I’ve been drawing most of my life (born June 10, 1967). My first sale was a drawing of Snoopy for five cents when I was six. I soon went from drawing Snoopy to drawing super-heroes, and then began coming up with my own creations. I started getting serious about doing art in late High School.
Around the same time, I got heavily into Dungeons and Dragons and Wendy and Richard Pini’s comic, Elfquest. Fantasy art became my main passion.I majored in art at college and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from Northern Illinois University in 1991. Fine art and fantasy art don’t always mix, but it was a good experience, got me to experiment with different themes and media, and really helped my art improve. I’ve shown paintings and drawings at art shows/exhibits, and I’ve been a judge for a couple shows.
In the late 80’s I started attending fantasy/science fiction conventions and began showing and selling my art. I’ve since attended many conventions all over the country. Through contacts and friends at the conventions, I started producing art for numerous small press publications, fanzines, and clubs. My art has also been published in a few art books, portfolios, and magazines.In recent years, I’ve produced art for fantasy games; mostly collectible card games and a couple role-playing books. I’ve also had work published in a few anthropomorphic/furry comic books.
Furry is a genre I got into sometime in ’95. I enjoy the diversity in art styles and skills I’ve seen, and I like drawing furry characters. It’s different from the more humanoid fantasy art I was used to doing. Furry fandom (cons, mucks, etc.) has also been a lot of fun to be involved in. I’ve made a lot of really good, close friends within it.
I moved from northern Illinois to California in 1997, settling into the Bay Area of San Francisco where I live with my loving partner, Damon. Many artists have helped influence and inspire my art including Wendy Pini, Alfonse Mucha, Michael Whelan, Colleen Doran, Franklin Booth, Craig Hamilton, George Perez, Mary Blair, John Bryne, the Hildebrant Brothers, P. Craig Russell, Mac Raboy, and John Blackburn. Animation has also inspired me over the years.
Although not necessarily direct influences on my art, other huge inspirations for me for various reasons have been Charles Schulz, Walt Disney, Jim Henson, Paul Cadmus, Chuck Jones, Jay Ward, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, J.R.R. Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, and Hayao Miyazaki.
I’m also constantly inspired by fellow artists and friends. Some of whom can be found on my Friends page.
When I read biographical pages like this, I enjoy finding out what kind of interests and hobbies people have, so I figured I’d include mine. I squeeze all this into my free time along with art and a social life. The short version: Comic books, anime and manga, animation/movies/TV, Disney, books, music, action figures, and tiki mugs. The long version follows.
Comics
I’ve been a fan of Marvel and DC comic books since I was 9 and I’ve been reading them ever since. I’m mostly a super-hero fan, but there have been other types of comics I’ve enjoyed.
Some all-time favorites include Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men, Dr. Strange, Teen Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes, Doom Patrol, Metal Men, Elfquest, A Distant Soil, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, and Sandman.
Current favorites include Young Avengers, She-Hulk, Thunderbolts, Runaways, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Birds of Prey.
I tend to really enjoy super-hero movies and TV series. Huge fan of the Spider-Man and X-Men movies, and the animated series based on Batman, Superman, the Justice League, Teen Titans, and, most recently, the Legion of Super-Heroes.I continually enjoy some older comic strips as well: Peanuts, Bloom County, and Calvin and Hobbes.Japanese Comics/Manga:
I was into manga before it began being professionally translated into English. Originally, it was all about enjoying the art and trying to kind of sort of piece the story together. A few of my favorites are being translated such as From Eroica with Love, RG Veda, Earthian, and Bride of Deimos (sadly the translating publisher went under half way into the series). There are many I’d like to eventually get like Fake, X, Kizuna, and Loveless.
There are also a few favorites that have yet to be translated like London Mamougai, Animal X, West End, Matendo Sonata, and Wild Half.
Animation/Anime/Movies/TV/DVDs
Disney animated features and old Warner Bros. shorts are probably my favorite forms of American animation. I also enjoy Pixar, a number of Saturday morning/weekday afternoon cartoons, Jay Ward’s Rocky and Bullwinkle, and 50’s style UPA animation among others.Like manga, I got into anime when next to nothing was translated. One of the first conventions I attended, Capricon, had a great 24 hour anime room operated by the local anime club, Chicago Megazone. They made a special booklet that provided synopsis for what they were showing. There were some instances of fan subtitled anime, but it was very rare at the time. I’m happily amazed at how popular anime has since become.
Some older favorites: Dirty Pair, Mospeada, Project A-Ko, Gatchaman, My Neighbor Totoro, Saint Seiya, Patalliro, and Lupin III: Cagliostro’s Castle.
More recent favorites: Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, Escaflowne, Gundam Wing, Dead Leaves, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Loveless.Other than animated programs like Invader Zim, the Simpsons, and Justice League, favorite TV includes mostly science fiction and comedy.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Babylon 5, Muppet Show, Newsradio, Star Trek, and Xena are some all-time favorites.
Current Favorites include Family Guy, Desperate Housewives, Doctor Who, Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica, and Venture Brothers.Auntie Mame, Fantasia, Star Wars, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Wizard of Oz, Shaolin Soccer, Peter Pan, the Muppet Movie, Spirited Away, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Finding Nemo, Moulin Rouge, Harry Potter; all just the beginning of a huge list of favorite movies I could watch over and over again.
Between animation, movies and TV shows, I have a slowly growing wall of DVDs.
Disney Parks
In addition to the animation, I love the Disney theme parks, particularly the original Disneyland. Vacations to Southern California were a regular part of my childhood, and we always spent the most time at Disneyland. I still remain in awe of the artistry, technology, and scale of the place, and I still have a blast everytime I go there. I’ve been to Disney World a few times as well, and I hope to eventually visit the parks in Paris and Tokyo.
Books
I like books on mythology and folklore and various art/artists. I also enjoy books about my other interests; comic books, Disney, etc.
I used to read a lot of fantasy novels, but I’ve gone through a long dry spell as other things have taken up my free time. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Catherine Cooke’s Winged Assassin trilogy, and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern are some old favorites. I love the Harry Potter books.
Music
I generally go for pop or electronic music that’s upbeat and melodic.
Eurodance/Europop: 4 Strings, East Clubbers, Eiffel 65, Blumchen, Whigfield, E-Type, Aqua.
Trance/Hard Trance: Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren, Cosmicman, Cynic Project, Starline.
Psy/Goa Trance: Hallucinogen, Ubar Tmar, Tim Schuldt, Infected Mushroom, Zodiac Youth.
Pop and others: ABBA (still my favorite), Erasure, Loreena McKennett, Madonna, Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks, Berlin, Sarah McLachlan.
Action Figures
When I was 10, two lines of toys came out; Star Wars and Micronauts. I was -the- target age for Star Wars merchandising, and I was hooked. I liked the action figures most of all. Micronauts were about the same small size as Star Wars figures, but were much more detailed and elegant. I later discovered that Micronauts were based on a larger toy line called Microman in Japan. In recent years, both Star Wars and Microman/Micronauts toy lines have made comebacks, and I’ve slowly been collecting some of them.
I also collect action figures based on Marvel and DC comic book characters. I just think it’s cool to have the characters in a 3D form, and most are very well sculpted.
Tiki Mugs
The Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland made a big impact on me. I loved the lush, colorful feel of it and the striking design of the tiki statues. I’ve fairly recently been digging into the history of the “Tiki Culture” of the 50’s and the tiki mugs that were produced for various tiki bars and resorts. Lately, there’s been a resurgence in the tiki style, and new mugs are being created or recreated by some very talented artists. Tiki is more of an Americanized, idealized, mish-mosh of various South Seas cultures than anything really authentic, but it’s fun, and I love the design work that goes into the tiki mugs.
If you’ve made it this far down; wow, you know more than you ever needed to know 🙂
