Matt Witt - Freak on the River

Artist: Matt Witt
Website: wakeupscreaming.com

Welcome to the last in our long running series of artist spotlights. Starting with Rachel Nilsson on 22nd April 2010 we have interviewed nearly 100 illustrators in the search to find out what it is that makes you guys tick. You can read all the 99 interviews by clicking here. Everything has to end and we thought what better way to finish off this massive series than with an interview with Creature founder himself Matt Witt.

Our artist Spotlight series gives a great overview of how Creature’s tastes and editorial direction have developed over the past two years. Plus it lends a unique insight into the lives and minds of the illustrators working today providing an overview of contemporary Illustration in the UK and elsewhere.

Our artist spotlight features will be replaced by a series called Around the World where we visit artists in far flung corners of the earth to get a taste for their inspirations and ask how the place they live in effects their work.

Here is the last artist spotlight interview – #99 with me, Matt Witt.  We hope you have enjoyed the show.

Who are you, where are you from?
I am Matt Witt I live in East London. I am originally from Salisbury Wiltshire.

What do you do?
I draw, I write poems, I sing songs, I make Creaturemag. By day I am a freelance designer. I have lots of fingers in lots of pies!

Why do you do it?
Because I love to create, I love to bring people together to collaborate. I spend far too much time in front of a screen but I don’t know how to do anything else. It’s been this way since I was a boy. I am still a child.

Matt Witt - Freak on the River

How do you create these images?
The pictures build themselves in my head before being transferred onto paper with pencil and then scanned in and redrawn in Illustrator or manipulated in Photoshop. I tend to sit and analyse the image for a long time. Its all about depth, angles, shapes, colours, creating mood, intensity and humour. I love visiting my imagination and wondering around to find new things to draw.

Who are your influences?
I am influenced most notably by the artists I collaborate with on Creaturemag. Drawing a day artists David Litchfield and Steven Kraan have always been a great influence because of their commitment to their own artistic development. My interest in drawing initially stems from watching endless cartoons and burying my head in illustrated books like Where the wild things are, The Hungry Caterpillar and children’s poetry as a child. I have always been encouraged creatively by my close friends and family which I am grateful for.

What inspires your work?
Psychoanalysis, meditation, dreams, thinking really hard for long periods of time. People, creatures, people pretending to be creatures, festivals, being. Life!

Matt Witt - Freak on the River

What do you like?
I like to be nicely surprised.

What don’t you like?
I don’t like to be horribly shocked.

Find Matt Witt here:
Portfolio: wakeupscreaming.com
Twitter: @creaturemag
Facebook: facebook.com/creaturemag

Originally posted 2012-07-31 10:54:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter