I have been an artist of some style for as long as I am able to remember, from drawing Star Wars and X-Men characters to fantasy art and designing tattoos. I have recently begun mapping (designing/ building of map/ levels for games). I primarily aim for maps in the Source engine created by VALVE. I am an avid fan of a great many of their games, specifically Counter Strike. I have employed both VALVE's built in level design program called Hammer and 3ds Max (2010, 2011, 2012). I have started to move over to using Max completely for all of my level design needs. Though it is difficult as it such a massive program with many more capabilities than anything I had touched previously. I have, I must confess, had some help from a dear friend of mine who has built a tool for Max that assists those that build for Source games called Wall Worm Model Tools. This tool and his assistance and patience at my bumbling attempts have been a great help to me in my endeavor.
As an artist I have drawn ideas from many sources, books, movies, poetry the art of others, etc... Some of the artists that I gravitate toward are: Todd Lockwood, Brom, Don Olson, Dave Dormen, Bob Ross. Authors I enjoy, consist of but are not limited to: John Dalmas, Louis L’Amour, Raymond E. Feist and the ever popular J.R.R. Tolkein. There has been a great inspiration on me by movies also, such as Star Wars, Blade Runner, Lonesome Dove, Rio Bravo, The Matrix, City of Lost Children, Dog Soldiers and the list could ramble on into eternity. Music as well has encouraged my art. Compositions from many differing fields including but not limited to Howard Shore, Volbeat, Adele, The Scorpions, John Williams, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Glen Danzig, Bach, DMX, Amy Grant, Enya, Tchaikovsky, Megadeth and a great many more.
As for other hobbies that absorb the time that I am not sleeping or working include, family and friends, firearms, my pets (ball python, cat and bearded dragon), games, cooking, eating, good wine, drawing, mapping and reading.