Pop Culture and Broken Worlds: An Interview with Max Prentis
/Max Prentis is an illustrator, visual artist and animator
based at Nauti Studios in Sydney.
We asked Max some red hot Qs to get a behind the scenes look at the world,
and inspirations behind their amazing work.
A recent work from Max Prentis, which feels pretty close to home in these almost-pretty-much-apocalypse times.
Tea or coffee?
Coffee 100%
Sunrise or sunset?
Sunset, specifically a late sunset with a few nimbus clouds and a good half moon.
I'm never up at sunrise to appreciate it so sunset really wins by default.
What scares you?
Death mainly, but I guess second to that would be the degrading structure of our society where corporations have moved into our everyday lives and we can't live a single moment without a advert being mentioned or shown to us.
One of Max’s works made in his studio at Nauti.
Max is a master of detail.
When did you start getting into animation?
! had a client who wanted me to animate there album covers for them, I lied and said I could do that (I was barely able to work Aftereffects).
Then after a few dozen google searches learnt how to animate.
What inspires you and your work?
A lot of pop culture, mainly from cartoons and comics I read as a kid. I've always liked the idea of characters which develop in a broken down world how they act and function.
What’s your fav thing about Nauti?
I'd say the people, it's being around creative people of all walks of life. I'm always keen hearing about different projects and ideas that people are a part of.
(Nat’s personal favourite.)
Up-close you can see how intricate each drawing is, and how fine each line is.
What is the artwork you are most proud of?
!t's which ever one took the least amount of time and effort for the best result, I can't remember which one that is though..
What are you working on at the moment?
I'm working on a mouse pad for Intel. the thing is huge so it's more of a desk pad than anything.
If you weren't an artist, what would you be?
I've always liked the idea of restoring things, so either a shoe cobbler or a antique restorer.
A recent work from Max Prentis.
Have any artists changed the way you see the world?
Ashley Woods and Sam McKenzie, both Australian illustrators which highly influenced me in my early 20s.
If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?
There was a man I chatted to in a small restaurant in Kuala Lumpur several years ago. He lost his wife and never travelled so he was going through Asia to explore. we talked about art and how he used to be passionate about watercolour as a child, I hope he's doing alright.
Max (left) hanging at the studio when Nat and Simon accidentally all wore matching clothes. It was decided if a band was formed it would be called ‘Olive Garden’.
