This above image was my first encounter with your work. Incredible! I could get lost looking at this for hours. Can you describe the genesis of this idea and the process of creating it?

I think I go through periods with my work where I feel like I'm stagnating, and this work essentially came out of a practice session where a wanted to practice my perspective, and show my self that I had progressed from a similarly-themed painting many, many years ago.

I wanted to explore a bolder colour pallette than I traditionally use, but I had intended to leave it as a flat coloured piece. However, I tempted myself with a little bit of shading early on. A piece this complex and detailed I think become exhausting very quickly unless you can keep it interesting.

I started on the left hand side, and as an artist when it dawns on you how much work that one corner took it becomes apparent that the rest of the work (which is much much much bigger) will likely take even longer. It immediately becomes daunting, because I think in your head you can see what it would look like.

Would you say you have a pretty clear image of what the final result will be in your mind before you begin? Or do you let the work evolve in front of you? Or more a mixture of both?

I wish I could say one way or the other - it would be a lot more predictable! But no, I tend to jump around a lot. My little buildings that kind of blew up online a few years back were purely an extrapolation of an exercise I use to get through a blank canvas. I draw a blob and then draw what I can see in that blob.

Makes a lot of sense. Where did this all begin for you? Was there a moment you fell in love with creation?

I think I had always intended as a kid to be anything but an artist, as both of my parents are artists. My mum is a playwright and my dad is an actor / writer. But later on in highschool, I discovered the artwork that drives film and games and became more interested in the craft.

Amazing! Did you parents encourage or discourage you from this path? Or did they let you figure it out on your own?

My parents were really encouraging of what ever I did - I think they were pretty shocked I was fairly decent at maths. I think geometry always sat well with me.

When I was in highschool I moved to a smaller town with my mum to look after my grandmother - I basically moved from a public school to a private school - which was a massive culture shock for me.

I was getting bloody noses almost every day for six weeks- not from any sort of violence- just pure stress. And while I don't have very many positive things to say about that school- the art department was like a dream. We had to get a bus from the main school to get there and it very quickly became a refuge for me.

Most of my other grades kind of suffered, but I consistently put all of my effort into art and visual design and I think that was when i realised I couldn't really do anything else.

Let’s get back to this game idea. I’m also very deeply inspired by the world of games. I think it’s a function of growing up through all these different systems- from the pixel art style to immersive 3D worlds. What games have you drawn inspiration from over the course of your life?

I mean the funny thing is I didnt really have a games console until I was going to university. I was deeply obsessed with games though, I basically consumed them vicariously hrough going to friends houses or playing them with my cousins over the holidays.

I fell in love properly with video games with Black and White, the Peter Molyneux game. That game has stuck with me as an inspiration since I first saw it. I also loved a lot of the games on the N64- Banjo Kazooie 1/2, Zelda Occarina of Time, that was actually the first game that I finished to the end.

A lot of my artwork is quite fantastical and otherworldy so I think games have definitely had influence on that. I work in games now, and also studied game design at university. I think the way they've influenced me now though is they make me want to inject fun and interactivity into my art.

Not literal interactivity per say, but for example. with this most recent work, I think the thing that had me actually finish it was this: I was thinking about people looking at the piece and trying to discover details and story from the piece and thats actually kind of how games work. For example, in Bioshock (which was also a big influence on me), you come into a world and you have to piece it together based on contextual clues and environment design. Maybe it's because that's what I do for actual work, that these ideas have made their way into my personal work as well.

What is your advice to a young creative who is trying to make the leap to a life of creativity and exploration of art?

I think with any sort of art or creativity you need to find what keeps the process fun for you.

I used to tell other artists to study anatomy or perspective drawing - but I think thats bullshit. Like they're useful tools but they're dry, dull things that are exciting for some people- and if thats what makes creating stuff fun for you, cool! But don't just focus on that at the expense of actually enjoying the process of making things.

I met this artist in Montreal in 2014 who basically told me to stop stressing with my art and how perfect or not perfect it is and just draw and enjoy the process.

I'm paraphrasing, but his input shifted how I thought about art- he taught me how to just draw what I was seeing and trust in my hand and eye to guide me in what I was doing.

I think the other thing is to remember every painting, drawing, 3d model etc goes through an ugly period- and half the battle of art making is getting through that.

So to summarize: have fun, study and absorb other mediums, do lots of research, have fun, finish your pieces, and have fun! I really can't emphasize the fun part enough. Thats how you finish things.