We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Max Pinelli . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Max below.
Max, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
-I learned to draw at first by looking at comics, games, and movies I loved when I was a kid. As I got older, I got more invested in making it long term, and set my sites on exploring further education at AAU, an art school in San Francisco. -When I think about my time at art school, I often lament the inclusion of general education in the curriculum. If I could have focused entirely on the art side of things (which is what I believed could be done there) I could have really boosted speed. Maybe studying on my own would have been faster, yet I’m often motivated best by external factors. Having deadlines and expectations from professors got me to do the work, and forced me to consider how best to improve, which meant being critical of myself. That’s something I have almost become too good at, in hindsight.
-The most essential skills to learn were less to do with the artistic process and more to do with my mentality around, my understanding of, and my willingess to create genuine art. What ultimately is the most essential tool is the will to learn, which includes the will to be true to yourself, while still being accepting how others perceive it. You don’t need to take every bit of advice to heart, but always listen.
-The biggest obstacle to learning more isn’t always yourself, as my previous answers could imply that. However I do think that while this is often the case, there is also that of resources. Not everyone can go buy an ipad or drawing tools, some people don’t even have change for the next meal. Still, we can make art in many ways. There isn’t a right or wrong way to do it, but keeping your mind closed isn’t going to bring you to any surprising conclusions.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I grew up reading comics because of a snowball effect in other media. Characters like Sonic or Batman lead to me investing a lot of time and money into reading their stories, and as it went on I grew a strong love for the medium as a whole, beyond that of just the recognizable IPs.
Before even this, I was always obsessed with drawing. It felt like a way to make my own fun where there wasn’t any. As I got to around the age of 10, I’d write and draw comics because it was the easiest way for me to make something right then and there, without the need for a camera or a bunch of friends willing to play with me.
Today, I’m a comic artist who’s very fresh to the scene. I spent years in art school honing my craft, and I was ready to burst into the gates. I’ve found its a slow process! Instant gratification isn’t gonna happen though, so I push forward with others like myself. As of yet, I have no works with major comics publishers such as Marvel, DC, or Image.
I’ve involved myself with the kickstarter community with one project, The Relentless Lark, out there in the wild already, and several more currently in the works with various creators.
As the illustrator, it’s my job to take the wonderful scripts of my colleagues and bring them to life. There’s a varying degree of problem solving, but I enjoy a good bit of creative freedom. I have yet to work with a writer who’s awfully controlling of my work, I set out to fulfill the script’s intentions, and hope to bring a unique vision that can surprise them as much as the future audience.
I like to think these qualities are what makes me hireable, my drive to involve myself in the story and build upon what’s been handed to me, rather than only bringing about a visual that satisfies their imagination.
What I want people to know about me and my work is that I’m not interested in half measures. I will always push it to the next level, because thats what I want to be looking towards. There’s no peak when great minds come together, so I love when my creative partners are just as excited to climb the endless mountains of creativity as I am. Boy that was cheesy.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
In lue of things like the writer’s strike, or generative AI, I’ve found that many people don’t respect or understand what makes something art.
Many hold the sentiment that if they don’t personally enjoy someone’s work, and enough others agree, that the artists behind it don’t deserve a living. Sounds extreme, but it’s often the thought I see when someone speaks critically of the workers of a union strike such as WGA strikes that had just passed.
On the flip side, many who defend AI “art” do not have much understanding of the phrase. This is clear to me when seeing the two roads it takes to approve of it, one is the pursuit of financial benefits through little effort, the other is the dismissal of the theft it takes to create it, simply wanting to type an idea in and see their little robot make a pretty picture.
They hurt themselves. They have gladly handed over their own will to create to a machine that steals the work of others. They robbed themselves of the oppurtunity to go express these thoughts themselves.
As I said before, there is no right or wrong way to make art, and within that, you do not have to have professional training to express your creativity. You may think my statement is hypocrisy, as I don’t consider these AI generated images art. There’s a simple answer as to why, and that is that art in and of itself implies human intention.
Robots could be replacing menial tasks, they could revolutionize our idea of freedom in a world where the goals of work were to push us forward, rather than capital gain. We wouldn’t be worried about them stealing our jobs if we didn’t need jobs to be allowed a home and necessary medicines that keep us alive.
Instead, we live in a world where those threats are real, and we use robots to take away the one true escape from that hell, our own imaginations. AI “artists”, don’t make art, the same way you didn’t make the burger you ordered at McDonald’s.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding part is doing it. Just being able to do this, to make anything I want happen on a page if I just put enough time into it, is the best reward I could ask for. Comics are one of the most raw forms of creative expression, one that’s always giving back to me because I put so much into it.
Even without a knock on my door from the major publishers, I still sit in wonder of the oppurtunities ahead of me by allowing time for myself to build my craft and enjoy the process. Making friends along the way helps too, we hold each other up and make great things, whether its together or in support of one another
Contact Info:
- Website: Maxpinelliart.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxpinelliart/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-pinelli-00a14012a
- Twitter: https://x.com/maxpinelliart?t=xJDkpLaKDcE-7-sNvAxsOg&s=09