Max' artwork, style and techniques owe many things to the artists and illustrators he grew up with, reading their comics, appreciating their way of making art. Here are some books and authors whose influence has been of top importance to him:
- JODELLE by Pierre Bartier & Guy Peellaert
- SCARLETT DREAM By Claude Moliterni & Robert Gigi
- SAGA DE XAM by Nicholas Devil
Guido Crepax, Marco Rostagno, Andrea Pazienza, Philippe Caza, Peter Max, Roy Liechtenstein, Bob Peak, Esteban Maroto, Enric Siò, Jim Steranko, Georges Pichard.
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Max works mainly with pigment-ink pens and Pantone® or ProMarker® spirit-based marker, on specific marker paper.
Here is the average making of his work:
1 - After tracing on normal 80 gram paper the base drawing with a pencil, the sheet is fixed with paper tape to a light board. A white sheet of special paper is layed over the pencil drawing, also fixed with tape.
2 - The outline drawing is traced on the special paper with a mid grey fine tip pen, following the pencil line below.
3 - The colouring starts with light colours (yellows, light blues, light reds) and - after drying for some minutes - several layers of darker colurs, according to the various tones and shades you like to obtain.
4 - Last step is the final outlining, traced with a thin pigment-ink pen. Sometimes there is no final outlining, as colours will be softer and will add a more "pop" effect to the drawing.
