3DTotal: You have created so many worlds and creatures, what sources do you gather your inspiration from?
Stephan: I get my inspiration from pretty much everywhere really .From Films, books, the internet, galleries, museums, my peers. I tend to look at things in a very visual and analytical way. I would look at the clouds, tree bark, cracks on the walls and try to extract fantastical shapes, faces or textures. I would look at an iron for example and start thinking how I would turn it into a space ship. There is always something in every object that can be turn into something else. It’s a matter of imagination I guess.

3DTotal: Can you tell us about your mediums and techniques; has your paint become a little more ‘digital’ as the years went by?
Stephan: I used to do concepts and sketches for so many years, using pencils, ink, and markers. When I worked in the animation I was primarily hired for my ideas not for my rendering technique. It’s a broken down system, one person does the pencil and or ink, another does the colour. The process was the same for characters, props or environments. Once in a while I would do an acrylic or coloured ink illustration but doing concept all the time for many years never gave me the opportunity to develop a good traditional technique. Such technique usually comes with many years of practice. When I discovered Photoshop I was amazed at the artistic potential of the software. The industry was just discovering what could be done with it. I felt this was the right moment to beef up my portfolio.