EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 13 © 2015 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

60 ABOVE: 'Slave Girl', one of Jeff's powerful and punchy pen and ink illustrations. ABOVE TOP: Energetic use of the palette knife adds extra lustre to 'Dancing Venus'. Painted in oil on masonite 2005. a 13 year old kid from Milwaukee , Wisconsin. As he gazed enraptured at page after page of Vallejo’s torrid fantasies, he now knew the direction his art would take. But, as he ran the gauntlet through the tough neighbourhood that separated his home from the Milwaukee County Library, he contemplated the next stage of his schooling with a growing sense of unease. Jeff ’s childhood had seen him and his family endure some fairly tough times as he and his mother and elder brother hadmoved fromone poor neighbourhood to another, until they were living in one of Milwaukee’s deadliest neighbourhoods. Gangs ran the streets and several of Jeff ’s friends did not survive beyond their teen years, falling prey to the violence and drugs that infested the area. It was Jeff ’s mother who provided the next rung of the ladder . She was all too aware of Jeff ’s predicament and was determined that he should achieve his potential. Even when money was tight, as it often was, she would provide him with art