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Rodney
Matthews

born in XX century

Biography and information

Rodney Matthews (Rodney Matthews, b. July 6, 1945, Poulton, North Somerset, England). Artist, illustrator, designer and musician. Works in the style of grotesque surrealism, is widely known for the original numerous works in the genre of fiction and fantasy.

The main themes of creativity: illustrates science fiction, fantasy, fairy tales, participates in the development of children's animation and computer games, draws up album covers for musicians. It has a bright recognizable style: bizarre animals, alien landscapes and surreal technique, characteristic elements, plus the "seasoning" in the form of good irony, humor. The images combine grotesque images of monsters, fantastic landscapes, alien creatures and technology with some naive or caricature. He pays a lot of attention to a detailed re-creation of both amusing and frightening flora and fauna. Several “unnatural” colors, an abundance of sharp lines and angles, contrasting transitions in combination with thoughtful images invite the viewer to dive deeper into the atmosphere of the illustrated scenes.

Work examples: "Rivendell", "Not a weak town" (Nazareth), "Inverted Landscapes", "Bag of Zodang", "Walrus and carpenter".

Matthews grew up in the countryside and from childhood was fond of nature, set up his own menagerie. Children's observations and hobbies had a strong influence on his work, the key in which was the creation of fabulous animals and plants. Graduated from the Art College in Bristol. He played in a rock band and later designed more than 130 music albums, including for the Rolling Stones, Nazareth, Asia, and musicians such as Rick Wakeman. He performed hundreds of drawings in watercolors, ink, gouache, acrylic and ten times more in pencil. Leading illustrator of Michael Moorcock's works, André Norton, also illustrated "Alice in Wonderland" Lewis Carroll.

The creator of the concepts of a number of computer games, incl. Shadow Master and Haven: Call of the King. Participates in the development of children's television shows and animation. Recognized as one of the best illustrators and graphic designers in the world of fantasy, fairy tales and science fiction.

The author: Victoria Volkova