Ep 6 - Surviving Lockdown with Mat Let
I speak with artist and travel-sketcher Matthieu Letellier (Mat Let) about his experience as an artist under lockdown in Paris. Mat just self-published a book titled “28 m2”, referring to the size of his apartment. In a way, it was also the size of his world during lockdown. He records the view out of his window, rues the loss of previously made plans, and finds beauty in unexpected places. We talk about how he became an artist while trying to tell stories of the world.
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Find Mat’s work on IG @matlet. Get in touch with him to grab a copy of his fantastic book. SneakyArt is on IG @thesneakyartist.
I would love to hear what you think of this episode. Get in touch to share your thoughts and ideas.
Links:
Jacques Tardi - French comics-artist of WW1 graphic-novel,"It was the War of the Trenches"
Herge, the creator of the Tintin comics
Goscinny & Uderzo, creators of the Asterix comics
Felix Schienberger, artist and urban-sketcher
Marielle Durand, graphic designer and urban-sketcher
USk Paris, on the Urban Sketchers page
TRANSCRIPT
00:00 Introduction to Mat Let and the subjects of this conversation.
04:00 Mat, on being sneaky while drawing but “connecting with the subjects” afterwards
Nishant asks about the cancelled plans of 2020 and how the book happened - 28m2, carnet de confinement.
Mat reveals how adversity (COVID cancellations) led to the idea of making a book of isolation times, on the suggestion of his girlfriend.
Nishant talks about pivoting to the crazy restrictions of early COVID times.
08:00 Mat starts to draw from his apartment, and finds unexpected subjects.
Mat talks about various lockdown rituals, starting with the cover of his book.
Nishant shares his Chicago neighborhood’s bonding rituals during lockdown.
Mat shares his crowdfunding experience with the book. Nishant relates his experience with #WFH sketches, the “nostalgia” factor of recording our lives in upheaval.
22:40 Nishant asks about the experience of covering protests
“[Protests are] a tough subject to catch in a drawing, but I think it’s really important.”
31:10 Mat talks about how he came to art and USk. Wanting to draw, learning to draw from memory, until he happened to be traveling in West Africa and began to draw from observation. Relates experience in Iran, meeting USk Paris, taking USk workshops and learning to do everything on location.
36:40 Nishant talks about making comics in 2010 and how USk empowered him to become a real artist. Both talk about how looking at and learning from USk-ers helps to fast-track the path to self-improvement.
Mat talks about the cartoonists that inspired his style - Herge (Tintin). Nishant mentions Asterix and Obelix.
Mat talks about combining words and images in his book, and how drawing took the edge off writing.
Mat details his experience having a mild form of COVID and how he started a habit of making weekly self-portraits.
Mat on the value of sketching while traveling, how it helps him meet locals (as a shy person), understand the landscape and the new world. About carrying an extra sketchbook with tearable pages to draw portraits for people, narrates a chaotic incident at the beach in Mahabalipuram.
59:10 Nishant asks Mat what he is looking for when he goes out to draw.
Mat talks liking stuff that is “weird”... the ugliness in the midst of beauty… something curious, something unexpected.
“As an artist you can decide not to draw something in your scene, because you don’t want it, or it’s too complicated or it’s ugly in the middle of your thing. And the ugly thing that’s in the middle of my point of view, that’s what I want to draw.”
“Making a drawing is making choices, and standing for your choices… In every drawing you make good and bad decisions. It’s all about decisions and about responsibility.”
Mat and Nishant talk about “editing in real-time” .. ref to Don Colley and Felix Schienberger. Talk about people having different POVs on the same scene. Mat talks about sketching with Marielle Durand.
#USk community experience, describes workings of USkParis group - projects and meet-ups. Art/USk outreach projects for kids (6-12 years old) from low-income housing areas.
To close, they discuss Mat’s wonderful book.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the SneakyArt Podcast. Find Mat’s work on Instagram @matlet. If you can, I highly recommend you buy his book. It’s beautiful.
Travel sketching is a subject dear to me as well. I now have sketchbooks for all my vacations in the last 3 years. I value them more than any pic I have taken in that time. It’s a practice I recommend to every sketcher.
We talked about a bunch of French cartoonists at one point. In the shownotes that accompany this episode, you will find all the names and relevant links to their works. French cartoonists and comic-book artists have influenced me since early childhood, and I urge anyone interested in drawing life to study the art of some great comic books. They contain invaluable lessons in composition, perspective, and figure drawing.
I hope that this conversation was fun and useful for you. If you have any thoughts and feedback, do share it with me by email on nishant@sneakyartist.com. I will be sharing my own thoughts and ideas from this episode on my website.
Thank you for your attention, and I hope you will join me in the next episode.
To hear more from me about SneakyArt and my journey of self-education as an artist, subscribe to my email newsletter.