We’re back with another artist interview! We get a lot of requests from artist to feature them and promote their work. Some we like, some we don’t. We really do take great care and pride in who we showcase to you our fans. Matt Parsons came to us to promote one of his designs. A real quick look provided us all the info we needed! He’s a great designer and a nerd to boot! We definitely love that! But we couldn’t let him off the hook that easy. We needed to know more about this fantastic artist. So read away as we hit him with some of the hardest hitting questions imaginable!

Nerdlocker (NL): Tell us about yourself.
Matt Parsons (MP):I am a 34 year old Englishman now living in Canada. A photography graduate that’s gone back to his roots as a fine artist and has welcomed T-shirt designing with open arms.

NL: How does an Englishman find himself living in Canada?
MP: About six years ago my entire family went on a holiday to Ottawa to stay with my cousins but
they forgot one thing, me. I couldn’t afford to go at the time and have always had an interest in
seeing Canada. Four years ago I went on holiday to Nova Scotia and loved it, not long after that
I applied for a years work visa and in that time I managed to apply for permanent residency.

NL: What does Fanboy30 mean?
MP: I’m a big Kevin Smith fan and two characters that pop up in most of his early movies were two
guys called SteveDave and Fanboy. Its a completely geeky reference that a buddy of mine in
University would often quote to each other followed by us laughing uncontrollably while
everyone looked at us like we were total losers. When I started making accounts online for sites
like Flickr and MySpace I used the name Fanboy30 only adding the number because it was my
age at the time, it just kinda stuck.

NL: Where do you find inspiration and what are some of your influences?
MP: The internet allows us all to consume content even when we aren’t fully aware of it. I am never
far from the computer, be it visiting geeky sites or talking with fellow artists. The AppleTV and
Netflix have made life easier or perhaps its a curse because watching anything is potentially
research for the next winning design.

NL: Who are some of your favorite artists?
MP: My all time favorite artist/photographer is Gregory Crewdson who creates elaborate movie sized
set ups around the idea of capturing that one moment from a larger story. Film stills have
inspired my photography work through University and to this day, perhaps its because I am a
terrible actor and this fills that desire I have to entertain.

NL: What posters/art do you have on display in your house?
MP: My apartment walls are surprisingly low on art, there are only a few photos dotted about which
are my own. Mainly of places back in the UK so I always have a reminder of home.

NL: When you’re walking around in public, what t-shirt designs (of your own and other
designers) do you wear?
MP: Lately I have been wearing a lot of my own designs but thats because I got my first ever print at
Teefury a month ago which was based off the game ‘Plants vs Zombies’ this time with a Mario
twist. Another favorite design of mine is ‘The Dragon Slayer’ which depicts a warrior on top of a pile of dead friendly dragons. As for other artists I am totally digging the designs ‘Skellingtor’ by Synaptees and ‘Vote
Smuggler’ by Ian Leino at the moment.

NL: What is pigboy tees?
MP: The combined talents of two uber geeks – ‘Powerpig’ aka Chris McVeigh and me ‘Fanboy30’
became Pigboy Tees last year. I bring my fine art skills to the table while Chris has an extensive
background in graphic design/illustration. Where one of us lacks knowledge the other steps in,
we make a pretty good team. Stop by our page and “Like” us on Facebook – Pigboy Tees.

NL: Is your wardrobe all t-shirts or do you have a suit or two in there?
MP: In the last year the T-shirt thing has become a huge problem, I have loads. To start with it was
mainly my own designs but since I joined a group of artists online that all do the same type of
thing I get daily exposure to cool designs and deals from various daily tee sites. I have to control
the urge to buy now because I have to pay the bills first, right?

NL: Which style do you prefer doing yourself, photography or graphic design?
MP: Photography seems to come naturally to me that I don’t even look at it as a skill, I enjoy it
immensely and try not to leave the house without some form of image capturing device. Taking
photos allows me to capture that perfect moment, its like collecting memories and I hold most of
them dearly to me. Drawing allows me to explore where the real world won’t allow, so in some
sense I try and combine the two using photoshop.

NL: Star Wars of Star Trek? Why?
MP: I do enjoy both franchises but Star Wars will always win out for me, mainly because it was the
first one I was introduced to at an early age and collected all the toys and merchandise. I only got into Star Trek in the Next Generation years although my family would watch the original series whenever they were rerun.

NL: What do you do in your free time?
MP: Haha oh I feel like a complete nerd for saying this but my free time out of the house is usually
spent driving from store to store toy hunting. The things I look for are usually Star Wars figures,
Transformers and Lego. At the moment I am eagerly awaiting the Marvel Lego sets to hit
Canada because they are so awesome!!!

NL: Give us a Nerdy secret that most people don’t know about you.
MP: When I was about ten I won a shopping spree at my local Woolworths which is similar to stores
like Walmart or Target in the US. I had 2 minutes to run around the store filling up my cart with
whatever I wanted. The bad part was I could only have one item from each department, like one
toy, one CD etc. For a kid all you are interested in is toys (still am) *cough*. I wasted about 30
seconds looking for a Prince album on vinyl that my sister requested, I still haven’t forgiven her
for that haha! I did get the most expensive Transformer toy at the time though, so I was pretty
smart for my age :)

NL: What is your favorite movie?
MP: Considering I worked as an usher at my local cinema for around fifteen years I have consumed
a whole lot of movies. To pick one would be incredibly difficult but the few that stand out would
have to be – Star Wars, Se7en, Alien, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Clerks, Requiem For
A Dream, Princess Mononoke and Blade Runner.
More recently it would be Scott Pilgrim, Super 8, UP, Captain America and Tintin.

NL: What is your favorite video game?
MP: For old School gaming it would Operation Wolf (ZX Spectrum) and Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles (NES), more recently Skyrim and the Mass Effect trilogy.

NL: What is your favorite comic book or comic book character?
MP: Currently its the Walking Dead which I am really enjoying the differences from the TV show
although some elements have me crying inside that they won’t come to light on screen. Growing
up I was more of a Marvel kid and absolutely fell in love with the X-Men probably because they
were such a vibrant mix of characters and abilities.

I’d also like to showcase a bit of Matt beyond T-shirt designs. I absolutely love his action figure photography. This is exactly what I did as a kid and will be doing again now that I actually have the proper equipment!

Thank you Matt! Your Nerdy designs inspire us to be better Nerds! To see more of his artwork, or better yet, purchase some of his designs, check out his websites.

http://www.matthewjamesparsons.com

http://www.redbubble.com/people/fanboy30

http://society6.com/Fanboy30/prints

http://fanboy30.tumblr.com/

And of course stay tuned to Nerdlocker.com as we plan on promoting everything Mr. Parsons does, including a giveaway!


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