3dtotal: So are your artistic talents self-taught or did you attend any college/universities?
Chee: My schooling in art is entirely self-taught, with invaluable help, tutelage and critique from the digital online community. Namely, I owe a large body of my improvement and art skills to Kim Taylor, Phil Straub, Don Seegmiller, and the local Euro/UK art movement. However, I do sometimes reflect on my progress and wonder if it would have come to the same course with a formal background at college/university. Nevertheless, I learnt my skills through daily perseverance and through working on active game projects and freelancing in illustration and design.

3dtotal: Your interest in aerospace reflects somewhat in your work. Have you ever attempted to try different genres, or is this solely where your interest lies?
Chee: Actually, I have various interests in multiple genres of sci-fi, fantasy, alternative history, steampunk and industrial design. It just so happened that during the period of 2005 to 2008, my focus had been purely concentrated on aerospace, space and sci-fi related artwork..

Due to the varied clientele and projects at Opus Artz, I have had since explored other genres and period designs such as art deco, steampunk, diesel punk, cyberpunk and retropunk that I would not be surprise if I were to one day be typecasted as a steampunk artist.

So what is it about ‘space medicine’ that interests you so much?
Someday, someone has to get us up there. Perhaps I won’t be around to personally pioneer the exploration of the local planets/galaxy, but any effort to help

John Wallins Liberto and Erik Tiemens; tempered by the variety of concept art by various established artists, such as Feng Zhu, Khang Le and Ian McCaig. 

You sound like an incredibly busy man! So when you have the chance to take time off, what sort of things do you enjoy doing?

The thought of doing absolutely nothing and living domestic bliss with my wife, be it at home, doing home DIY or slobbing about in the local community or nature park, is my idea of having a good time off! This would of course be interspersed with frenetic drawing, sketching and painting non-stop, even during my time off, or on occasion gallivanting to the local museums or historical sites for 

sightseeing, sketching and photography.

3dtotal: Well it has been a pleasure talking with you and I wish you and your company all the best. One last question before we wrap things up: what has been the most influential piece of advice that you have been given, and by whom?
Chee: My father often says that failure is merely a stepping stone to success. Coupled with sheer stubbornness and determination, I believe if you set out to achieve your heart’s desire, the whole process of that journey can be sometimes more rewarding than getting there. In closing, I would like to say that one should take time to smell the roses and enjoy the local sights, once you reach your destination...