As a child I always wanted to create sceneries and worlds that evolved constantly in my imagination. Back then, my only tools were my colours and lego-pieces. As time progressed I got involved in computers and started to animate simple charcters in Basic on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum ($ 300 in 1984).

Eventually a wonderfull machine started conquering the German home computer market - the AMIGA. My most influential brother and I were able to gather enough money to buy the '500', an amazingly ingenious computer design with 4096 colours. My first tool in creation was DPaint, and I did not hesitate to stay up late at night to paint as many pictures and later animations as I could. This love of digital paint and movement would turn into a wish for a career.

In 1993 I enrolled at the Savannah College of Art and Design as a B.F.A. undergraduate student of Computer Art. There I had the first opportunity to use 3D Animation programs on much higher end systems than my own computer. I almost immediately fell in love with the creation of digital characters and their movement, flair and personality. Very inluential in terms of motion were (and still are) Chuck Jones 'Loony Toons' and the traditional principles of animation.

The two most wonderfull packages I had access to were Alias PowerAnimator and Softimage, one for modeling, the other for animation.

In the future I hope to be able to create more worlds and characters in 3D that will help me to tell the stories my mind serves.

Ars Illuminata, Art lighting /art of light.

Scientifically light is defined as electromagnetic fields, energy packages with visible wavelength between 400 and 800 nm. The reason a computer monitor displays the colours we see is due to the photoeffect. Energy in form of photons splits elektrons from the fluorescent material the screen is made of. These photoelektrons hit our retina, and are reinterpreted into impulses that evoke a reaction in our brain called perception.

Why does it make us feel emotions when we come in contact with an image or animation? What makes our minds so unique is an ability we call imagination. Imagination associates this perception of light with memories, visions and therefore emotions. Just as often the process is reversed and our mind comes up with the most interesting designs. It is the artist's skill that conveys his ideas to other beings.

The computer is my chosen tool to formulate my imagination. It lets me create worlds and tell stories that other people might see through the electronic medium. No actual physical form is given. Light cannot be touched or destroyed.

My work depends entirely on the audience's ability to see and understand.