What mediums do you work in?I usually start with pencil, and then go over it with pen and ink, with digital cleanup and finessing afterward in Photoshop, Illustrator and Coreldraw. Occasionally I work in color, and have been trying to do moreso of late. I’ve also worked in paint sometimes, and am trying to do that more often.
Have you had any formal art training?
I’ve had very little formal training, back in middle school mostly, with about a semester and a half at Greenfield Community College in the Art: Graphic Design course. Since then everything has been self-taught, going from looking at many comic book artists (such as Jim Lee, Alan Davis and George Perez) and drawing books by Burne Hogarth, and others. I consider most of what I do now to be just self-taught as it didn’t seem like much was really covered back in school.
Where do you find inspiration?
All over, really. Movies, music, comic books and novels. Mostly fantasy movies and books, but also supernatural and lately some more lovecraftian themes that I want to draw out. Friends provide inspiration as well, like with the photos by Matt Norris. I’ve made drawn versions of several of his photos of Realms folks, and intend to draw more in the future.Has your art been influenced by Realms? If so, how?
Oh, greatly. Before I started Realms I was mostly drawing superheroes or RPG characters. I played Rifts for a long time, so characters could be all sorts of different eras. Since I started Realms I worked more toward centering on our medieval fantasy characters, and trying to figure out how spells would look when drawn and things of that nature. It’s also pushed my boundaries quite a bit, culminating in the triptych piece that was used on the Omnibuses a few years ago.
Where do you share your work?
I share much of my work on Facebook but the home for it is on my Deviantart site What project/projects that you've created have you been particularly proud of?
I’m very proud to have resurrected the Realms Heraldry project, and to have kept the Realms Map going for ten years. In terms of other drawing projects, I’m very proud to have helped Maryanne Betie with her Drow plot with drawing “Wanted” posters for various Realms characters (which some adventurers ran around the event collecting). Then there was helping Folkestone in making new designs for the Gopher currency! Most recently helping Jason Rosa and Rhiassa make a whole new set of face cards (Dukes) for the QoH tournament decks.
What projects do you hope to complete in the future?
I’m currently working on a project doing card art for a game that friends are putting together. I hope to get this done and they can get the game published fully. I also hope to get closer to completing the Heraldry Project (though that’s sort of hard to complete as there’s also new stuff. Lastly, I hope to do more fandom-related artwork, such as for Doctor Who, the Walking Dead, Firefly, and other shows I enjoy.What other Realms artists work do you enjoy?
Maryanne Betie, Chelsea Stoddard, Janna Pushee, Cassandra Parker, and Sara Clough-Coulter. I always enjoy seeing new artists in the Realms and have been blown away by some of the more recent artists, too!
