I recently had my very first interview with FKN-Famous Magazine about my graphics. I want to re-post it here on my site so everyone can check it out. Click here for the official post.
Designers Name: Matthew Garner
City/State: Oakley, Bay Area, California
Websites: www.mattggfx.com
So tell us a little bit about yourself?
-My name is Matthew Garner and I am a 21 year old graphic designer from The Bay Area, California. I have been designing just for about a year and a half and I have done work for or with Wiz Khalifa, Drake, Wale’s Entertainment Group, Detail, Tyga, Soulja Boy, Akon and many more. I have not gone to school yet for what I am doing, I have actually self taught myself everything and I have gotten myself out there decently with not much experience under my belt. I am hoping to be a big factor in the future!
What inspired you to start in graphic designing?
-What inspired me was the deadly mix of what music and art can do together. I would always catch myself critiquing mix-tape, album covers, flyers, and layouts of my favorite main stream and bay area artists. After seeing quite a few of my favorite artists in the bay area coming out with great themed albums and mix-tapes ideas with no follow through on the covers I decided I needed to get involved. I figured my artistic, creative, and highly imaginative mind would hopefully come into play.
Is there anything that sets you differently from others out there?
-Creativity, imagination, drive, positivity and age. I am not good at selling myself with words; I sell myself with my artwork. There are a lot of “designers” with big mouths. They talk-talk-talk about their work, but the work has no follow through. My work does the talking, if you need anything along the lines of design hit me up and you will see what I mean.
Were there any hard challenges you had to face in the industry?
-I would say one of the biggest challenges, especially with working with more well known people is miscommunication. Usually I am not talking to the artist directly; it’s either a manger or assistant. That makes it a lot harder because I’m going through management to get what the artist wants instead of the artist directly which makes projects take longer. Another challenge is the equipment that I have; I do all my designing off a laptop, it’s not a bad laptop but I need a nice set up with two nice, big screens and tons of RAM to create larger files and sizes for distribution.
What ways have you found was the best way to promote yourself?
-Through social media sites, especially Twitter. I would say 95% of my promoting comes from Twitter. I have grinded my way to over 116,000 followers on there. Don’t think I bought my followers or cheat either, I do everything manually which takes time, but it’s worth it. With that amount of followers I am able to post and show everyone my work and get a good amount of comments on what I am doing and build from them. Basically, when I post my work I take in ways to make my work better and more professional with responses to them on Twitter.
What would be your craziest designs you’ve done?
-The craziest design I have even done….hmm. I would have to say that my all time favorite and truly craziest design that I have ever done would be something that is not yet out to public. I know that sounds like a copout but let me just say it is an album/mix-tape design for Detail, who if you didn’t know is one of the producers of Lil Wayne’s The Carter 4 and the producer of Lil Wayne’s single “How To Love.” It is not just a cover and a simple background with some cool effects; it has intricate details not only on him physically but in every single aspect of what’s behind him. Another design that I like a lot is a recreation I did of Lil Wayne’s “Sorry 4 the Wait,” I have gotten 100% positive feedback on it!
Are there any goals that you would like to achieve?
-I have two goals at the moment. The first major goal that I would like to achieve would be to get signed to a company or even better a well known record company, that way I would be able to make a living doing something I love. The second major goal and even more so, a personal goal of mine is to make a movie poster for a blockbuster movie. When I say blockbuster movie I mean making a movie poster for something as big and well known as ‘Avatar 2.’
What can we expect from you in the future?
-Hopefully a lot. I have gone from doing free MySpace layouts for local artists to doing work for or with people like I have already mentioned before, along with doing movie posters for independent film companies in New York and Los Angeles. Besides graphic design I would also like to pursue shooting music videos, creating special effects for music videos and movies, and even get into photography if I can get around to getting the right gear. After I get my Associates Degree from the community college I’m at now, I would like to go to an Art Academy and get Bachelors in Design.
What do you think of FKN Famous & how did you hear about us?
-Swag! I know that is an overused word nowadays but it has that type of feel and look. It’s also ‘real,’ meaning the material is not just copied and pasted. On top of that it has a little bit of everything on it as well which brings in a bigger more diverse audience. I heard of the site when I saw a link to a post you guys did of a clothing line that I had on my website.
Any last shout outs?
-I would like to shout out everyone that supports me, my clothing sponsors, all the people that have referenced me, and all the people that continue coming back to me for every project they have. That’s one of the things that show promise for me, personally the most. Everyone I have worked with always says very nice things about me and always comes back to me for more work!
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