We recently connected with Matthew Collins and have shared our conversation below.

Matthew, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been fortunate enough to turn a childhood hobby into a full-time career. Growing up I was never a great student, I was either sleeping in class or doodling in my notebook. But, I was always been interested in all things art and design; whether that was watching cartoons/anime, laughing at old movie special effects, listening to music, or even just observing family members draw. It seemed like it was the one thing that could hold my attention. Going into college I was directionless and couldn’t really find what I truly wanted to pursue. I thought about going into biology, teaching, electrician, HVAC, and any other options you could dream up. When all else failed I found myself back at art and design.

I dove head first into all things graphic design and illustration. Throughout the process of learning the required skills, I was lucky enough be hired for a few short term jobs ranging from illustration work for local breweries, social media ads for small start-ups, and a lot of fun holiday commissions. These experiences built the skills I needed to head out into the real world and find full-time work where I have now bounced around from production teams, tech start-up, publication agencies, and corporate marketing teams. All of the opportunities have opened doors to the next.

Making connections and building relationships is almost as important as the art itself. Find your people and the work will find you. And most importantly, just say yes.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I got into the industry by accident. I was directionless, but always drew growing up. I downloaded a free version adobe illustrator one day just to mess around and create some fake logos. My cousin was in the process of creating a brewery and needed a logo to go along with his brand. At this time I knew nothing about logo design or branding, but it was an opportunity I could not pass up. I tried my best and it turned out to be an absolute mess on the screen. Somehow, my cousin loved in and printed it on his first set of glass bottles.

This gave me the confidence to continue creating logos and other small branding assets. At this point I thought graphic design was just logo design, but after getting into to the design program at my college it opened my eyes to how much more you can do with both graphic design and illustration. After gaining some real world experience post-grad, I have always fallen back to my roots of branding. Using both traditional graphic design and digital illustration skills, I have had the amazing opportunity to work with companies to help with internal branding, client branding, email/marketing design, and my personal favorite… editorial illustration.

I am most proud of my illustrations whether it is for a commission or just for fun. Illustration can provide so much emotion and context to complex ideas. You have the power to change the way people think about certain topics.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Networking. Meeting other artists and designers have been my biggest source of new clients. Working in the design industry can be extremely hard and cut-throat, but having a support network around you of great people makes it all worth it. They are there to support you and also help you find work when need. In my past few roles I have been referred by fellow designers and I has been a much easier process than trying to find your way alone.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

The power of Youtube. There are unlimited free art and design resources that you can use. You can learn how to paint with oils, draw digitally, code websites, design logos, or even play the guitar all for free. My friends and I like to call it Youtube University because you can learn more stuff from a 30 minute video than you do in a full semester of school.

Take full advantage of any free resources you can find.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mattcollins.xyz/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matt.collins/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-collins-894127150/