About
Hrm, what to say... I suppose logic would dictate that the about section of my web page would be about the artist, so that is where I will start. I have loved drawing since I was quite young. As a small boy of five years old, my dad would read the Hobbit to my siblings and me. That was when I first fell in love with the world of fantastic creatures beautiful and terrible, mystical places, dragons, dwarves, halflings and wizards.
When I discovered my love of drawing, it was only natural to want to draw from the far more interesting worlds of fantasy. I mostly focused on Tolkien for some time. In 2001, the Italian Tolkien society invited me to send several pieces to their traveling exhibit that toured through Europe until the Summer of 2005. That invitation inspired me to work harder at my artwork. I have improved enough since that time that all the pieces I sent to Italy are no longer what I would consider portfolio-worthy.
I worked as a 3d modeling artist for 2 years, and am capable of modeling ultra-realistic high-resolution 3d models, but I have never felt any desire to use those tools as a direct means of creating my illustrations. I will build a 3d model to use as a reference, but I always draw and paint everything by hand. Tracing, or painting over photos or 3d models has zero appeal to me as an artist.
I work on a powerful PC and a Cintiq 21ux. My program of choice is Painter, with the occasional use of Photoshop for some layer management and color adjustment.