User:DilettantO

Born in Perth, Western Australia, and lived in the UK for 28 years ('66-'94) I am professional illustrator with over 35 years experience. Some years ago, I was responsible for revamping Thomas the Tank Engine’s image and for creating all the artwork for the worldwide merchandise, including over 30 books, for Random House (NY) and Heinemann (UK). This work was done under the pseudonym ‘Owain Bell’ and some can still be found on the Net. I worked on this character between the years 1984 and 1994. I have been working exclusively digitally for around 8 years. I work in a ‘photorealistic’ style, using Corel Painter (vX) in conjunction with a Wacom Intuos tablet and pressure sensitive stylus. In 2012 I won the grand Prize in the Corel Asia-Pacific Digital Artwork Competition (2011) with a work entitled 'Reddish Egret', Although my work is often mistaken for photographs, I do not use photographs for anything other than reference. All artwork is painted in the same way as with traditional media. Example of my work can be seen at: www.fineartamerica.com under 'Owen Bell'

My other main interest is music, both listening and playing. I taught myself to play fiddle, mandolin and alto sax. My main instrument is fiddle but I don’t play  ‘professionally’, unless you count busking and the occasional private gig. I play mostly English Country dance music and  Irish.