Mat MacQuarrie

Art was my thing as a kid. I was really into comic books, creating my own worlds and characters. Knowing I could never write the next Spawn series, my works rarely progressed past their cover art.

As I got older, my influences directed towards art-rock. Onstage visuals were my favourite reference materials. Elaborate masks, war-paint, and rock fashion inspired a number of portraits throughout my high school days.

After highscool, I completed 4 years of art and design study at Georgian College earning my degree in graphic design. While studying at Georgian, I focused my attention on traditional illustration and web design. Immediately after my final class, I packed my things and moved to Montreal to see what the city had planned for me.

It's been three years since I moved to Montreal, and since then I've had a few different design positions. One in branding, another in web design. Both led to some exciting opportunities to grow as a designer, performing tasks I had no previous experience with. Today I am slowly building my studio, working on personal projects aimed to improve my talents as a designer.

Today I am inspirated by everyday life (TV shows, people, artwork, other designers). I read some select design blogs mostly to keep in contact with the online design community and to encourage designers I interact with. A peer's success is always very uplifting for me.

I also enjoy reading books on the metro (subway). Fiction and design are my two favourite genres. I try my best to rotate 2 design books and 1 fiction. I get just as much inspiration reading design nerd books as I do reading a good fiction story.

Cheers,