Casey Folks

Born and raised in Galena, Casey Folks would lose himself for hours within the pages of his sketchbook. He drew inspiration from his surroundings, music, literature, comics, and friends. In grade school, he filled notebooks with drawings of soldiers, biplanes, tanks and countless other images. By middle school, he was influenced by Dungeons and Dragons and the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. Super heroes, mythical peoples and fantastic monsters ran rampant in his mind. Upon graduating from high school, Casey attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in Denver, CO, where he majored in illustration. He studied under accomplished artists such as Jim Valone, John Lencick and Phillip J. Steele. Casey's work originally concentrated on the medium he enjoyed the most, which was pen and ink. Over the years, he began incorporating acrylic paint and wash into his work. The subject matter of his pieces focuses mostly on fantasy and mythology-related themes, with some Mother Nature from time to time. He draws almost entirely from his imagination. Every mark is made by hand using either a pen or a brush. Some of his larger pieces have taken up to 150 hours of drawing time, which does not include research time or preliminary sketching before the final piece begins.