So why is it that I do appear to use such strong narrative elements in my pictures? As a child I always drew cartoons and as a teenager I became very interested in comic strips and graphic novels.  But I was never very interested in writing my own stories or illustrating someone else's, but what I did like the form of the story board. I like the idea that in any frame we are seeing the results of the previous set of frames and the anticipation of what will follow in the next. Often I would flick through a comic strip before I had read it just simply to look at the art work. If my eyes were attracted to a frame later in the story, I would not have a clue about the exact context, but there would be something implicit in the frame that would intrigue me. This is a bit like trailers at the cinema which can often be more interesting than the actual film. It is tantalizing without any elaboration.

This is probably why I use characters that appear to come from stories in my pictures. However, they really only exist in a particular picture. I certainly don't create whole histories or conclusions to their lives, nor would I have a situation clearly defined from the outset. What I think I do (although I never do anything so predetermined), is create a picture in which I enjoy inventing characters, involving myself in fake mythology and tackle the technical challenges that spring up. I certainly prefer to be surprised by what I have done than to realize exactly what I had planned from the outset. The narrative then gets left to the viewer to discern. Hopefully, different stories will be triggered off depending on people's own set of associations and experiences. However, to go back to how I started, I most of all want people to like it as a picture.