Johannes Matsson is a Freelance 3D Artist, based in Amsterdam. Cinema 4D and After Effects are the tools that he uses for his projects. Volkswagen, Tesla and Nike are some of the brands he worked for. Johannes answered to our questions giving some good tips to our freelance readers.
Electric Automated Soap Bubble Machine from Johannes Matsson on Vimeo.
Johannes, where do you get your inspiration?
For inspiration I follow a ton of artists online, which brings a lot of opportunities to pick up interesting new design ideas and what’s currently in fashion. Since I work with 3D design which is quite technically demanding it’s also a great way to spot new techniques and see how other people use these programs. I do think browsing around also stifles creativity though, it’s easy to stare yourself blind at other people’s work and fill your head with others’ ideas rather than your own. I try to find some kind of happy medium between all this.
Which is the reletioship and influence beetween your cultural backgorund (country, studies, etc.) and your artworks?
I think being from Sweden which has been a tech-heavy country for a long time definitely plays a part. Being able to play around with computers and having internet from an early age is a big reason why I work with 3D design now. It’s also because of this that I was able to post designs and drawings on forums to get feedback from a very early age. I even did some silly commissions for PC game mods which I guess is the start of my freelance career in a weird way.
What are you much focused in?
Right now I try to focus on what the next step in my career is, you might call it a small quarter life crisis. But I think most people wrestle with this from time to time.
Have you encountered any difficulties when you first started your art/freelance career?
In the startup of my career it took a few months to really get it going which was hard economically, but it actually stabilized quite fast when some jobs started coming in. In a way it was probably a little less bumpy than I would have thought.
Over these years, what is the most important thing you have learnt from your profession?
I think a big thing I’ve learnt is how to handle new people, both introductions and how to work well together in a short amount of time. Since I often come and go in a lot of places I think it’s essential that I can get into groups quickly. The projects run smoother and they are also a lot more fun.
Do you think that a creative job is just creativity or it’s discipline too?
I think in many ways creative professions are very little creativity and a lot of discipline. Having great ideas but not following through on them doesn’t really get you anywhere. It’s not so much about discipline when you’re actually on a project but more so when you have these free days or weeks in between. That’s when you have time to do your own projects and I find those to require so much more discipline to pull off than projects for clients.
Are you currently work on new projects?
Yes, January started a little slow but now everything is picking up speed again, so I’m going to try and line up my projects as best as I can.
“Creative professions are very little creativity
and a lot of discipline.
Having great ideas but not following through
on them doesn’t really get you anywhere“
Artist portfolio: www.johannesm.com
Instagram: @johannes.matsson
Behance: www.behance.com/johannesm
Vimeo: vimeo.com/johannesm
