We congratulate JoeJarrah, who has won Renderosity’s November 2026 Artist of the Month!

Every artist’s journey begins somewhere, and for JoeJarrah, it started with a childhood love of drawing and illustration. As he entered his teens, his artistic influences expanded to include the striking imagery found on book and album covers. Artists such as Jim Fitzpatrick, Roger Dean, Frank Frazetta, Chris Foss, and Syd Mead helped shape his developing appreciation for imaginative artwork and visual storytelling.

Among these influences, Syd Mead’s realism particularly captured his attention. Around the same time, the first basic ray-tracing images were beginning to appear. Though these early computer-generated pictures were often simple still-life compositions featuring chrome spheres and tetrahedrons, they offered a glimpse of something new and exciting. For JoeJarrah, they sparked an interest that would become another part of his artistic journey.

Q&A with JoeJarrah

Why did you choose Daz as your primary tool?

A couple of years after I got my first PC, I came across Poser and DAZ; I tried them both but found the workflow and rendering in DAZ better, so I stuck with it. 

How would you describe your style? Would you say you have a common theme throughout your work? 

My style is informed by my artistic tastes; in addition to the great sci-fi and fantasy artists, I love narrative painting, the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers, Sargent, Wyeth, Draper, etc. My interest in folklore and myth meshes well with those styles. It continues to evolve as my ability and the software both improve. I also learnt a lot about light and composition (especially the use of negative space) from photography, and that has helped define my style too - a fair few of my backdrops are landscape photos I took myself. Because I jump around a bit with subject matter, the unifying themes I would say exist in my work are atmosphere and visual narrative.

What are some of your favorite works in your gallery? 

It's hard to choose from all the works I've done over the last decade, because each one has a lot invested in its creation, but pieces like "westering sun", " iacta alea est", "Queen of Dyfed", "summer siesta", "Magna Vis", "Kindred Spirits" and "scourge of Rome" give a pretty good cross-section of what I do both in terms of style and subject, and I'm fond of them all. 

Where do you find your inspiration? 

As you can see, the inspiration comes from all over: mythology, folklore, history, comics, literature... anything with a good story or engaging mood. Sometimes I like just to do something whimsical - a play on words or an absurdity like "ate two brute?" 

Do you have a specific workflow? If so, what is it? 

I like to try to do everything "in camera" in DAZ, but if I have a strong idea of what I want in terms of composition, it may need some other elements. As I mentioned, I like to use my own photos from time to time as backdrops, so those often need preparation. I may also add details in post-work; things that don't render well (or at all!) on my very low-powered rig, like smoke and lightning. Of late, I've become interested in what AI can bring to the table, to use it creatively as another ingredient in composition without it taking over or detracting from the artistic endeavour. Still exploring that angle, but I have had fun getting it to animate one or two of my creations. 

Any advice for those young artists just starting out? 

For anyone starting out, I'd say just go for it - your imagination is your limit. Technical constraints can be worked around, and the community is full of good advice, so never be shy to reach out. On a cautionary note, I'd also say less is more; a few well-chosen images are both more satisfying to create and more engaging to an audience than a flood of "alikes" that very quickly become noise (alas, there are experienced artists that fall into this trap too!)...