Looking Forward

About the Artist

Mathew Lily Vogel is an artist and illustrator currently based in Richmond, VA. They are attending Virginia Commonwealth University for a BFA, majoring in Communication Arts and minoring in Creative Writing. Much of their art revolves around their life and is informed by their personal experiences and the world around them. They also enjoy creating story-based illustrations and hope to find work in animation, comics, or storyboarding upon graduation. In their off time, they enjoy reading, spending time with their partner, writing poetry, and playing D&D with their friends. Their Website is: https://lilyvogelart.wixsite.com/lily-vogel. Their Instagram tag is: @matylily

Interview with the Artist

1. What was your inspiration for this piece?

This piece was inspired by the idea of looking towards a better future. When I was back in high school, I always had this idea in my mind of living with a loving partner and be able to just look out a window at a beautiful view and be content. Now, I do stay over a lot at my lovely girlfriend’s place, and she has this window that looks out at the city that is just so beautiful, and sometimes whenever I stare at it, I feel like I’ve achieved at least to some level that contented future I hoped for (at least for now). The piece itself was created as an assignment for an illustration class, but I had been wanting to paint someone looking out that window for a while, if only to capture that feeling I get each time I look out it.

 2. What is your creative process?

Most of my creative process is filled with artists block and mulling over what I actually want to draw. I have lots of ideas for pieces but finding the motivation to go through with them is always difficult. I think that’s the hardest part of that creative process, just waiting for inspiration and motivation to hit, but when it does, I usually just dive headfirst into my work until I’ve made something I like or I’ve burnt myself out.

3. What are some influences on your artistic process?

My own personal feelings and thoughts are some of my biggest influences. Most of the pieces I create are directly based off of my own feelings. When I feel relaxed or in a good mood, I usually make more illustrative or character-based pieces, drawing my personal characters or rough sketches of comic ideas. However, usually when I have a certain feeling I want to express, or a certain beautiful thing I want to capture, it evolves into a fully blown piece, sort of like Looking Forward. I loved that window because it made me feel a strong emotion, and that in turn made me want to capture that feeling in a painting. 

4. Is there anything more you’d like our readers/viewers to know about you or your work?

I don’t actually paint all that much. I only really started this year for a class I have; most of my pieces are digital sketches or concept art for other things I’m doing. I’m glad I ended up having to take a painting class though, because some of the pieces I’ve made (including this one) are some of my best individual works so far! I still do love illustrating, animating, and drafting comics though – I consider myself a storyteller as well as an artist. That, and I’m also just a huge nerd who loves drawing fantasy characters for fun.