RIP creator of the Speedguide logo, Matt Swift aka Omnipressive

[jayyy2]

It's been years and years since I've posted on here...but I learned something the other day that brought back a lot of memories, and I thought speedguide OGs who were here in 2000-2001 might want to hear about it.

The speedguide logo in the top left of the screen was (IIRC) the result of a contest, which was won by then-19-year-old Matt Swift, who went by the username Omnipressive. Despite this, he was not popular on here, as he could be a huge troll, and was eventually banned.

Here's a thread he did claiming his trolling was all for a paper he was doing for psychology class, for example (which was of course complete BS)-

https://www.speedguide.net/forums/sh...p?9983-Hey-hey

He was active in other forums at the time, such as at somethingawful.com. Can't find the thread now, but before he was banned there he got publicly put on blast by the admin lowtax, and was torn to shreds by the users there. As annoying as he was I felt sorry for him.

Still, the guy was undeniably a talented digital graphic artist, and so a few years ago I wondered whatever happened to him and if he ever grew up and made something of himself, so I did some digging to find out. He wasn't hard to find because so many of his forum posts across the net would link to digital art he posted on his own domains, first omnipressive-labelled ones and later swiftgraphics.com. By following the domain trails I tracked him to his modern social media accounts.

Turns out he did really well. He moved to Cincinnati and became an artist for Marvel comics. His likeness even appeared as a bit part / background character in an issue of Spider Man-

https://www.linkedin.com/in/swiftgraphics

More importantly, he grew as a person. Became a Christian and got involved with numerous charities and missionary work. On the top link of his twitter feed you can see a pegged tweet about his planned trip to Nicaragua-

https://twitter.com/matthewswift?lang=en

Pretty impressive, right? Well, earlier this week I wondered what he was up to lately, and check for an update and found this-

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news...away-this-year

Killed tragically in a car accident in mid 2016. Left behind a wife and young daughter. The tribute to him on the WCPO is quite moving. Not only did he quit being a troll, he touched a lot of lives, and had a standing room only funeral.

First it moved me how someone so immature could evolve into such a great person. When I learned about his death I felt a sadness like it was someone I knew personally. And in a real way, I did. Here's to you Omni. I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time on here so long ago.

If you want to contribute to the fund for his widow, the link for it is still up-

https://www.gofundme.com/2nhev32s

[Humboldt]

I remember him.

Sorry to hear of his passing.

RIP

[Philip]

Thank you for sharing, I remember Matt well and wasn't aware about his passing so young, he must've been ~35yo at the time of the accident

Even with his attitude, he was undoubtedly a very talented graphics artist and will always be part of SG as the creator of the logo, I still have the originals from him.

R.I.P. Matt

[Lefty]

R.I.P. brother.

[jeremyboycool]

Kind of a strange thread.

[Paft]

I remember him. Damn. I'm sorry to hear this.

[nightowl]

I remember RIP

[John]

I remember Matt well. Smart guy, talented. Rest in peace omni. I've a heavy heart for his wife and child left behind.

[David]

"People will forget what you said... and people will forget what you did... but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Mad Doctor sig

One of my worst personality attributes is a long memory... My sympathies to his family.

[Ashdaw]

That is such a shame. R.I.P Omni.

[RicRogue]

I remember him.

Sorry to hear of his passing.

RIP

Wow...Sorry to hear...I too remember him and the contest.

[Philip]

Wow...Sorry to hear...I too remember him and the contest.

Yeah, we will remember him.

Good to see you around Ric.