THE ART OF MAX ULICHNEY

Dominic Carter speaks with the illustrator about his love of Procreate and how he makes his popular MaxPacks brushes

- Dominic Carter

Max Ulichney has worn many hats. As a recovering graphic designer with a background in CG, he now splits his time between working as a character designer, art director and president of the top-selling Procreate brushes company MaxPacks. We caught up with him to learn more about his work, and hear how artists can get the most out of his custom-built brushes.

Tell us a little about your background as an artist. How did you get started, and what has your career been like so far?

I grew up in a family that valued art and creativity, and I was always drawing my own superheroes and comic strips. My dad in particular is a great artist; he worked in advertising and as a painter when I was young, so I always saw art as a valid career path.

I began interning at my father's advertising agency at 16 years old, where I did a lot of graphic design and illustration. Designing logos really built up my sense of shape language and composition. I also worked as a caricature artist through high school and art school, which developed a lot of my character design muscles. They were both formative jobs and they were the best art gigs I could get in Ohio, but they weren't what I wanted to do with my life.

My real career began after graduating from Columbus College of Art & Design, and I left Ohio to work in visual effects in Los Angeles. A week after landing in LA, I secured a job at sister companies A52 and Elastic, where I ended up staying for 15 years doing visual effects and animation work. While there, I acted as a CG artist, and ultimately as both an art director and director.

Currently I'm working as a character designer for features and TV. I'm also working for myself as the president and brushmancer of MaxPacks.

How has your art developed over the years, and what has been behind those changes?