My name is Mates Laurentiu and I’ve been a freelance illustrator for more than 20 years. I live in a small town in Romania.

Drawing and painting have been almost an obsession in my life and I’m grateful to have been able to make a living out of this passion. I am self taught and I tried my hand in various styles of art, from comics penciling and lineart to digital painting for book cover and portrait illustration.

Fantasy is my main subject these days but I have experience with various other themes, like sci-fi, horror, steam punk or romance (yes, I’ve done a handful of covers for such a subject as well). I am mostly a character portrait and creature designer creator but I’ve found myself many times creating assets for various games, such as weapons, armor, magic items and other objects and my work has been published in books, games and even some small movies. So you can say I’m flexible. 

In this age of AI, when a few words can create complex and colorful illustrations, people like me might seem reduntant. Yet here I am, stubornly hanging onto my passion even when just a few have still use of somebody like me – if any.

I hope you will enjoy my small gallery here, just a snipped of my skill in various techniques, from pencil drawings to digital painting illustration, from character portrait to book cover art.