I like to think that illustrators and fine artists have one particular thing in common with actors, storytellers, religious and political zealots, mimes, and stage magicians:
They are all ILLUSIONISTS.
Their first concern is with convincing you that what you are experiencing has a meaning that goes far beyond their mere images and words- what you are witnessing is a baffling but undeniably REAL TRUTH-
Their second concern is with the possibility of being PAID for their deceptions.

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I prefer to pleasantly surprise people with my efforts, rather than shock them into a reaction.

As a kid, my creative heroes were the Saturday Evening Post cover artists, Disney comic book artists and animators, and the Chicago Tribune editorial cartoonists. I also absorbed what I could from the works of Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rembrandt, and other classical masters. I admit to having used a bit of artificial intelligence to make some of my illusions more convincing. Here are some results of that mashup.