Exhibit

Welcome to the part of the magazine where we show how fellow artists are pushing the boundaries of the Photoshop software. If you want to show off your incredible work, get in touch now

Matt Herring

Get your work featured

If you have some work that you’d like to share with other readers, send it in to us and you could be featured on these pages. Just pop your images onto a CD and send to: Exhibit Photoshop Creative Imagine Publishing Richmond House 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth, Dorset BH2 6EQ, UK Alas, we can’t return any CDs. ondon-based illustrator, L Matt Herring, originally lectured at Middlesex University before taking commissions for his silkscreen/collage work. He’s been working digitally for the past eight years and has adopted the Photoshop software as his weapon of choice.

“Photoshop was a natural progression from my more traditional print-making background. It enables me to layer images and type to create texture and depth.” Matt’s layered, photomontage style has seduced many clients over the years, including Nike, British Airways, The Guardian and Virgin Airlines. The speed of the software means he can get what he needs to get done quickly, which is vital.

“With the type of work I do, time is usually the most important and also the most restricting factor,” he explains. The gift of working digitally is that Matt can build up a montage in the blink of an eye, using specifi c tools for the job.

“Tools like the Lasso and Magic Wand allow me to quickly extract images and colours from a variety of sources and manipulate them into a unique collage,” he says. But even with the expanse of tools available to him, he is very careful about falling into a ‘me too’ state of mind, and Matt’s approach to digital software is a refreshing one. ”I tend to steer clear of most of the Photoshop fi lters and plug-ins. You can usually tell an image that has been ‘over fi lter’ from a hundred paces. My tip for any budding Photoshop user would be to try and manipulate an image from start to fi nish without using a single fi lter.

“For me the most important thing to remember when producing digital art is that the software you use is just a tool, there’s no substitute for strong ideas, sound composition, sympathetic colour choice and contemporary styling. It can’t be overstated how important it is as a commercial artist to keep a close eye on fashion and trends within popular culture; this will allow you to evolve and develop your style to suit the environment in which it’ll be seen.”

This keen eye for what’s going outside of his studio also contributes to Matt’s working practices. He fi nds inspiration in many places, and is a keen hoarder of bits and pieces that

Here’s Health

This was a piece for a women’s health magazine which ran with a feature entitled ‘being good is bad for you’ this is a very good example of how you can retouch or recolour a black and white image to create vastly differing effects.

may come in useful. “I always take a camera with me wherever I go to snap anything that might pop up of interest,” he says. “My own library of images that I’ve collected over the years of old Fifties magazine cuttings or pieces of discarded print, always serve as inspiration for my new work.”

If Matt’s work here has inspired you, pay a visit to his site at www.mattherring.com and see what else is in his portfolio.

Exhibition piece

This was an image created for an exhibition at my agent’s gallery. The piece aimed to give a fl avour of all my work in one piece. Smooth lines, photographic elements, vectors and strong graphic shapes all combined.

NOTES | OUR EXHIBIT PAGES ARE OPEN TO EVERYONE, NOT JUST PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL ARTISTS. GO ON, HAVE A GO

ALL IMAGES (C) MATT HERRING

Exhibit

Radio Times

I get a lot of work like this from newspapers and magazine, where the client supplies the characters and I have to create an environment within which they sit. Each photo is tonally broken down and reconfi gured so each shot sits harmoniously together; the extraneous elements tie the fi gures together in a tight composition.

NOTES | FUTURE ISSUES OF PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO ACHIEVE THESE EFFECTS

Larousse

This was a pitch piece. The brief was to design the new front cover for Larousse, the famous French encyclopaedia. Each year the image is based around their logo, a woman spreading the seeds of knowledge and blowing a dandelion. The challenge was to incorporate the fi gure with elements to give a fl avour of the book’s contents.

Sniff Sniff

One of eight images I produced for the Virgin Atlantic in-fl ight magazine, 21st birthday edition. The theme was 1984 so all the images needed that Eighties feel! This image ran in the perfume section stating ‘forget the hair spray, buy the lady in your life perfume x.’ The whole magazine had a satirical slant of course. Tough but a fun job to work on.