Tim Johnson has always had a fascination for historical and fantasy imagery, reading Tolkien and Asimov, and at one stage making sculptures ranging from garden gnomes to a full size replica of a knight. But, he says "I had never seriously sat and sketched art for arts sake" - until 11 September 2001. "I can remember waking up to the news reports on TV and thinking it was a film. After a few hours I thought 'Its getting a bit boring now'..." Tim wasn't comprehending what was happening, because unknown to him at that point, he had suffered a stroke. "I had lost the use of my left hand side, my speech and suffered from dysphasia (difficulties in using or understanding language)." To aid his recovery and to get his hand back under control he began copying images from story books for his daughter. "Two illustrators caught my imagination at this time, one being Victor Ambrus and the other Ian Miller. I tried to copy Miller's style with pen and ink, knowing that one mistake meant I had to start again really pushed me to improve." Soon, he began experimenting with digital art to speed up the illustration process, dabbling with PaintShop Pro and then Poser. As he became more confident with the digital process other software followed, though all his work is planned out on paper first. "I often resort to watercolour sketches to get down the essentials before starting work on the computer," he says. "My most valued piece of hardware is my graphics tablet." Now Tim is a full time illustrator with a varied client base of book publishers, ranging from fantasy to erotica and historical novels. He also posts regularly on Renderosity and other on-line galleries. "Fantasy is where my heart is," he enthuses. "Whatever the subject matter the fantastic is never far away." ImagineFX August 2006
Comments (15)
LindaB
Great idea - well done!
colvin
Very cool! Nice postwork.
ascript
Excellent ;)
Mondwin
Original and impressive portrait...bravissimo!V:DDD.Hugsxx
shadow_dancer
too kool
stevey3d
Fantastic concept and image! Superb! 5+
xavier69
great idea
Danter
excellent work and post +5
RGUS
Creative... I like it... especially the hair and expression!
bluedarkmoon
very creative idea and a wonderful character... :-)
TuranMirza
Love the image. Well done. Turan
danamongden
Great postwork. Very surreal!
joaq
Fantastic composition, realy a great piece!!!
pryor_chris
Awesome!!
Pewter7
This is so cool! Marvelous effects!