First of all, if you're interested in commissioning or hiring me, or are more concerned with academic things - I have a more commercial porfolio site at: www.MFDawes.com - where I present only my best and most relevant work. By contrast - Mixelmagic.com covers pretty much everything I do online, and serves as a dump for all my projects, experiments, social networking and so-on.
Born in yorkshire, UK.
Early schooling in Otley.
Moved to Leeds (with parents obviously)
School was ok. Didn't do brilliantly, didn't do terribly.
15? - getting into comms and started making friends online.
16 - Diagnosed as having Crohns disease - had surgery for that, now have ongoing treatment.
Numerous attempts at college hindered by illness.
Met Katherine & got married, moved into our own home. It's nice here!
Started work on Creeping Me Out, a web-comic which has eaten big chunks of my life.
Web & Graphic design, Contemporary & Fantasy art - digital and traditional. IT - specialist areas being the Macintosh platform, Windows troubleshooting, and general software issues.
I'm a 'frustrated artist' who above all values friendship and creativity. I'm into a lot of computer things, from comms through graphics, design and gaming. I've been making net-stuff since the mid nineties, when I ran a local BBS system. (over dialup.. 14kbps modem! those were the days) I am a dreamer, but not entirely the wishy-washy get nothing done type. I think creation is among the most important things in anyone's lifetime. This covers children, happiness in others, material or conceptual things. I have nothing against people who don't do any of these, they're just something to strive for.
Apple, OsX. Wacom Tablets. People with ideas. People who create. 'Dark' stuff, especially if intricate. Over the top music. Dressing up. The internet. Online culture. Small fluffy animals. Geekiness. A lot of Anime and Manga. Pretty things. Fantasy. Science fiction. Roleplay gaming. Console gaming. Drawing. Painting. Creativity. Open-mindedness. Pets.
Losing things. Unnecessary or blatant dishonesty. Closed mindedness. Almost all poetry. :) Furries/Most furry art. People's inability to see wonder or humour in things. Boredom (in other people).
Macintosh (dual 1.8 G5). Sony PEG-UX50. Wacom Intuos2. Sony Ericsson t610. Gamecube. Amiga 1200/40t. PS2. Nintendo DS.
Adobe Photoshop CS3. Pixologic ZBrush. CSSedit. TextWrangler. Lost Marble's Moho. Pixen.
Rhapsody. Manowar. Fields Of The Nephilim. Blind Guardian. Dir En grey. Malice Mizer. Nobuo Uematsu. Chris Huelsbeck. David Whittaker. Press Play On Tape. Machinae Supremacy.
Final Fantasy 5,6,7,T. Soul Calibur series. Bust a Move/Puzzle Bobble. Taito stuff. Silent Hill series. DDR. Pikmin. Gitaroo Man. Resident Evil 4.
Mixel was originally just a shortening of Michael which people called me online. It is also some sort of weird pixel related thing to do with inaccurate data in bitmap based scans. (a mixel being a “mixed pixel” containing data spread over two squares, causing inaccuracy in the data) Also, I do pixel-graphics, so it seems like a cute nick which has stuck, for better or worse.
