A Little Film About.... Matt Murphy. By Handsome Frank.
My name is Matt Murphy and I'm an illustrator working and living in Dorset.
Back in 2021 I worked with my agents Handsome Frank and production company Storm The Castle to create the latest in their series of films entitled 'A little film about...' The films are a way for people to discover a little more about 'US' Illustrators as face to face meetings happen so rarely these days, they are a chance to talk about more than just the illustrations but to delve deeper into the person behind them, what helps them to create the work, what they do when not drawing, and what inspires them?
For me its a mixture of music, exploring and enjoying the outdoors and of course running,
I wanted to represent these areas in this film and to show the side of me that you maybe don’t get to fully discover within my illustrations, especially the running as Its such an important part of my daily routine and creative process.
To coincide with the Film I created the Illustration ‘Durdle Door Runner’ the illustration shows a figure running around Durdle Door on a particularly brutal part of the coastal path here in Dorset, it was important to me to capture the feeling of running the path, the crazy angles the amazing scenery and the tough terrain.
I use running to empty my head and to help me refocus my creative thoughts as well as calm my anxiety and catastrophising,
I started running in 2014 when my Son was born as a way of separating the (very) early mornings and the crazy commute to the studio (See Film) It was a way to switch from one to the other, it soon became an addiction and even though I've had times where ive been unable to run through injury or too much work I always come back to it and it always helps me feel stronger both physically and mentally. It's come full circle now as just before Christmas my son joined me in taking part in a local 5K run, he's already done his second and wants to compete in all the local @Communi_fit 5k runs this year, he's caught the running bug too!
Matt Murphy
See the film here: https://vimeo.com/670595080
All photography and film was provided by Handsome Frank and Storm The Castle.