Matthew Smith 1/9/14 Matthew Smith 1/9/14

Forest Altar

Hello everybody, I just finished up this painting this week and thought I'd put up some images and talk a little bit about my thought process through some of it.

So if you've been keeping up with my work for the past few months -thanks if you have, by the way- then you might notice a very striking similarity to the late, great illustrator Jean Giraud aka Moebius. This is not by accident, I mean he's a figurehead in comics and illustration with good reason. It's not only his style though, that I'm attracted to, I love his line making and atmosphere but the narrative he's able to convey. The stories in his works are mystical, detailed worlds that I am always dying to know more about. That's really what I want to strive towards. The idea of 'world-building' has always been extremely appealing to me and has been something I've always done.

In this image I wanted the sense of discovery to come across, that the traveler- who is at this point anonymous- has come upon massive statue in the middle of what I hoped would be a very dense jungle. This composition is actually very similar to a recent Killian Eng piece, but art being what it is, I took what I liked and added what I wanted to be there. I have an immense respect for his work and what he's doing and he's another that was massively influenced by Moebius, but has put his own spin on that type of work. I'd very much like to do what he's doing right now.

There are some close ups here so you get get a little better idea of what's going on. I actually scanned it in at 1200dpi on the amazing Epson 10000xl we have in the office which I think offers a really good reproduction on a screen as you're likely to get. I boosted the levels in Photoshop slightly, but really there wasn't any need for post-production on this one. I ended up being really happy with how things came out for the most part. I've been doing a lot of 'campsite' pieces lately, where my explorer is very obviously out in the world, well exploring. I haven't figured out what role the Crystals will play in my little fiction but, their mystery is part of the appeal for me. The idea of this mystical, powerful force existing in a futuristic science fiction world is extremely interesting to me. I'm not sure if that's the case for anyone else, but I feel successful in this one.

Above are some process shots of the making of this thing. I recently converted my inking/painting surface to a Fabriano Hot Press Watercolor block, which was a real turning point for me. The problems I had with buckling, smearing etc were gone and I could really focus on what I wanted to make instead of working around the technical limitations of the media. The lines are vector-crisp and the paint is brilliant and clear. The only problem I've faced is how quickly it dries for flat washes (you can really see that in the sky) but I'm getting better I think.

Feel free to share my stuff on your chosen social platform, but please do me a favor and link back to this site or use my name.

Matthew Smith 12/18/13 Matthew Smith 12/18/13

Crystal Discovery no.1

I did this little 4x6 work in a day and I came away fairly satisfied with it. I've been creating this very elaborate fiction about the nature of these crystals so mainly I wanted to practice how they looked. Let me know what you think!

Crystal Discovery - 20134x6"Ink and Watercolor on coldpress block — Crystal Discovery - 2013
4x6"
Ink and Watercolor on coldpress block

Matthew Smith 12/5/13 Matthew Smith 12/5/13

Third Eye

Here's another quick foray into digital coloring. My first version of this I went through and colored everything individually and when I was done I didn't like it. I did something a teacher taught me a long time ago I'm just now starting to practice-I put it away. I didn't throw it out, or delete it, or give up-I stashed it. Later, I had an idea -debatable if it was a good one or not- to make the main emphasis the exploding glass and the opening of the third eye. I put the exact center in the pupil of the eye and colored it flat and knew I was on to something. I don't really know this way or that about the spiritual aspect of the third eye, but the idea of seeing 'beyond' to something else -placidly- and moments before death, appealing. I'd like to expand on the idea in the future, but for now, like meat right off the grill-the best thing to do is let it rest.

Matthew Smith 11/11/13 Matthew Smith 11/11/13

Drawings 10/13

So it's been a little while. I've been working a lot. I haven't been putting things on the internet as much because honestly they weren't good enough, even for me. I wasn't making the time to finish anything and I wasn't really dedicating myself to the work, and it showed. This month though, I bore down and really tried to put some time in to get better. I think things are working. I decided not that long ago that I want to become a professional illustrator, it's something I put off as not being lucrative, or too niche, or some other reason and never pursued it. The thing is though, that I don't want to be doing anything else right now. I'm not saying I don't want to be a designer, but a hybrid of a designer and illustrator and motion artist. I want to be what I want to be. No one is going to blaze this trail except me, so here I am, doing it. These are kind of potato quality, you can see full-res ones here

Matthew Smith 2/14/13 Matthew Smith 2/14/13

Thing #42/365

Made a more hi res version of that weird spiky plant. Thought it looked like an environment (huge surprise!) and threw the little ship in there. Tried out some different lighting effects and finally landed on a more normal looking one.