:: Interview with Daniël Matakupan ::

Daniël Matakupan, a 24 years old designer born in Harlingen, a small town in the north of Holland called Friesland, has been in the design industry for a long while now. His style of design is colorful, warm and soft and he has a passion for arts and design no doubt. His works have been featured in magazines such as Publish Magazine.
His works are fabulously done, that’s why he was kind enough to share his technique with us today, please read on…
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Hi, Welcome to IT Plus Magazine. Please tell us about yourself and give us a brief summary of your background in design.
My name is Daniël Matakupan, I’m 24 years old, born on February 6th, 1986 in Harlingen, a small town in the north of Holland called Friesland.

I’ve been in love with design since I discovered Photoshop back in 2003 and my specialties are ranges from photo-manipulation, drawing to digital art.
When I was a kid I always liked drawing and colors but never thought about going further with it.
I have a passion for Art & Design and most of my work is inspired by the music that I listen to and the fascinating work I see on the internet and life itself. At the age of 17 I saw a great poster of a Dance Event. I was so inspired by the design that I decided to approach the designer. Through him I came into contact with the program Adobe Photoshop (version 7.0 at the time). The very first time I used it I knew I would tow this line and to this day I still use and will use it in the future.

For some of our readers who are not familiar with your style of design, what is it called and please tell us the processes involved in your design from inception to completion

I don’t have a name for my style, but I can describe it as being colorful, warm and soft with a kind of emotion. Most of the designs are inspired by the songs I listen to. Songs from Jagged Edge, Linkin Park, 30 seconds to Mars and many more. The music style from these bands are quite different. When I hear a great line on a number I’ll try to create the photo that pops out of my head. Sometimes I try to draw the picture that’s in my head and then I try to create it digitally.

What are you into at the moment ? Do you work from a home office or studio office? If either one, tell us its pros and cons?

At the moment I’m still in school. I am currently studying Communication & Multimedia Design (CMD) and I do my design work at home. I hope when I graduate with hopes of moving on to an advertising agency or into the world of freelancing when finished.

Am sure people want to know how favorable the market is for you, so how do you manage to make a living from being a designer?

I’m still a student and at the moment I do little freelance assignment like postcards and posters for several events. Also, projects for friends and family. It’s personal and clients work. I start small from home and try to make this bigger in the future.

Let’s move to some beneficial projects to you. That is, what jobs have been most rewarding and least rewarding, you don’t have to include names.

The most rewarding project was being on the front cover of Publish Magazine, a Dutch Design Magazine. They asked me to make a cover for their upcoming edition. This was so great for me because it was my first real cover on a Magazine. For a reward, some of my works were published/featured and I also did a interview in it about my background and design information.

There are definitely tools and techniques involved in your production process, give us a visual of your workspace and also tools, software and hardware that you use.

I work with several Adobe programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. My favorite tools are the Pen, mask, shape and brush tool. With these tools I work all the time during a design project.

Your design “Creative Thoughts” is one of my personal favorites, please walk us through the stages involved in the design process of that work, including the tools used.

This piece was for a Dutch Design Magazine from Holland called Publish. The assignment was to create a colorful cover with graphic elements in it. For this piece I had founded a stock from Deviantart. I’ve cut it out and used the shape and Brush tool on this piece. Also I’ve worked in Illustrator to make a interesting Illustration on her hand. It looks like she’s blow Graphic elements out of her hand in a colorful and graphic world. For the finishing touch I used a cloud brush for the finale step and also a 3d element in the middle of the stock for some small details.

What is your favorite piece of design and why? (It could be anybody’s design). Also, what are your top 5 go-to websites (websites you visit almost on a daily basis or ones you draw inspiration from).

There are so many design over the world that I think it’s great. So many choices to pick one favorite.
And the websites, well, there are several websites were I get my inspiration from and that is. Abduzeedo, PSDtuts and Béhance. These are places I get my inspiration from. Also from designers all over the world.
On Béhance I try to promote my own work by seeking feedback/comments.
This is very important to me, if it is positive or negative, doesn’t matter to me at all. It makes me strong and focused for the next design.
Which basic Photoshop techniques do you find yourself using all the time and why?

The pen and mask tool is one of my favorites. Also the brush and shape tool to make a great color combination. Most of my design based on this techniques. I used this all the time to make my piece colorful. And I find it myself a great techniques. I don’t know every kind of professional technique. I’m still experimenting.

Really never thought about that in the first way. So I don’t have a answer for that, as a kid I always wanted to be an policeman but seems the future had some other things for me, haha!

Any final words with tips for upcoming designers?

Keep experimenting with Photoshop or other Adobe programs. Learn from other designers or use tutorials on the web. There is no shame of that because many artist take inspiration from other several designer. And always keep this in your head:
Never give up, believe in yourself and above all, keep enjoying your passion!
This were the last words my grandmother say to me when I was a kid, and those words keeps me motivated! I hope also with these words I can inspire other creative people who has a great passion for Art & Graphic Design.
We would be putting up a tutorial on one of Daniël’s awesome designs, it’s the cover of IT Plus’ first magazine.
Where to find Daniël Matakupan on the web to see more of his designs:

Websites:
Daniel’s Website
Daniel’s Behance Portfolio

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