ChetArt

I move between creating interpretive, dream-like worlds of mystery and a lighter side, cartoon illustration version. In both cases I would generally label my work somewhere between a form of pop surrealism and low brow art.

Every project starts with a big cheap sketchbook that I start doodling thumbnails on. These are refined, expanded and then scanned in and opened in the software program Painter. The finished art is almost always done completely in Painter.


Many have asked why create so many monkey images. Why indeed! It may have something to do with being raised by a family of Howler Monkeys until the age of 7. They abandoned me at a fire station door after my grooming habits become more than they could stomach. That brief jungle upbringing had less to do with my fascination with monkeys as with the long hours spent staring at the fire station's Lawson Wood calendar.

The same goes for the preponderance of Steampunk in my artwork. I'm fascinated by the odd, and sometimes arresting, mixture of high and low tech worlds, such as the industrial transition during the Victorian era and into the first World War. The mixture of troops on horseback with sabers and lances with the first steel-plated tanks, gas masks and machine guns is fodder for strange and beautifully horrifying dreams. The same sort of blending of new with old technology within the Steampunk universe translates into fantastic and inspiring visions of fashion, music, weaponry, transportation and architecture.

Also visit my other Etsy shop: ChetLights. It offers a variety of my imagery on nightlights. http://www.chetlights.etsy.com

And for a selection of instant downloadable stock art visit:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChetStock