I've been drawing since I was in the womb, and as a consequence, I revert to visual ways of communicating all the time. Drawing really is at the heart of all of my art practices? which vary greatly. Being able to describe 3 dimensional shapes on a piece of paper is a very important skill in so many fields. Stylistically, I'd say that I have been heavily influenced by Glen Keane (lead animator, Disney), Chuck Jones, Mike Mignola, Egon Schiele and Edward Gorey.

At the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries, my role is to instruct ready minds in the creative fields of Design and Technology, Visual Arts and Film. Decent drawing skills can benefit production in all of these areas, and students are encouraged to be constantly getting their ideas down into visual journals. I don't get upset at students for doodling or sketching in class. I like that.

My philosophy is that all one needs to be able to draw well is an interest and commitment to practice. I heard somewhere that a person might have one thousand lousy pictures in them. Resolve to get them out of the way as soon as you can. Draw heaps. Being able to draw and observe will assist in many avenues of life -- business (info on clients can be observed through body gestures), personal (drawing can be a great for stress relief and can lead to new friendships), and expression.

Red Tshirt

At the moment, there is a fast growing visual art movement: speed painting. I love it. There is challenge and aesthetic consideration, and the resulting media clips are pretty exciting and informative. It shows that process is just as important as product? how you got there is as valid as where you went. It's a very exciting time to have a graphics tablet.

Runn

I continue to make short animated films in my spare time. I've almost finished my latest film: Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven', which is a psychological exploration of a literary classic. It is a huge stylistic departure for me, but it is paying off. I'm able to hand-ink the images needed with the Cintiq 12WX, which gives it a real textured hand-made quality that is so important in our digital age. I find the Wacom tablets to be a great tool in the pursuit of my art, which stretches from the traditional and messy into the digital and precise.

Sphinx

I'm a figure artist predominantly, so landscapes and architecture challenge me quite a bit. I actually find those subjects a bit dry, so I haven't yet explored in those areas much. People, animals and characters are much more interesting to me.