On a Facebook Star Wars fan page, I was recently asked to contribute to their ongoing “getting to know Star Wars sketch card artists” posts. These go up roughly once a week, and it is spearheaded by Ashley Marsh who is a fabulous artist herself. As the questions she posed me and the responses I gave are going to be posted on a private Facebook page, I thought perhaps I would share it on my website as well. I only have a small blurb on my about page that tells you about who I am, and otherwise I really only post about whatever new art project I worked on. So I thought this might be a little different reading material on my website!
Getting to know… me?
The below is written by Ashley Marsh, based off information I had previously sent her.
Today’s artist spotlight is on Matthew Stewart! Matthew has always been drawn to comics, science fiction, and fantasy based genres so seeing star wars on tv as a kid naturally sparked a love for this galaxy far, far away. As an adult, he has become quite the collector, with a current collection of over 9,000 comic books and an extensive library of archaeology books! His star wars collection has a focus more on Sabine, Ahsoka, and fett. He also collects the trading cards, picking up a box from the local shop or base sets from fellow group members when he can. When he has the chance, he tries to grab autos too and even met Carrie Fisher a few years back at the Expo and has a signed photo from her with the quote “Matt, you’re my only hope”.
Matthew’s first Topps entertainment set was 2015 Revenge of the Sith Wide Vision (above) and he’s now about to work on his 35th Star Wars set! He has also worked on other licensed sets for Topps, including GPK, Stranger Things, and Walking Dead. In 2018, Matthew was invited into the sports products for Topps, both UFC and MLB lines, with some of his work being produced as base cards.
He doesn’t have a favorite character to draw, but given the choice would definitely lean more to the mandalorians, especially fett and Sabine.
Matthew can work in many mediums, including traditional gouache, copics, pencil crayons, and acrylics. He is able to switch between them all depending on the subject to capture the style and feeling he is trying to convey. For comic book style he usually uses copics or a set of Japanese poster paints that are super vibrant. For portraits, copics with pencil, crayons, or gouache. If he’s doing scenery and wants a more painterly feel, acrylics. Looking through his portfolio to prep for this spotlight, it’s very obvious he has a talent for constructing unique compositions and works seamlessly through his different mediums. I also admire that even in his realistic portrait work, he still brings in bold colors that really gives them warmth, life, and another dimension.
Outside of the topps world, Matthew has other projects, like a comicbook for Tongue In Cheek Comics called “Noble Bull” in addition to two of his own stories. He also working on his own trading card set that is scheduled to be finished this summer so be on the lookout for that announcement and kickstarter!
Next time:
A big thank you goes out to Ashley Marsh for organizing this and including me! Please check her art out on Instagram, @ashleymarsh_0188
Next week I will be posting a similar interview that I had with fellow trading card artist Jim Dickson. I hope you click follow on my website so you can check it out!