I am a children's book illustrator and writer. I currently have five books published with Vancouver, BC publishing house Simply Read Books. A series based on my Monkey World series is currently also in the works!
I am also thrilled to be working with 10 Again Clothing Company on a line of childrens Monkey World T shirts currently available at Nordstroms.
HISTORY:
Husband and wife duo Andrea and Matthew Porter owned Bluebottle Art Gallery and Store from 2002 - 2010 to highlight Matthew's now infamous monkey world series paintings and products. Bluebottle built a reputation for being at the forefront of the DIY indie art, craft and design movement. In 2010 Andrea and Matthew sold Bluebottle and moved full time to focusing on building the Matthew Porter Art line.
Q and A: 1. How did you get involved with children’s books?
Children’s books are something I have always wanted to produce. I studied illustration at art school and when I left one of the first things I did was make a few book dummies and send them out to various publishers. They weren’t very good so no-one was interested. Then a few years later a very important gentleman happened to walk past the gallery and see my abc series hanging on the wall. He came in and said it would make a nice book and that’s how I got my first book deal. Funnily enough it had never crossed my mind to make a dummy of the animal abc series.
2. Why monkeys?
I was signed up to do a 30 paintings in 30 days show so I needed a character I could adapt into other characters that wouldn’t be too boring and repetitive. I came up with the Monkey World concept and things really grew from there.
3. Have you always known you wanted to be a children’s book illustrator/author? Do you have any stories about early drawings or writing?
When I was about 10 years old I wasn’t very good at reading and writing so my parents made me have extra English lessons on Saturday mornings. My teacher would set various homework assignments and encourage me to draw pictures to go with the words. She must have known I was into drawing and thought it was a good way to motivate me. I’ve always loved drawing and painting and she made me love words and a good story. So that’s probably where it all started.
4. What are your plans for Monkey World?
I have lots of plans for Monkey World. I’d most like to expand it into a series of books that each tell a story from a different part of MW. The MW poetry book and calendar really serve as good introductions to what MW is all about which is basically our world but with monkeys instead of human beings. I’d also love to produce more products like mugs and t-shirts and lunch boxes etc. And I wouldn’t say no to a MW animated TV series too!
