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

Alright, Matthew thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I attended University of Colorado, Boulder and graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts Media Production, a minor in Technology, Art & Media and a certificate in Music Technology. This college experience and degree really helped lay the foundation and get me started in learning both music production and graphic design. However, since this degree was not a technical degree, my skill set still needed to be improved after graduating. Most of what I have learned since graduating has been from friends teaching me on their own or through videos, forums and posts on the internet. This is where I was really able to hone my skills in the direction that I wanted to take them and really learn the fine, technical details of the craft. Being able to choose exactly what you want to learn about through the internet helps push you forward in the direction that you are interested in and speed up the learning process. This is the time where I felt that my skills quickly grew and reached a professional standpoint that I’m still learning and working on today.

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?

My business that I run is all currently housed under the “Mellisan” name. There’s the music side, where I produce, release and perform live under. Then there’s the design side where I specialize in Art Direction, 3D Renders and Web Developing. I think I’m known for my adaptability with my design, being able to work for a wide variety of clients and styles of work, along with being able to provide a large amount of value to clients through the breadth of skills that I have.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I think that Youtube is the most important resource for an entrepreneur and creative in current time. It’s a never ending fountain of knowledge where other people can show you how they run their business or give you a tutorial on a new program you’re learning or design style. I’ve learned the most about my business and creative process from just watching tutorials on how to create things on Youtube. I owe such a large portion of my design skills to all the random people that show you how to make a graphic in a specific style or how to model a tree in a 3D software on Youtube. There’s nothing you can’t learn from Youtube.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is simply just being able to make something new every day. The whole reason I do all the things that I do is simply because I enjoy making stuff. It’s so satisfying to be able to have a completed project that shows what you’ve been doing with your time and being able to express yourself through the work that you create.

Contact Info:

• Website: mellisan.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/mellisanmusic
• Twitter: twitter.com/mellisanmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC04ohOMsxiOygkvb_h6UD9A

Image Credits
Tory Powers, Connor Flynn