Meet Max Temescu | Illustrator & Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Max Temescu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Max, what do you attribute your success to?
I think specificity has been really important for how people see my illustration. I started out drawing a lot of sci-fi and horror art, and found that there were already a lot of people doing that better than I could back then. I realized that I really cared about outdoors and sustainability related subjects in a more specific and knowledgeable way. By applying my grounded, cinematically inspired visual language to those types of subjects I got a lot more recognition for doing something unique.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a freelance illustrator, mostly working on book, comic and magazine projects; I do storyboards sometimes too. I also have been teaching drawing and design related classes more and more.

I really love drawing, and building narratives. Making art is a great way for me to observe and learn about the world. And piecing together an image or story is really gratifying if you are able to take it from “not working” to “working.”

As I figured out what that meant in terms of a career, I thought the more ownership I could take over my process the more I could focus my efforts on the types of ideas I care about. Being my own illustration business hopefully means I can guide my career into working on subjects like ecology, history, climate justice–subjects that might not necessarily align with other types of full-time art jobs.

The ups and downs of making illustrations and comics definitely can be tough. But when all the logistics and real world problems are working, it really is an amazing opportunity to thoughtfully make things. It is a unique combination of craft and conceptual thinking.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Baltimore and its a cool city because you can walk or bike most everywhere. There are a bunch of little food halls that have some surprisingly good stuff in them. Taharka Brothers ice cream and Ceremony Coffee are both really good and you can find them lots of spots throughout the city.

Probably I’d take the person down to the waterfront at Fell’s Point, Patterson Park, and check out the book store Greedy Reads and the record store The Sound Garden.

I’ve also found some pretty nice hikes and parks just outside the city. Patapsco Park is cool, and I really like the Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls down toward DC.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Lots of people have helped me along the way. I guess first I would want to thank my partner Lily, who is an amazing, supportive, and inspiring person in every part of life.

Professionally, I could thank lots of people, but John Hendrix has helped me enormously. He was my teacher in college and helped me understand illustration, and since then has really looked out for me and helped me find new opportunities in the field.

Website: https://temescuart.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxtemescu/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-temescu-56b79b45

Twitter: https://twitter.com/maxtemescu

Other: https://www.behance.net/Temescuart