Hello there and welcome back to another issue of The GUN Insider. Ladies and gentlemen today I bring you an interview of a man who's work you've always seen even without knowing it. He is the creator of most of our banners our very own @Mattafex. Though this interview was written and done by my former partner @AceofSnakes, who sadly had to step down from helping creating these interviews due to real life.


Mattafex: Hola, I'm Matt or Mattafex on the site. I’ve been doing banners along other stuff for the site since 2014 and still going strong too this day.


AceofSnakes: Let's start off with the basics, shall we? How'd you find the GUNetwork, Matt?


Mattafex: I actually can’t remember what brought me too the site, All i remember was hoping to find Willhaven since it was taken down off the Nexus and I forgot to save it on my PC. I’d say just from word of mouth back when they changed over though

AceofSnakes: And from there, how did you become such an esteemed member of the GFX crew? Was it a slow buildup or were you proficient and accepted more quickly than others?

Mattafex: I think back when it was still very early we just accepted anything, there wasn't like nowadays where a lot of the stuff has been filled and such. It was a blank canvas and that really let most of us experiment and create fluidly.

AceofSnakes:
Ah, sounds like a good chance to expand your creativity. I'd like to go on a little more about you, however, since we've all seen your wonderful work on the site.
Starting simply, what kinds of games do you play? And do you enjoy modding them?

Mattafex: I don’t really have a game I express deep love for, I'll play anything if I’ll enjoy my time in it. NV is what got me into the modding scene because of how much I was in love with that game for a long time and I still hold some sentiment for it. especially since it brought me to this site and also made some good friends with most of the people on it.

AceofSnakes: And I know GUN has plenty a ‘mod for New Vegas. Any other hobbies you have you'd like to share with us?

Mattafex: I do love sports, I’m an avid sports fan especially Football. I’d say Photoshop is probably my main hobby if that isn’t evident enough, Most of my time is spent on it currently.


AceofSnakes: Ah, how interesting. What version of Photoshop do you run, and would you recommend it to newer GFX users?

Mattafex: I’m using CS6 currently and yes I would recommend it, I’d say if you’re getting into graphic design start with Gimp. Especially since its free, I used that from 14-15 until I recently switched over to Photoshop. If it’s something you can see yourself using for a long time I can’t recommend it enough especially with all the features it has.

AceofSnakes: Brilliant, I'm sure that'll go a long way in helping some of our users out. Would you have anything in specific to say to users regarding advice in creating graphics?

Mattafex: I’d say just do what you want with it, The beauty of graphic design is that it gives you a blank canvas that you can do anything with, I’d say just try it and if it’s for you it’s for you if not well there’s plenty of other things out there
Oh also Ctrl+T then hold shift. You'll thank yourself in the long run

AceofSnakes: Moving on a bit, as I'm sure it may pertain to your skillset, but where does your username come from? A synthesis of Matt and GFX?

Mattafex: Actually no, My friend gave me one of the Command And Conquer games when I was 7-8, Back then I had the username King Kuma which is just a fusion of two Tekken characters before my friend stole it from me. His old username was Hogafex and he pointed out that afex literally goes with anything so it just kinda fit, I’ve had a lot of usernames but it’s one of the ones I've had for the longest.

AceofSnakes: Well, I wasn't expecting that. Your friend was right about -afex, the username flows well.
"So, according to many of your posts in Share-A-Tune, it seems like you have quite the thing for music. What thrills you about it so much?"

Mattafex: I've always been really big into music, definitely helped me through some tough times in life and still helps a lot either if it’s just idle music or while playing OW or any other game. My music choice has changed a lot, Used to be specifically a lot of Metal and then went into more Heavy stuff like Death Metal or Metalcore, Now it's a lot of alt stuff or Death Grips generally. My go too currently.

AceofSnakes: And how does music influence you creatively, you think? Do the lyrics inspire you or do you think it's more of the instrumental pieces which allow that energy to flow? Or something else entirely?

Mattafex: I think Music is abut in a lot of things I do let alone the creativity side, Sometimes when making a banner it’s just a case of hearing an old OST and going from there, others the music just helps with the grind that is making banners but it’s always on and it definitely helps creativity wise

AceofSnakes: Just for fun, any tunes you recommend for listening to alongside this interview?

Mattafex: This is when I suggest something really bad just for fun. Maybe "You Re-posted In The Wrong Neighborhood' just cause why not?


AceofSnakes: You've got quite a number of screenshots as well, what inspires you to do those?"


Mattafex: With Fallout it’s just a case of booting up the game and going from there, there’s no real inspiration besides playing and then taking a screenshot of what I like, Which I think is a nice thing about doing them as well is that everyone has a different shot style and a different game. I  like to do a lot of Atmospheric or Landscape shots where someone might focus solely on Action shots or someone might just do shots of female characters.

AceofSnakes: Lastly, I'd like to touch up on a little bit more about you. Is there anything you'd like people to know, anything you're personally proud of since you joined GUN and the GFX Crew?


Mattafex: I Love the unity the site has, Its definitely not a mod site it’s a community of people with similar interests who have come together over their love of modding and it’s great to have such talented modders like @c a e k, @aarius and @dragbody putting out incredible releases.

AceofSnakes: I agree, the unity is truly something special. Well Mattafex, I'd like to thank you for this wonderful little session we've shared. Hopefully the community is able to learn more about our talented GFX artist this way, and connect more with you and the hard work you put into your craft.

Mattafex: My pleasure, It’s nice to have these back.


Well there you have it folks another great interview, hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Remember all credit should go to @AceofSnakes for his hard work, I only posted it for him and many thanks to @Mattafex for willing to do the interview. Thank you for your time stay tuned for the next issue!

@William Lionheart and @AceofSnakes Sweet interview you two, another great insight into one GUN's best GFX Specialists and a great friend of mine. Like the other ones I enjoyed reading this and it's good to learn more about my friend @Mattafex (Lewd Krew ride or die) and how he started out.
Keep it up guys, I can't wait to read the next one.

Nice interview , delightful read.

Good job to all

Well that was a nice reading. When I browse the site, I frequently stop to look at the banners, and I'm always like "Damn, those look so freaking good". And it's really cool to read and know more about one of the people who make our site look so damn fine. Great to see a long time member and one of the most dedicated GUNner to be given some highlights, cause he sure as hell deserves it. I find the part about your passion for music, really interesting @Mattafex . As someone such as myself who pretty much lives and breathes for music, i completely relate when you said that "music helps creativity wise". I don't know about you, but I think that without music, I'd be a complete un-creative person.

Anyway, as I said, this was a fine interview and a sweet reading. Thanks to @AceofSnakes for the interview, and @William Lionheart for posting that interview. Great work guys, and I can't wait to see the next one!

A nice format for an interview and not too long I like it! I will read the past interviews now.

Nice work on the interview @William Lionheart and @AceofSnakes nice to know about the different side of mattafex.