During my young years in a very small town in Fiji, where there were no toys, television, video games or anything else much to do, pencil and paper became all I had to occupy my time.  Drawing had always been just a quick way for me to satisfy my soul, so for a very long time it never occurred to me as a possible occupation. 

My influential encounter occurred when I was around 13 years old and was perusing the books in a bookstore in Wellington, and I came across Alan Lee’s illustrated 50th anniversary edition of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.  To this day, I find it difficult to determine whether it was the literary genius of Tolkien or the masterful artwork of Alan Lee that consumed me, but I can remember that as the exact moment I decided I wanted to be an illustrator.  Drawing and painting is not a part of my family's history, so I knew that if I wanted to become an artist, it was always going to be an uphill climb.

My first professional illustration job was a School Journal story commissioned by designer Elton Gregory, who had seen my work at my university presentation and decided to give me a shot.  That job heralded a new stage in my life, as I had just finished studying art at university, and was moving into a professional environment.  I have to thank Elton for providing me with abundant advice and showing me the ropes of working as an professional.  I am now working as a full-time freelance illustrator, and have worked on many great illustration and concept art projects for various publishers and companies.

What I love about illustration is that every job is unique, and I often face new challenges with each brief.  What’s rewarding is that each job gives me an opportunity to experiment and improve, as well as research a topic I previously had no knowledge of. I believe continuous growth is a vital element in successful artists.  I am now looking forward to new challenges, such as writing and illustrating my own book, amongst many others.

If there is any advice that I could give, it would be these two things: The first is that you have to be as self-reliant as possible.  Beyond having the self-discipline to be able to hand a job in before deadline, or the self-motivation to get up in the morning and start drawing, you sometimes have to be your own mentor.   Even after I spent four years at university studying art, I quickly found out that there were still big gaps in my knowledge.  It took me six to eight months of my own self-driven study, where I read every art book available and practiced my fundamental drawing skills to obtain the necessary knowledge I felt I needed.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that I learned more in my six months of private study than in my four years of university.  This isn’t to say that university was obsolete, I am merely suggesting that private study allows you to explore avenues you are interested in without any outside constraints or influences.

The second piece of advice I would give is to understand that art is a lifetime of study.  I don’t believe in the term "talent" ; when you consider that talent is merely the understanding of light and form and the practice of hand /eye coordination, it means everything can be obtained through dedication and hard work by anyone who is able to hold a pencil.  For me, art has always been in the mind; the artwork is just a by-product of something else I am trying to achieve. As long as you keep pushing yourself with what you’re trying to achieve, you are guaranteed to improve with every painting as you gain experience.