Community Voices: Matthew West on Art and ADHD

Welcome to the first guest post in our Community Voices series – featuring Totally ADD community members sharing their strengths and passions. Our first guest writer is Matthew West, an aspiring artist from Vancouver, British Columbia.

How I discovered my gift
I grew up in a small town east of Calgary, Alberta, Canada called Strathmore. Like many of you I was a curious inquisitive child who loved adventures, so I spent a lot of time exploring the neighborhood…
A father who worked long hours, an undiagnosed ADHD mother and three kids…. recipe for an underprivileged family.

When hard times came, we moved in with my Aunty. She was a massage therapist and in her house she has a section of books devoted to anatomy. I would often sneak into this room and look through them all for hours! I loved the way the muscles and tissue connected, and the bone structure behind our makeup. My parents dealt with a lot of complaints from the school board, about their ADHD son who would always distract the class and who would draw all over text books and work sheets. So my parents decided to send me to a special school for original thinkers called Mossleigh Demonstration School, where we were able to learn through our talents and gifts.

One day at Mossleigh my teacher gave us clay and told us to sculpt something from our imagination. I chose a dragon and after about an hour my dragon took the praise of the entire class room. My mother was also very proud, she being the person I would say is most like myself. I use that gift to help others, and it has contributed to much of my happiness in life.

How working with art contributes to my happiness
While in the creative process I envision myself as a master worker, shoulder to shoulder with the Grand Creator Himself. Speaking for the artists alike, I know that our minds never really come up with anything original, the process is only the amalgamation of things we’ve seen, leaving us with a finished product… Art. The Angels sing: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Rev 4:11) I was raised as a Christian and was taught from a young age that all the beauty we see around us proves that someone put it there for our enjoyment. When I find something that captures my attention, I love to capture it on paper.

Many people are blessed with gifts. Finding yours as an ADHD-er is important. I’ve been fired from over 40 jobs in my life, all of which people pressured me into doing, saying, “Normal people can do it… Why can’t you?” and that really hurts. But during that time I possessed a unique gift and I knew it. Countless times I mentioned it to loved ones, “Should I pursue animation?”. I never did it and years and years passed until I finally did, and that was the key. DO NOT allow people to put you under compulsion to do what they believe is good for your employment. Use your own discretion. Ask yourself, ‘What gives me a sense of purpose?’ ‘What do I know works for me?’ Make sure you get paid for your work too! Make a price list.
To an ADHDer, purpose is the GOLDEN RULE. It grounds us and takes away the “what do I do now?” moments.

Many people search for years to find happiness, but when you are doing something that really has purpose, you cannot help but experience joy.

Why is art my passion and How art relates to my ADHD
Have you ever gazed at the female form!? Ever seen a group of deer deep in the forest? Have you watched children at play? Have you seen the Lord of the Rings!!!!??

I mentioned earlier that I spend a lot of time looking at things. I do this because I’m trying to capture the moment. Sometimes I feel as though I’ve paused time all together, just living in that moment. I am told that I notice unusual things about people, and make remarks, good remarks…. usually. For those of you who are art lovers, I recommend that you watch the movie “Cash Back”. It’s the story of an artist who suffers from insomnia and due to that, he is able to pause time and draw everything in its most beautiful state.

Art is my passion and it relieves my restlessness… calms my soul.

Ever since I was a child, my parents would take me to religious meetings, and sitting for 2 hours straight, three times a week was grueling. My parents tried to help by giving me a drawing pad during those meetings. Interestingly enough, it not only settled me down, it enabled me to take in and remember every single point of the sermon. From then on my parents realized there was some significance to my art, it enabled me to finally use the other side of my brain that processed the information, and from then on I found success in using my passion to calm my mind.

All of us ADHDers need something that can subdue that part of our brain that is running at high speeds, almost like stepping into a quiet room with the lights off.

How I feel about art as my job
I realized my bones were far too brittle for combat or construction work. Fortunately in the mid 1990’s, I stumbled upon a cartoon featuring a young boy in an orange jumpsuit and a tail that would serve as the inspiration in my life. It would be safe to say Toriyama Akira was my first official influence in the art world.

As the years passed, I lead an eventful childhood, chock full of reading comics, watching cartoons and playing video games. Throughout this time I saw King Mufasa die on the big screen and advent children live on the small screen. I began to model my own action figures out of clay while designing a host of comics on 11×17 paper.

Before I knew it I found myself in high school, then college, drawing all the while and gaining overwhelming praise and success from my natural born talents. This talent eventually lead to a degree in Classical Animation (Drawing) from the Vancouver Film School in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A few portfolio mailings and sleepless nights later, I began my first gig with Ian Corlett – a highly acclaimed Screen Writer/Voice-over Artist. Ian began to teach me the ins and outs of the animation world which motivated me to start my own cartoon script entitled “My Strange Uncle”. It was at this time that the 2007 writer’s strike caused me to lose investors backing, leading to a new position with Dream On Words. Here I joined yet another extremely talented Producer/Screenwriter – Victor Poon – where we collectively produced Helios 13 and many other video game and cartoon franchises. Throughout the last seven plus years I’ve served as a character designer, art director, and most recently, principal artist.

These days, I continue to strive to bring imagination and creativity into the lives and hearts of my clients. In my personal life I do my best to be a good boyfriend, be kind to my cats and try to get a full nights sleep…when possible.
Matthew M. West

You can visit Matthew’s website here.