Matt Taylor Illustration

Oh oh oh, it’s Magic! I’ve been doing a bit of work...

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:00:30 +0100

Oh oh oh, it’s Magic!

I’ve been doing a bit of work for french publisher Feuilleton on both their self titled flagship publication (which is a collection of international journalism translated for the French reader), and this, their sport focused Desports journal. For the current issue (although it seems somewhat disingenuous to call something this lavishly produced an ‘issue’), I was tasked with drawing the mighty Magic Johnson at key points over his career - his early days, his Dream Team heyday and his post-basketball career as a businessman.

I’ll be posting some more art that I’ve done for Feuilleton over the next week or two, although I’m just about to move house so normal service might be interrupted for a bit…

I think it’s about time for another piece of work for...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:57:36 +0100

I think it’s about time for another piece of work for Gallery1988 (and there will be more before the year is out). This Friday sees the launch of the Bad Robot Experience, celebrating all manner of shows and films that JJ Abrams has had his fingerprints on.

I opted to go way back to the beginning with Alias - partly because I thought there would be a glut of Lost pieces, but mainly because I just straight up loved Alias. True it went a bit off the rails towards the end, but Sidney Bristow was a kick-ass hero (even if she insisted on an utterly incongruous wig when ‘undercover’)

This will be available in an edition of 20 from the gallery on Friday and then online over the weekend at some point from the Gallery1988 web shop. I will no doubt tweet about it - you can find and follow me here for more art related tweets.

Well, I wasn’t expecting these to be as popular as they...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:12:00 +0100

Well, I wasn’t expecting these to be as popular as they were! So thank you Tumblr - you are awesome. It seems that a few of you want these pictures on your wall, so here’s your opportunity:

http://matttaylordraws.bigcartel.com/category/daft

This is a timed edition. They will be on sale until May 1st, and then however many have been bought will be printed. Could be a handful, could be a huge pile. It’s more likely to be handful.

Buy, buy buy!

UPDATE On sale now, from iam8bit Does anyone apart from me...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:57:00 +0100

*UPDATE* On sale now, from iam8bit

Does anyone apart from me remember Belle & Sebastian? Not the band, the other one. No, not the kids book either, the other other one. This one.

It was one of what I would like to think was a golden age of crazy European and European/Japanese co-productions that were serialized over many many weeks on kids TV and included Dogtanian and the Three Muskahounds, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, and Around the World with Willy Fog. I suspect that viewing them now would shatter some rose tinted memories, but I remember enjoying all of them along with the aforementioned Belle and Sebastian.

The reason for this long preamble is that when Jon at iam8bit got in touch and asked if I wanted to contribute to his Nickelodeon tribute show (currently showing at their LA gallery) I jumped at the chance without really having a lot of experience of the channel past bits of their original programming which drifted across the pond. Luckily it turned out that they broadcast a bunch of shows that I had watched as a youngun and so, well, you can see the print above.

Printed as ever by Parliament of Feathers and available in an edition of 30 from iam8bit (and a bunch have gone already so dont sleep on them) alongside a bunch more excellent art for the show from the likes of personal faves Jim Mahfood, Amanda Visell and Aled Lewis.

Rejoice! There is new Daft Punk material imminent! If, of...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:57:00 +0100

Rejoice! There is new Daft Punk material imminent! If, of course, you have been under a rock for the last week, i shall point you in the direction of this teaser of new track Get Lucky and this video of the new outfits designed by Hedi Slimane (and thus instantly coveted). All of this is VERY VERY EXCITING for someone who grew up dancing in smoky nightclubs to the first three albums.

Anyway, the long and short is that I wanted to draw Daft Punk so here you go: Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter in full robot regalia. Enjoy!

Available to buy here!

Take two: tried to upload this earlier, but it wasn’t...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:28:40 +0100

Take two: tried to upload this earlier, but it wasn’t showing up on my timeline, so lets have another go. Anyway…

This is basically Cintiq practice and a direct result of watching too much of the surely-soon-to-be-cancelled Smash. I can highly recommend both Smash and the Cintiq, although I admit that both wont be to everyone’s tastes.

A lot of the stuff I post on here is for shows, self promo and...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:25:41 +0100

A lot of the stuff I post on here is for shows, self promo and my own gratification. But as it turns out I spend most of my days NOT doing only that and in fact busting out a lot of editorial work (because, best will in the world, selling 25 prints at a show don’t pay the bills).

I don’t post a whole lot of it, mainly because it would clutter up your stream, but I was really happy with how this one turned out (because at a certain point, and for no explainable reason I tried to use ALL the colors), so here you go.

This will be cropping up in this months Computer Arts, and is to accompany an article about reinventing yourself as a creative (hence the man bursting out his skin in a new more creative form). Subscribers will have the magazine now and everyone else can pick it up next week - and you should, it’s a good read.

Next: more self indulgent drawings!

In a couple of weeks, the estimable Spoke Art of San Francisco...

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:25:18 +0100

In a couple of weeks, the estimable Spoke Art of San Francisco are going to be holding a Scorsese themed art throwdown in NYC later on this month. You can read all about the details here, but the big news for me is that they asked me to contribute (and yes, I still get excited when an awesome gallery asks me to contribute to a show. It happened again today, but more about that in a month or two).

It should be obvious from the pictures above that I decided to try my hand at Bill the Butcher from Gangs of New York, which I re-watched recently and holds up a lot better than I remember. Regardless of what you think of the film (replete with a few shaky accents and an excess of Cameron Diaz), Daniel Day Lewis is pretty spectacular in it, and deserving of all the themed art which will no doubt be adorning the walls at the show.

Printed as ever by the good folk at Parliament of Feathers - three colors on black stock at a handy 11 x 14” size and available on the night (and thereafter from Spoke Art if there are any left).

Put April 19th in your diary New Yorkers! The estimable Spoke...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:06:00 +0000

Put April 19th in your diary New Yorkers!

The estimable Spoke Art Gallery will be crossing coasts from their home in San Francisco for three days of art dedicated to Martin Scorsese at the Bold Hype Gallery in the big Apple. Here is all the information you could possibly need.

And if you want to see more of my Gangs of New York piece (which will be available to buy on the night in the form of a natty three color screen print), you’ll just have to head on down because that little snap above is all I’m showing for now…

Hey! Remember those book covers that I am frequently going on...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:53:48 +0000

Hey! Remember those book covers that I am frequently going on about? Well if you’re in the UK and you’re so inclined then you are now able to go into shops (or Amazon if you wish) and get them.

Thanks to Penguin UK for licensing these so I can at last see them on the shelves.

I totally forgot about this. And seeing as I’m on a tumblr...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 18:04:00 +0000

I totally forgot about this. And seeing as I’m on a tumblr rampage this week, I might as well post it now.

So last month I did some art for the launch of the new tomb raider game. I wrote a blog post about it here. Anyway, as is the case with these sorts of projects, how it goes is you submit a bunch of sketches and then work one of them up to finished art. Due to a slight miscommunication I ended up working the wrong piece up to a finished state. Luckily, I was ahead of schedule so I finished the correct sketch straight afterwards, but that long-winded explanation is why i have TWO pieces of Lara Croft illustration in my folio.

I was really happy with this one too, so here it is, along with the sketch and a third sketch that I really didn’t have time to do. Enjoy!

Just arrived in stock, courtesy of the wonderful print guys and...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:49:34 +0000

Just arrived in stock, courtesy of the wonderful print guys and gals at Static Medium - James Dean Live Forvever print. If you preordered one of these they will be on their way this week.

Edition of 25 sized at 8 x 8” and available for the princely sum of £15 from my shop.

matttaylordraws.bigcartel.com

Waiting for client feedback on about five jobs means… TIME...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:16:17 +0000

Waiting for client feedback on about five jobs means… TIME FOR ADVENTURE!

So there you go.

Hello! I seem to have acquired a bunch of new tumblr-radar...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:33:31 +0000

Hello! I seem to have acquired a bunch of new tumblr-radar related new followers today, so it would be remiss of me not to mention that I have a shop filled with prints you can buy (there’s a picture of them above).

Have a look - you can find it here at http://matttaylordraws.bigcartel.com

Gallery1988: we all know the score by now, right? Pop culture...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:17:04 +0000

Gallery1988: we all know the score by now, right? Pop culture artwork show originators, awesome events, etc. Good.

So no surprises, they’ve got an awesome show opening tomorrow night at their new Melrose location. The theme this time around is posters advertising ficitional products from movies, and seriously everything from Red Apple Cigarettes (from every Tarantino movie ever) to Oceanic Airlines (if I have to tell you, you don’t deserve to know) is represented alongside my contribution, Dapper Dan men’s pomade.

Once again screen printed by the wonderful Parliament of Feathers, this is a two color 11 x 14” screen print on heavyweight cream card. It will be available in an edition of 50 priced at a very reasonable $40. You will be able to pick it up at the show and then online at some point over the weekend.

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to produce a new piece of art...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:02:34 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to produce a new piece of art to be used in a series of prints to accompany the release of the new Tomb Raider game (which just came out this week).

Obviously I said yes because otherwise this would be a pretty meaningless blog post, and also: it’s Tomb Raider. Whatever you might think of the later games, if you’re my age (early thirties since you ask), you probably played the first games - and the overwhelming memory of making lara swan dive into pools/caves/etc informed my illustration.

You can find this print on sale at two pop up shops that are happening in NY & SF this weekend alongside pieces by a REALLY great roster of artists - Victo Ngai, Kyle Smart and Sam Wolfe Connelly amongst others.

See the full line up and read the press blurb over on the Tomb Raider facebook page here, and big thanks to AD Marc Scheff for involving me in the project!

a couple of years ago i did this portrait of Hemingway, which...

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:01:00 +0000

a couple of years ago i did this portrait of Hemingway, which seemed to be quite tumblr popular. i meant to revisit it at some point and do some other counter-culture and beat icons but never quite got around to it.

fast forward to this afternoon and I find myself with a few hours to kill waiting on client feedback and so do this. i think it turned out nice, and i would be even happier if i had remembered to save the file before i closed it. it’s a good job i took a decent hi-res screen shot before i did otherwise i would be fuming right now.

i have a list of more of these i might do, expect it to be about two more years til i get around to it…

If you would like this hanging on your wall, why not mosey on over to my web shop…

More to see on march 9th at @galleries1988 #gallery1988...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:38:27 +0000

More to see on march 9th at @galleries1988 #gallery1988 #productplacement #dapper

I really needed a break from my current project for an hour or...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:57:00 +0000

I really needed a break from my current project for an hour or two today and seeing as it’s Shrove Tuesday in the UK that would make it Fat Tuesday in the US, and thus Mardi Gras in some of the southernmost states, so here is a jazz trumpeteer.

Yup, it’s another post about those book covers. Sorry....

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:01:50 +0000

Yup, it’s another post about those book covers. Sorry. I’ll try and keep it brief.

Don’t get me wrong, I have loved doing them but its been a shame that I have yet to see any of them on the shelves (being of course, American editions, and me all the way over in the UK and not having visited the States for a fair old while). Luckily friends have snapped pictures but it’s not quite the same.

You can probably guess where this is going then - the lovely lovely folks at Penguin UK have decided that they should be used in the UK as well. Which means that sometime this spring (i think April, but don’t quote me on that), I will be able to go into my local Waterstones and see them on the shelves. Which I am over the moon about.

Expect exciteable tweets and tumbls when this happens.