Biography

Matt grew up in the Sussex countryside in a village called Steyning. Since graduating from Central St. Martin's College of Art & Design Matt works as an illustrator based in London and has illustrated for clients such as Drink in Brighton, Nokia and Penguin Books. Matt has been illustrating for The Guardian newspaper since May 2007, producing monthly drawings for the sport section. He uses pencil, pen and ink to create his drawings that have a humorous almost cartoon style but often have thought provoking surreal undertones, his work has been described by clients as 'technically charming'. Matt is represented in the UK by Jelly London.

 
Exhibitions

BJL, Art & Advertsing - The Lowry, Manchester
Joshua G2, Winter exhibition- Company offices, London
DRAW - London, Tokyo, Berlin, San Francisco, L.A.
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO - Company offices, London
180 things I hate about you - Dazed gallery, London
Jelly London exhibition - Coningsby Gallery, London

The Festivity - Hat on wall bar gallery, London

 
Selected Clients
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Accept & Proceed
BMB London
British Cycling
BT
Dazed & Confused
Chronicle Books
Evian
Ford Ka
Harper Collins
John Brown Publishing
Love Food Hate Waste
McCann Erickson
Nickelodeon
 

Nokia
Oxford University Press
Penguin Books
Red Bulletin
Redwood Publishing
Richmond Publishing
River Cottage
Seamless Recordings
The Carbon Trust
The Guardian
Wall's Sausages
Wieden + Kennedy
Whole Earth Foods
Wunderman

 
Influences, inspiration and things I like

Everyday life, funny things that I see, strange experiences, things that annoy me, odd characters, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Futurama, crap television, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, Frankie Boyle, Mark and Jeremy from Peepshow, The League of Gentlemen, Funland, Bottom, River Cottage, Shepards pie, short stories by Jeremy Dyson, Asterix comics, Agent Arthur puzzle books, Roald Dahl books, comics, eating, football, the news, drunk people, Rick Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, those pointless funny little articles in The Sun (located just over halfway through) about things like... 'England's fattest cat', the Countryside, real ale, watching Arsenal, going running, Wildlife documentaries, Beer pump badges...

 
Books my drawings are in
 
Matt Johnstone | Articles Of Faith
 

Title
Articles of Faith

Author
Russell Brand

Publisher
Harper Collins

 

 
Matt Johnstone | The big book of illustration ideas 2
 

Title
The big book of illustration ideas 2

Author
Roger Walton

Publisher
Harper Collins

 

 
Matt Johnstone | YCN book 08/09

Title
YCN book 08/09

Author
YCN

Publisher
YCN

 
Matt Johnstone | YCN book 08/09


Title
The Sourcebook of Contemporary Illustration

Authors
Yaiza Nicolas, Andres Gonzalez Fernandez, Alessandro Zanchetta

Publisher
Maomao publications