Hello Friend,
Thank you SO much for joining me here! I’m so excited to be delivering the first instalment of the Wind & Wonder newsletter to you and I really hope that you enjoy connecting with me in this way as much as I am! 🤗 ✨
I created Wind & Wonder with hopes to share more than just my work with you. The creative journey is SO much more than polished pieces of work that we share on social media. I don’t know about you, but for me being creative extends way beyond work. I think of creativity as almost a way of being, a way of living...For me it’s about how I go about my day, what kind of decisions I make and how I approach thinking about my future. Do I allow myself to dream, imagine and CREATE my future, or do I act out of a place of scarcity and fear and skip the creative current altogether? I strive to act in every moment from a place of creative flow, but oh boy am I far from it 😅. I use my every day to exercise that muscle and love learning about how others see the creative process, how they think about it and what are their ways of tuning into it.
I’d love for this newsletter to be an extension of my creative discoveries and a place where I share it with you alongside my work and other news from my studio and personal life 💛. So please, get comfortable and enjoy this first package delivered right to your inbox. I hope it brings a little bit of Wonder to your day ☺️.
Books, podcasts and even more books!
📚 Books
I am one of those people who buy more books than they consume...Yup, with every book purchase I promise myself to finish the one that I started previously, which of course very rarely happens and as a result, the pile of books my on coffee table keeps...piling. As of right now I have 3 books on the go:
“Mind Magic: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything” by James R. Doty
“This is Strategy: Make Better Plans” by Seth Godin
“The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins
The one that I’ve made the most progress with is Mind Magic. I first came across its author James Doty years ago when I stumbled upon his first book “Into The Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart” which immediately became one of my favourites of all time. It’s one of those books that I bought many copies of and keep giving them away to friends as gifts. The book is a memoir that tells a story of a 12-year old James who walked into a Magic Shop with props and gadgets for magicians. There he met a woman named Ruth, who taught him mindfulness practices which allowed him to ease his emotional suffering, open his heart and eventually allowed him to manifest a life of his dreams.
Anyhow, let’s get back to his second book...😅 Mind Magic dives into the neuroscience of manifestation and explains how manifesting works beyond the pseudo science that a lot of us think of when we think MANIFESTATION. In the book he talks extensively about our nervous system and how it’s linked to creativity. I also enjoyed this interview with James Doty where he talks about his latest book. Coincidentally, he is interviewed by Mel Robbins, who is the author of another book from my current stack.
🎧 Podcasts
Podcasts! I think I might actually be addicted to podcasts. I’ve been an avid listener of all sorts of podcasts since probably 2015 or so? Some of the episodes that really stayed with me recently include:
Debbie Millman’s conversation with Seth Godin - Seth has this very clear, direct and insightful way of talking about all things business and marketing. His books on these subjects actually inspire me to look at my business from new perspectives and help me see challenges and obstacles as something that I can learn from and use to grow my business.
Interview with Martha Beck about How to Find Your Purpose & Design the Life You Want - I heard of Martha Beck for the first time this year and fell in love with her right away. In this conversation she shares some amazing insights about fear and purpose and talks about how we can actually use fear to guide us. In my creative journey, I definitely experienced falling into the traps of fear, went through stretches of time of not really knowing what my purpose was and spent weeks or even months kind of floating without knowing which turn to take next. What I loved about this conversation with Martha is her insights into how to actually use fear in a positive way and think of it almost as our ally.
Reflections on 2024. Predictions for 2025 by Tom Froese. - I really enjoyed how honest and personal Tom got in this episode of his podcast. The creative and illustration industry is changing so quickly and we’re all feeling the impact of it. Here Tom dives into how these changes are affecting him, his illustration practice and shares his predictions for 2025.
Work updates
Leap Magazine
Few moths ago I was commissioned to work on a series of spot illustrations for Leap Magazine. The article was about low-impact but highly effective workouts. I had a lot of fun playing with abstracting the characters slightly and blending them with their environments.
DoorDash x T&T Supermarket
I was also approached by DoorDash to illustrate a mailer box that they were collaborating on with T&T Supermarket to celebrate the Moon Festival in Canada. This was a particularly exciting project because the final outcome was a physical box that was delivered to T&T fans across the country 🤗.
Erlebnis Card for City of Stuttgart
Design Studio Disco Doener reached out to me to create a hero image for the city of Stuttgart which was used on a variety of materials for a membership card that allows the citizens of Stuttgart to explore local attractions for free. I loved working on this project and loved seeing how the final illustration was used even more. It was applied to the physical card itself, posters, flyers, totes and even a WODDEN CUTOUT! How cool is that!? 🤯
Literary Review of Canada
In my work I use a lot of bold and vibrant colours, hence I was a little scared (but also very intrigued) when Literary Review of Canada reached out to me to create a grayscale illustration to visualize the idea of “uncertainty of the future”. I ended up really enjoying working within the limitations of the brief and used it to explore playing with different textures.
What else has been happening lately
🎓 Teaching
Few months ago I got the incredible opportunity to join LABASAD Barcelona School of Art & Design as a sessional instructor for their Master in Principles of Graphic Design. I’m very passionate about design and get very excited whenever I get a chance to share my passion with others. I thoroughly enjoyed connecting with students during my classes and loved seeing how they applied the skills we learned together in their final assignments! 🙌
🗒️ Strategy
This year marks 10 years since I went solo and started my illustration & design practice Gust of Wind Studio. It’s a huge personal milestone and when looking back, I’m shocked and surprised that I got this far without ever having a clear plan or strategy. I sort of...made the leap and have been going ever since. Which is incredible, but also probably not the best business practice 😅.
So, this year I’m starting things a little differently. I spent the last few days working on an actual strategy plan for 2025 and I’m VERY curious to see what kind of impact this will have on my business. Right now I definitely feel empowered by it. Having a plan and strategy allows me to feel more confident and gives me a sense of control. As an independent creator it’s so easy to feel powerless, especially when going through quiet periods. With a plan in my hand I have a much clearer sense of direction and know what to focus on, even when client work is quiet.
I’m hoping to polish my strategy document a little bit more and maybe even turn it into a future Substack post. Perhaps it could help other independent creators who feel stuck and need to regain a sense of control over their business.
📦 I’m moving!
After just over 3 years in my first apartment in Toronto I’m finally relocating! I’m super excited about this new chapter and look forward to exploring new neighbourhoods in the city. Up until this point my workspace was a cute little corner of my living room. With the move, I’m hoping to find a space with a room dedicated just for work. It will be great to create a little bit of separation and I’m also interested to see how the new environment will affect my work 🤗 ✨.
Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed the content of my very first newsletter! If you’d like to reach out about a potential project, collaboration, chat all things creativity or to simply say hi you can email me at mateusz.n@hey.com. You can also visit my website or follow me on instagram.
‘til next time,
Mateusz
Mateusz, your first newsletter is fantastic. I'll definitely look forward to this landing in my inbox. I love your work for its colour but that illustration for Literary Review of Canada—chef's kiss. I hope you're doing amazingly well!
What a pleasure to have this arrive in my inbox! Love it! Always looking for a new book to add to the pile too...😅 Thanks Mat!