My name is Tim Youlden and I have loved both drawing and comics since I was a child. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that I first learned to draw from looking at comics and the wonderful art work they contained by artists such as Frank Bellamy, Mike Noble and Jack Kirby. Such artists inspired me then and still do, although my art has developed in different ways. I am largely self-taught (those comics again) although I have done many day and evening art classes down the years and like to think I have learned something from all of them. While there have been times when I have felt discouraged and stopped drawing altogether, I always return to it in the end. There is nothing I’ve found that ‘takes you out of yourself’ in quite the same way that drawing and painting does; it’s almost a form of meditation. Since health problems caused me to take early retirement, I have tried to draw and paint as much as I can. Some of my work is comic strip-based, some is humorous and some lean more towards the ‘fine art’ side. I am trying to do more of the latter these days. I have used pencil, charcoal, inks and various paint mediums, paper and canvas. Sometimes I start a piece with a pencil, pen and paper and colour it digitally. Recently I have been trying to learn how to use acrylic paint, which has been a bit of a struggle but I will persevere! I have also just bought some Winsor and Newton watercolour markers which I love and am still experimenting with.