Matty draws creates beautiful, folky illustrations, taking inspiration from Ghibli movies to create dreamy landscapes and charming characters.
Matty draws is a 23 year old illustrator from Scotland, he often uses references from nature, in a really fun and fantastic way. Taking images from life, colour picking, and digitally creating a palette from the image.
His illustrations have a wonderful earth toned palate, and we also love his pokemon inspired pieces too!
His illustrations have a wonderful earth toned palate, and we also love his pokemon inspired pieces too!
His Characters are often top heavy, with large heads and long legs. His lines are well defined with describing shape.
They also look as if they've just got back from an adventure, or they're just setting out on one!
So what did Matty make for us?
Matty has designed an amazing postcard pack! Each pack has four differently designed postcards. We love how he's interpreted the sad ghostie falling from space <3
You can find Matty draw's postcard pack HERE!
Here's Matty's Q&A!
1. What's your favourite fictitious Ghost from popular media?
A tough question!! It’s most likely between ‘Hi-Five Ghost’ from Regular Show and ‘Ghost Man’ from Adventure Time S2 E4. They are equally, both my favourite fictitious ghosts.
2. What's the best item in your pencil case?
Okay, I’m excited to talk about this because I haven’t fully spoken about it yet. So, a few months back I was walking around Glasgow and went to a tiny Japanese art supplies store and came across the ‘OHTO Horizon 0.7mm Pen’ n’ instantly knew I was going to be walking out with it. It’s chunky, has great grip n’ generally functions like a beauty, definitely my favourite item in my pencil case.
3. Paint? Pencil? or Tablet?
I think it would be insane for me to settle on just one, my work is an amalgam of traditional and digital workings. The most vital, however, would have to be traditional sketching, so I’m going to go with 'pencil'.
4. What's your go-to motivational album?
I guess I don’t have a go-to, but I listen to Animal Crossing mixtapes on repeat for hours which help me focus, ambient beats and instrumentals help motivate me. If I were to listen to anything else, I would end up focusing more on giving the performance of a lifetime instead of drawing, haha.
5. How would you describe your work? Are there any common themes?
Honestly, I always describe my work as earthy tonal, wizard fantasy-esque with a hint of 90’s nostalgia. Growing up in rural Scotland surrounded by nature, mountains n’ water but also growing up during the boom of technology and video games have subconsciously merged the two together, so I draw a lot of inspiration from my current surroundings, overlaying these two themes (the natural world and digital culture) by creating work digitally but fully inspired by the natural environment.
6. What's your proudest piece that you've worked on?
Honestly, I would have to say these postcards are my proudest. I adore the concept of the Sad Ghost falling to earth trying to feel less lonely n’ meeting new beings to fill the sad void, but finding out there’s such a vast difference in scale between the ghost and the beings so the Sad Ghost is still lonely and wanders the world alone. For a long time, I’ve held back from including backgrounds and characters, It’s something I rarely do as it takes too long to draw, through this collaboration I’ve experimented on a way that mixes traditional means of creating and digital, it seems to be effective and fast so I might create more pieces like these in the near future.
7. Do you have any/many artist rituals?
I guess I don’t? I have to have a clean space, so a desk tidy is needed before I want to create, other than that I don’t really do anything remarkable in the run-up to starting my work. Maybe a wee bottle of water, warm lighting and Animal Crossing tunes in the background to get the creativity flowing.
8. What motivates you?
Something that motivates me to create is that I can hopefully inspire others with my concepts, work or process in the same way that the likes of Hayao Miyazak & Shaun Tan has motivated me to create. Another is that I come from a long line of artists and creatives, knowing creativity is inherent motivates me too, I admire my old relatives and hope someday down-the-line I will be admired by younger generations in my family – would be very sweet!!
9. What do you do, that you think no one else does whilst working?
Like I said earlier if I listen to artists or a band during the creative process; I don’t know if I’m the only one in this boat, but I sing throughout the whole artistic process, for hours - would make working in a studio with others; a ⁿᶦᵍʰᵗᵐᵃʳᵉ.
10. Who are you inspired by?
There are many things that inspire me, the natural world, colour, but a go-to source of inspiration for me has always been works published by Studio Ghibli. I first saw Kiki’s Delivery Service when I was 10. Since then I’ve admired the work of Miyazaki – colour, composition, character, layout and attention to detail - all things I take into consideration when I myself, create.
11. What's your favourite way to practice self care? (Especially after a busy week)
The only self-care practice(s) I really have, are: drawing, long showers and cooking – cooking is so therapeutic and lets me unwind, I only eat plant-based foods so that adds a whole other level to cooking with limited ingredients, It allows me to explore and experiment whilst de-stressing and forgetting about a tough week.
12. How do you stay focused on your end goal, day to day?
I guess this depends if I’m working on a client-based project or self-project - I guess I should tackle them both in the same way. However, I think to work on a client project is maybe a little more mechanical, I have an initial idea, development & a final piece, breaking down a project into parts allows me to divide work proportionately through these three stages, ensuring I reach my end goal on time (or as close to deadlines as possible, haha). Working on self-projects can be a nightmare as I work a bit more chaotically, I sketch so much and then make a digital sketchbook page with annotations and explanations, with no clear route to what I’ll make next I often struggle and leave my personal works half-finished, I usually start working on another project entirely and repeat – not so professional but It’s probably because I find the process of creating more enjoyable than final pieces themselves, haha.
A tough question!! It’s most likely between ‘Hi-Five Ghost’ from Regular Show and ‘Ghost Man’ from Adventure Time S2 E4. They are equally, both my favourite fictitious ghosts.
2. What's the best item in your pencil case?
Okay, I’m excited to talk about this because I haven’t fully spoken about it yet. So, a few months back I was walking around Glasgow and went to a tiny Japanese art supplies store and came across the ‘OHTO Horizon 0.7mm Pen’ n’ instantly knew I was going to be walking out with it. It’s chunky, has great grip n’ generally functions like a beauty, definitely my favourite item in my pencil case.
3. Paint? Pencil? or Tablet?
I think it would be insane for me to settle on just one, my work is an amalgam of traditional and digital workings. The most vital, however, would have to be traditional sketching, so I’m going to go with 'pencil'.
4. What's your go-to motivational album?
I guess I don’t have a go-to, but I listen to Animal Crossing mixtapes on repeat for hours which help me focus, ambient beats and instrumentals help motivate me. If I were to listen to anything else, I would end up focusing more on giving the performance of a lifetime instead of drawing, haha.
5. How would you describe your work? Are there any common themes?
Honestly, I always describe my work as earthy tonal, wizard fantasy-esque with a hint of 90’s nostalgia. Growing up in rural Scotland surrounded by nature, mountains n’ water but also growing up during the boom of technology and video games have subconsciously merged the two together, so I draw a lot of inspiration from my current surroundings, overlaying these two themes (the natural world and digital culture) by creating work digitally but fully inspired by the natural environment.
6. What's your proudest piece that you've worked on?
Honestly, I would have to say these postcards are my proudest. I adore the concept of the Sad Ghost falling to earth trying to feel less lonely n’ meeting new beings to fill the sad void, but finding out there’s such a vast difference in scale between the ghost and the beings so the Sad Ghost is still lonely and wanders the world alone. For a long time, I’ve held back from including backgrounds and characters, It’s something I rarely do as it takes too long to draw, through this collaboration I’ve experimented on a way that mixes traditional means of creating and digital, it seems to be effective and fast so I might create more pieces like these in the near future.
7. Do you have any/many artist rituals?
I guess I don’t? I have to have a clean space, so a desk tidy is needed before I want to create, other than that I don’t really do anything remarkable in the run-up to starting my work. Maybe a wee bottle of water, warm lighting and Animal Crossing tunes in the background to get the creativity flowing.
8. What motivates you?
Something that motivates me to create is that I can hopefully inspire others with my concepts, work or process in the same way that the likes of Hayao Miyazak & Shaun Tan has motivated me to create. Another is that I come from a long line of artists and creatives, knowing creativity is inherent motivates me too, I admire my old relatives and hope someday down-the-line I will be admired by younger generations in my family – would be very sweet!!
9. What do you do, that you think no one else does whilst working?
Like I said earlier if I listen to artists or a band during the creative process; I don’t know if I’m the only one in this boat, but I sing throughout the whole artistic process, for hours - would make working in a studio with others; a ⁿᶦᵍʰᵗᵐᵃʳᵉ.
10. Who are you inspired by?
There are many things that inspire me, the natural world, colour, but a go-to source of inspiration for me has always been works published by Studio Ghibli. I first saw Kiki’s Delivery Service when I was 10. Since then I’ve admired the work of Miyazaki – colour, composition, character, layout and attention to detail - all things I take into consideration when I myself, create.
11. What's your favourite way to practice self care? (Especially after a busy week)
The only self-care practice(s) I really have, are: drawing, long showers and cooking – cooking is so therapeutic and lets me unwind, I only eat plant-based foods so that adds a whole other level to cooking with limited ingredients, It allows me to explore and experiment whilst de-stressing and forgetting about a tough week.
12. How do you stay focused on your end goal, day to day?
I guess this depends if I’m working on a client-based project or self-project - I guess I should tackle them both in the same way. However, I think to work on a client project is maybe a little more mechanical, I have an initial idea, development & a final piece, breaking down a project into parts allows me to divide work proportionately through these three stages, ensuring I reach my end goal on time (or as close to deadlines as possible, haha). Working on self-projects can be a nightmare as I work a bit more chaotically, I sketch so much and then make a digital sketchbook page with annotations and explanations, with no clear route to what I’ll make next I often struggle and leave my personal works half-finished, I usually start working on another project entirely and repeat – not so professional but It’s probably because I find the process of creating more enjoyable than final pieces themselves, haha.