nerdy bio

Who are you, and what do you do?

My name is Mike Makatron, I am an Australian artist based in Melbourne. I have been producing studio works and public art for about 20 years, and balance my time creating exhibitions with travelling the world to produce large scale murals and installations. I have painted in over 50 cities, scattered on every continent. I have a minor but emerging interest in sculptural versions of my painted imagery.

What hardware(tools) and software do you use?

I primarily use water-based exterior paint with rollers, brushes and an airless spray gun. Most murals involve some aerosol but never only aerosol for aesthetic and health reasons.

I occasionally use stencils, sometimes from found objects to quickly create texture and patterns.

Canvas work I mostly use acrylic, occasionally oils for fine detail on top of (dry) acrylic paint. I seem to be building up a collection of Golden-brand paints, but I think brushes are more important than the paint brand. I keep old brushes on hand, especially for murals to create texture, and I keep really old brushes for one final use with oil-based paints then throw them away.

I try to do most things on a bigger screen 27" [iMac][], but I have a small [MacBook][] with [Photoshop][] for travelling, and an [iPad][] 10" for sketching.

I have a lot of Staedtler pencils in various sizes, I just buy the same brand so I have spares of leads and erasers, and I use 2B pencils the most.

I use the [Adobe Creative Suite][creative-suite] for Photoshop, I rarely use [Illustrator][] and occasionally [InDesign][] for folio updates or proposals. I use [Procreate][procreate-ios] for sketching and adapting a Photoshop montage before it goes to a wall or canvas.

I use [Evernote][] a lot to organise my brain. Music is very important to me and I've just started curating a [Spotify][] account for the various moods and emotions I am in or want to be in.

This week I've deleted the [Instagram app][instagram-ios] from my phone for the next 3 weeks, and am looking for a program to upload posts directly from the desktop, with the goal of sketching more at home and scrolling less.

What would be your dream/dream setup?

I'm actually building my dream setup in a warehouse which I've bought. I plan on a multi-function art studio, lots of space to hang multiple canvases and make a mess, a big workshop section with lots of hand and power tools that can be hidden behind doors easily. Large chill spot on the mezzanine that overlooks a river and bushland, and an indoor jungle with integrated automatic watering system and drainage. Above, a rooftop hydroponic edible garden + cocktail lounge for sunset. Some of these dreams may take some years to afford!

As for murals, I have been toying with the idea of using drones to sketch out large murals from a distance. It can be very time-consuming to apply the outlines of a large work from a scissor lift or boom lift - I really like the idea of being able to lay down the basic shapes with a bit better perspective.