wick-y

www.instagram.com/maxwickstrom…

finally made an Instagram!   (for years I couldn't figure out how to make an account and post and stuff from my laptop but it's working now for some reason?)

(this page will probably updated more often)

I’m an 18 year old intermedia artist based in Portland, originally from the Bay Area.  you can contact me on here or at maxwickstrom@yahoo.com.

faq

do you take commissions?

yes!

• a small (~2.5 x 3.5 inch) drawing (examples here) is $10, free shipping in the US, ask about international

• a larger (like 8.5 x 5.5 inch, tell me if you want specific measurements) small drawing is around $20, free shipping in the US, ask about international

• we can work out a price for anything bigger than that, just ask

• please keep my style in mind when commissioning me!  I’m willing to try almost anything, but I don’t wanna make you pay for something that I don’t think will turn out well.

can I buy one of your existing drawings?

possibly, I may have already given it to someone but you can ask!

do you sell zines?

yep!  here’s a list of all my available zines.

• ¼ size (~5 inches by 3 or 4 inches) copies of any zine on regular matte copy paper are $2 for black and white, $3 for color.  a higher quality, glossy color print is $3.50.

• ½ size (~8 x 5 inches) copies on regular matte copy paper are $3 for a black and white photocopy.  a higher quality, glossy color print is $5.

• shipping is free in the US!  ask me about international, it’s usually around $1 or $2.

• these are all hand assembled by me, they definitely aren’t perfect.

• if you want to to write your name, do a quick drawing, or sign the inside cover of a zine, just ask!

• ask me if you want a size or print quality not listed.

• I can only print the higher quality glossy ones during the school year, my account is turned off from mid-May through mid-August

do you sell prints?

yes, you can buy a print of pretty much any drawing of mine, just ask!  there are a few options available:

• if you want a glossy print on thin paper (basically like a magazine page), I can print that very inexpensively.  any size under 11x6 inches is $3 with free shipping (US only - ask about international, shouldn’t be much more than $1 at most).  bigger than that (up to 11x17 inches) costs a little more to ship.  while these aren’t professional quality prints by any means, they’re good if you just want something to tape or pin to your wall!

• if you’re looking for a super high quality, frame-able print of any of my art, tell me what you want and I’ll figure out the price.  the price is harder to predict with these, but as a point of reference, a small 8.5x5.5 inch print will cost around $15 and maybe $2 to ship within the US.

unfortunately my account gets turned off when school is out of session, so prints are not available from mid-May through mid-August.

can I use your art as my lockscreen/wallpaper/binder cover/ etc.?

of course, you don’t even need to ask but I appreciate it!

can I reference your art?

uhh I guess, but I’m probably not the best to learn from, I recommend looking at life or photos whenever possible.  if you wanna experiment with imitating my style though go for it!

can I get your art as a tattoo?

yeah totally!  just tell me which drawing you wanna get (or you can commission me to design one) and show me after it’s done (if you’re comfortable with that).

what materials do you use?

usually a combination of ballpoint and felt tip pens, alcohol-based markers, cheap colored pencils, crayons, cheap watercolor palettes, printed documents and trash that I cut up, and whatever I else have available.

where do you get your ideas? / what inspires your art?

not entirely sure, a lot of it’s personal experience and just daydreaming I think.  I’ve also been obsessed with movies and music for pretty much my whole life, so those give me a lot of ideas for art.

can you give me movie/music recommendations?

of course!  private message me with what kind of stuff you’re looking for and I’d be happy to give suggestions.   here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order:

• music: Tom Waits, Nina Hagen, The Sundays, Adam and the Ants, Kate Bush, Rowland S. Howard, Talking Heads, Cake Like, The Raincoats, David Bowie, Automatic Dlamini, PJ Harvey, Brian Eno, Cocteau Twins, Devo, Donovan, Elliott Smith, Jobriath, Judee Sill, Mitski, Leonard Cohen, Mazzy Star, Stump, R. Stevie Moore, Frank Ocean, Lydia Lunch, Scout Niblett, Son House, Jackson C. Frank, The B-52’s, Captain Beefheart, X-Ray Spex, The Apostles, Daniel Johnston, Prince, Lead Belly, Nervous Gender, Shonen Knife, Klaus Nomi, Poison Girls, Dead Milkmen, Rip Rig + Panic

• movies: Jubilee, Doom Generation, Ratcatcher, Repo Man, My Own Private Idaho, Daisies, Christiane F, Brazil, Eraserhead, Drugstore Cowboy, Happiness, Down By Law, Mysterious Skin, Blue Velvet, Harold and Maude, Inside Llewyn Davis, Taxi Driver, Léon, Gummo, Kids, The Fabulous Stains, A Boy and His Dog, Pink Flamingos, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Suspiria, Rocky Horror, Being John Malkovich, Man Bites Dog, Wicker Man (original), Heathers, Two-Lane Blacktop

have you heard of __? / do you like __?

if there’s any movies, bands, books, comics, artists, etc. you think I’d enjoy, definitely show me!

do you have an instagram?

no, but I’ll make one if/when I get a better phone.

what art school do you go to?

currently an intermedia major at PNCA in Portland, OR.  I did a summer semester at Pratt in 2014.

where are your first three bandcamp albums?

I took them down temporarily until I get some new stuff up, they aren’t very good haha.  private message me and I’ll send you a link to download them.

when will you release new music?

working on professionally recording an album right now, I’m thinking it’ll be done around August 2017?  I have no idea really, but the people I’m working with are super cool and I think it’ll be worth the wait!  might finish a home-recorded EP before then as well.

I’m thinking of taking commissions for small, original marker drawings!  this is the first time I’ll be sending commissioners the physical original (rather than just a digital version)

tentative pricing:

$40 for a roughly 9 x 4 inch full color marker drawing similar to the ones below (I’d like to do them in this kind of style but I can include whatever specifics you want)

I also might make some small, detailed, full color 3 x 1.5 inch drawings (maybe on the backs of bus passes?) and sell them for around $12 each.

that sounds expensive, but I figure ~$10 an hour plus the cost of materials is fair?  what do you guys think?  because of the small size, I could ship these cheaply anywhere in the US in a regular envelope (and I’d imagine international wouldn’t cost much more).  maybe wrap them in wax paper or something to protect them from the weather, I'll have to do some research.

do you guys think anyone would be interested?

(if anyone is, you can message me on here or at maxwickstrom@yahoo.com to tell me what you’d like)

it's so weird to me that it's already 2017, I feel like I just made last year's improvement thing.  but yeah, last year I wanted to improve on:

1. draw faces from different angles
2. draw "ugly" people (stop making everyone conventionally attractive)
3. make more comics
4. objects
5. nature
6. animals
7. machinery
8. anatomy and poses
9. HANDS
10. general weird shit
11. animation (gifs/videos)
12. acrylic/oil
13. prismacolor markers
14. still life
15. expressions
16. develop cartoon style more
17. buildings
18. better sketchbook pages
19. conceptual work
20. photorealism
21. backgrounds

here's some comparisons between 2015 and 2016 to see how I did:

1. draw faces from different angles
I don't really have any examples of this (didn't scan my live model drawings) but it's definitely something I still gotta work on

2. draw "ugly" people (stop making everyone conventionally attractive)
i sorta tried this (mostly in my cartoon drawings) but I need to work harder in 2017

3. make more comics

yep

4. objects

i got a lot more practice drawing inanimate objects

5. nature

practiced a lot with this one too, I like drawing plants so much more now

6. animals

do...do abstract crabs count

7. machinery
didn't really attempt this

8. anatomy and poses

i can't really find an example that i haven't already used for another category but i think there was a little improvement?  kinda? (i'm taking an intensive anatomy drawing course next semester so i have high hopes for 2017)

9. HANDS

HANDS

10. general weird shit

what else is there

11. animation (gifs/videos)

need to experiment more with this

12. acrylic/oil
hardly did anything involving paint this year (besides watercolor), so I don't have an example.  next year i guess!

13. prismacolor markers

i did a lot more marker stuff toward the end of this year

14. still life

shit i should have saved more of my still life drawings from class, I know I improved in this area but I don't have a good example

15. expressions

nooo my people still make boring neutral faces for the most part.  next year?

16. develop cartoon style more

not much has changed, everything just got weirder

17. buildings

i practiced buildings so much this year!

18. better sketchbook pages

subjective?

19. conceptual work
no thank you

20. photorealism
oops I did none of this

21. backgrounds

definitely improved here!


so overall I think I improved much with non-human stuff like buildings, objects, nature, etc, and I did a lot more traditional art than digital which I think was helpful overall (looking forward to trying digital art again next year to see if there's any difference)

next year I'd like to improve on:

1. keep improving backgrounds
2. stop drawing boring expressions
3. learn to draw animals, seriously dude why have you barely done this
4. hands
5. markers
6. realism
7. anatomy anatomy anatomy
8. dynamic poses
9. city buildings
10. detail
11. nature (+ more accurate plants)
12. still life
13. weird perspective
14. abstracted but recognizeable stuf
15. comics/sequential art
16. more video work
17. atmosphere
18. lots of people in one picture
19. houses
20. large scale drawings

by this time next year I'll be a sophomore, probably living with my friends if our current plan works out, and (hopefully) just about to leave for foreign exchange, I'm excited

hope 2017 is a good art year, good luck everyone!