Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Matthew Allen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Matthew, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I’ve been earning a full-time living from my creative work since I graduated from college, but the groundwork was being laid long before then. I often say that an opportunity isn’t an opportunity if you aren’t prepared to take advantage of it. My creative career has been marked by great opportunities, but my hard work prior has enabled me to capitalize on them. As the creative market has changed, doors have closed, and new doors have opened. When these changes have occurred I have been prepared to adapt to them.

I leaned into my creative talents my senior year of high school after an epileptic seizure resulted in a major lifestyle change. Unable to drive or surf I had to find other ways to spend my time. I channeled my love of surfing into my pursuit of artistic expression. I was enthralled with surf culture and almost immediately started to reach out to surf companies to see if I could design t-shirts for them. After the final exam of my first ever graphic design class in junior college I was working on a design for a local company when a classmate saw my work, and approached me to design for a new company that he was starting. He and I eventually became partners in a t-shirt brand called The Ryde that I worked on through college and for a few years after. Through that newfound friend, and friends that I met through him, I heard about a job opening at Surfer Magazine. The work I had done for The Ryde helped me to land an assistant art director job at Surfer. I continued to work on The Ryde and spent my 20’s working 2 jobs. During the day I designed for Surfer and at night I designed for The Ryde.

I worked my way up to art director at Surfer, eventually redesigning the entire magazine as The Ryde grew. After nearly 5 years doing 2 jobs I was ready to start a new chapter and we sold The Ryde to Swell.com. I left Surfer and focused all of my creative energies on The Ryde. A few years later we were sold to surf industry giant Billabong, and I learned on the job how to design cut and sew clothing and grow our brand. When the economy hit a downturn Billabong executives made some poor decisions and The Ryde was shut down.

Despite the poor job market I turned down multiple job opportunities in favor of pursuing a career in freelance illustration. I used the portfolio I had built through my work on The Ryde and sent emails to large brands. My first few jobs were for Crate and Barrel, Food and Wine Magazine, Clorox, and Pottery Barn. These jobs helped me to realize that I could make it in this new path.

During this time I also invested more time in making and selling my own art. Selling art prints and taking time to explore new directions with my art.

In pursuing these new paths I was somewhat naively starting two new small businesses. I had to learn how to run them in a profitable way, setting prices that would allow me to make a living making art without overtaxing myself.

Over time my illustration work has waxed and wained as trends have changed. Much of my early work was hand lettering illustrations, but I’ve had to adapt as hand drawn fonts have cut into that income source. Now more of my illustration work is image based.

My fine art business has continued to grow, and as it grew I transitioned from printing and shipping my work to outsourcing the printing, and drop shipping. That required me to find vendors that I could trust and adjust my pricing so that my margin was adequate for me to make money on the sales.

The pandemic was great for art sales, but most of my illustration work dried up. Fortunately I started doing art direction for Thalia Surf. That relationship has grown from project based work to a monthly retainer, as my responsibilities have grown.

As you can see my ability to make a full time living as a creative has hinged on my ability and willingness to change with the changing times and opportunities. I’ve maintained multiple income sources and that has allowed me to adapt. The work I have created has continued to open new doors, and as a result, I have been prepared to walk through them. Now my days consist of making fine art, creating for Thalia Surf, and taking on compelling freelance projects. I keep learning and my creative mediums span from block printing to photography, rotoscope animation to video work, art directing fashion photo shoots to designing t-shirts and even consulting work. The changing outputs allow me to rest on certain mediums while staying creatively inspired with new projects.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In my creative career I have worn a number of hats, from Art Director for Surfer Magazine, to owner and creative director for The Ryde clothing. My current work spans across a number of mediums as I pursue a fine art career and work as the freelance Art Director for Thalia Surf.

My work for Thalia Surf involves consulting on business operations, designing t-shirts and putting together artist collaborations, designing marketing assets and art directing fashion photo shoots, shooting photos and creating short films, and working on brand collaborations with companies like Vans.

My fine art hinges on creating space for making art that reflects my source of inspiration. Rather than sticking with one set style across multiple ideas I suit the style to the concept. I continuously learn new mediums to stay inspired. Much of my work involves block printing, both on vintage sails and fabrics and hand made Japanese papers. I dabble in painting, rotoscope animation and filmmaking. I shoot 35mm film surf photos when the conditions align. I also sell giclée prints of my art, which provides the passive income that creates space for my fine art pursuits.

I’m most proud of my relationships with my nephews and some of my friend’s kids. Being an awesome uncle is so fulfilling for me. I also am involved with donating time and money towards the lives of foster children. As an artist I am proud of my ability to adapt as my opportunities have changed and the times I have been able to help other artists with the knowledge I have gained on operating a thriving art business.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Early in my artistic journey other, more established, artists in my industry felt threatened by the work I was creating. Some of the work was in the same genre as the work they were making. I always felt I was expressing myself in my own unique way but our inspiration seemed to be stemming from similar sources, and at some point, they had been inspirational to me. They felt the work I was making was too similar to what they were doing. As a young artist I was learning as I went, and I can understand their feelings, but their reaction was to try to stifle my artistic path and eliminate my ability to pursue art as a career. As more established artist they leveraged their influence to keep me out of shops, away from brands, and even to threaten my job at Surfer Magazine. This behavior still carries on many years later. It has been a struggle to continue on, never knowing who they have spoken ill of me to. Social situations become more difficult when I feel others are hesitant to interact with my either because they think poorly of me or feel threatened to associate with me for fear of the wrath of the artists who dislike me. I have realized that all I can control is who I am and the way that I treat people. If someone thinks poorly of me because of things someone else has said, I can’t control that. But I can control how I treat them and the way that I conduct myself. This experience has also compelled me to act with grace when someone creates work that seems a little too similar to something I have created. I realize that they are on an artistic journey and try to simply be flattered that they are inspired by the work that I do. It has also been a hard lesson in forgiveness and loving your enemies. I would like to reconcile with the artists who dislike me, and have attempted to repair those relationships with out success.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the ability I am afforded to live a balanced and organic lifestyle. My days and schedule are rarely set. I can adapt to the changing ocean conditions to surf when the waves are good, and create when the time is right. As an introvert, I thrive working on my own. I get recharged working in my studio and have great energy for people when I venture out.

Contact Info:

• Website: matthewallenart.com
• Instagram: mattallen_art

Image Credits
Lauren Audrey Turek, Lauryn Alvarez