I was reading an old interview with Todd Mcfarlane the other night and he called himself a 'late bloomer' getting interested in comics at the age of 19.  It's ironic in a way because I didn't start collecting or buying comics until I was 24.  Todd Mcfarlane's work on Spawn basically "wowed" me enough to really get excited about the medium.  I had the good fortune of being a decent artist as a little kid.  I won some minor awards, and received a painting scholarship at age 11...but then I completely stopped drawing and got interested in music and writing which I pursued aggressively for the next 13 years.

  At age 24 discovering this cool new hobby of reading comics and starting to draw a little again I decided to get together an inking portfolio to see if I could get a cool 'side job.'  I  didn't have a ton of free time with my band which was touring and recording so my thought was; I could ink comics as a "day job" and at least be a small part of the comics community for now.  My second goal was by the age of 35 to go full time into penciling comics and basically switch careers completely.  I realized pretty quick as soon as I started working professionally, art and drawing was really where I was meant to be.  I was pretty lucky and got professional work in about 10 to 12 months and I haven't  looked back since. 

Now to the art collecting:I started collecting original art about 2 months after I got hired at Wildstorm and it started with a few Travis pages back in 1995, and I have kind of gone on from there.  I love drawing and seeing all different kinds of art.  I love comics of course, but they are not the be all end all for me.  I enjoy fine art, illustration, sculpture, photography, design and architecture, as well as cartooning and animation....so just about anything to do with getting an idea and then expressing it with your hands and mind. 

:)

That's about it.  My galleries should be back up really soon and I can't wait to share my new penciling work.

Rich.