Conversations with Mandy Matthews

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandy Matthews.

Hi Mandy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I grew up in a small town called Thatcher, Arizona. I grew up drawing all over everything, leaving no paper blank. It made me realize that this was what I wanted to do but had always heard the old “you can never make money with your art” warning.

Undeterred, I went to school for graphic design at the community college down there (Eastern Arizona College) and loved what I learned and was doing, so I then went to Brigham Young University-Hawaii where I feel like is where I really honed in on my personal style. After graduating, I made sure that I didn’t fall into taking a random job out of my field, I reached out to dozens of design studios cold, telling them they wanted to hire me.

I got really lucky though some freelancing as well as referred to a small design company where I got to get my dip my feet into the real world of graphic design. I am now a full-time graphic designer at ReThinc Advertising in the Phoenix area which has opened the door to cool opportunities, like creating a poster for the Phoenix Film Festival.

It’s been fun to see where life has taken me, and I’m excited to see where I’ll go next.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was not smooth- when I first switched from going to my community college to a university, I had originally gotten into a different university before BYU-Hawaii and I absolutely HATED the program. It made me question everything- was I any good at design/art, is this really the path for me, etc.

It was so clinical and ruthless, implying the only way you could succeed in this field is by having no other life or interests and being so strict on the “rules” that it sucked out all fun and creativity. That just wasn’t what art and design were to me. I took a break from school to figure things out, which felt scary. But soon I heard about the design program at BYU-Hawaii and it sounded like what I always thought Graphic Design to be, so I jumped on it and am forever grateful for it.

Other hardships arose after graduation. You feel so ready to stop doing theoretical projects and start doing real things, but you forget that you then have to go out and actually convince people to hire you. It took a while, reaching out to studios, getting rejected, freelancing to make it by but barely making a dime, making passion projects you hope will beef up your portfolio.

But when you do finally land somewhere, I think you can appreciate the struggle. If you hadn’t put in all that work, you wouldn’t be where you are now.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Although I do Graphic Design in a professional setting, I’d say I’m more of an illustrator at heart. I absolutely love to draw and create characters and little worlds. I work mostly digital, but love branching out into other mediums like acrylic paints. What I really like and I feel like makes my art my own is that I am constantly drawing inspiration from the desert landscape.

I had a humbling moment a handful of years ago because growing up here I felt like the desert was brown, lifeless, and honestly ugly. But after living in Hawaii, which is beautiful in a whole other way, I began to see how unique the desert is. It has lived in a different way than most other places, it’s hidden and precious. I also feel like the desert can hold so many secrets and I let my imagination find what they could possibly be. But I also find inspiration from movies and stories- I like to reinterpret them and discover other avenues that weren’t pursued.

What could the characters look like or maybe I build on their adventures? At the moment, I’m feeling really proud of a mural I got to do in my hometown. It’s the first one I’ve had the chance to do, thanks to another wonderful artist named Brandt Woods for suggesting me.

I was given the direction that it was a women-empowerment piece that was going to say “Babes Support Babes” and they wanted a cactus that looked like the “Rock On” hand gesture, but other than that I was let loose to create how I wanted it. I messed with a few ideas, but finally landed on the one that became the final design used, but before it was approved I was scared they were going to hate it.

I tend to create things that are very bold and wouldn’t be considered traditionally “effeminate” I guess, and being this is a piece for females, I was worried it wouldn’t work for them. But they loved it and thus I got to put my blood, sweat, and tears into a mural that felt true to me.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I have so many wonderful people to thank- my family who always made my pursuits in art not only feel valid but like it was good and important.

All my wonderful teachers- Dawn Woods, Kenny Rhodes, Jihae Kwon, and Robert McConnell, all wonderful inspirations who helped me cultivate my best parts. I’m grateful for my crew at ReThinc who allow me to do what I love and avoid living on the streets.

And I’m very grateful for my husband, Caleb who not only loves and encourages me but makes sure I get the time and resources to keep progressing.

Contact Info:

• Email: mkmatthews55@gmail.com
• Website: https://mkmatthews55.wixsite.com/averageanomaly
• Instagram: @average.anomaly
• Tiktok: @average.anomaly

Image Credits
Zack Placencia