Me - Aged 12
My name is Gordon Wallace.
If you can describe me in just a few words it'll be this - a well-read artist with a scientist's eye.
I have been a doodler since about 5 years old. I drew everything. People, objects, disaster scenes (a favourite at the time), ... anything.
drawings by me c1999
Of course, I did improve overtime.
10,000 hours and that...
2001
2004
2006
2009
2013
2015
And, of course, I practised using more than just pen and paper over the years...
2017
Eventually, I became good enough to win an award for a painting (that got published in a calendar), graduate in graphic design and a bachelors degree in computer animation and digital art.
Examples of my artwork can be seen by clicking below....
In 1999 I found this book in a library - The Visual Dictionary of Everyday Things. It blew my young mind. Seeing so many everyday objects taken down to their component parts and how many components they were. I became so obsessed that I made my own version of the book. But to do so I had to something I didn't really do until then - research.
drawing of dismantled bicycle from pages above
2002
From doing these books I began exploring how things work. This got me interested into technology and made me take science in high school, resulting in higher grades in biology and physics (as well as art and design). It became an obsession to learn things ... and finding ways to explain it to others (mostly through drawing).
Science poster design from college (2006)
But it also led to me creating a large collection of books ... and a vast expanding internet history.
At the same time, I thirst for knowledge expanded into culture - comics, video games, movies, literature, music, toys, painting ... you get the idea. By the time I got my bachelors degree (in computer animation and digital art) I had become an obsessive that liked to "snack" on various subjects, from aardvarks to ZZ Top. I had become the Snacking Otaku.