Featured Artist: Matt R Martin
Matt R Martin is a talented Melbourne based artist that we have worked with for a number of years. Matt has remarkable photo-realistic skills, indeed his work is often mistaken for a photograph because of the intricate detail involved in his oil paintings.
As well as selling his original works, Matt also creates limited edition prints which we print in-house on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. This is a very important part of Matt’s business as it allows art fans that may not be able to afford an original piece to purchase a limited edition print. It also enables Matt to keep receiving an income after the original work has been sold!
Matt has just realised two limited edition prints that are available to order online. If you are looking to receive one of these incredible prints before Christmas – make sure you place your order as soon as possible.
Where are you based?
Melbourne (Taylors Lakes currently)
How long have you been painting for?
I think I started painting in 2007 but I have been drawing for as long as I can remember.
What do you feel is your biggest achievement to date?
Making a living from my art.
What are your creative influences?
Film is a great source of inspiration for me. I love watching movies.
What are your favourite tools of the trade?
Photoshop
is a great tool for the modern artist. It allows me to do all the prep
work and problem solving on my reference photos.
Daylight globes for lights are also useful. I’m a night owl so it allows me to work at night knowing the colours I’m painting are correct. (Editor’s note – see Solux globes!).
What process do you go through to create a limited edition print from one of your paintings?
From the finished painting I take the work to a professional photographer – not just any one though, someone that specialises in art documentation.
Then there’s a slight clean up of the photo of the painting in Photoshop getting rid of the dust and hair. I then call Image Science to talk about and plan a release date.
A meeting is set with Image Science to set the sizes of the
print and do some artist proofs. Then getting my website organised for
the release is the next step (I’ve had some hiccups here because I need a
web person for updates. I plan to change this so I can control and
update independently).
I buy mailing tubes and bubble wrap in bulk and finally spreadsheets are made up to mark off which edition numbers have been sold… then I await the orders!
How has being able to create edition prints from your originals been influential to your business?
Because of my style of painting it takes a while to produce the work.
When successful, the prints allow me to continue my income after the
sale of original work. Also a lot of art fans cannot afford an original
piece of art so this allows them to buy affordable art that still has a
direct connection with the artist.
What’s next?
I plan to move over to London and try to extend and further my
art career outside of Australia while still having strong ties to the
Australian art scene.
You can keep up to date with Matt R Martin on Instagram, Facebook and via his blog on his website.
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