Tim Kirk (born October 30, 1947) is both a professional artist and an American fan artist. He worked as a senior designer at

Tokyo DisneySea is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, just next to Tokyo. It opened on 4 September 2001, at a cost of 335 billion yen. The Oriental Land Company owns the park, and licenses intellectual prope ...

, as an Imagineer for the

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

company.

Career

Tim Kirk was born October 30, 1947, in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. Kirk became a fan of science fiction while attending

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), also known in athletics as Long Beach State University (LBSU), is a public teaching-focused institution in Long Beach, California, United States. The 322-acre campus is the second largest in the ...

. While earning his

Bachelor's Degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creativity, creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function ...

, his artwork began appearing in

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

s. He was nominated nine time for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist, winning five times 1970 to 1976. He turned professional in the early 1970s, doing book covers for Mirage Press and

DAW Books DAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim, with his wife, Elsie B. Wollheim, following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted ...

. He earned his master's degree in illustration from CSU-Long Beach in 1973. His master's thesis consisted of paintings inspired by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

''.

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...

purchased several of the paintings, using most of them for the 1975 Tolkien Calendar and one of them as the cover for the Ballantine edition of Robert Foster's '' The Complete Guide to Middle-earth''. Tim Kirk's Tolkien-inspired art also appears in the War of the Ring (SPI game) boardgame published by

Simulations Publications, Inc. Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) was an American publisher of board game, board Wargaming, wargames and related magazines, particularly its Flagship (broadcasting), flagship ''Strategy & Tactics'', in the 1970s and early 1980s. It produced an ...

in 1977. Kirk's artwork had a childlike quality that found few buyers in the science fiction and fantasy field at the time, so he took a job in 1973 as an illustrator for

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a Privately held company, privately held, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of greeting cards in the United ...

and then Current Inc., drawing cute animals for greeting cards, box covers, and wrapping paper. Kirk joined the Walt Disney Company in 1980 as an illustrator, designer, and "Imagineer", playing an especially important role in the creation of the theme park DisneySea in Japan. He co-designed the Typhoon Lagoon water park with his brother, Steve Kirk, and Imagineers Raellen Lescault, Chris Runco, Julie Svendsen, and others. He sketched out the "waterskiing alligator" logo for Disney's Blizzard Beach, which helped convince Disney CEO

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner ( ; born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film ...

to go with a winter sports theme, rather than alternative like a "dinosaur dig" or "Mayan temple". He also designed parts of the Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, and Muppet*Vision 3D. Kirk is retired from his design firm, Kirk Design, Inc., located in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

area. He also sits on the advisory board of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame The Museum of Pop Culture (or MoPOP) is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, United States, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then ...

.Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame -- Advisory Board
, accessed February 28, 2007

Hugo Awards

Kirk won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist in 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, and in 1976. With Ken Keller, he co-designed the first cold-cast resin base used for a Hugo, given in 1976 by the

World Science Fiction Society Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...

at Kansas City's 34th World Science Fiction Convention; he has been additionally nominated other times for the award.

References

External links

* (as of 2017-03-18: "Kirk Design is closed" with telephone reference)
Hugo Award Winners from the 1970s
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Tim 1947 births American illustrators California State University, Long Beach alumni Hugo Award–winning artists Living people Tolkien artists