Who is 'bevchiron'? First let me thank all those who voted for me, I'm honoured to have been selected! I'd also like to thank everyone who comments on my work & gives me such great feedback & support. Congratulations to everyone nominated, all worthy IMO! bevchiron is Bev Hodson, just someone with a life long consuming passion for art! I'm not currently doing anything else. I live & work in a small village in a fairly remote part of south Wales, UK. How long have you have you been rendering/doing computer graphics? I was a bit slow (to say the least lol!) to discover both computers & computer graphics, once I became aware of the possibilities I bought my first computer in October 2000 & set about learning to use it! I hadn't done any art work for quite some time & it seemed a good opportunity to make a fresh start. It's been quite a journey these last three years & I'm still learning all the time but working on the computer felt very natural to me from the start & I think I'm more comfortable working in this medium than any other. Do you have traditional art experience? Yes, art is the only thing I was ever really interested in pursuing so I did my formal training at art college & have a B.A. in Fine Art. Some of that training has been very useful to me, some of it definitely wasn't! Traditional art is such a rich source of inspiration I would encourage everyone, whatever kind of art work they may be doing, to study the techniques & theories but I don't think a lack of training necessarily makes someone a lesser artist, there's so much more to it than technique. I spent some time working as a professional artist using traditional media & discovering new ways to combine those skills with digital techniques never fails to fascinate & excite me! What are you currently working on? My portfolio - it's never good enough! I've been spending some time lately just experimenting with digital painting techniques & doing some portrait work. I'm also working on another image, I rarely set out with a definite idea or theme for an image, something comes into my head & I let it evolve as I work. What software/equipment do you use and why? I currently use a G4 800MHz iMac & constantly dream of a G5! I also use a Wacom Intuos graphics tablet. All my work is done in Painter 7 & Photoshop 7, I love Painter for drawing but actually prefer to do most of my painting in PS. I'll be getting Adobe Illustrator too when I upgrade to Adobe CS & look forward to exploring the vector world! What do you think your best piece of work is and why? That's a hard one, the answer keeps changing! If I had to choose I think ".cipher", it means a lot to me personally & is done in a style that I'm happiest with & feels right for me. Who / what inspires you? Such a hard question, there are so many answers. I'm inspired by almost anything and everything, I do draw on my own personal experience a lot but I'm always fascinated by the world around me, people, places, music...& Quantum physics thanks to my good friend Crrunchyfrog! I guess all the ravens we have here are a bit of an obvious one too! How has this online community (Renderosity) enhanced your work, relationships, and learning? Rosity has been my virtual home almost since I began with computer graphics, I don't think I would be where I am now without the support & friendship I have found here. It's just such a wonderful place to share ideas, we all learn so much from each other. There are so many great artist here it's always an abundant source of inspiration & ideas. Parting Comments / Advice to other Artists? It's hard not to sound clich here...Strive for perfection but don't forget to have fun! Set your goals but don't be too constrained by them, enjoy the journey & do it because you love it. Be open to learn from anything & anyone but just absorb what you can use & be true to yourself, art isn't about emulating styles or techniques or following rules it's about creating something meaningful for yourself. Developing your own style & finding your own ways of doing things is an important part of being an artist but never stop experimenting & trying new things, it's an adventure that can take you anywhere you want to go! Thanks again ;) Bev http://elusive.chaos-rules.com

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Be sure to check out bevchiron's gallery! Portrait image of bevchiron created by retorcity (Scott Kennedy). Click on 'AOM 2003' on the sidebar to learn more about Artist of the Month and to view our past winners.