Today we are featuring an artist I’m genuinly jealous of not only for his artist skills to produce magnificent tee designs, but he is also an Englishman at heart who has made the jump to God’s green land. Matthew is a t-shirt designer originally from the UK who now lives in Canada.

Here we showcase the works of Fanboy30 who is also know as Matthew Parsons, he has a great array of works, with his ‘Portalmon’ tee design soon to be sold on Qwertee!

Check out Matthew on his Fanboy30 redbubble profile, on his personal facebook page and @fanboy30 on twitter to name but a few!

Below Matthew tells us a little bit more about himself, how his life evolved to be the artist he is today and more;

“Matthew J Parsons – 33 years old Englishan now living in Halifax NS, Canada. I have been drawing for as long as I can remember, for years I took it for granted that everyone could do it. It wasn’t until my art teacher took a valid interest in my talents and pushed me to specialize in painting at school. My ideas were always otherworldly and depicted anything from wizards, werewolves to comic book superheroes. My friends would get a buzz out of seeing them turned into X-men or dark mystical creatures.”

“My love for movies found me working in a cinema which I stuck at for nearly fifteen years moving up the ranks from an usher to a projectionist and later on the manager. The one screened 1930s theatre had the old fashioned circle (balcony) and stalls, we even did ice cream trays at intermissions with the staff wearing waistcoats and bow ties. I consumed hundreds of movies countless times over and even now I can recite dialogue from them without thinking, this is a talent I’m not that eager to share as you can imagine.”

“At the age of twenty five I applied for an Art Foundation course specializing in Photography. I continued for a further four years at University studying Design: Photography and graduated in 2006. My work gravitated back to my movie influences composing film stills from imaginary movies, the work was very successful and even got featured in the ‘British Journal of Photography’ as part of a competition.”

“After University I moved to Brighton because London was too expensive and I think I was naturally drawn to the ocean because I grew up in a sleepy coastal town in Devon. The two years I spent there were awesome, I met so many creative people who continue to inspire me today.”

“My journey then led me to Canada, a place I had always wanted to visit and upon holidaying in Nova Scotia I desperately wanted to come back. Luckily I was granted a work visa and during my time here applied for permanent residency. I have lived here now for three years and its in that time I have rediscovered my artistic talents. I set up a Red Bubble account and put a number of photos up for sale, it was a nice feeling when someone purchased a piece of work but I was never truly satisfied and saw most sales were coming from T-shirt designs.”

“I thought to myself “what the hell I can do that” so dug out the sketchbook and started doodling down my thoughts. My main problem at this time was I had no idea how to use Illustrator, but considering I mastered Photoshop by trial and error it wasn’t long before I had the basics figured out. To be honest I still have a lot to learn but its the challenge that makes this more exciting everyday.”

“My ideas mainly sit within pop culture and take inspiration from cartoons, film, video games and comics. There is a huge mash-up trend right now and I try my hardest to think of clever ways to combine genres and bring retro cartoon shows back to life in ways you might not expect.

“This isn’t an easy line or work, sometimes you lose your way but it only takes that winning idea to put you back on track. Each day there is a new idea screaming to get out and I never know how well it will be received but thats the risk you take.” – Matthew Parsons

Don’t Care Bear

“This particular bear was kicked out of Care-a-Lot. It seems not everyone gives a damn about caring and sharing. If he catches you staring for long you’ll get the finger.” Available for £17.01 on Redbubble

1 Up!

Available for £16.38 on Redbubble

Spaced Invader

“An iconic image from the late 70s this Space Invader comes in peace sporting vibrant rainbow colours.” Available for £15.12 on Redbubble

Portalmon

“Playing through Portal 2, I noticed that the round AIs (in particular, Wheatley) looked a lot like Pokéballs. A mash-up of the two games universes seemed natural. Gotta test ’em all!” Available for £16.38 on Redbubble

Cobra Punk

“Cobra Commander gets his da’funk on one more time!.. You can’t blame him, he is human after all.” Available for £16.38 on Redbubble

Check out Matthew on his Fanboy30 redbubble profile, on his personal facebook page and @fanboy30 on twitter.

You can also find Matthew on Tumblr ‘Tales of a Fanboy and as Fanboy30 on Qwertee.