Bedford artist goes viral after creating Snapchat drawings on TikTok

A Bedford artist has taken TikTok by storm after creating Snapchat drawings.

Matthew Di Liello only started posting his work two months ago but in that short space of time, he’s already accumulated 42 million views and over 200k followers.

The 27-year-old said: “The story of how I started posting is interesting. In December, I watched a pantomime with my friends in Stevenage’s Gordon Craig Theatre.

"We were in the front row and my friend Ben was picked on by the pantomime dames. I secretly filmed one of these moments and posted it on TikTok. It got 2.8 million views and I couldn’t believe it. I thought I should make the most of this opportunity and use it as a platform to post some artwork.”

Matthew added: “After the pantomime video went viral I was so surprised. I was at work with my friend Ben and the views were pouring in.

"We were both in shock and celebrated when it hit a million views.

"Then, when I started to post art and the same thing happened, I was even more shocked.”

Matthew knew he was on to a winner when he posted a Simpsons-themed Snapchat drawing and it hit 500k views within two hours – it now has 9.8 million views.

So what exactly is Matthew’s Snapchat art?

“On TikTok, I create different types of art but predominately I have become known for my Snapchat drawings. What I do is take a picture on Snapchat and record myself drawing over the top, putting myself into different cartoons, films, TV shows etc.”

He added: “I screen record me doing the drawing and timelapse it so people can watch the process.”

And although Matthew loves his job as a team leader at Bedford Cineworld, he’s hoping this new-found interest might lead to a full-time career as an artist.

He said: “The goal now is to do artwork that I can sell. My Snapchat-themed drawings are all digital and only work as something to be viewed rather than bought. So now I’d like to post videos with different art styles on canvas so I can set up a website and sell them.”

If you want to see more of Matthew’s art, his TikTok username is @matthewdiliello