Matt Phillips emanates a style that’s all his own. The paper collage artist (aka @mattattack426 on Instagram) has made a mark due to his hyper-imaginative, subtly surreal hand-made creations that expertly weave together analog (retro) and digital worlds. His bold collage designs will transport you to another world.
Matt’s mind-bending landscapes and dreamtastic layered artwork have led to collaborations with prominent artists like @mr.babies and motion artist work. Matt has also created eclectic and unique ad campaigns for brands like Gucci and Fender guitars.
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Matt’s Social Media Tips and Creative Insights
Learn more from Matt about how we got his first major boost on social media and where he finds inspiration for his fantastical collage art.
Where do you get inspiration for your designs?
I seek inspiration from all aspects of life, and especially landscape scenery. Whenever I travel, I pay attention to my surroundings to gather mental imagery to use later. I also gain inspiration from natural light and how it interacts with the landscape, which I then implement within my compositions.
What are your favorite image sources?
I like a retro-style feel to my images. My compositions are hand cut, physical, paper collages. I search thrift stores and garage sales for retro materials. I also enjoy taking my own photos, and have a huge library of my own photos that I print to cut.
What are the steps in your creative process?
I’ve always enjoyed thinking outside the box. It’s no different when I’m creating. I’m constantly thinking about otherworldly adventures and imagining what said places might resemble. When it’s time to create, my mental landscape is prepared.
I create all of my paper collages by hand. Sometimes I use a small precision blade to cut hard-to-reach areas, such as corners or the middle of images. However, I mostly use scissors. I’ve developed precision cutting skills that allow for crisp and clean edges. I like to use vintage physical sources such as magazines and books for my collages and I wear medical gloves while sifting through the pages. I flip through until something catches my eye. I do this same process for every layer and element that I use within my paper collages. I paste all of the layers together onto construction paper for the final composition.
When it comes to composition, I think in terms of layers. Depending on the final goal, I start with a foreground piece and then move to middle layers and set pieces. I merge set pieces that typically do not go together within the layers.
How you have grown your social media presence?
Collaborating with other artists helped elevate my social media presence. For instance, @mr.babies is a huge inspiration in the paper collage community. In 2017 he took me under his wing and shared our collaborations and my account grew exponentially. Other meaningful collaborations with artists I greatly admire have included @jessetreececollage, @chadknight, @andrew_mcgranahan, and @egenia_loli.
When it comes to hashtags, they’re a bit of a mystery still. Initially, I didn’t realize that there’s an art to making and sustaining the right hashtags. I tend to stick to niche hashtags that contain elements of the post.
As for posting and cultivating my community, my followers are more active in the evenings, I noticed. Therefore, I don’t post much during the day, especially on weekends. In my mind, people have less time to spend on social media during the weekend. Especially if they are active users throughout the business week. My main goal with my Instagram account is to share my art and hopefully make an impact with the viewer.
