I was born in Bankstown, NSW in 1970 and grew up with a
fantasy world at my doorstep. Next to the house ran a creek: in one
direction was a state forest with pirate caves, precarious bridges
over deep gorges and mammoth trees as far as the eye could see;
in the other direction , a network of tunnels (some would say
'sewers') that ran underground to all parts of the neighbourhood.
Needless to say, I didn't spend much time indoors. But if it
were raining (and I was forced to stay undercover) I would read,
read, read.
I grew up fighting crime and solving mysteries with the Hardy
Boys and Alfred Hitchcock's 'Three Investigators'. I drank magic
potions and ate wild boar with Asterix and Obelix. But most of all
I enjoyed travelling the globe and foiling villainous plots with
Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock.
It was these latter books which turned my attention to drawing.
Before illustrating became a source of income I spent time in
academia and the "real world". For a number of years I taught
pyschology to second year students in my position as an assistant
lecturer. From there I escaped to the hurly burly and glamour of
web and graphic design. This gave me the opportunity to express
my creativity on a daily basis, as well as the chance to seek jobs
that required an illustrator's touch.
I am now a Melbourne-based freelance illustrator, Tolkien tragic and lover of all things fae. My most recent highlight was the chance to illustrate the Faraway Fairies series, written
by Eleanor Coombe for Lothian Childrens' Books which was chosen as one of the 50 Books You Can't Put Down by Books Alive, an initiative of the Australian Government and the Australian Council for the Arts.