I wouldn’t say there is a specific process that I follow when creating my drawings. Over the years however, I have probably developed certain skills and ways of doing things with my art which makes it quite unique and has allowed me to greatly improve.

I use a slightly textured, acid free 200g paper called Fabriano Academia for all my originals

My prints are printed on a 350gsm bright white, smooth Colortec paper. This uncoated paper provides a lovely finish for both black & white and colour prints and helps to accentuate all the small details in my drawings

My style is realism but not photo-realistic. In other words, I draw my subjects with great detail and in a very realistic manner, but ensure that one can still always see it is a pencil drawing and not a photograph and that the final piece has all the character of an artwork.

Apart from the actual subject, one of the most important aspects of my art is the  negative space. I never add a background, my subjects are always surrounded by the white of the paper. This ensures all the focus is on only the subject. Also, it’s very seldom that I will place the subject in the middle of the paper. I will always leave more space towards the direction in which the animal or bird is looking, and this is an effective way of using negative space and also creating an aesthetically pleasing artwork.

Two of the most important aspects of my drawings, I would say, are the eyes and my method of ‘drawing in layers'. Firstly, eyes are the most important part of any animal or bird drawing. If you get the eyes right, the rest will follow. The eyes are what brings the drawing to life, giving you a connection with the animal. This is why I often start with the eyes, and once I am happy that the eyes are right, I know the drawing will be a good one. That tiny white dot of light in the eye is the most vital part of any one of my artworks!

Secondly, I find it vital to focus on drawing in layers. Don’t immediately put pencil to paper in the colour you wish to apply, but instead start much lighter, slowly, building up layers and working in the darker bits until you have the desired color (end layer). This creates depth and enhances realism and is a vital part of my drawing process

This depends largely on what I am drawing, and how big the drawing is. Generally, my originals are about A4/A3 size. To draw an animal this size takes roughly between 15 and 25 hours but can be less or more depending on the above factors. I often struggle to sit and concentrate for very long periods at a time, so this is usually over a period of about 3 to 4 weeks. Birds take slightly quicker to draw than animals. I find that animals with fur - leopards, wild dogs etc, are the most time consuming to draw as each strand of fur has to be 'individually' drawn, and built up layer by layer

I do draw from photographs but most of my reference photos I get from photographers or field guides who work in the bush. They have the massive camera lenses and are able to get the best photos! I am very picky about which photos I use to draw from, and will look through many hundreds before I find one that I am happy will make an awesome artwork

I think it’s as vital to choose the right reference image as it is to actually execute the drawing well. Some of my drawings have more than one animal in them and quite often these are not one photograph, but rather a few I put together to then use as a reference. One has to be careful here, especially when ensuring that the light is the same in the different photos so that once combined, the drawing looks natural and as if it is all part of the same scene

I come from a family of artists, so luckily for me art was definitely in the genes. I have always been drawing. Funnily enough when I was younger, I would most often draw cartoon characters and pictures with hundreds of tiny people in them, a bit like Where’s Wally. It was only a bit later on that I started more consistently drawing birds and animals. However, I soon realized this was what I really loved drawing. So I focused on this genre, getting better and better with each drawing. If I compare the drawings I am creating now to only two or three years ago, there is a huge difference and I feel that I am improving all the time!

As mentioned above, when I was younger I would draw a variety of different things, not only wildlife. But now wildlife is all I am really interested in drawing. It’s what I enjoy most and what I am best at. I am increasingly honing my wildlife drawing skills with each new original wildlife art piece that I complete

I have a number of stockists around South Africa, and a few in Namibia and Zimbabwe. My full list of stockists can be viewed here. Many stockists only hold certain products/specific prints sizes etc, but all of my products can be purchased here on my website.

Matthew has also recently opened a small gallery where his originals and all other products can be viewed and purchased. For more information on this click here.