Lotsa folks

As a wee nipper I was rolled out to do portraits of family and friends like a monkey in a fez.

Suburban Brisbane? I think I was more absorbed with watching episodes of "Space Ghost". I'm sure it seeps out in my sensibilities somewhere.

I studied literature.

In a studio in Surry Hills.

Part of the fun lies in trying to figure that out. What is this guy on about? The surfaces are always distressed in some way. They generally have some reference to culture. Text, typography and signage keep appearing and kind of asking you to decipher them.

For illustration I like to read a brief and give myself some time (if it's available) to let it bounce around in the subconscious while I work on something else. I've always said he's much more creative than I am. I try to find a personal angle with in every project, some element that relates to the things that I'm interested in. Otherwise I'm just regurgitating other people's perspectives. My personal work is an extension of my illustration and also a reaction to a lot of literal thinking a formalism that comes with the job.

I hope it's not stagnant. I make a conscious effort to have a style which is cohesive but evolving and I try to keep pushing techniques.

Illustrators: Brian Cronin, Calef Brown, Gary Taxali and Nate Williams. Designers: older guys like Paul Rand, Saul Bass, newer guys like Last Match Studios. Artists: Suzanne Buljan, Tapias, Ben Nicholson, Joseph Bueys, Marcel Dharma, Jockum Nordstrom. Outsider artists like Bill Traylor.

I see a lot of designers punching the clock, being very literal and keeping the client happy just to survive and agencies mimicking You Tube or each other to make a buck. On the other hand, we have studios producing world class work like Toko, Frost etc. and artists like Ben Quilty, Lynne Roberts-Goodwin and Mark Hetherington doing mind-blowing stuff so it's a mixed bag. I don't think it's an easy climate to be a creative in at the moment.

The Kinks - Lola V Powerman and the Money-Go-Round. Alex Chilton- Like Flies On Sherbert, The Gories- I Know You Fine But How Doin' ?, Hound Dog Taylor- Hound Dog Taylor and The Houserockers, Jonathan Richman- Jonathan Goes Country.

I count myself lucky to be making a living from doing what I love.

Neil Young and Bob Dylan bootlegs.

I play in a band called The Ramalamas.

Lately I've been trying to use abstraction in a different way to try an kick-start weird remastered narratives. Distressing, cropping and scratching away at surfaces and icons trying to get the viewer to start asking questions and raising more questions. As an illustrator my job is often to provide clear answers which accompany text or a product so they're very different. The best images sometimes perform both functions.

I'll grab whatever's around to give a surface more character. Mostly I use acrylics as a starting point. I've been using surfaces like wood and tin recently as well. For published work I mess with images in photoshop sometimes.

One day I'll find the patience within to wait for oil paint to dry. I'd love to do some printmaking as well. Sometimes I think I paint like a printmaker.

Current obsessions include indian matchbooks, outsider art, american 50's signage, asian packaging design, big cats, the wild west, fruit crates and south american day of the dead imagery.

Just finished an illo for a perfume article in The Sydney Morning Herald.

I'm finishing up some work for a group show called NOIR with some other great artists at Gaffa Gallery 1/7 Randle St. Surry Hills which opens 30th August 6pm, be there!

Keep-on-a-truckin' I guess. I'm about to start teaching a course at COFA which should be fun.

New York. I spent four weeks there and didn't even make a dint. It's a bottomless pit of culture that I want wallow in like a little hog.