MiBraine exposed!

I come from a large family and have been drawing from a young age - essentially as I learned that girls liked guys who could draw. I wasn't born with any great drawing ability and it didn't really help with the ladies, but I developed a love of drawing that I have carried through to today. After studying animation in 1999, I was asked to draw caricatures to promote Maker's Mark bourbon with two fellow students. This contract went on for nine months, culminating in the infamous Midori Ball... and when it was over our team had picked up so much work we haven't stopped since!

While things are a little different today, I continue into my ninth year of caricaturing, having drawn well over 15 000 caricatures in that time at over 500 functions, conventions, weddings, office parties and live events! Clients have included Triple M, B105, The Brisbane Broncos, Australia Zoo, Microsoft, Playstation 2, HSBC, AAPT, HPM, Scania, The TAB, the NRL and hundreds more!

2006 saw me draw over 2032 caricatures (yes, I counted each face from every gig all year long!)

In 2001, I graduated from Southbank TAFE in Brisbane where I received both the Certificate and Diploma of Animation before going to work for a prominent animation house in Brisbane working on the Disney program ‘The Proud Family'. I was the sole background inker on nine episodes of the series, worked in layouts and inbetween animation and was concurrently asked by TAFE to return to the campus as a teacher of Comic Book Illustration and Scriptwriting.

2003 saw me offered a position reviewing DVD releases for the website DVDnet. After writing over 550 reviews in 14 months, I moved on to work for the DVD magazine ‘What DVD' where I illustrated articles, drew the ongoing DVD-based comic strip ‘Kung-Fu Video' and wrote reviews. After the magazine closed its doors, I moved on to another website in Gameplayer where I became one of the chief reviewers.

In 2004 I had my first solo book published; a collection of short stories, poetry and autobiographical comic stories. Entitled 'Exhibits 1 Through 33' I followed this in 2005 with the comic series ‘Golgotha', a fully-realised story set on a decaying space prison where inmates have been kept alive and isolated for centuries by the nearby dying sun's radiation.

2004 also saw me at last starting my own freelance illustration business, which I'm happy to say continues to run successfully today. After my partner and I had a baby in September of 2007, I've now moved my business to Coffs Harbour where I am currently the 'Cartoonist In Residence' at the Bunker Gallery, Australia's only dedicated cartoon gallery. (Plus I also sit on their Board). And as of May 19 2008 I've started work as the editorial cartoonist for both The Daily Examiner in Grafton and the Coffs Coast Advocate in Coffs Harbour. (You can check that stuff here).

Thanks for taking the time to get to know me a little better. I can't wait to return the favour.