All right, check it out, my name is Damon Westenhofer. I am a
freelance (this means broke) illustrator and concept designer. I live in Louisville,
Kentucky where I grew up. I attended the Savannah College of Art and
Design for four years. Where I majored in 3D Computer Animation until I realized I
didn't know enough about computers. So I switched back to Illustration,
which is my main strength. So right now I am sitting on the bench as my wife
goes back to school. I have been married for almost a year and we are both
horribly busy. It is hard to go to school full time and still work like she does,
and I go to work everyday and come home to work on my art or this page until
I go to sleep. But I know if I keep plugging away it will pay off. I
don't mind putting in long hours of hard work if it means I get to do what I
love for the rest of my life. I am going in the comic direction too.
A roomate of mine from college named Matt Getz has started his own comic company
and has asked me to do a book under his title. Hopefully, we will also
pull in another friend named Rob Weston who's art you will soon see in the future
Gift Art section of my page. I am starting to submit illustrations to major
roleplaying game companies and fantasy magazines and you can check out my
White Wolf submissions on this site. Also the Amazon picture in the digital art
section will be sent off to a fantasy magazine along with other samples of my work.
I am lucky to have been able to go to such a prestigious art school because
it has given me a great group of like-minded and talents friends to work with
and draw inspiration from. When Matt gets his web site up I will provide a
link, his art is great. He was born to do comics.
So let me tell you about some of my interests.
I love books by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time series), and Peter F. Hamilton
(The Reality Dysfunction series). Both authors are incredible and in my
opinion the leaders in their industries, fantasy and science fiction.
My favorite movies are Gone In 60 Seconds, and The 13th Warrior (Reign of
Fire was also a guilty pleasure of mine but don't tell anyone). I can't wait
for the new movie Underworld to come out. I am a vampire and werewolf nut, but I
still manage a social life with people who don't talk about Rpg characters or if
Joker could beat up Lex Luthor. The reason Gone In 60 Seconds is one of my favorite
movies is because my dream car is a 1967 Mustang Shelby Cobra GT 500 Fastback, or
Eleanor if you prefer. Right now I am shopping for a new car and it has been so
hard not to just buy a 1967 fastback because I have found a few, but right now
I just don't have the time to dedicate to a car that I will need to work on or
restore. 'SOB' So anyway, my favorite food is pizza, which I ate most of the
way through college and explains my girlish figure, ha ha. My favorite drink is
Diet Coke to which I am addicted and my favorite alcohols are Bud Lite and Bourbon
Whiskey. My personal favorite comic is Wicked, a short-lived Image series (or I
think it is gone, since I haven't seen one in a comic store in ages). It had
really great atmosphere, the inker had a really imposing and dark inking style
that really lent to the supernatural underworld feel. And last but not least,
I would like to tell you about a few of my favorite artists. After you check
out my website you should race to the links sections and check out theirs'.
My three favorites on the net are Bengal-who will rock your socks off with his
amazing and daring use of color and his bold and confident line efficeiency;
Enrico Casarosa-who captures amazing gestures in ink and manages to make very
impressive pictures while making it look easy; and Alan Tew-who has the funniest
sketchbook site I have ever seen. Not to mention he is extremeley talented, I can't
tell you how many hours I have spent just pouring over his site. I also really
enjoy Hamilton's work-he is a big Wheel of Time fan too. And of course I
love the work of my friends Rob Weston and Matt Getz, maybe Matt will give me
some stuff of his to post in the Gift Art section. Until next time folks, see ya.
-Damon
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