing  my own comic books.  The comic book art and animation experience lead to designing for Peeweeʼs Playhouse, the  award winning series that has been revived and can presently be seen on Cartoon Network.  This series allowed me to  showcase a number of other talents, from puppet and toy design to voice work and acting.  After the series first aired, I  took some time away from the industry to teach an experimental animation course at CALARTS, one of the top animation  schools in the world.  Throughout my life I have always made art in a variety of mediums.  I continue to exhibit with shows of drawings,  paintings, prints and sculptures as well as comic art and film.  I've always used my knowledge of the fine arts to inform  and shape the world of pop culture and commercial art.  I am an avid reader of both art and social history.  My interests  are in early 20th century art and design, Folk art and Comic art, as well as early film and sound histories.  I hope to pursue  a PHD in film and art history degree in several of these areas in the future.