Matthew Morgan

MATTHEW MORGAN

2018 - 2020
PORTFOLIO
RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART + DESIGN

A LITTLE BIT OF PROGRESS EACH DAY ADDS UP TO BIG RESULTS...

My name is Matthew Morgan, and every day I am getting closer
to becoming an Entertainment Designer. Born in Pennsylvania and
raised in South Jersey, I am now an llustration major in the class of
2022 at Ringling College of Art and Design. I knew from the start
of college I wanted to work in the themed entertainment industry-
An industry full of creative minds who love creating immersive
experiences and turn imaginative ideas into a reality.

Before applying to colleges, I researched the most prominent
entertainment designers, and found that illustration would be the
major that would give me the best chance at success, and each
semester I learn and experience new ideas that help me better
myself at achieving my goals. Between drawing from life, plein air
painting, attending the themed entertainment association club on
campus, and networking with industry professionals, I am at the
point in my college career where I understand what I need to create
to become what I have longed to be.

I have had my work showcased in the MadeBy Gallery at Ringling
College, received People’s Choice Award, had honorable mentions,
and displayed my work at Best of Ringling 2020 show. I have
been the communications leader for the Themed Entertainment
Club at Ringling College, and now I am the student government
representative.

I am finally on track to begin focusing on my portfolio for
entertainment design. It has taken years of listening and learning,
and here I will present my journey from freshman year to starting
junior year.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIFE PAINTINGS 2-9
PORTRAITS 10-15
ILLUSTRATIONS 16-23
ENTERTAINMENT 24-31

1

2

3

PURPLE HOUSE
GOUACHE • 2019
This is one of my first plein air paintings completed at college. The
challenge was to use only cyan blue, magenta, yellow, and white
so I decided to pick a subject matter that allowed me to showcase
light and textures. I ended up sitting down at the bayou that had
this vibrant purple house. I sat outside for about twelve to fourteen
hours painting from life using gouache on a corkboard.
While painting this I learned how color and light affect each other
and depending on how you see and use them in your art it can
either flatten or enhance it. I liked playing with the textures of
the greenery and adding those rich colors of yellow and purple
to the house. I feel like I really captured a complete and effective
background, middle ground and foreground. Out of all the pleinair
paintings I have done, this still is my favorite one. It also holds a
special place because it was my first one and I had spent the most
time on it.

3

STREET LIGHT
GOUACHE • 2019
This painting was done with gouache paint on a corkboard. It was
a three-hour painting done from a photo I took on the Ringling
College campus, and the goal was to try to capture the essence
and the feel it would give if you were to be there in person.
Painting a night scene was a fun change. The gradient of the sky
and textures of the palm trees was the most rewarding. The lighting
was very different, a strong yellow color, which was affecting the
entire area. With the simple silhouettes of the palm trees in the
background, I feel like I captured the feeling of walking at night
under a street light. My favorite part of the piece is probably the
street and the telephone wires.

4

5

6

DOWN THE BAYOU
GOUACHE • 2019
I wanted to paint a composition of the bayou where the spanish
moss is hanging down and the bayou fades in the background.
This bayou is on Ringlings campus and I have done other paintings
here as well.
I used gouache for this painting which is very similar to watercolor
so sitting directly in the sun while painting made me use a lot
of water to keep the paints hydrated. I made this painting more
painterly and impressionistic. As for the colors I used, like all
the other gouache paintings I have done, I only used cyan blue,
magenta, yellow, and white only. I sat outside directly under the
Florida sun for about 6-9 hours painting from life on a corkboard.

7

SHADOW
GOUACHE • 2019
This painting was done on a corkboard with gouache. For class,
we went to the Ringling Museum and chose different spots that
we wanted to paint outside. I chose this small house which I am
pretty sure is John Ringling’s cleaning staff’s house. I layed down
my towel right on the grass facing the house, taped the border of
the board and started to block out the piece with gouache.
This piece was the first time I had a lot of spotty shadows on the
ground. This meant I was able to play with the different colors in
the shadows and in the light, and it taught me how to mix colors
for different kinds of lighting situations. I also tried to play with the
different textures in the leaves, greenery and roof. I also enjoyed
creating the perspective for the house and details on the unique
archways. Using gouache on a cork board makes you really have to
layer your paint so it’s not transparent with the cork board showing
through. This piece was sold in the MadeBy Gallery at Ringling
College of Art and Design.

8

9

10

NEVER DONE
DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION • 2020
This portrait was an exercise that I really enjoyed. With the time
pressure of only one hour, it allowed me to be loose with the
drawing and not care for mistakes. I put in a lot of different
textures, played with the coloring a little bit, and gave it more of
a sketchy feel with different types of lines. This exercise, on top
of being a fun change of pace allowed me to learn more about
creating good form and work out proportions more.
Originally, I was going to name this piece Woman but I decided to
name this piece Never Done, not just because it shows incomplete
parts of the portrait but, because of the hard work and endless
effort that women have for people. I have also dedicated this to
my mom for the name because of the endless sacrifices and work
she puts into our family.

11

SELF-PORTRAIT
CHARCOAL • 2019
This self-portrait was done in the spring of my freshman year.
It was done with black and white charcoal on grey paper, size
eighteen by twenty-four inches. It was one of my final pieces for
my figure drawing class, and I started over three times after being
almost done with each. I really wanted to get details right and make
sure it showed me. I spent a lot of time on eye details, nose, lips
etc. During critique, my teacher pointed out how I emphasized my
eyes, (making them more prominent) and the shine reminded him
of another artist from history who utilized the same technique. I
enjoyed adding texture to the background and a little design with
the lighter scribbles.
It was rewarding to see myself do a realistic self-portrait, seeing
my improvement and how I developed as an artist, from just two
semesters at college.

12

13

13

14

ATTENTION
DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION • 2020
This piece was a challenge for me, for really diving down deep with
details and trying to capture the essence of a person with realism.
I spent around twenty-four hours working on it first starting with a
digital sketch, color blocking, and then finally putting in fine details
and moving things around a bit.
This is the latest portrait I have created, and I have never spent so
much time really trying to capture the likeness of a person in my
art. By spending all the time I did on it, I have learned that having
proper proportions matter to really capture the essence of a person.
Also, I learned that some places require more details than others
and that it is up to me to show the most important parts in the art
in order to control what the viewers will focus on most. I named
this piece Attention because it reminds me of how much I have
focused on details.

15

OVER THE MOON
DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION • 2020
This is a metaphor piece. I had to pick an emotion and look
for metaphors about it and illustrate it. I choose “joy” and the
expression “over the moon”. I created a story of a father and
daughter with strong imagination, after a long day of playing and
crafting a cardboard rocket ship. Her imagination was strong, so
while her dad was reading a book to her as she fell asleep, she
was dreaming happily of flying over the moon with her dad in their
rocket ship.
This piece showcases a lot of layering, and I put a lot of theming
into her room which was a lot of fun. With a hidden Space Mountain
poster on the left, the whole room is space themed. The cardboard
rocket ship they created under the bed, and having what the girl is
dreaming of appear into reality around her and her father, is a nod
to my passion of entertainment design.

16

17

18

WATERFALL
ACRYLIC • 2019
This waterfall piece was created in my first illustration class. It is
about a bunch of different streams coming together to create one
pool at the bottom of the waterfall. The painting was at first a
pencil sketch thumbnail, then I scanned it, did a digital color study
of it, and eventually painted it on an illustration board.
When growing up and in high school, I used acrylic paint pretty
much all the time, and this was my first time coming back to it.
Surprisingly, it was hard for me to get the hang of it, but eventually
I became comfortable with it again.

19

PANDA
ACRYLIC • 2019
The point of this piece was to paint every single hair on an animal.
I chose a panda because when I was younger, I was given a huge
panda stuffed animal from my aunt and I have always said since
that pandas were my favorite. I like using a lot of colors to create an
artwork that has good form and definition. There are unnoticeable
colors in objects and people that the average human does not
recognize, and through art we can make it more visible and let it
show through to make it more interesting and life-like.
I painted with acrylic paint which dries quickly, so it made it
easier for layering the fur. I paid close attention to light and what
prominent colors were in the shadow and light areas. I chose this
image of a panda because I liked the close-up portrait. People really
relate to a piece which has eyes in it because that is what people
look at first on a person, so I thought it would capture the audience
better if it was a close shot, with a dark blue background. It took
about six hours to finish.

20

21

22

FUTURE

DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION • 2020
This art piece came about because our assignment was to have two
worlds meet. I decided to have a human save a merman. I wanted
it to be a tad futuristic, because I wanted to create a piece that
would bring awareness to climate change. I did this by showing the
ocean waters have risen above the cities of the world. When the
litter on earth traps a merman and a woman has to save him, both
of their worlds colliding.
Painting water digitally was a new challenge, especially since the
figure is fully submerged. I started off by creating the city and its
perspective, then added the water effects, highlights and shadows.
I also played with the lighting and reflections for a while. It was a
really fun piece starting out, and over time I feel like I recognize
that I can challenge myself to make pieces have more storytelling.

23

STOP THE SLOB
DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION • 2020
For this project I had to recreate a card game so I chose One Night
Werewolf. This is a narrated game where the goal is to find out
who the Werewolf is and not let them win. I chose to recreate this
game because my cousins and I used to always play it together.
In my version of the game, there is more emphasis on learning
and you have to try to stop the Slob- The Slob being the person
who litters. The game takes place on the beach and makes players
aware of pollution in the environment and how we have to protect
it. The Slob acts as the Werewolf, The Local in my game acts as the
Villager, the Tourist as the Doppelganger because they would be
most likely to litter after the Slob. The Seer is the seagull because he
scouts the beach, and the crab is the robber, because he steals the
litter, as his shell is the top of a water bottle further emphasizing
harm to the environment.
This game was enjoyable to make. I do not usually design
characters, but creating this game really made me like doing it. I
like trying to keep a consistent style and having all the characters
come together.

24

25

26

“LOVELY” STAGE DESIGN
DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION • 2020

This is a sequential grid of a stage projection design concept that I
created for the song Lovely by Billie Eilish. This was my first attempt
at creating a set design concept, which is something I always
envision in my head, but never actually had the chance to create
a physical drawing of. I drew the concept sketch on my way back
to Ringling in March to pack my stuff up because of the pandemic. I
spent most of the plane ride listening to the song on repeat thinking
of different aspects the stage could have, and how I wanted to tell
the story through the last minute of the song.

In the beginning of the minute visual, before the projections start,
I have her conceptually walking in place on a treadmill-like floor
beneath her, where she can walk but stay in the middle of the
stage. There are people all around her walking in every which way,
and tall buildings towering over her, represent a busy city and
how a person can still feel so lonely even when around so many
people. I made the quick animation from these lyrics, “heart made
of glass, my mind of stone, tear me to pieces, skin and bone, hello
welcome home.” We have an abstract heart shattering projecting
onto the set buildings, and there appears a glowing stone brain
that crumples down. From there, it is the ending and a bunch of
vocal riffs that I decided the lights could dance to (spotlights, traffic
lights, stars). At the ending of the song, in the middle of the city,
there is an opening where a bright light shines through her to the
audience, and she walks into it leaving the stage. Scan the QR code
to bring up my short animation of the project.

27

TEA CUPS

DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION • 2020
This tea cup water slide idea came to mind on the way to the Jersey
Shore on some random day. I was thinking of something that would
be fun and unique- not done before.
I knew I wanted to use a fun pastel kind of color, and to have
the staircase actually be the huge tea kettle acting as the place
where the water comes from. I also wanted to include fancy shaped
bushes that added to the tea aesthetic. The ride turns you into as
small as a tea leaf floating to each tea cup, and allows you to enjoy
the wild ride until you reach the pool. This was basically my first
themed entertainment piece and it’s only just the start.

28





REWRITE THE STARS
DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION • 2020
This set design was based on the set of the movie, The Greatest
Showman. I made a short animation clip of the scene from “Rewrite
the Stars” and created a theatrical set design for the song with
lighting, effects, and an interactive experience for the audience.
This was made for my final project in my digital illustration class
which occurred during the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. I’ve
always wanted to incorporate interactive design into my projects
at school, and finally got to with this project and I really enjoyed
doing it.
Below is a QR code that you can scan and see even more of the
project. With some costume design, a time lapses of me creating
the set and costumes, reference photos, and the one-minute
animation I created to go with the set, it will give you a hint at
what would be experienced.

31

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The inspirations that have kept me on track and motivated me
to pursue my goals throughout my college life have been my
friends and family. I am more than halfway through college now
and I would have never imagined the progress and the amount of
knowledge I am learning from being at Ringling. Ever since the
beginning of college, there have been so many people that have
encouraged me and kept me going.

Family is the most important thing in my life. There are too many
people to count in my family, it is huge, but everyone has had
an impact on me in some way. Thinking of my family watching
me grow into the artist I am today is pretty crazy. All of the
praise, encouragement, talks and critiques they have all given me
throughout the years have pushed me to go further and reach
for the stars. Without my mom and dad, none of this would have
happened. The work they put in for their children to pursue their
own dreams is remarkable and no amount of thanks could ever
make up for it. Day in and day out all they do is care for their kids
and want the best for them. They will make anything happen for
their children no matter how or what they have to do. So thank you
to my mom, dad and siblings for everything you have done for me,
to bring me to where I am today. Without my friends and family,
my life wouldn’t be the way it is and I can’t imagine it without any
of them, thank you.

MATTHEW
MORGAN

EMAIL
[email protected]

INSTAGRAM
@mattthewmorganart

WEBSITE
matthewmorgan.pb.design

[email protected]
@matthewmorganart
matthewmorgan.pb.design