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Location: The Netherlands Web: www.cristibalanescu.com Email: iradiatu@gmail.com ME DIA: Photoshop, SketchUp

Self-taught Romanian artist Cristi’s early influences include Frazetta, Brom and Alex Ross. Yet since the early 2000s his main source of inspiration has been Craig Mullins. “I also get a lot of ideas from films and books,” he says. “My first job was as a 2D artist at Ubisoft. I went on to become an art director there, and at City Interactive later.”

In 2012, he began freelancing fulltime and is probably best known for his work on the Star Wars RPG books from Fantasy Flight Games. Cristi finds painting traditionally the most rewarding process, and he likes to use 3D as a guide.

1Flying Bugs “During one of my trips to Switzerland, I was fascinated by epic vistas at every turn. This is one of my attempts to capture that, and bring a little twist to it. I made use of a lot of photobashing on this one.” 1