I’m Matt Bugeja, and I was born on a tiny rock in the middle of the Mediterranean—Malta, to most of you. I've had a passion for art since before I can remember, since before I could speak or crawl or walk.

When I was 13, a cousin gave me a copy of Corel Draw, and I became obsessed with graphic design software. I developed it further in art school and got a job in an advertising agency working in both print & web.

I was doing quite well in Malta—had my own graphic design studio (MB Creations), which became a shared publishing company in 2006 (BMA Ltd). Boats & Yachting magazine was one of my favourite publishing success stories. In the summer of 2005, my girlfriend moved to Dublin. Like any good boyfriend, I followed her there.

In Dublin, I continued my graphics work designing for a few studios. I worked for DMA (Direct Marketing), Swan Design (Packaging), Learnex (Multimedia) & Design For Market (Packaging & Branding). At the same time, I was also freelancing in the digital field for companies like Owens DDB. I Art Directed & Produced digital campaigns for Volkswagen & Rimmel London. Meanwhile, BMA became one of Malta’s leading publishing houses. By 2008, the company employed over 10 people. In a relatively short space of time, the business expanded and began producing 5 publications. These included: Boats & Yachting, OnDeck, Nitro, Yell and Nomads.

In the summer of 2008, I decided I wanted to expand my career choices. I have always had a passion for animation, so that is was what I did! I joined AnimationMentor.com in January 2009 & graduated in August 2010 (I was also very excited to be nominated for a ‘Student Choice Award’ in San Fransisco).

Since graduating as an Animator, I’ve worked on short films for Brown Bag Films (23 Degrees 5 Minutes) & Soujacker (Orgin). I then began working for Blue-Zoo, a London-based animation company, animating on a cartoon series called Tree Fu Tom for BBC (CBeebies).

I love the excitement of starting something new. I cannot sleep for days at the beginning of a project: pacing, drinking coffee, shooting out ideas like crazy. I’m stubborn, don’t give up, and work days and nights until I’m happy with the outcomes. There is such a fabulous learning curve on a new project—it’s like a drug for me. Seeing my ideas become real is the most amazing thing, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

I’ve learned there is more to creative production than creativity—there’s also good planning and research. A few extra hours of planning at the start of a new project can save me hours, even days!

In the end, it’s simple. I love everything to do with animation & design. Every new project is as exciting as the very first assignment I completed in art school. What a way to live and work!