Sean Dietrich was born in Baltimore, MD and now resides in San Diego, CA...there was much in between. Starting with his first public artshow at age 4, the beginnings of Dietrich’s art career were very young. At the age of 5 he told his mom “I'm going to be an artist when I grow up”, and has never looked back. Flashforward 10 years and over 40 art awards later at local art shows and competitions, Sean publishes his first comic book “Tribal Scream”, and sells a combined 400 copies locally, as well as holds his first signing at the local comic book store Wavelengths. Over the next few years, Dietrich continues to win local awards including a nomination for the Virginia Governor's School, as well as hones his art into the grittty, texture driven, brink of insanity style he has today. At 18 he receives a call from Slave Labor Graphics president, Dan Vado, stating, in reference to Dietrich's submitted artwork, “This is some of the best art I've seen come across my desk in awhile.” This was the beginning of the onslaught of some of the most twisted, dark comics allowed to run around in the industry. These aren't you're dad's Spider Man comics—these books make you think and take you to places you'd rather not visit.
In 2003-2004 Dietrich releases the six issue mini series, and subsequent graphic novel, “industriacide”, which wins a Diamond Preview Magazine's “Certified Cool” award. This was Sean's first professional attempt at a comic—the fan email from everywhere in the world including Hungary, Germany, England, and Spain to name a few, solidified the praise for the book Diamond had predicited. This also marked a long relationship with publisher Rorschach Ent., who still publishes Sean to this day, and the beginning of Dietrich's appearances at comic conventions across the United States. Recent releases from Rorschach Ent. have included “Fervor” and “Mess”, both one shot comic books, that have showcased the creator's ever expanding artist and writing skills. The first artistic bombs had been dropped and Dietrich's blitzkrieg against mediocrity and repetition in the comic arena began.
2006 marked the expansion of his career into the film and gaming industries, with stints with Sony Playstation and Cherry Road Films, for which Sean produced conceptual artwork and storyboards. SOAK magazine also hired Dietrich on to do a monthly editorial comic for their nationally distributed publication. To round off the diverse portfolio, Sean took on conceptual art jobs for BBOX Ent., creating characters for their upcoming 3D animated movie “BBOX”, and handled the character development for the upcoming 3D animated children's movies “The Flea Circus”, and an as of yet titled children's movie about three bears in a rock band. Designs for a line of t-shirts for tenbills.com, character development for the “Nancy Hernandez” series of ghost stories, tattoo designs, custom artwork for motorcycles, round out the past projects.
Currently, Dietrich is working on a remake of Hansel and Gretel for Stone Arch Books, where he has been working as a freelance children's book illustrator for the last two years. Live paintings at local San Diego night clubs have put Sean into the spotlight of the public on a large scale, and have lead to spots on the local Fox News Morning Show. 2008 and beyond promises to see the release of many more projects, including the illustrations for the upcoming book “Bubbles From Atlantis” by longtime friend Richard A. Webster. The book is the most important book about the lives of those in New Orleans after Katrina hit, and how they survived.
