<sub>Cliched I know, but I am told I started drawing the moment I learned how to pick up a pencil. I used to draw a lot of trees that looked like lollipops... houses on wheels... Superman's 'S' logo (even though I didn't realise it was an S for several years - child interpretation I guess)... and Spiderman from the 70s TV series with Nicholas Hammond.

And ducks. Don't ask me why.

My imagination is pretty limited and trust me, it's very annoying. This explains why what you see in my gallery relies strongly on reference images. I consider myself an 'observational artist' and I get a lot of "incredible details!" type comments. Those are the ones that give me the biggest buzz.</sub>

<sub>I'm mostly self-taught. Sure, I studied art at school but that is a bit of a generalisation since most people take an art class but not all enjoy it. I enjoyed it, but did not really learn anything as such.

I tried a couple of higher education courses - BA in Illustration - but didn't conform to the teachers standards. So technically my art schooling ended at the age of 16.</sub>

<sub>I use Photoshop CS2 and a Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet for all my digital work.

If you can't afford Photoshop, try The Gimp - a program that I'm told is very similar to Photoshop - and the best part  is it's FREE.</sub></strong>

_{I started painting digitally in 2003 using Photoshop 5 Limited Edition and a cheap Trust graphics tablet. Currently, I use Photoshop CS2 with a Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet.}

<sub>In a word - YES!

Having said that, they're not for everyone but a lot of people (myself included) find that once they understand how they work and the benefits they provide, wonder how on earth they managed using a mouse. I compare it to trying to draw whilst holding a brick. It's nowhere near as precise or natural.

Drawing with a pen makes a lot more sense!

There's no need to go out and pick up the most expensive tablet you can find. I usually recommend buying a smaller, cheaper version from a PC store and seeing how you get on with that first. It will feel quite strange to begin with but use it to play Minesweeper... Solitaire... scribble in Paint... all just to get a feel for the thing and you might find you take to it pretty quickly.

Then you can decide if you want to get a Wacom...</sub>

<sub>I currently create diagrams for examination papers for a company based in Cambridge. Remember those pictures of leaf cell cross-sections? That's probably me. The hypotenuse triangle where you have to calculate angle X? Yeah, that too. Technical drawing, geography, physics, biology, chemistry, agriculture... a whole heap of subjects.

It's all black & white line-art created using Adobe Illustrator. Not a movie director or actress in sight. It's a pretty varied job but is completely different to the work I have on here - again, kinda frustrating, but I could be doing worse jobs, right?</sub>

<sub>No.

I made no money from having my Prints on dA and I don't have time to do private commissions - at least not right now. Everything in my gallery is just a hobby.</sub>

<sub>I prefer not to receive unsolicited requests.

By all means ask me via a Note but I'm offering no guarantees. I have a 9-5 job during the week so I have limited spare time. And you wouldn't want to deprive me of that, would you?...

I tend to work on pieces that I find personally gratifying. I definitely don't do Manga, Star Trek, adaptations of your original character, DS9, Buffy or RPG-based pieces. I have no attachment to these things. There are plenty of other artists on dA who would be happy to oblige I'm sure.

I usually only accept 1-2 commissions per year.</sub>

<sub>I've created several tutorials which you will find in my gallery. They cover the various techniques that I use. There are plenty of other more specialist tutorials on dA covering other things.

As much as I would like to, I am unable to offer a personal mentoring service. I will, however, try my best to answer any questions you have.</sub>