So, it’s no secret that all of entertainment and more broadly tech in general has undergone a major series of contractions- layoffs have affected every Studio and WFH job. There’s been major reversals in the unprecedented demand of post-covid “peak media”; Labor strikes in Hollywood; AI technologies rendering whole professions redundant; and interest rates AKA the “price” of money is sky-high. Many, many of my colleagues and friends are out of work entirely and I’m here… doing ok, I’ll say cautiously, for now. It’s unsettling to see so much bad news every day, but I still manage, so far, to keep busy enough… and I’ll still be counting my blessings, whether or not that changes.
My skills as an artist, thankfully, are broad as well as deep, so if needs arise, I’m confident a pivot from Storyboarding to SOMETHING is possible, but it never seemed even a question until recently- and yeah, these days I’m thinking, like many others – “What’s my backup plan, again?”
Thus, it makes sense to plant a few seeds in some within-reach pots to see what might grow. Now, I’m not a naturally ambitious person- if i have any success at all, it’s just been the result of walking very slowly and cautiously in the same direction for a very long time and getting lucky with the result. So I’m not about to do anything WILDLY DIFFERENT, but I can see that I can do a few things that should be a win-win-win result whether or not anything “successful” comes of them. And I’m ready to talk about one of those ventures…
… So, I’ve started Twitch Streaming
That’s right, it turns out ol’ Maxy isn’t just amazing at drawing; the camera also LOVES me since I’m particularly handsome with a sexy voice and amazing hair. If that doesn’t interest you, maybe a peek behind the curtain to see how the “sausage” is made will entice you check out my Twitch Channel. I promise, i give good stream….
LOL, innuendo aside, I’ve decided that part of my intent to repudiate mass adoption of generative AI as the go-to artistic solution has to come in part via my willingness to lay bare skills and subjects that typically I’d never show publicly. AI may have its uses but it can’t do EVERYTHING that a talented artist can do and I intend to demonstrate that on my stream. It’s tricky for a behind-the-scenes professional like myself to thrust myself onstage and adopt a public persona but someone’s gotta do it!
Luckily, I see this also as an opportunity for me to organically cultivate an earnest following of people who might actually be interested, over time, in paying attention to what artists like me do, and eventually I can theoretically dovetail this into a teaching career down the road, if motive and opportunity align.
And, it’s a great opportunity for me to have what they call an “accountability device,” something that makes you feel like you have to do something that is good for you but you’d otherwise procrastinate. Akin to those people on your social timelines that post reels of their “workout of the day”.
With that, I’m excited to announce that “Join Max” is exiting soft-launch and embrace HARDNESS, haha. Join Max is my skillshare/streaming/educational venture and it’s gonna be my side project until it takes over my storyboarding career, hopefully many many years from now. On it, I’ll be oversharing my take on all things professionalism as often as I can, and I encourage you to take a peek, maybe subscribe, and maybe even share to others that you think could use a refreshing perspective on the triumphs and tragedies of today’s careers in entertainment illustration.
What am I working on for my stream demos? I’m glad you asked! Well, Fan Art is super popular on social media, and whereas this type of content was at one point cringe for professionals like me, now there’s been a shift, if you will, where I’m seeing some legitimate opportunity (since there’s such limited legitimate opportunity these days). So, I’m drawing Fan Art of LEGEND OF ZELDA!
Yes, since a Legend of Zelda of LIVE ACTION movie has been announced by Nintendo, I think it only logical that a talented video game storyboard artist like myself develop a portfolio of works that might show my skills and versatility, developed in realtime, from start to finish, to remove any doubt that I might have used any AI cheats or unscrupulous means to create my compositions.
If you have any interest in Zelda Fan Art, please check out my newest instagram offerings being posted at @Study_Studio_Max – it’s starting to get some traction with a small following and I’m quite pleased about that.
Will Zelda pan out? Probably not! But again, my real goals here are long-term: creating an audience, honing my live presentation skills, and demonstrating the relevance of fundamental artistic problem solving techniques! My thesis is that I’ll be demonstrating What AI Bros Can’t Do: Draw, Entertain, and Look Good Doing It!
And after I get my Zelda portfolio done, I’ll just move onto another fan project- anything from Mortal Kombat to Mario Kart, whatever the audience wants! I’ll demonstrate my approach live and work through the problems together in a kind of case-study methodology of teaching entertainment illustration. It’s an exciting new way for me to show off, I’m quite addicted to it actually, and I can’t wait to show you!
Ok thanks for reading! Next time I’ll show you some cool storyboards from a Batman Video Game! Ta for now.
-Max
PS – if Twitch isn’t your cup of tea, you can also check out my stream recordings on my Youtube Channel: @maxfwd. Give it a peek (and a like/subscribe!)
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