Matt Richards started his career designing and developing products for the fashion industry. Now, as a freelance artist, Matt spends most of his time with his pencil in hand as a master illustrator. His talents have taken him all over the world and in so many directions. As he says, “I enjoy the fact that there are many strings to my bow, it keeps things interesting.” That’s one of my favorite quotes for an artist, ever.

There is an incredible range to his illustrations. For instance, the above print is from a project he did for Ted Baker. Called A Baker’s Dozen,  Matt was invited to  create a exclusive limited edition print that was only available at Ted Baler boutiques. I’m loving the 50′s vibe, mostly because I’m a Westfalia junkie.

Thankfully, Matt has also made some of his work available in his own web shop. Here are a few must-see prints:

In my continual quest to get to know the artists I admire better, I asked Matt a few questions and he was gracious enough to answer:

1. What inspired you to began your collection?

I’m a professional illustrator by trade so it was a logical decision to offer some of my art online.

2. Can you name a favorite source of inspiration?

Couldn’t say I’ve got a favorite as I use so many, I follow tons of blogs, and there’s Pinterest, books and magazines but more importantly, my home city (London) has always something interesting to offer. Traveling to new places offers a new perspective to things that the locals may find mundane. So if I had to say one thing, it would be getting away from the desk!

3. What materials do you love to use?

A lot of my work is done digitally but my sketchbooks and pencils always start an idea off.

4. Do you have a dream collaborator?

Wow that’s a tough one! To be honest, I feel that most commercial briefs that I work on are collaborations as there is always a dialogue with the client to achieve the end goal. As for my personal work, perhaps creating something with an animator would be interesting.

5. When you need a musical muse, who do you turn the volume up for?

I have a record collection of 1000, all genres, all ages. I used to put on boat parties on the River Thames going past all the sites in London so there is plenty of music to listen to in the studio. Having said that, I always love discovering new music, via Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or good old fashioned Radio – In the UK we have BBC 6 Music that is always worth a listen too. Tim Sweeny’s Beats in Space broadcasted out of New York is worth a mention as is our home grown Hospital Records podcast if you like Drum & Bass.

6. How do you use social media/blogging to promote your work?

I tend to keep my own blog solely for updates on my own work, but I have work on a lot of online portfolios: Behance, Cloroflot, Illustration Mundo, Creative Finder. Then there is my Facebook page, Pinterest, Google+ and I use Twitter a fair amount too.

7. Where do you see your shop/project going?

At some stage I’d like to move into offering some product, there are a few ideas in the pipeline, it’s just a question of funding the development and of course, timing!