Thank you for coming to my little digital home.
It has taken a long time to get to a point where I became finally satisfied with the work I was producing.
When I was an art student at Loyola University here in Chicago, the pieces I produced felt mediocre. When I picked up some issues of the annual specials of the X-Men illustrated by Art Adams [yes, I will sound like a geek here at times], I was moved by the excessive amount of detail each page had. I developed a taste for detail even if at times it meant that there was no central element in my illustrations for the eye to zero in on.
Later, while I was attempting to be accepted by the art department at Loyola, my mentor at the time, Susan Waterman, pointed out to me that I had the habit of always recycling ideas I was exposed to. Whatever I ran into at the movies, comic books, or wherever else, I would take those concepts and mold them into similar forms to create my pieces. As good as she believed my results were, she asked me to try to be completely creative. From that point on I have always kept direct influences from the medias away from my decision making process when I draw, when I design animations, or when I do anything that demands some form of artistic capacity.
I can't escape the fact that there are portions of my work that will resemble other artists' efforts, but it is not the result of direct plagiarism. I have seen artists who will have drawings and photographs right next to their canvas when working. I myself will go no further than to use reference material. That is simply my approach to my work but I will never condemn anyone else's approach to producing art.
The major turn in my life was when I produced the "autobus". That large truck with its pipes and contraptions was created back in 1996. Probably a full year after I bought H.R. Giger's Necronomicon. I had come into contact with that book several times before, but it didn't make a substantial impact on me until I purchased a copy. Between this giant size dark Bible and Geof Darrow's Hard Boiled mini graphic novel series, my desires shifted away from wanting to produce comic books to making more single page pieces. The "Rhino" came second and then the rest came pouring out.
I could go on and on about what drives my pencil against the paper or poster board, as it were, but I risk to bore you and even more to definitely sound self-centered [if I haven't already].
Once again, thanks for visiting,
Much thanks to Giger and Darrow for producing amazing work and promoting patience on the canvas.

Pa5cal