How long have you drawn?
I have been drawing pretty much my entire life. Ever since I was able to pick up a pencil, I cherished my love for art. I preferred drawing creatures, as they allowed my fantasy to roam more freely than with human subjects, who were expected to have certain proportions and attributes. Also, it was easier to draw four stiff legs on a blob instead of worrying about making the poor thing stand upright with arms.

About the time I joined DeviantART, I decided that I was going to get serious with my art. People were going to be seeing it, and it had better be good. I would have to thank the internet for my sudden improvement, as well as the cluster of friends that supported me.

Have you had art classes/lessons?
You would be surprised how often I am asked this question. As if they are asking, 'where is this person that taught you this stuff so that I can go learn as well as you.' No, people, I have yet to have an art class. The only class I have had is the ones that had to be taken in my elementary school years. Back then however, I was a little brat to my art teacher. I was always anti-conformist and insisted on drawing the bear my way.

Freshman year of high school, I did take an art class. This is one of those Advanced Art I classes I got put into because my mom insisted I should. (I needed the arts credits and I'll be damned if I take dance.) I don't think I learned anything during the whole year besides the fact that art teachers can almost be cool. I managed to change almost every assignment to fit my needs. I still ended up hating all of them. When I draw, I choose what I do.

So, to answer your question, no, I am completely self taught. I learn by observing and practicing. Some of you who insist you have to learn from the best should probably learn this method of learning.

What tools do you use?
Lately, I am more centered around the digital art category. I do pencil sketches all the time, and if they are good enough I will rework them on the computer. To create my images I use my 6x8 Graphire3 tablet, Photoshop CS, openCanvas 3.03 and trying to work with Painter IX.

For traditional art, I like to use a .7 mechanical pencil for sketches, micron pens for lining, Prismacolor pencils, Prismacolor markers, Acrylic paints and also hope to work with oils over the summer.

How did you make this site?
First off, the hosting is from Xepher.net. I stumbled across it one day and applied for hosting. Once I received it, I went to work making a decent website. (Geocities and Angelfire had taught me basic HTML, and I was itching to put it to use.)

This site has been through many different layouts. Those that frequent it can attest to this. It went from a crazy color scheme, to blues and now this tan one. However, each coor scheme has had about two to three different versions. I really should keep track of them. I'd be on like v8.0 or something now. Sounds important.

Back to the real question. The website is designed first in Photoshop, where I throw around sketches and ideas and try to figure out what I can and cannot do. It is important to know your boundaries in coding when you think up a layout. Imageready can only do so much for you if you don't know how to use it fully!

Once I get an idea, I sketch it out cleaner and make sure I include my menus and links to everywhere that needs to be accessed. Then I get to the art part. I enlarge the graphics to 300-400% of the desired size and go to town. I color and crop things until it is as I want it. Once the art is done, the coding begins. I click my magic button and send the file off to Imageready.

In Imageready I find where I want my links and use the slicing tool to outline them. In the box I name the fragment and assign it a url to reference. Once everything is linked, I "Save Optimized As..." and get my html and images folder. (Basically all I do in Photoshop and Imageready is create an Image Map.)

One big thing I need to remember the first time around is going back and changing the html of the generated page. In there I add background colors- I find it easier to do this in html than go through a few menus in PS- as well as change the image links. Nothing is more frusterating than your images folder being in a different directory. Make sure they are referenced absolutely to their folder. Relative references, while shorter, can come back and bite you in the rear.

For this particular layout, I split the art into two pieces: The header and the sidebar. That way, the header will remain the same on all of the pages, and the sidebar will change according to category. Plus, it allows me to extend my page into normal html on the side via the use of tables. (Luckily due to the color scheme staying the same, I barely had to edit my pages for the content to add the new layout.)

Will you do an art trade with me?
Most likely I will be able. Sometimes I will have other things that need to get done and wont be able to get around to it for some time. It all depends on when you ask.

Will you draw my character/idea/whatever?
This is up to me. If i like the character or idea, I will probably end up drawing it anyways. If you want to be sure I will draw it, commission me.

Do you do commissions?
I most certainly do. Click the link, if it is working, on the navigation and get your information there.

What do you normally draw?
I would hope you know if you are here, but I mainly dabble in fantasy creautes and the likes. If it has four legs and sharp teeth, odds are I have drawn it. I also draw a bit of humans in an anime-esque style. These still need to be worked on.