I live in North Lincolnshire, in England, and work as a Teaching Assistant and ICT Technician in a Primary School. I started making 3D illustrations with Blender in 2001, working in the evenings and weekends, and in the many generous school holidays. I have exhibited work in local exhibitions with some success. My work has been well received, and to date I have sold every piece I have exhibited.
Although I am an amateur artist, I have had some formal art training. I graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 1995 with a BA(Hons) in Graphic Design. Before that, I enjoyed a year's art foundation course at North Lindsey College in Scunthorpe. I had mixed experiences on my degree course, mostly because I was disappointed that it did not excite me like the foundation course had.
My first, and only, design job was at a printer's in East London where I produced black and white artwork for print. It was pretty frustrating to be in a so-called 'creative' job and be so bored by the work. The only positive experience I took from that job was that I could sneakily teach myself things on the Mac when I was supposed to be working. I had been reluctant to use computers while at college, but now I realized how much easier it was to do things digitally.
Finally, I got my own computer and became interested in designing web pages. I was also playing a lot of 3D games, and I heard about being able to make games with a program called Blender, so I immediately got it, thinking I would have a go. I started learning, but I never moved past making still images. It was probably a combination of the cute video games, and my new job working in a primary school, but children's book illustration seemed a natural way to take my work.
For most of my life I have lived in a village in North Lincolnshire. As a child I was fortunate to spend a lot of time with my grandad, walking around the village and surrounding area. As we walked, he would make things up about the different places we went, filling everything with magic and mystery. Inevitably, I suppose, I still think of these places as the definitive examples of their type—we refer to them as though they begin with capital letters: The Hills, The Woods, The Park. It is natural then, that these real places are the settings for my illustrations, and I only hope that people can see some of that childhood magic when they look at them.
Home | Portfolio | Me and My Work | Tutorials | Blender | Terms of Use