Rickking1

It has always been a dream of mine to become a bookcover artist. With the influence of illustrators such as Boris Vallejo, Frank Franzetta, Jim Burns, David B. Mattingly, Greg Hildebrandt and a host of others, I have tried to produce the best illustrations that I can.
Way back in 1974 when I was 9 years old, I was blessed to meet Ezra Jack Keats, a legendary illustrator and author of children’s books including the famous “Snowy Day”. He, for some reason (perhaps my enthusiasm?) took me under his wing and started to give me informal lessons. It was through him that I also met Charles Shultz, the creator of the “Peanuts”, who also gave me tips and encouragement.
Even though I enjoyed all of the attention that they
had shown me, I chose to enter the world of broadcasting while in college. For a long period of time I did nothing with my artwork till one day I needed a piece of art for my new CD project I was working on. Because I needed to have it in a digital format for production, I discovered Photoshop. From then on I was hooked.
It didn’t take long for me to come up to speed on the other Adobe products and 3D programs such as Bryce and Daz Studio. I soon began to do freelance work. Currently I am devoting my full attention to Digital Illustration and Graphic Design, having recently returned to school to receive an Associate Degree. I will graduate from my program in the spring of 2012. My ideal gig would be to produce the covers for science fiction novels and CDs.

Current Residence: ohio
deviantWEAR sizing preference: xl
Favourite genre of music: Techno, classic Rock, EBM, smooth jazz
Favourite style of art: realistic fantasy/SciFi
Operating System: 7