About Me

I have always really enjoyed drawing. From when I was a small child into my early teens, I could easily sit for hours, drawing or copying images from my favourite comic, 2000AD; while in my late teens I learned to use watercolours and Acrylic paints; copying my favourite album covers or film posters.
Later in life, after travelling around Australia and New Zealand, I decided that I would go to University; eventually found a course that sounded right at Staffordshire University, studying Graphic Design but specialising in Illustration. Four of the tutors would eventually shape how I work today. Ray Fields helped create my sense of colour; while Chris Sharrock and Darren Raven helped me shape a more stylistic approach in the way I draw. Many thanks also to Laura Knight, who provided a lot of support, encouragement and enthusiasm.
It was also while studying here  (at the Stoke-on-Trent campus) that I met my partner Nina, and we've been inseparable ever since and now live in Pinner, north-west London, with our 2 lovely children.

I enjoy going to the Cinema; listen to Rock music; take lots of photos of my family and interesting textures; play guitar; go swimming; prefer camping over Glamping, watching Sci-Fi or light-hearted crime dramas ... with a lovely big mug of tea.

About My Work

I always like to start in a sketchbook to flesh out ideas and develop a composition before even considering colour. I usually have a very loose idea of what I'd like to create in my head, but by playing around in a sketchbook I can help push this idea further. Any rough sketch may end up being scanned before being edited and refined in Photoshop or Illustrator If vector artwork is required. I have been using Photoshop and Illustrator for over a decade but have only resently earned an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) in both, mostly done out of curiosity to see how well I knew them, but also as a qualification to help show that I actually know what I'm doing technically as well as artistically. I find that I'm working more and more in Procreate, to the extent that that my computer can stand for days before I actually use it. Procreate is a very capable piece of software, easily capable of producing professional print quality artwork, giving Photoshop a run for it's money. I sometimes like to use very limited colour paletes, occasionally using only two colours, such as red and green; but by using overprint effects it can blend the two colour together to create a third, a technique popular mid-century, to save on ink and also with screen printing.

My Instagram

To see more of my work, sketches, experiments  and doodles, please check out my instagram account, where I have to date, over 800 images, created over a period of around 2 years some of which include process videos recorded from my iPad. I'm part of the group of artists who draw regularly together following prompts set by #mightcoulddraw.  When not drawing I'm always happy to help other less experienced artists with their questions about processes, hardware or software.