-
7/31/2019 Micheal Pritchard - The Nearly Famous Artist
1/3
Foundation Degree Digital Media Production
Interview Report with
Micheal Pritchard
Micheal Pritchard is a local Staffordshire
artist who combines his photography skills with
other artistic mediums, such as inks and pen, to
create montage images. His style of working is
unique and has created him a niche market for
his products. Micheal studied at Rycotewood College, Oxford,
Bishop Longdale College,
Derby and Birmingham School of Art Education. His foundation
studies at college in drawing
and painting developed into a particular interest towards
surface pattern and design,graphics and various methods of
printmaking (Appendix A).
Over the years, Micheals work has developed and evolved due to
an enthusiasm to
experiment and by exploring different approaches to his tasks.
Within his work he embraces
techniques and methods of sampling, mixing and montage. His
themes and inspiration have
come from the industrial heritage of the Potteries that are
expressed in bold and vibrant
colours, to closer studies of natural forms and surface patterns
and textures. He regularly
exhibits his contemporary portfolio of paintings and prints in
local museums, open art
shows and exhibitions and art galleries such as Glaston Pottery
Museum in Longton, The
Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Webberleys Book Shop in Hanley
and The Radford
Gallery.
While I was at his latest exhibition (Appendix B), I started to
break down his prints
mentally in an attempt to find out how and what Micheal has done
to create the image.
After breaking three of his prints down as much as I could, I
then started chatting to him
about his prints as to how he really has created the prints.
This was of particular interest to
me because I have done some Acrylic on Canvas work in the past
working from a photo
that was first projected onto the canvas before I started.
Micheal, however, has done the
opposite. He has created pieces of work in acrylic and ink and
then used the finished pieces
to produce his prints. He says that my work is like the law of
improbability my work is a
fusion of the accidental and the intended as the intent is to
put the ink on whereas it is
accidental is that the inks collide with each other and mix.
When I started chatting to Micheal and what advice he would give
to a new
photographer just starting out, he answer it with Find a unique
method that works well
and dont tell anyone how your method works and this will provide
you with a niche
market. He also gave me some advice for when I print my images.
He said to invest in
-
7/31/2019 Micheal Pritchard - The Nearly Famous Artist
2/3
Middleport 2008
Gladstone Workshop PH003 2008
Bridgewater PH002 2009
Ultrachrome inks for my printer as the quality of the ink allows
me to exhibit my
photographs year after year whereas standard print inks fade
over time resulting in either
reprinting the image or replacing it. On one particular piece of
Micheals that he pointed out
that was later on used to produce a print, he went through a
brief stage-by-stage process of
how the piece was created. I used inks and a craft knife to
create patterns and designs onthe canvas. The knife was used to
produce an indent so that the inks would flow around
the desired pattern. The smaller details were done with pen.
While Micheal may have basic knowledge in the lines of
photography, generally
snapping at items and places of interest, he does have an eye
for composition and the
know-how with Photoshop that makes his prints appealing to me.
Three of Micheals
prints that I looked at were Bridgewater PH002 2009, which is
print edition collection
consisting of 50 prints, Gladston Workshop PH003 2008 and
Middleport 2008(Appendix
C). Theres a clear theme running
throughout the three prints; theyre all
abstract pieces inspired by the Potteries
and produced by using Adobe Photoshop.
His Bridgewater piece isnt as complex
as his Middleport piece in the sense that
theres more overlapping of buildings
creating more abstract colours.
For his Bridgewater piece, Micheal has used simple overlaying
effects that produce
negative and abstract colours. Effects like Colour Burn,
Difference and Lighten have all been
used at some point within this piece. The two chimneys in the
top right corner is a perfect
example of a simple overlay. The roof and the smaller chimney
are one image while the
-
7/31/2019 Micheal Pritchard - The Nearly Famous Artist
3/3
bigger chimney is a separate photo and it placed over the top in
the space between them.
The smaller bottle oven has probably had the Colour Burn effect
applied to it which would
explain the dark blue tones. The bigger bottle oven has more
than likely had a Negative
Filter applied as the colour tones are now reversed, i.e. dark
becomes light and light
becomes dark. However, when a colour is introduced to the
Negative Filter, the colourinverts to its complimentary colour so
with this bottle oven, the lighter areas have turned a
dark green colour whereas the originally dark areas have turned
red.
To advertise his products and his upcoming exhibitions, Micheal
prints off small
postcards that show off one or more examples of his work that
will be on show (Appendix
D). Again, I am particularly interested in this because I have
thought about making postcards
out of photos that I have taken around my local area. However,
Michael makes his postcards
to advertise his products whereas my photos will advertise my
local area but I can use his
postcards as a starting point for what and how much content they
should contain.
After the interview with Micheal, I do feel as though I have
learnt a fair bit from him
about presentation and how to get a head-start commercially if I
choose to produce and sell
my photos whether it is to a newspaper or as prints on a canvas.
Despite him, what seems
to be, to have only basic photographic and Photoshop skills,
Micheal has demonstrated that
to create professional prints that people like you do not
necessarily need to know how to
use your tools and equipment to their full potential.
