Howdy from Chicago!
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I'm Mat, I'm an illustrator from Chicago, and I'm aiming to work in kidlit on picture books and the like. I'm approaching 30 and I've been drawing since I was a kid and I want so badly to break into illustration. I love it deeply as a craft and felt like my work was lacking. I decided to do something dramatic and try to rebuild my whole skill set. So I joined up with SVS and am trying to make this illustration thing finally happen.
Over the years I've worked on video games (it's not as cool as it sounds!), I've worked at a couple product manufacturing companies as a low-paid graphic designer in Illinois. And recently I wrapped up work on illustrating a book for a self-publishing author that I'm super proud of! My goal for signing up is to improve my work to the point where I am consistently happy with it, and in the end land my first paying gig with a "real" publisher.
In my free time I love games and film, I've got a dog named Vivi who is adorable, and I'm trying to get back in shape since I've been dealing with Long Covid symptoms since last year.
Anyway, you can see my work on my personal site: matdraws.com
More of my stuff on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/matschelsky/
Any feedback is more than welcome!
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The first image seems a bit out of place style-wise but Iām loving all the rest especially the swinging t-Rex! Good work and welcome!
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Hello fellow Illinoisan! Welcome and congratulations on illustrating your first book. That's a huge accomplishment.
All of your work looks really good. Hope you go far! -
@Asyas_illos Thanks! The first one is a new production oriented process I was working on. I've been trying to decide between which I like working in better. Thanks for the feedback!
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@KathrynAdebayo Thanks so much! What area are you from? I'm literally in Chicago now, but I'm originally from the northwest suburbs!
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Hi Mat,
Its great to learn more about you! I really like the images from the Sleepy Dinosaur book you illustrated! If you haven't checkout out the foundations curriculum, its a great place to start boosting your skills. If you have any questions or need any help with your SVSLearn membership please let me know!
