Teefury

What's awesome about working with Teefury is that I get to meet and showcase artists from all around the globe. Regardless from where the art originates, if it's good, it's universally understood and appealing. Animals, check. 80's style geometric shapes with space related imagery, check. Radical? check.

The title actually came first - it's from a Hellboy comic (which if you haven't read, you should). I really dug the title and it got me thinking about animals hunting, and i just started scribbling down images and then tried to piece them together into something cohesive. For some reason i could only imagine The Wild Hunt taking place at night, hence the central moon around which the design hangs. Geometric shapes are very du jour at the minute and should probably be avoided for that very reason, but the images just seemed to assemble themselves into a triangle on their own, and the moon could only sit in the middle, so i thought 'why fight it?'. I deliberately tried to accentuate cut and paste background (which was sourced from photos on flickrs Commons group - which is literally the best resource for public domain images in the world), and make the skies really harsh in their coloring. It all just came together really nicely.

I'm 28, i'm from Brighton UK, i live in a house that overlooks the sea with my girlfriend who is also an illustrator, and i've been drawing for about as long as i can remember. I like cats, the sea and it's mysteries, photographing things, National Geographic, notebooks full of scribbles, comic books, old typography, coffee, cycling, raccoons, snow, wildlife in general and the drawings of Paul Pope, Jack Kirby and Tomer Hanuka. 

I couldn't really say, except that it's what i've always done. I remember my dad drawing a picture of Darth Vader for me when i was really young, and i think it came from there. I should also thank my old next door neighbours for taking me to see Batman (the Tim Burton one), and planting the seed of what has become a lifelong love of comic books. It took me a while to realise that it was something that i could actually pursue as a career (after an ill advised foray into advertising) and to be honest i don't think i'm cut out for a regular job and i like being paid to do something i actually enjoy. I've been working as a freelance illustrator on and off since 2002, but i took a long break from drawing to go and do some other things (including: running a shoe shop and cutting down trees in Arizona for the National Park Service), and started again this time last year. 

Well there is my constantly updated blog, which is at: www.matttaylor.co.uk/blog, and there is my Year In Pop project that i'm undertaking with Tony Easley (www.nascentideas.com), where we try and document all the films, books and music that we see/read/listen to in a year by producing a bit of artwork for each. It is turning out to be more time consuming than we originally realised, but it's a good way to keep us on our toes creatively. We've got a blog here: yearinpop.wordpress.com. Lastly, i contribute to group shows at Gallery1988 in LA (the next one is in April), and you can follow their news here: g1988.blogspot.com

i'd like to think i would spend it on meaningful things, donate plentifully to charity and become an art philanthropist of some sort... but there is always the risk that i would foolishly blow it all on something ludicrous like a life size solid gold robot, or use it to finance a high-tech career fighting crime by night.

My lovely girlfriend Harry, who tolerates the mess i generate in our studio, and manages to work around it to produce lovely drawings (www.harrydrawspictures.com), my little brother who needs to update his blog (owlsinthenighttime.blogspot.com), and all my friends who i have invariably blown out at some point because of a looming deadline - i love you all.