Dean Reeve

I create and paint illustrations of original off-the-wall characters to bring a smile to a face as well as some more traditional subjects.

It seems that some of my characters have been with me forever, and some are new, but just develop over time just as real-life characters do.

The inspiration for all the characters comes from real-life situations and observations of mainly humans.

I began creating art like most people, and that is as soon as a person has something that could make a creative mark on a surface as a child.

​Everybody can learn and create art in one form or another. Some people are born with a gift and some people develop that gift through formal training. Some people just keep at it by self-learning. I don’t remember being encouraged or discouraged as a youngster, but I believe that if it is in you to be an artist, you cannot escape that destiny in one way or another.

​After leaving school I was offered an opportunity to work in a Graphic design studio. At that time like many other people, it seemed a safer career option to take an engineering apprenticeship, so the art took a back seat in favour of a period engineering and of draughtsman training. Another apprenticeship followed with spray painting which also included some traditional sign writing and vehicle murals.

​I consider myself a self-taught artist, although I studied at school, attended private lessons, started, and not finished a correspondence course, and spent years studying paintings and books on different styles and techniques, as well as painting canvases, wall, and vehicle murals, cartooning and some sign making. I also signed with an agent as an outlet for the cartoon characters.

​Whether it is a cartoon, illustration, oil, acrylic, or watercolour painting the mix of influences is always there, and the story continues to develop.