Rosanna Lyons

Rosanna Lyons was born in the tiny Irish village of Johnswell, located in County Kilkenny. By the age of three, people had begun to remark on her exceptional artistic talent. She attended college at Limerick School of Art & Design, and was recruited at the tender age of seventeen by Sullivan Bluth, a major American animation studio, which had noticed her strong life-drawing skills. Later she went on to create effects animation and design work for such studios as Steven Spielberg’s Amblimation, Walt Disney Studios, and Dreamworks. She contributed to such projects as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado and many others.

In 2005 Rosanna worked as an effects animator on The Simpsons Movie, and then became the first animator specializing in effects to work on The Simpsons television series.  While at The Simpsons, she animated a diverse array of effects including explosions, fireworks, churning water, swirling pig swill, and even Homer's head being blown off! She has also worked on The Smurfs and various other animation projects, but is now dedicating herself to her true passion of fine art painting.

Rosanna has studied fine art painting throughout the years in London, Paris, Madrid and Los Angeles. Her love is the figure in oil on canvas. 

Rosanna’s paintings begin with her own original digital photographs or other inspirational images, manipulated and cropped to create more interesting compositions. Using the photo as a visual reference, she then interprets the image further, delving deeper into the colors, shapes and textures, melding classical with modern to create a dramatic, painterly landscape in oil. She also makes sketches which she works from to create a more in depth study of her subjects. The translation of strong composition, saturation of color and movement are her primary concerns as she paints

She is inspired by the nude figure, ballet dancers and most recently has created a series of works relating to animal rescue, in particular dogs in order to draw attention to the plight of animal suffering.

Rosanna is a member of City Art co-op in San Francisco. She exhibits twice yearly at Hunter's Point Shipyard in San Francisco.