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 (17)
sazzyazzca
ROFLMAO!!!!! Whoo hoo....ride em Maytag!!!
louly
LOL You sure have a lot of imagination! Superbly done!
ToniDunlap
Wild imagination makes a fantastic image. Great going!!!!
MarciaGomes
MAGNIFICA IDÉIA PARECE ASSUSTADOR,FANTÁSTICA POSE E EXPRESSÃO.EU NÃO QUERIA UM POLVO NA MINHA MÁQUINA DE LAVAR.++++++++5
clam73
funny, grat lighting and pose, I like this!! :-)
JillianElf
What a wonderful and humorous image! It's a fantastic "ride" and really full of imagination!
Dragonfly07
Wonderful humor!
elianeck
really fubby! I like that! hug
danamongden
LOL!
Velshtein
HA!
TuranMirza
Excellent concept and wonderfully rendered. Turan
theconqueror
Superb idea and image...well done...
wbaerr69
so cute and so funny and I love it
Amaranth
Wonderful and congrats on potw at dna !
eportscreations
Creative and fun! I like this alot, just excellent!
alltheoriginalnames
Lol wtf man, this piece is a trip. Both funny and naughty, nice mixed medium as well. Very unique and original, nicely done
bakapo
oh!!! what a scene! it's creative and imaginative. wow, so cool....