Levi Button - The Bearded Dragon

I have always enjoyed stories and art that explored high fantasy and science fiction. Cornerstones of my fandom include properties like Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars, Dragonball-Z, Avatar - the Last Airbender, Dune, Starship Troopers, videogames like Warcraft and Starcraft, and tales like Vikings, Beowulf, and Dracula.

But by far my greatest source of inspiration is the collective works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the Lord of the Rings. The “making of” the Trilogy inspired me to get into set, costume, and art design as well as miniature work.

I have been running home games of Dungeons and Dragons for over a decade. I enjoy building terrain elements, painting miniatures, creating props, and exploring new ways to flex my creative muscles. Growing up I built model airplanes and created costumes for Halloween as well as building copious amounts of Lego sets.

I went to college for engineering and spent over a decade in the engineering industry. This work afforded me the ability to travel to some of my bucket-list places and immerse myself in my personal art aesthetic and style preferences. In Scandinavia I was able to see Medieval castles and old Viking creations up close. In Spain beautiful mosaic patterns and Moorish architecture. In New Zealand I spent time seeing beautiful natural vistas as well as the designs and miniature work at Weta Workshop, the company who created the monsters and effects in the Lord of the Rings.

This inspired me to leave my career in engineering and peruse my love for creating beautiful works that hopefully can inspire others to make this world beautiful.