Biography of William McAusland
The following bio focuses more on how I arrived at my current artistic state rather than rambling on about boring details such as where I was born, or  went to school, what my parents did and so on.
     The mundane background details can be summed up by saying I grew up in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, my father was an astute businessman and chartered accountant, my mother a bookkeeper and talented seamstress. I am the third child in a family of five children, although an older brother passed away at an early age. In a family of motivated, middle class individuals, I am the only one who sought a career in the arts.
    Looking back to my earliest elementary school days I clearly recall being very interested in art and found that of all the things I was able to do, it was drawing and painting to which I gravitated the most, and which I was better at than anything else I attempted. When growing up, I don’t really recall when I decided that I’d be an artist, but it was very early on. Initially, I had no external reason to choose a creative path, no relative, teacher or proof that an art career was an option at all, yet, I was determined to pursue art nevertheless.
    I often wonder if I found real life to be lackluster or dull and preferred the realms of imagination within myself to what waited in reality. I honestly question if I was disappointed with real life in a pulp mill town enough that I needed a form of expression to escape, choosing art because a box of crayons and pad of paper were cheaper than a musical instrument, easier than running away and living in the wilderness as a mad hermit, or simply all I was given access to. Perhaps producing art was a way of controlling the world, any world, even a fictional one, a tool to make sense of it all.
      I do know that my Grandmother on my Mom’s side was a bit of an artist herself and that when she saw my crayon drawings of war scenes and spaceships, she mentioned that I was pretty good at drawing. I am not sure anybody had ever said I was good at anything before then, I certainly don’t recall it if I’d received any praise in anything else. At any rate, Grandma gave me paper, envelopes and stamps and asked me to send her more drawings when I was back home in Kamloops. Well, I drew like a zealot after that, but… and to my shame, I was unable to send her any drawings before cancer took her.
      Presently, I have my kids email their drawings and paintings to relatives, especially grand parents, perhaps in an attempt to atone for my own, long standing regret of never sending my own drawings.
      So having blended my keen interest in imaginative places, people, creatures, magic and science fiction with a form of expression which I was supposedly ‘good at’, I set out on my artistic path. From that point on when asked by an adult what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always had an answer: an artist.
        I suspect that as I grew older, entered junior high and then senior high, my parents and other serious ‘grown up’ types were concerned with my interest in art, and while unable to stop me from pursuing it, they certainly never supported my interest and instead wanted to know what I was really going to do with my life. I ended up taking more art classes in school, as well as any class which was remotely creative, except for music or drama, which I had no interest in performing but always appreciated. After graduation I took a course at our community college, I think it was called Commercial Art and Printing, and it was about the worse thing I could have done for my creativity. My joy of drawing and painting was strangled and the reality of being a graphic designer was presented, like a gray, cheerless deity. Fine art was not an option for me so long as my parents were concerned, and frankly, abstract art and related non-figurative forms were frigging boring to me, as they still are.
     I graduated with crappy marks from the community college, and was lost. I ended up going north to work construction for a few years, drawing only a bit and feeling quite outside myself, miserable and unmotivated. Those years after high school were probably among the darkest I ever had, and even though I continued to draw and illustrate some of my own fiction, I suppose I saw no hope in making a career as an artist. It was about this point I started writing more, moved back to Kamloops, met a female artist and dated her. She was the most supportive person I had met until then as far as my creativity went, and pulled me out of a long dry spell. I even created a portfolio and sent it to all the big RPG publishers of the day, however, my skill wasn’t refined enough yet, I sent only photocopies of scratchy pencil drawings (not ink), and none of my color work. I received a few very positive responses on my effort, but no work. Needing an income, I and a good friend started a house painting company and I did that by day, at least it was freelance and I was my own boss, just how I liked it then. I once more got into role-playing games and because of them, picked up the pencil again, getting into ink and more colour work as well. During those years, I had no ambition to be a freelancer, nor make a living from art whatsoever, but instead, started to write games and some fiction, illustrating them as I went, creating lavish maps, floor plans and more.
      After the tumultuous break up between myself and my long term artsy girlfriend, my friends kidnapped me one weekend and took my to Vancouver. I was sort of alternative (punk-lite) and ended up at an all night party with three punk bands, DOA among them, but a massive beer tin throwing fight broke out, as well as real violence when some bikers showed up, and DOA never came out from cover. The trip peaked my interest in Vancouver and within six months I was living there. I would spend ten years in the lower mainland.

I worked at Starbucks on busy and trendy Robson Street, as well as a little art supply store called Hansen’s Arts Supplies, both jobs I loved, but didn’t pay enough to support myself. In Vancouver, I became reacquainted with my older cousin, Thomas R. McPhee, who was some sort of artist I knew, a sculptor of gem stones or some such thing. At that time, I had never heard of the term ‘Lapidary’, never knew one could carve into gems, but upon seeing his work I was intrigued. Not only was he surviving as an artist, but he was well off, and this fact, along with what I saw in his sketchbooks, rekindled the idea in me that I could be an artist, as well. While on a three week trip with my family to Egypt, I spent a great deal of time pondering my options and sketching, and while watching smallish monitor lizards along the banks of the Nile River,  decided to become a professional artist. I am not sure how much being in Egypt had to do with my choice, but I think getting far, far away from my daily routine and familiar surroundings allowed me to look at my life and objectives with greater insight and clarity. Over the next two years I visited Thomas and his family on Bowen Island and received instruction from him as well as spent countless hours teaching myself to draw. I eventually left Vancouver to go live with the McPhee’s on Bowen and apprenticed as a gem carver, and did so for three years, becoming more confident in my painting skills as well as rediscovering my keenness for fantasy illustration. While gem carving is an amazing art form, it was not for me, nor could I see how I could incorporate real gems into the books and games I continued to work on. Eventually, I moved on to other things, ending up in Victoria with my then girlfriend, and in that smaller coastal city, I landed contract work with an early computer game company called Sanctuary Woods Multi-media Corporation. The two main artists on staff were Ken Stacey and Richard Hescox. Richard was a book cover illustrator as well as a back ground painter for the games they were working on, and he taught me plenty in the few weeks I worked there. Besides the actual work we produced, the real eye opener for me was here was a guy, Richard Hescox, who did what I wanted to do, book Jackets. I had proof again that one can make a living as an artist, and I set about creating a portfolio, as well as exploring fine art and having shows in coffee shops and placing the odd image in galleries and whatnot. I started getting art sales, which contributed to my monthly income in a very noticeable way, and thought I could eventually quit my day job and go full time as either a fine artist or freelancer.
         Feeling stuck on Vancouver Island, missing home, and wanting to find a place where I could explore my creativity, we moved to Kamloops for about six months, and here, I produced wildlife art and sold nearly everything I put on canvas, including local landscapes. The return to the homeland of my youth was short lived however, as the sales stopped suddenly and I ended up back in Vancouver, single, sharing a apartment with friends or relatives or whoever would have me until I got into my own place in the West End. I had never had my own apartment before, and although I couldn’t afford it and lived on potatoes for a whole month, I did seem to have art supplies, and a mountain of inspiration. It was at this time I worked at the art supply store and met a great many talented people, including clients, some of which I still work with to this day.
      

During the day while working at the store, I would draw, even paint, when there were no duties to be performed and no customers to be attended to, and spent hundreds of hours studying art books, practicing, trying new mediums and challenging myself. After closing time, I would lock up, crack open a beer I had stashed in the store’s fridge, turn the music on and draw for an hour or so until the busy Robson Street crowds faded away, then slip out onto the rainy streets, dodge drunks, street people, and junkies, and slink back to my dark little apartment in the sky (20^th floor). Therein, I would paint until the stars faded and the sun began to creep into the sky. I was in poverty, lonely and invisible,  and yet barely cared, as I was at the peak of my artistic growth, having taken everything I had learned thus far and worked on book covers, sample illustrations and personal projects. It was a happy time, although private, and I had come quite far from the dark years after I left high school.

One day at work I met a couple of young women who were from the Illustration and Design program up at Capilano College, a program I had heard great things about form other student-customers. I even asked to see their portfolios some day, which they did bring in and I became friends with them. I became serious about taking that course, feeling that perhaps the gaps in my portfolio could be filled with some professional instruction. About that same time, I became friends with another young woman, another artist, who also worked on Robson Street, at a Regis Framing shop a few doors down. I used to go in there on my coffee breaks to look at the prints. To make a long story short, she and I began to hang out and were soon dating. As mentioned, she was an artist, and the first time I saw her Loft Studio, I encountered the biggest canvases I had ever seen anybody work on, along with tons of glass jewelry she and a friend were working on to sell. At any rate, I had never tried oils, their drying time was not conducive to the quick turn around times needed for illustration, but nevertheless, after seeing what she had done, I tried them myself, unsuccessfully. She worked in a totally different manner than I did, using thinner soaked cloths to rub away areas to reveals layers underneath, creating Turner style scenes which changed as the light faded from dawn to dusk.
         While the relationship itself did not last, that time in my life was another high point in my artistic development, and I think I learned as much then as I did in the following three years at Capilano College.
           I suppose being in a world of artists at that time, it was inevitable that I ended up going out with yet another  artist, not long after, this being one of the female Capilano Students I had met while working at the fore mentioned art supply store. The steps from being friends, to classmates, to living together, was a blur, as the rigors of full time art school were something I had never experienced before. At any rate, I learned a ton from my classmate-girlfriend, however, I can absolutely say that going out with a fellow artist, regardless of how practical and logical it may seem at the start, is not for everyone.
         Creativity can be stifled when living with another artist in a relationship, especially when the other seems driven and you’re unmotivated and without ideas, the other is getting calls and shows and your not, or if company comes over and prefers their work to yours - it hurts. I don’t know if one artist’s sphere blocks out the other’s, or there is an issue of who is more creative and original, or what it is, but I think I’ve experienced it all. I wouldn't say that one should never go out with somebody in the same profession  as oneself, as there are benefits to having another person understand your craft, barriers, victories, career challenges and not to mention, somebody to share materials, equipment and resources with. Speaking from my own experiences, I know that creative types can often be steadfastly and unapologetically unique in their life views, drives and opinions, I know I am, and putting two artists in a room, let alone in a relationship, will also produce unexpected results, which sometimes end dramatically, over night.

The subsequent three years at Capilano College were a great experience, and even though I was never terribly interested in graphic design, I did have three years to clarify what I wanted to do when I ‘grew up’ and get started on an illustration portfolio. When I graduated, I had intended to somehow recapture the times I had prior to art school by once more having my own apartment, since by this time, my last relationship was already well unraveled and apparently done with. As it turned out, apartment hunting in Vancouver was depressing. I couldn’t afford anything on my own, not with having to pay student loans and advertise my illustration service, so I thought I‘d build up a client list first, securing a studio and gaining focused creative time by moving back to my home town of Kamloops, prior to my planned triumphant return to Vancouver in a year or two – a return which never happened.
        In 1998, I returned here to my beloved home city, and found that much had changed in ‘Hub City’. Not knowing anybody other than my parents, who were divorced and living in separate homes, I joined the Community Arts Council and was elected to the board of directors. This was a great move, as the people I met through this organization were a tremendous help to me, and it allowed me to learn more about a city which I had fled from many years before. So too, I grew to once more love Kamloops, and began to abandon any serious plan of moving back to rainy, polluted, congested, crime ridden, soggy, expensive, damp, humid, wet, perma-soaked Vancouver. 
        I designed and built 50 booklets by hand and mailed them to every graphic design firm in the interior of the province, however I had not yet set about promoting my fantasy and SF portfolio, as I thought I’d get steady income first before creating new portfolio images. The illustration work came in a trickle at first, and then grew rapidly. I moved out of my temporary quarters at my parents and into my own apartment, and herein, prepared for a solo show at the Rivers Room in the Riverside Coliseum (building shown below, and a post card invitation below that). 2 days before the big opening night, my father died suddenly of a heart attack up at Sun Peaks ski resort.

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Dazed, unbelieving and in more grief than I thought I could feel, the show went on. All I had to do at that point was show up, and I certainly needed the distraction. Although I recall very little of that time in my life, I did sell some landscapes, but so too, began to unravel a bit and understandably, loose my focus on my career and withdraw from reality. My relationship with my then girlfriend in Kamloops broke down rather rapidly and I was forced to move into my late Father’s house, abandoning my apartment after only six months or so of tenancy.  My ex, incidentally, was pregnant, which while it was very difficult being broken up, the situation between her and I seemed irreconcilable. Amid the break up and loss of my Father, I was decidedly uncreative and numb, yet, there was a bright star on the horizon. The prospects of having a child in the new year gave me great hope for the future, however, I still had much to deal with in the meantime.
       In my father’s house, dealing with his estate and preparing the house for sale, I lived with ghosts of all kinds, and was very unproductive and bummed out and frankly, lost to the world. Not until nearly a year later, when the house sold, did I get back into another apartment in the same building I had been in before. My creativity came back intensely, and I set about preparing for a new art show as well as supply my art consultant in Vancouver with more images to sell, as she had been for many months. I also met my future wife around this time, somebody I had befriended two years before as a customer at her coffee shop. Of course, by this time I also had a son, whom I saw quite a bit of and increasingly so as he became a toddler. Parenthood really appealed to me, much more than I anticipated, and until then very little in this world had compared to my love of art as did holding my child for the first time.
        Back in my new quarters again, my Father’s house sold, my son in the world, and a new and incredibly promising relationship on the go, I was able to get back to drawing and painting again in areas other than fine art and commercial illustration, and began sketching the figures and creatures for a new improved fantasy portfolio of book covers.
           A year later, I was married to Brooke, a remarkably supportive and patient life companion who has enabled me to get where I am, make a real career out of illustration, meet deadlines and give invaluable creative input into my work..We had a new house and a child of our own on the way, my son living with us half the time. I continued to produce a large amount of commercial illustration and still had time to prepare my fantasy portfolio. I had planned to create a printed booklet to showcase my work, but instead built a simple web site. Finally, the day came to present to the world my book covers and ink portfolio. The push, conducted via direct email queries to art directors and the owners of small press publishers, directing them to my new web sites (‘RPG-Art’ and ‘Imagine’) was an immediate success, gaining me work within hours of the marketing campaign. I quickly received more assignments than I could handle, and had to actually turn away some great assignments rather than miss the deadlines of other, already acquired clients.
         I have had constant work since that mailing, much of it in the fantasy and science fiction genre.
         As mentioned previously, I have been doing contemporary illustration all along, as well as some design. Much of my design work to that point had been logos or projects which already utilized my illustration, such as golf course and ski hill maps, needle safety brochures, and especially, books and book covers featuring my interior art or cover imagery.  I am not sure how it happened, but I ended up getting hired to do a few web sites, eventually even book covers which used photography and other imagery which I had not created. Word got out that I was a designer, and I even set up a bare bones design service web site, and before I knew it, my work day was being increasingly non-artistic, as I dealt with printers, ISBNs, barcodes, quoting, meetings, and correcting people’s text… something I don’t feel qualified to do. The money certainly wasn’t any better than illustration, especially due to the fact that there was so many extra, unbilled hours, numerous changes and text errors which could all be attributed to the client’s indecision or internal company disagreements and miscommunication. Dealing with printers was also something that was both frustrating and took up a lot of time, and soon enough, I realized I was sitting in front of the computer far more than at the drawing table. My illustration career was becoming eclipsed by graphic design, and as my hours drawing became less frequent, I noticed and alarming drop in my ability to draw. It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t pull off a drawing, it’s just that it took twice as long as I kept screwing up and becoming less satisfied with the results. Worse, my right hand ached after spending the day using a mouse doing page layout and moving type around for posters and brochures. I had to make a break.

In the summer of 2007, I decided to drop graphic design unless it directly involved my own illustration as a major element to the project, plus, I would delete my new graphic design web site, which used the same URL as this site, and overwrite the whole thing with a dedicated speculative illustration site. The result is before you.
          My current Fantasy and Science Fiction career focus has been something I have always wanted to do. Now that this site is up and I am ready to advertise and promote my services far and wide, I wonder what took me so long. Perhaps I didn’t realize how successful one could be working freelance, remotely, from home, in any field except the traditional, corporate illustration market. Maybe I thought one would have to be in New York to get assignments in speculative art, or that I wouldn’t be taken seriously living where I do.
          I see now that other factors determine any degree of success in illustration, namely having a style that is in demand, following the description of an art assignment effectively, supplying finished art in a format which is in a digital format and press ready,  and staying on budget and finally, meeting deadlines. Where one lives is probably the least important factor in getting work in the illustration field, so long as one has high speed internet.
         From what I hear out there on the web, especially in the role-playing game industry, it is very difficult to find artists who get the job done at all, let alone on time. Maybe the RPG industry is seen as a hobby industry – that is, most of the publishers are guys working out of their basements and producing an indie game or d20 supplement as a hobby - but I still endeavor to meet their deadlines and take their assignments as seriously as I do a big publisher, after all, they are paying serious money, and so too… am I not some guy working in his basement?
        Also of note is my long term association with other writers and gamers, many of whom I am involved with at Outland Arts. In 2006, having served as art director for The Mutant Epoch RPG, an in production game I am a co-creator of, as well as lead artist, web guy and layout person, we decided to publish the first Fantasy Clip Inks set of fantasy stock imagery, making the product available through RPG now. com. My role as art director and co-creator has been a hugely enjoyable undertaking. Whenever I don’t have imminent deadlines, I like to spend the evening or Sunday afternoons working on the art and layout for the upcoming line. Working on the Mutant Epoch with Alex and the others allows me to really push myself in new creative directions, including a graphic novel and full length novel which is written but undergoing editorial revisions. The game itself, which uses the Outland System, a mechanic we’ve honed and play tested for over a decade, is a blast to play and supplies my imagination with a boundless reserve of visual imagery.

         While writing this, my creative future has never seemed as clearly defined for me as it does now. It has taken me many years to determine how and where I would be able to be the freelancer I have become, having established the subject matter and styles I prefer to work in, arranging my life in such a way as to be able to strike out with this new web site and then turn my attention to new mediums and markets. I get to work from home, splitting my time between looking after my children, being there for my wife, experimenting with digital art, oil paints, model making and other endeavors, all the while taking on challenging, rewarding and hugely enjoyable client jobs. It has been quite journey.
WM

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Artistic Influences
My artistic Influences must include the dozens of traditional fantasy artists whose work I pored over, collected, envied and attempted to emulate in my younger years. Besides the well known ‘recent masters’ of the previous decades - many of whom are still alive, going strong, and growing as artists – there are those legends which proceed even them, such as Howard Pyle, Frank Frazetta, John Buscema, Lawernce Alma-Tadema, Tom Lovell, Remington, and many others whose work continues to astound and inspire me. While not all of the ‘recent masters’, listed below, have claimed to have gained their own inspiration from the above listed forefathers of imaginative illustration, it looks as though they certainly might have.
            To list all the artists which influence me would take a few pages, so the following list will have to do for now. Keep in mind that the sort of work I admire and study the most these days differs from many of the following ‘recent masters’ of the 80s and 90s, as currently I am most interested in both digital painting and a new, experimental, hand painted style. Of course, through the years there have been many fellow emerging artists that I’ve known personally, such as classmates, former girl friend-artists, and people I know locally and online who, almost daily, inspire me with their drive, their dedication, rapid growth in talent, and the little tricks, tools and pointers they offer me. I will certainly have to watch these emerging artists, and do my part to let the world know about them when they are ready to present their portfolios.
            The following list of present artistic influences are by no means complete, as there are many enormously talented illustrators out there whose work I have seen but either forgot to mention, or was unable to find their name associated with the work. Also, I have also provided a list of non-speculative artists, who, at some point over the years, have taught me, inspired me or otherwise helped me get to where I am today.

‘Recent Masters’ Speculative artists of Influence
Frazetta
Brom
Boris Vallejo
Greg Hilderbrandt
Tim Hilderbrandt
Clyde Caldwell
Keith Parkinson
Fred Fields
Erol Otus
Bill Willingham
Jeff Easley
Larry Elmore
Steve Fastner and Rich Larsen
Simon Bisley
James Gurney (Dinotopia)
Angus McBride (Warlords/ The Lord of The Rings/ Spell law RPG???)
Alan Lee
Charles Vess
H.R. Giger
William Stout
Scott Gustafson
John Howe
Don Maitz
Berni Wrightson
Stephan Hickman
Richard Hescox
Michael Whelan

Artists of current/ recent Inspiration
Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows, etc.)
Donato Giancola
Tony DiTerlizzi
R.K. Post
Matt Wilson
Todd Lockwood
Mike Mignola
Cos Koniotis
Justin Sweet
Matt Stewart
Paul Bonner
E. M. Gist

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Non-speculative artists of influence
Thomas R. McPHee  (Gem Carver, sculptor and artist/ personal instructor for 3 years)
Kiff Holland (Amazing watercolor artist/ instructor at Capilano College)
Angela Knight (web site?) (Graphic artist-illustrator/ Capliano Grad/ taught me lettering)
Fred Forster  ( Fred, do you have a site someplace??? WM) (Illustrator/ instructor at Capilano College)
Dave McClaglen (spelling and web site?), (illustrator/ Instructor at Capilano College… extremely imaginative)
Robert Bateman (Wildlife artist/ I have all his books and his work heavily influenced the way I learned to paint)
Cybele Ironside (Oil painter/ Fine artist/ Taught me I was using oils wrong and why)
Larry Macko (Designer-illustrator/ Local Peer group/ Capilano Grad)
Bill Frymire (Digital artist, photographer and artist/ Local peer group)
Fraser Hallett (Comic and RPG artist/ local peer group/ former animator)
Rajeeth Raghavan (Graphic Artist- Illustrator/ based in India/ very imaginative)
Erin McSavaney (Fine artist/ classmate/ Capilano Grad/ Vancouver based/ Anybody know his website?)
Gisela Harrison (My art instructor in Junior High/ big reason I’m an artist/ Grandmother to my son)
Chuck St. John (Exceptional Glass artist/ Local peer group/ best man at my wedding)

Presently, what grabs me is most often 2d digital painting; however I am also blown away by oil paintings such as those wonders created by Todd Lockwood, as well as masterful ink renderings by such distinguished artists as Frank Cho. I suppose, like so many other life time students of any discipline, I admire most what still eludes me, am yet to try, or new ways to approach a subject or point of view. I look at stuff in books like the Spectrum series or online at www.cgtalk.com  or www.epiloque.net and am so impressed with much of what I see, and thank goodness for that, as I firmly believe that if I ever get to the point where I look around and am not thrilled by the works of others, then my own growth has stopped at that point. Instead, I am eager to challenge myself and try my hand at new mediums and styles, remaining open to inspiration, themes, genres, and stylistic nuances of other artists.
            Of late, concept art has had a strong appeal for me, as it’s something I haven’t really done too much of nor been called upon to do because I am a freelancer working in Kamloops, a city far from where the computer game industry is located (Vancouver, in my case).  Concept art is like a genre all unto itself, and while it’s meant to be merely a step in a creative process, man, is it ever cool and I would pay a lot of money to buy some of it to have on my walls! If your curious, go to www.conceptart.org and decide for yourself. I am working on a collection of concept imagery, however I don’t exactly know how I could work with a computer game company off-site, as a freelancer, but am willing to try if given the opportunity. Another possibility is to see what I can do locally as far as the blossoming film industry, or even hook up with some talented programmers, sound people, animators and others to form a Kamloops based computer game company. Interested? Email me here.
            As far as ink goes, I’ve seen some gorgeous digital renderings, but the physical ink out there still appeals to me the most, and still seems to be the strongest work done in that medium. Great inkers, like the fore mentioned Frank Cho, as well as Mike Mignola (Hell Boy), Charles Vess, Berni Wrightson, as well as AH, others william????, are guys I’d recommend any up and coming speculative artist investigate and study, as they’ve set the bar very high, and give examples of the black and white medium as a high art, with no need for color or any further embellishment or treatment necessary.
            I do so much in work these days, with perhaps half of all the hours I spend in the studio at my inking station, nearly all of it for table top role-playing game clients or for the Fantasy Clip Inks line which I do in association with Outland Arts. The look I am often asked to achieve is a classic D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) style for Both the Goodman Games d20 system Dungeon Crawl Classics line as well as the Expeditious Retreat Press line of Advanced Adventures. I love this stuff and will probably always do it, however, experimental inking appeals to as well, trying to uncover my next style.
            There are few strictly graphite artists out there these days, but hundreds of awesomely talented illustrators who are masters of pencil who use the finished drawings to do inks or paintings from. For the most part, we don’t get to see their sketchbooks or preliminary drawings, but you can bet they are works of art unto themselves. To name a few artists whose pencil work I have seen, who have inspired me, I’d have to mix some greats from bygone years in with current, highly accomplished artists. To begin with, have you seen Frazetta’s pencil work? It has the line confidence of his inks, but the tonal values that make pencil work more like a painting.  Also, if you own the Todd Lockwood book Transitions, check out “Kali’ on pages 38,39 if you want to see the power of the pencil, while others I’ve learned from and admired are Boris, Wayne Douglas Barlowe, and especially, Thomas R. McPhee, who I mention below.

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            It is at this point I mention Thomas R. McPhee, one of the top gem carvers and sculptors in the world, an amazing and prolific artist, as well as a hugely influential person in my artistic journey, as a teacher, source of inspiration, and advisor. While I was already drawing and painting when I began spending time with him and his family, it wasn’t until I lived with them on Bowen Island, British Columbia, that my artistic growth really advanced, so too, at this time, did I decided to explore the possibility of being a career artist of some sort. Until that point, I only drew for my own writing, amusement and to illustrate the adventures I wrote for various role-playing games I was involved in.
            I should note that T.R. McPhee is my cousin, with his mother and mine being identical twins. To make a long story short, I apprenticed as a gem carver with Thomas for about 3 years full time, and to this day, continue to share with him my recent works and ideas, learn from his latest creations and gain invaluable feedback, inspiration and support. He is best known for his gem carving and castings, but all those images cut or carved into stone or bronze come from someplace, and that’s where his exceptional drawing skills come into play. Most people never get the opportunity to see his sketchbooks, while I have been perusing them for over two decades. His masterful renderings of women, mythic beasts, mermaids, horses and wildlife are easily the most accomplished in the world, rendered in a style that harkens back to the masters of the renaissance. It has certainly been my good fortune to know him as I do, and I also happen to host his website at www.mcpheegallery.net , check it out and see for yourself the level of skill and dedication which has so influenced me.
            While I think jewelry and gem carving are incredibly creative areas of art which influence my fantasy work and graphics profoundly, as seen left, I did not see myself going in the lapidary direction since I have always been interested in story telling through art and words. While it is possible to tell a story in a single gem stone, I wanted to illustrate by pencil, ink and paint, on 2d surfaces and see my work on the covers of novels, in game books and elsewhere. Likewise, I went the path of a fine artist for many years, even had an art consultant selling my large landscapes on canvas (WILL fine art images here, tiny). I was working on 24 by 120” canvases, as well as doing dozens of smaller acrylics and selling nearly everything I produced, having group and solo shows,  but again, the craving to deal with story and books, games and even computer games compelled me to go into another direction.
          It is fitting to split off from influential artists at this point, as there have been other prominent factors which have ushered me along this path, namely literature, comics, movies, life experiences, default skill, and the biggie, role-playing games.
            Role-playing games abbreviated as RPGs, (not to be mistaken for the rocket propelled grenades seen on the nightly news) have always been a huge source of imaginative stimulation for me, not to mention an outlet for vicarious adventure and heroics in times and places that exist only in fiction. I owe my career and livelihood to tabletop, pen and paper, polyhedron dice chucking games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, Traveler, Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Top Secret, Boothill, and others. In Junior high, long ago now, I found my ‘groove’ in these games since what was described in the rules and demanded of the players and Dungeon Master was a direct match to what my inner identity was looking for. In short, ‘creative gaming’ fitted me perfectly. The medium of RPGs allowed me to apply statistics, names, history and motivations to the beasties and characters I drew, liberally apply life and events to places I depicted, and when playing these games with friends, I was able to immerse myself, for a few hours, into the co-created worlds as if I were in a novel movie. What makes RPGs so cool now as it did then, was that you simply don’t’ know the outcome of the adventure, your character’s survival is in question, it’s never the same twice, making it far more gripping than any movie or book, since you also have say on what your character does within the limits of his or her abilities and the rules.
      Getting back to how RPGs affected my art today, besides the fact that I get plenty of work in the gaming hobby field, is the fact that looking back, I realize I never would have learned to draw half as well as I do if it were not for gaming. While painting miniature figures is helpful for hand-eye-coordination, it was the purely imaginative part that demanded I draw floor plans, castles, wizards and warriors, star marines and battle cruisers, a mysterious sorceress, a drow assassin, half-orc barbarian, or half-troll.
      Drawing day after day, both for my own benefit and to have something to show the players at the table, became a daily occurrence, and I think I grew as much then as I did later on Bowen Island when actively seeking an art career. In closing, for any who have read this far, for any who are also interested in a speculative art career or even for their own personal enjoyment, I totally recommend you get involved in the tabletop RPG hobby. The rewards to your imagination, regardless of how much drawing you do in response to the games, will have a huge impact on you, and just might spark something mythic, archetypical and fantastic in you, all while having a hell of a lot of fun with your friends.
WM

Wizards of the Coast
Goodman Games
Scholastic Canada
Fantasy Flight Games
Kenzer & Company
Outland Arts
Bloodstone Press
Inner Circle Games
Dark Quest Games
Expeditious Retreat Press
Frontier Land Games
Brengman and Brengman (Silverfox cues and cases)
Dog Eared Designs ( Matt Wilson/ Prime Time Adventures RPG)
and many more....

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"I've worked with Will for nearly five years now, and there's a reason I
keep coming back to him to ask for more art! The quality of his art speaks
for itself -- simply cruise around this site to see plenty of good examples
-- and he is also a true professional while remaining a diehard fan of the
genre. It's not often that you can find someone with his level of
enthusiasm, talent, and professionalism."

Joseph

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do you make a full time living as an artist?
A: Yes, but up until now I also did graphic design, and also do plenty of contemporary illustration. If you’re curious, you can check out my more mainstream stuff here:   http://www.artmotive.com/mcausland.html

Q: Can I use an image from your site for free?
A: Not any image, and never for commercial web sites or publications. The only material which may be used, and for personal, non-commercial use, are the avatars for your web based chat forums or image ID such as those used at www.deviantart.com and other sites. Secondly, if you are a gamer and need a character sheet portrait, you may use the collection of character portraits, again, for personal, non commercial use only. Furthermore, placing art from this site on another site is not allowed, however I do have a series of banner ads that anyone could use to place on their site to link back to this one. Find the banners here, the avatars here, and the character portraits here.

Q: Do you work on Paid on Publication Contracts?
A: No, never. The idea that if the product my art is in doesn’t go to press or even if they decide not to use my image, that I don’t get paid is a terrible deal, and a sort of business venture that should be outlawed. Imagine going to the grocery store and buying a block of cheese and not eating it after a month, and tossing it out, and not paying the grocery store after the fact because the cheese was never used?

NOTE:  Unless I have built an existing work relationship with a client, I normally only work on a 50/50 basis, half up front to start an assignment and the other half on acceptance of the finished and approved art.

Q: If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you be?
A: Hmmmmmmmmm, probably a Fantasy and SF writer, a hobby farmer, or join the military.

Q: What do you listen to when you work?
A: During the day… mostly kids screaming upstairs, but I try to listen to either a wide range of music, or my favorite podcasts (see links page for podcasts I recommend). As for what music I listen to, it’s totally dependant on my mood, the level of concentration I need to bring to bare in a project, if anybody is sleeping nearby or not, and the subject matter I’m working on. For example, I listen to classical music when I am doing something that needs my full attention, however I can listen to Metallica or R.E.M., Bif Naked, or rousing movie soundtracks if sketching or painting background material. I almost never work in silence, unless I am doing graphic design work which involves text layout where I need to read as I go.

Q: How many hours a day do you work?
A: I try to get eight hours a day, but depending on family activities, yard work, and whatnot, this is often much less, and so I try to get down to the studio in the evenings and work a few extra hours.

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Click image sheets to download a 1.54mb screen and print compatible PDF portfolio