About Andy, aka DarkPassionPlayNZ
The dreamer behind the magic (and also Fin's Daddy and plaything)

Andy is a gay, neurodivergent artist and storyteller from Aotearoa (New Zealand). His creative work is shaped by a lifelong love of fantasy and mythology—but just as much by pain, joy, and the messy, very human business of caring for other people in nursing.

Andy has a werewolf alter ego named Dark Passion (hence his old DA username of DarkPassionPlayNZ), a way of exploring ferocity and emotional intensity without apology. Outside of DP's mythos, his creations frequently involve landscapes that feel old—places where animals are not decoration but presences, and where magic feels lived-in rather than ornamental, wild places that feel like refuge.

Andy is a metalhead whose favourites include Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Sabaton, and Nightwish (the inspiration behind his username), and sometimes illustrates songs that speak to him—but also his taste in music is as eclectic as him and includes guilty pleasures like 80s and 90s one-hit wonders. He plays bass, loses track of time in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and is a practicing Druid and devotee of Tyr.

Andy shares his life and creative orbit with his husband, Fin (FlameAndSong). Together, they build a space rooted in imagination, love, humor, and survival—where art is personal, stories matter, and nothing exists just to impress an algorithm.

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