Born and raised in Atlanta, a Grady Baby no less, (some say you can't get much more of a pure Atlanta heritage than to be born at Grady Hospital which sits at the very heart of downtown Atlanta). Dimitri is a father of 5 and a painter. At the heart of it he is and always has been a simple artist. Brush, paint, and canvas are my tools. He's been a portrait artist since 1983, primarily using graphite (pencil).
In 1994 he started to paint with oils and acrylics, he also also took a job picture framing just to be near the art world. He continued to learn and became a Master Certified Framer.
In 2005 at age 40, Re-enrolled at the same college he left in 1986 and in 2009 earned a Bachelors of Fine Art. Over the next few years he had my paintings hung in restaurants, libraries, and a few small galleries but things didn't really take off until the spring of 2012. While teaching a drawing class at a local art gallery and after a few weeks a student/friend who took his class to learn to draw the T.A.R.D.I.S. better asked "Dimitri I know you watch and love all the same shows and movies I do. Supernatural, Firefly, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, and all the comic book movies. I have been to your website. Why haven't you done any Fan Art?
And he said "What's Fan Art?" After she explained he showed further ignorance by saying "Wow! People earn a living doing that at just that one comic book convention huh? (he thought DragonCon was the only comic book convention on the planet)" At which time she explained that there were dozens and dozens of conventions every weekend all over the world and not just DragonCon. After a few years doing conventions he started to add pieces that were solely his own creation and found that people who come to conventions to buy art love all kinds of art.
11 years, a few hundred comic conventions, and over 1000 Dimitri idea and fandom based original canvas paintings and drawings since that conversation with his student and he still thank her every chance he gets for setting him on this path. Thank You Meg Earhart.
