Name: Nathan Gray (no affiliation to the X-Men) Sex: Male Birthdate: October 23rd, 1984 Ethnicity: Puerto Rican

About Me:
I was probably drawing before I could write my own name. I grew up in a family of artists of all walks of life, from figure artists to airbrushers and even a few tattoo artists. Everyone in my family is very creative, and that aspect of my personality was nurtured from the start. I grew up in Philadelphia, but was born in New York. I now live in upstate PA, outside of a little town called Sunbury, with my partner and 3-legged doberman, Sabre. I also attend online classes at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, mainly because my partner is semi-retired and enjoys traveling. The online courses are incredibly difficult, but also very rewarding.

Style:
I'm more of a sketch artist. Occasionally I take my sketches beyond to line-art and/color, but I prefer the sketchy look of things. I also love monochromatic colors, so that tends to be my theme on the rare occassion I do use colors. This is in part due to my color-blindness, which limits my perception of hues (especially within the red spectrum). Working within varying shades of a single color is much easier for me, particularly while utilizing the HSB slider in graphic software. Without it, I'd be lost.

Hobbies:
Other than drawing, I also enjoy writing, though I'm unlikely to ever finish anything I write. Usually I get halfway through an idea then get bored with it and move on to the next one. I also have to do a lot of writing for school, so at the end of the day, I'm not very motivated to do yet more of it. I'm also a pretty big gamer, though I've never played WoW. I know it's shallow, but the cartoony proportions of WoW and excess of bulky armor has always put me off. I did enjoy the RTS games, though. I'm a huge Squaresoft fan, though. They can do no wrong. Or rather, they can, but I pretend it didn't happen.

Schooling:
As I mentioned, I take classes at AIoP. I'm working toward a Bachelors in Animation, which is a lot of the reason for this site. Prior to school, I stopped drawing almost entirely, as it's not really something I enjoy doing persay. However, I began to notice how much of an advantage I had over other students that didn't have solid drawing skills, even in computer animation (which is where I am specializing). Having an understanding of anatomy and proportion is really critical no matter what your style is, and I got to see that firsthand. I have now started drawing again to tighten up my skills further, and continually improve. Other than that, I have no training and am self-taught in everything I've done, from drawing to website design. I actually never finished 8th grade; I dropped out due to lack of enthusiasm and an unraveling family structure. I tested out of school at 15 and waited until I could start college, using the time to learn things on my own. By the time I started college, I already had a basic understanding of the material, and the knowledge has been invaluable.

Other stuff:
Other than that, the most I can say is I'm a geek. Like, to the fifth degree. I watch anime, I read DnD books even though I don't play, I used to collect Magic: The Gathering cards until the rules became so ridiculously complicated, and I think glasses and nerds in general are sexy. Seriously. Willow from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer? Hot. If I were straight, I'd so fantasize about her.