My name is Heidi Hardmeier-Rogers, and I am currently attending college seeking my degree in Graphic Design & Illustration. I freelance in my spare time doing web design, illustration, character designing, and painting.

I have been drawing for nearly as long as I can remember, and artwork has always been my passion in life. Sometimes my family tells me I was born with paint in my veins instead of blood, as amusing as that sounds. My dream is to illustrate for a living and consequently make a living off of my artwork, and most especially to finish my graphic novel series Legacy and see it published and sitting on the shelves of a comic book store.

When I'm not playing with paint, I enjoy writing stories of all genre as well as heartfelt poetry. I love middle Eastern dance with a passion, I am an avid role-playing gamer, and I devour books by the dozen. I also attend Renaissance Faires and anime or fantasy conventions, where I sometimes sell prints of my artwork. They're a great source for inspiration and plain old fun, and they got me quite addicted to cosplaying! If you'd like to check out my other website devoted to my cosplay costumes, please visit Cosplay Kitten.

I live in Illinois, in the United States, and find my inspiration from the great wide world around us all, from my dreams, and most of all, from the spectrum of the human heart.

People often ask me where my unearthly visions come from; much of my art derives its inspiration from mythology, fantasy, and legends. It also sometimes comes from a story or poem I have read, which tickles the back of my mind, refusing to be forgotten. Occasionally, it comes from a movie or video game character...and, of course, those phantom people we meet in dreams. I have slowly found myself moving deeper into the surreal and high fantasy genre of late, all of which come from legends handed down in stories, and the visions of many cultures and people, in the form of long lost hopes and dreams.

Tales in myths and legends stem from emotions, needs, desires, hopes and beliefs that have survived throughout time, for thousands of years, across an ocean of ages and generations. These things are part of the essence of being alive, and they are what define us as human. There is something in these tales that makes people hold onto them, even without words; sometimes only an image is left branded upon the heart.

And so it is these images I try to capture in my art; it is that sense I try most to convey in my work, a sense of wonder for things within the human experience that somehow sits upon the edge of our consciousness, teasing us with things we feel but cannot grasp, things that are hoped for, or perhaps only half remembered. Things that could be, if only one were to look upon the world with closed eyes and an open heart, to see all the wonders and possibilities in this world.