His work is both comical, inspiring and lets you have a bit of a giggle. To see more of his work (and some of the naughtier concepts that I couldn’t show here), check out his blog – Tales from the old country.

How have you got to where you are today?

It all started back in the old country, soon after my birth. When I was very young, I was fascinated with blank white paper and I always felt the urge to cover it up with lines and squiggles. As a kid I spent most of my pass time surrounded with all kinds of different comics and graphic novels, and I was constantly trying to emulate the existing ones and come up with pictures and stories of my own.

However, due to the poor judgement in regards to my education, I was steered the wrong way so, at the age of 20, I found myself working as an electronics technician in a maintenance department of a telephone company. Working there, I had plenty of spare time, so I would use it to get back into the drawing. I did silly comic strips and sent them to various newspapers which, to my amazement, expressed the interest in publishing my work. Still, it was quite an amateurish adventure, almost like a hobby that helped me pass time and not much more.

After I got married and we had our first child, the blank paper fever came back. In 1995, I moved with my family to Australia, started learning the language and had to decide on my future career. At that point I was drawing all the time, could not stop myself.

I decided I wanted to work as a commercial artist. I sent my portfolio around and got a job as an animation design artist. It was truly a dream come true, but my skills were very rough, and I had very little time to bring them up to scratch. Fortunately, I was surrounded by great artists and they were all keen to teach, mentor and show me the way.

By the time I entered the industry and had developed my skills, I was already 27 years old. I wish I had started earlier, as I could have learned more and got better, but I am grateful it happened at all because the years that came after are the best years of my life. In 2000, I entered the world of videogames, and I have been exploring it ever since.

In a few words, describe yourself…

I am 41, tall and messy with wife and 2 kids. I have been compared to a bear that escaped from the carnival, so obviously I do not look like an artist much. Even though I do not know what an artist should look like. I am never happy with my work and am constantly trying to get better and do more. I truly enjoy looking at other people’s art, as that inspires me and makes me happy. I like odd things and have weird sense of humour. I often giggle at my own sketches. I want to draw something one day, and then look at it two weeks later and still like it.

What are you spending your time on at the moment?

I am currently art directing and building the world of an independent video game called “Vessel”. I also do freelance work and sketch stuff of my own.

Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?

Not really, unless you can call waking up, making a cup of coffee, squeezing half a lemon in the glass and then consuming it all and having a morning cigarette a ritual. My creative process consists of looking at my schedule and then staring at piece of paper until something pops in my head and I start drawing. I am not inspired by the music, I can listen to it all I want but no art on my end comes out of it.

Drawing is a very hypnotic and consuming process in itself and once I start sketching or painting, the rest of the world just tunes out and it is just me, paper and lines. Unfortunately, nothing ever turns on paper as good as I have it in my mind so, I guess, I still have a long way to go to reach that peak.

What or who inspires you?

Every piece of artwork I ever looked at. And I have seen a lot. People who (in my opinion) have managed to climb to that peak that I dream of.
Comic book artists who do not fear drawing panel after panel in order to tell a story, illustrators and cartoonists, and children who do not know any better… they are all a huge inspiration.

As a kid, I grew up on European comics. So inspirations from others are many. Morris with “Lucky Luke”, Uderzo with “Asterix”, Moebius with pretty much anything he ever drew. Manara’s gorgeous women, Magnus (with his dark humour he made me laugh every day). Then, there are awesome sci-fi worlds of Juan Gimenez, Bernett’s “Torpedo” and other work, oh boy. There are so many great artists, if I ever get half as good as any of them, I would be happy.

What are you most proud of?

I am most proud of the fact that I got good enough to work as a commercial artist. Reaching that bottom line was pretty high achievement for a peasant kid from an East European country… a place that does not even exist any more.

And my family, I am proud of them as well. My wife looks after me, and my kids are turning out all right. They all amuse and entertain, and create that comfortable atmosphere of care and support one needs. They make my world safe, so I can relax and go in my zone.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Well, I guess, I am one of the lucky ones, because my childhood dreams came true. I always wanted to be exactly what I am now. The dream was strong with me, and no matter what else life threw in my path (and it threw a lot) I always managed to deal with it and continue to go towards the light.

I wish I was a better artist, but I have learnt that it comes with work, and that every drawing you do makes you better than you were before it, so I am slowly making my way there.