Rodney Matthews

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Rodney Matthews (2016)

Rodney Matthews (born July 6, 1945 in Paulton, Somerset , England ) is an English fantasy artist, illustrator and musician. He became known to a wider audience in 1978 through the illustrated book Yendor: The Journey of a Junior Adventurer . His representations of flora, fauna and technology, which are exaggerated into the unreal and often perceived as threatening, are striking. He created numerous record covers and illustrated well-known books, magazines and games in the fantasy genre. He has also worked on television and animation films.

Life

Matthews grew up in an artistically interested household; His father in particular was a draftsman and decorated the family home, mostly with large-format drawings of Walt Disney characters . In addition, his interest in music was aroused. Matthews spent his entire childhood in the country, where he was particularly concerned with observing wildlife. After graduating from high school in 1959, he was accepted into the West of England College of Art in Bristol , to which he had applied with a collection of pencil drawings. The training, which was based on commercial and advertising graphics, included graphic design, still life , nude painting and plant studies. He joined various bands such as Squidd and Cheetahs as a drummer and was able to achieve some respectable successes with them; among others he appeared in the early 1970s together with Manfred Mann , Cream , Slade and Wishbone Ash . However, his musical work did not attract more attention. In 1974 he discontinued to devote himself exclusively to painting, believing he was a better illustrator than a musician. He worked partly independently, partly as a graphic designer. From 1970 he ran the Plastic Dog design studio , which worked for the music industry, with former musician Terry Brace . In addition to smaller companies, it soon succeeded in gaining music labels and distributors such as MCA and United Artists Records as customers. In this context, Matthews' first album cover was created ( Amon Düül II , Live in London , published in 1973). When the fiction writer Michael Moorcock became aware of him in 1974 , he asked his publisher to use Matthews as preferred illustrator. The satirical novel " Elric at the End of Time" wrote Moorcock specifically for the illustrations Matthews'. Plastic Dog broke up as early as 1976 , as Matthews was completely absorbed by his work on record covers and posters.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Matthews designed the record covers of numerous bands, mostly from the hard rock and progressive rock spectrum. Since his commitment to the Christian religion , religious motifs have increasingly appeared in his work.

In the 1990s, Matthews took over work for the games industry, the computer game Shadow Master (distributed by Psygnosis ) was significantly shaped by him.

Matthews met the painter and illustrator Karin Drescher in 1978, whom he married soon after. In 1980 their son Yendor was born. The family moved to north Wales . Matthews' wife Karin passed away in 2009.

At the initiative of producer John Waterhouse, Squidd, one of Matthews' previous bands, reformed and recorded a music album of material from the early 1970s entitled Twice Upon a Time , which was released in 2003.

Works (selection)

Record cover

as well as for Thin Lizzy , Tygers of Pan Tang and others

Book illustrations

Movies

  • Flower Power (1999)
  • In the Beginning (1999)
  • The Magic Roundabout (2005)

Others

  • Shadow Master (computer game), published 1998
  • Between Earth and the End of Time (1999), interactive multimedia CD with Matthews' works and soundtrack by Rick Wakeman
  • Graphic and CGI design for Lavender Castle (1999–2000), a joint television production with Gerry Anderson

reception

The English comedian and author John Cleese is an avowed fan of Matthews. In his recommendation for the 2009 edition of Alice in Wonderland , published by Random House and illustrated by Matthews, he is quoted as saying:

"Rodney Matthews is widely recognized as one of the greatest artists."

- John Cleese : Random House of Canada website

Rock Hard magazine describes Matthews as an "artwork icon".

Web links

Rodney Matthews website

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History. Rodney Matthews, archived from the original on October 5, 2010 ; Retrieved July 25, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Rodney Matthews. British Film Institute , accessed March 5, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b c Menno von Brucken Fock: DPRP's Menno von Brucken Fock speaks to fantasy artist Rodney Matthews. Dutch Progressive Rock Page, 2009, accessed March 7, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Matthews on Inside Your Art. Retrieved July 25, 2014 .
  5. ^ Between Earth and the End of Time (1999). IMDb , accessed March 7, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Random House of Canada (archived on archive.org ), archived from the original on July 28, 2014 ; accessed on March 7, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Michael Rensen: Avantasia Reveals Rodney Matthews Cover. In: Rock Hard . February 5, 2013, accessed March 5, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Matthews, Rodney
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British painter and illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Paulton, Somerset , England