What got you interested in artwork in general and why was it gel pens? What was your first foray into illustration and how did that come about?

I'm one of those ancient creatures from when the world was new, growing up before immersive video games and believable special effects, so sci-fi/fantasy book covers were the only alternate reality that was really available. They were engaging and exciting in a way that being a middle child in a big family typically wasn't.

I started playing role playing games regularly in high school, so I'd say my first illustration would have been doing sketches of our group's characters and antics. Being able to cherry pick ideas from that, do a bit of editing, then do drawings that other people enjoyed was great. So I guess approval hooked me? Or to try to put a more noble spin on it, being able to connect with other people, and communicate on an emotional level through art? I hadn't expected to get into art as a career, but that's what dragged me into it.

How did you come to hear about and work on Warlord? Were you blackmailed into it?

It's that old story: I was young, and I needed the money, such as it was. Though back then a few cards, even at AEG rates, would more than cover my rent. As I said, the world was new.

Looking through my archives, I think my first Warlord piece was Fell Blow. Wow. I think jim actually gave me an open commission for a slush piece with that. If I remember correctly, I'd mainly done rpg illustrations with him to that point, but he was willing to entertain my card art ambitions with a couple L5R pieces, then to fill in on Warlord as things progressed. I was still really new at this stuff, and had a lot of recovering from art school to do, so jim's patience and guiding hand was invaluable. I owe that guy a lot.

Did you get assigned specific races, factions, or classes? What kinds of images did you enjoy creating the most and why?

I always thought of myself as something of a utility player, an illustrative José Oquendo. Able to do a bit of everything. As I built my skills jim gave me a bit of everything to do.

What's it like rediscovering pieces you did decades ago - do you notice a significant change in your style then and now? Looking back over them, do any of your contributions to Warlord stick out as your favorite?

I think the thing I miss most about that early work was the experimentation I did. I played with view points and story telling to cover for some of my lacking draftsmanship -- like "Inheritance," with the view from above the scene. As I developed and started doing more characters for the game, there may not have been so much less room to find unconventional approaches, but there was less expectation for it, and less need to cover for my inability to draw faces. (Though I was stubbornly refusing to learn how to do better at that for a very long time. Kids, don't follow that example.)

Obviously, I can't pick a favorite, but going back through them I am surprised how fond I am of a lot of the pieces. I was given a lot of leeway with the art I delivered, so I could throw in things like Patience disposing of a body in a furnace, some self-aggrandizing dingus in the mid ground shouting at the storm in Shore Up while everyone else was doing the real work, and Skash grabbing some poor guy by the head. I think Time, and Biana the Mystical probably represented the peak of my ability at that specific point in time. Albrecht is still a solid piece of art, and Parka Soulsaver is one of the rare pieces that turns out better than you'd expected instead of vaguely disappointing, so I'll always have a soft spot for him. Master Of Ashes was like that too, but also one of my first forays back into oil painting after working digitally for so many years. That soft spot is why I haven't been willing to sell the original yet. The Mercs 6-pack poster with the starting formation was a real technical challenge, as was the "Lobby" art developed for the online version.

We're doing a Warlord art colosseum style battle royale! Who's your champion and why?

Let's go with Biana the Mystical. Inhuman beauty on the outside, and an enormous capacity for violence with guaranteed collateral damage. I think she'll come through for me.

Thanks for answering these and engaging the community in this way! What's going on with you these days? Anything you want to plug?

I know it's a wasted opportunity, but I don't think I've got anything to plug. I mean, I've got a handful of neglected half-backed projects I know I "should" be doing, but nothing solid enough to promote. They range from typical sort of fantasy art you'd expect from me, to a cute children's book I've been putting off for probably a decade now.

Maybe I should really promote a job opening, looking for someone to manage a middle aged, somewhat willful, semi-retired illustrator? He'll occasionally do art for money, if he's in a good mood, and you could try to wrangle him! Turns out my goal going to art school wasn't to run a business, so if someone else wants to take that part off my hands, let me know!