Meet Mato Jonas Steger | Graphic Designer, Author, & Branding Consult

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mato Jonas Steger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mato Jonas, is there something you believe many others might not?
As an artist and someone who started their own business from the scraps of what knowledge and skill I had, I get tired of hearing the age old “you need a degree” because no you don’t. You can be self-taught and successful! There is nothing wrong with being self educated, and taking your skills and knowledge and growing it into something great. I started learning graphic design and art all on my own, through tutorials, and videos, and watching others, and then I improved my skills by learning videography, and photography. I made my skillset desirable for clients, and now I take on projects from big companies, even if I can’t talk about them too loudly!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
So I’m a book cover artist and designer, but not just taking a photo and putting the title on it. I do something called photobashing, this is a style where the artist takes stock images and puts them together with photomanipulation and begins painting over the top of the image. This gives images the feel of being a hyper realistic painting, with less work needed. It’s commonly used in video game concept art to speed up the process, but it makes designs rich and striking in color and variation. I go above and beyond with cover design, by making sure I’m designing images that not only breathe the life of the story onto the image, but the author’s wishes onto the image. It should be a reflection of themselves, their story, and their brand, because at the end of the day the cover is a marketing tool. It’s my job to not only make a beautiful piece of artwork for them, but to make sure it fits their genre, fits their market, and will attract their audience!

I have spent the last near decade building a client base and finding publishers to work with, through resilience. When you work for yourself there is always cost issues with equipment, clients who refuse to pay, and often times lulls in work itself. I had to learn the hard way to save for the inevitable equipment break, or the paycheck that doesn’t come. Also some bigger companies take a long time to pay out, and learning to do self-employment taxes can be a hassle when you’re young! I started in my early 20s, and was dealing with a severe disability on top of that.

I was born with scoliosis, as well as disk degenerative disorder, and bone spurs, and at 17-years-old, I was in a major car accident, fracturing my spine and causing sciatica. A doctor told me when I was 18 that within 10 years I’d be wheelchair bound. At 25, that was almost true. I had to leave my job, stop going to the gym, and spent 90% of my time in a chair or in bed, because I couldn’t move. My partner spent years caring for me, helping me get dressed, and helping me get to a chair so I could start doing art again. And since I’m an author myself, I fell into designing covers for cheap, until I started taking it seriously. It’s been years, and now I’m back on my feet, going to the gym, working for a professional publishing boutique, three different small publishers, and I have a back log of clients keeping me busy a year in advance. I made a point to make myself a priority every step of the way. I got sick, and almost died in 2019, from sepsis! But I got better, and I kept going. However, I can only do all of that because I listen to my body! Self-care is an integral part of the journey, whether it means taking a few days off, or playing some video games with friends to unwind, I make a point to make sure I don’t let my disability relapse.

I learned a lot of lessons in the last near decade. I learned that if you put your mind to something, you can do it, and people telling you that you’re going to fail are nothing more than fuel for the fire. I became Fantasy & Coffee Design, as an artist, as a writer, as a micro influencer, because of my own tenacity and because I have been willing to let people be there for me in the long run. My brand, my story, it’s about community. Because we’re nothing by our lonesome. We need our friends to keep us up, and make sure we have the energy to keep going.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m always one for a good hike. But if a friend comes to visit, we’re going to the arcade first! Skee ball is a top priority, then we can strap our boots on, pull up alltrails and find a place that looks like a lot of fun. If they’re staying for the week, screw the city–let’s head out to the mountains and reach a peak!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Everyday I’m grateful for people like my partner who has endlessly supported me through career changes, but also Lily Singh, yes the Youtuber, and author of “How To Be A Bawse” that book is an amazing walk-through on self-growth and building yourself from the ground up. But at the end of the day, I kept fighting for the career I have. I decided recently to get my Bachelor’s in Graphic Design, but only to expand the reaches of client work and businesses that will hire me. But I cannot say I learned anything from a single professor that isn’t 100% free on YouTube! Thankfully, people on YouTube are an amazing source for learning the ins and outs of design and art, but you can find literally any skill worth learning on there. PixelImperfect was a great resource for me when I was still growing! On top of that, author Cherie Triplett (an indie author) helped me learn the ropes of doing admin work, which is a huge part of the job, from contracts, to invoices, to just emails!

There is always a dozen or more people in any journey, and I look forward to meeting more as I continue to grow, and take this new journey in the world of Twitch, where I’m an affiliate streamer four days a week! Big shout out to my viewers who watch me do a little art, and always have a story to share with me!

Website: fantasyandcoffee.com/SPDesign

Instagram: instagram.com/jm.steger

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-m-steger/

Twitter: twitter.com/jm_steger

Other: tiktok.com/@witchy.daddy twitch.tv/witchydaddyx