Where to begin, it's always tough talking about yourself, hard enough face to face with a stranger let alone to the virtual world out there.
I've always been a creative soul from the moment I could lift crayon to paper, I always knew that this was something I wanted to do and nothing else would do.
From the age of 15 during my GCSE's I discovered progressive rock in the form of Yes (they had just released Union and were touring when I saw "Shock to the System" on TV) and with that fantasy art. I really couldn't get enough of this fantastical escapism, that with art we could create and escape to whole new worlds. I would draw and paint for hours, influenced by the likes of Roger Dean, Patrick Woodroffe and Rodney Matthews (who I subsequently met at a signing).
This also led me onto surrealism the first and most obvious of introductions to this genre of art was of course Salvador Dali, but I was also interested in more abstract; a combination of the fantasy, combined with surrealism such as M.C.Escher who remains one of my favourite artists today.
Before I even left school I already had a firm idea of what I wanted to do and eventually in what area. So off I went to college to get the qualifications I needed so I could go onto Uni. I got a very good and broad overview of art and history further expanding my knowledge as well as taste. I knew without doubt this was definitely the area I wanted to work in as a career which eventually led me to Illustration.
I applied for a university sector college against the recommendations of my second year tutor, because as he stated, no one from our college had successfully gained entry for decades, such was the high standard.
To me this was simply a challenge because I believed I could get in. As a result he refused to give me a reference, but fortunately for me, my first year tutor agreed I had every chance of getting in and so wrote me a glowing reference. I subsequently proved my second year tutor wrong and was offered a place at the interview. The place in question was at Falmouth College of Arts and the course, BA Hons illustration.
It was one hell of an experience, I learnt a lot about art, myself and that ultimately I didn't want to be an illustrator. If it wasn't for the fact I had supportive parents who had faith in my skills and talent as an artist, I'd likely have given up art altogether after that course. It was ridiculously competitive, class ridden and full of double standards.
I had one very good tutor, who ironically was the same that offered me a place at the interview, who supported me throughout and gave me very good, honest critiques and advice, one such piece of advice has lasted with me to this day. It was after I had graduated, the tutors and students were in a pub winding down after graduation.
I will always be grateful for what he said to me that day, because it put me in good stead. He told me that most who got the highest grades did little more than work in a coffee shop or gallery because they didn't have to work for their grades, but those that had to work harder to prove themselves (as I had to because of my socio-economic background) were more likely to succeed.
Within 3 months of graduating I was earning more than most of the tutors and was being asked to be included in their success story, I declined since I did it all on my own back despite the adversity all other tutors put in my path to prevent me from succeeding. This was my own personal success and I didn't see why they should have any of the credit for bringing it about.
Nowadays I find myself veering towards the type of art I once looked down upon, when in my purest days, because I was always a figurative artist, I liked things to be realistic even in the fantasy world, otherwise it just wasn't art to me.
Now though, I am the opposite and that comes after years of self discovery, because you begin to open your eyes and see art in everything and, I mean everything. The more you are honest with yourself the freer you become. The less you try to prove and the more you let go, the easier things come to you.
After all the self doubting of my degree course I took stock and actually gave up personal art for a long time, it was a commission in my then employment that sewed the seed again and only years later after that would I seriously pick up art again and find my confidence in my own skill and, ability.
Now I am developing that skill and finding my voice, almost starting over, it's very liberating. The rest is very much about walking the path now and seeing where it takes me.
