A REDDITCH illustrator has taken his passion for drawing and turned it towards writing to create his very first children’s book.
Matt Hunt, who lives and works in Matchborough, has written his first book ‘Message in a Bottle’ which also features his own illustrations, and it is due to be released this Thursday (April 6)
The 29-year-old’s story follows the tale of Lion, who is fed up with living in the city and moves to a desert island, with just his guitar for company.
When Lion becomes lonely, he sends out a message in a bottle looking for a friend, but when no one comes, Lion sends out more bottles and suddenly, animals of start arriving from all over the world.
The book, which started out a sketch for a character, was picked up by his publishers and has gone to book fairs around the world.
Matt’s wife Hayley said: “The book has had a lot of excitement. Matt is infuriatingly modest, but we’re both looking forward for the book to be released and for people to enjoy it.”
Matt added: “It’s been great fun to develop a whole story for one of my characters and I’m looking forward to seeing how people react to Lion’s adventure.
“Who knows – there could be more to come from Lion in the future if things go well.”
The creative author studied for a degree in Fine Art at Birmingham University in 2011 and after winning a few illustration competitions, was signed with The Bright Agency, who are based in London and New York.
Since quitting his admin job at Halfords in 2015 and followed his dream to be a professional illustrator, Matt has created many book covers and has also been commissioned by online stationery shop Ohh Deer to design greetings cards.
Visit matthuntillustration.com to see more of Matt’s work.
