NATHAN ENGLISH

I have been glued to the computer since early childhood, and creating art through the computer was the next logical step in my own journey to discover creative mediums. The greatest appeal of working with digital media, to me, is versatility and inter-connectivity. The computer has allowed me to explore illustration, 3D modeling, animation, video game coding, and more, all as tools for bringing my fantastical characters and worlds to life in any or all of these forms. Images, animations, and models can exist separately or as parts of each other, and discovering the ways in which these mediums can be used together is just as important an exercise for my imagination as fantasy world-development. 

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I create work that is character and narrative driven---that references, either implicitly or explicitly, the existence of worlds other than our own. I like to create societies, individuals, and personalities that allow me to explore deeper social themes on my own terms. Implications of race, class, gender, and sexuality can be bent and broken in the medium of fantasy, but they can also be highlighted in a way that is separate, but not completely detached from, the often overwhelming ways that these factors affect us in real life. Fantasy can be escapist, and it can be cathartic, but most of all it should be fun---and while the ability to explore real-life allegory is a fortunate side effect, the core of my interest is the simple fact that worlds with angels, werewolves, and magic-wielding Elven societies are much more entertaining to me than plain-old Planet Earth.