Featured Artist: Matt Saunders
Step through the rabbit portal and into Matt Saunders’ illustrated world of whimsy, and you’re in for a magical ride.
Originally from Leeds, and now living amongst the bright lights of London Matt’s artwork is the stuff of fairytales and the far depths of imagination; of childhoods spent reading the Brothers Grimm by torchlight under the duvet.
With a touch of nostalgia and a hint of melancholia, his drawings pick you up and transport you off to a world of his creation – something which has made a lasting impression on his clients:
Whenever I get a brief from a creative director, it always seems to sound something like: ‘can Matt do some of his magic Gothic stuff?’
As at home with children’s illustration as he is artwork for bands, Matt has created work for clients around the world, from L.A. to San Francisco, Paris to Rome. His commercial clients include the likes of Lucas Film, M&S and TED Talks, as well as a number of well-known bands:
I love to do gig posters for bands. I recently did a set for Modest Mouse, which was such a pleasure.
I’ve been lucky enough to do posters for The Cure, Sigur Ros and more. I just love the freedom that comes with the brief.
Matt also creates wonderful design products that can’t help but spark your imagination and make you smile (especially with puntastic names like ‘Space Bar’ and ‘Sleeping Like A Log’).
Citing influences such as Richard Scarry, Edward Gorey, Eyvind Earle and Mary Blair, amongst others, you find in Matt’s work something more than cute characters and magical landscapes. You find a sense of something friendly yet eerie, a sense of being home yet somehow homesick, a distant longing and the feeling that not everything is quite as it seems!
I am always looking to the future and want to explore and push myself beyond what people think I can do.
