Nene Thomas began her professional career in 1994, when she was approached by Wizards of the Coast to contribute work to the popular card game "Magic: the Gathering." Her work with Wizards of the Coast can still be seen in the Fourth and Fifth Expansions, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, Homelands and the new "Magic: The Gathering" CD ROM Game. Some of the other card games that feature her work are Shadowfist, Legend of the Five Rings, Galactic Empires, Tempest of the Gods, Wyrmwars, Gridiron, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, Xenophiles, and Battlelords of the 23rd Century.
Although Nene is known best for her work with watercolors, she has recently begun to expand her artistic horizons with other media, including digital. But no matter what media is used, the core elements of her art remain constant: her characters have grace and elegance, her settings are striking, and the images as a whole are breathtaking.
Nene's greatest artistic ambition is to be able to perfectly capture an image that she has in her mind's eye on paper. Over the last two years, Nene has had the good fortune to see her art translated into a variety of products, including statues, ornaments, stickers, and t-shirts. Her many products can be seen in several catalogues, in retail outlets throughout the country, or on her website. The retail success of her art hasn't changed her focus however, and with each new piece she strives to push herself as an artist.
Nene currently lives in Oklahoma City with her husband Steven Plagman, who is also her framer and fancy mat cutter. Nene spends her days sketching, researching, painting and playing with her five cats: Snowmane, Amber, Blackfel, Leilani and Night Shade. She has three sisters and two brothers, all of them artistic and musically talented. She doesn't smoke, drink, swear, or gamble - but she is horribly addicted to ice skating, The Sims 2, and collecting, displaying and sewing beautiful outfits for her beautiful Asian ball jointed dolls.
Ann-Juliette is Nene's younger sister and was her technical assistant from 2002 until 2006. Some of the pieces Ann -Juliette has worked on include Rhapsody in Gold, The Gift, Pumpkin Patch, Lavender Serenade, Red Hearts, La Victime, Memento, Butterfly Wreath Yellow, Treasure, Petal and Ivy 2 - just to name a few. Ann-Juliette has also completed dozens of pen & inks, some of which can be viewed in Nene's Parting the Veil art book. Ann- Juliette now lives in Seattle, Washington.