Well, here I am!

This is the first journal entry of what I hope to be a lot of fun slinging stuff onto the internet via Deviant Art. I've been following DA and being impressed with it's many illustrators for quite some time, I just never had much of an inclination to put my artwork up here. Don't really know what changed... I guess I got the proverbial wild hair and signed up. Hope I don't stink up the place too much.

So, who am I? Well, I am a veteran of the US Marine Corps (1982-92 - Sergeant) who specialized in armored Assault Amphib and Nuke-Bio-Chem defense. Gee, that doesn't sound very warm and fuzzy, does it? Sorry. Just did my job. I was on stand-by for the first Gulf War, and now I'm too old for the second, so I have no combat experience. And I am NOT complaining!

I have been drawing since I was six, and have always had a profound love of history. My oldest memory was of John F. Kennedy announcing the presence of missiles in Cuba in 1962. I was two years old at the time, but I distinctly remember thinking that if the adults were this flustered about something, I should probably pay attention, too. Hence, the concept of my place in the world, both geographically and historically, has forever piqued my interest.

I went to the University of Florida and majored in History, that is, until I woke up and realized there wasn't squat I'd really be able to do with a history degree, so I went into commercial art. I have designed and sold T-shirts, where I was the art director for not one but TWO different T-shirt companies. Somewhere in there I enlisted in the Marines, spending most of my time in the Ready Reserves, and acquiring an affection for the smell of diesel fumes.

I met my wife of almost 22-years in the SCA, where we both "graduated" to reenacting (nothing against the SCA, but the primary purpose of most of its members is more social than historical). We both reenact or have reenacted the English Civil War (1640s), American Revolution (1775-82), American Civil War (1861-65), and World War II (1939-45). Being a collector and graphic artist, I have recently started a website where I create and sell reproduction paperwork for movies, museums, and fellow reenactors. Feel free to click on my website button and check it out. There's not _too_ much there right now, but I am trying to expand on it, so keep checking back, if you have an interest in that sort of thing.

I have written two novels, and am shopping both, one fantasy and one SF, and am working on three more, with ideas for another six or eight at least. I have been published (non-fiction) in Locus and Military History magazines, and sold SF short stories to two others, but sadly, both went under before my tales saw print. I won an Honorable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest (sorry, can't recall precisely which quarter I won that right now) and sold an illustrated Single Page Story way back in the 90s to Dave Sim and Cerebus the Aardvark's High Society reprints (number 4, if you're looking for it).

I am currently the production manager and head illustrator for Adbiz, an advertising and marketing agency in Gainesville, Florida. In addition to my job, reenacting, writing, and website, I do freelance art, commissions, and since my wife burns water, all the cooking. We live in a large, cluttered house with our cat Gracie, who is spoiled beyond all reason, but she's the only cat I know who loves to play "fetch" so her fate is pretty much secure as far as I'm concerned.

I think that's everything. I could go on (and on and on and on...) but I know you've gotta be tired of reading this by now, so I'll just shut up.

Mattski