Maxim Sergeev

The Interaction of Colourful Chemistry

Maxim Sergeev has no special art education as such. By education, he is a physicist-mathematician and economist-marketer. Maxim started drawing only after 30 years, when the first graphic tablet accidentally appeared in his hands. So he origins for drawing was digitally first. For a long time he combined painting in the evenings with his main work and was careful not to repeat the work of the then-famous digital illustrators of the moment.

Gradually, in the process of drawing, an intuitive understanding of the lines, of proportions and colour appeared. After several years of drawing in digital Maxim became interested in the pinup genre, in particular, the works of Elvgren, and then more gradually while looking for suitable new reference material. Maxim then came across the work of famous fashion illustrators Gruau, Lopes and Downton. He was instantly captivated by the lightness and airiness of their illustrations and materials, and he began to become more deeply interested in the theme of fashion illustration.

Following in the footsteps of these artists, he first tried to draw with traditional materials, watercolours, gouache and pencils. It turned out to be materials so close to my sensations, that he still draws with them. He doesn’t how to demystify or explain this feeling, but his love of traditional materials, was akin to the first direction of illustration in which he applied them, so for him fashion illustration and traditional materials are now synonymous, one without the other is impossible for him. When Maxim gets to work, he already imagines in advance the colour scheme and the style of his future illustration. In his work, he tries to combine different styles and materials, the ease of watercolour fills and rough pencil lines, rich areas of gouache and sharp inserts of magazine clippings. He tries, as in chemistry, to neutralise one element with another. In fashion, as in any other direction, he love creators with a unique creative vision such as Alexander McQueen, Iris van Harpen in fashion, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt in painting, David Lynch and Alfred Hitchcock for cinema.

He draws every day, even if it’s not a big illustration, usually it’s 10-20 quick sketches for 5-10 minutes, transferring the texture of the fabric, poses, and facial expressions. These quick sketches help a lot in developing your own style and warming up for the upcoming fully-fledged illustration.

MAXIM SERGEEV

The Interaction of Colourful Chemistry

When he has the opportunity, Maxim attends various drawing workshops, but more often he organises them himself. Maxim preferred that they have a light friendly atmosphere with a lot of communication, humour, when everyone can see and comment on the work of the other. In his personal works, the general style of illustration, the colour scheme, and even the materials used may depend on many factors, such as time of day, the weather and even his mood. Initially, the collage for him was a break from the basic style of drawing, making collages from clippings of glossy magazines on large canvases. Over time, he decided to combine both of these areas. Although sometimes uses coloured paper in collages, preferring to cut out magazines when they have some kind of content and idea.

In the near future, the exhibition in the Acid gallery will feature his work and the work of fashion illustrators from all over the world. Training courses on illustration are being recorded, some of them are now being translated into English. Maxim will continue to conduct full-scale master classes in collaboration with Russian fashion designers, stylists and models. There will also be Interesting collaborations with fashion designers and brands... And a lot of projects that he can talk about later.

Maxim likes most other areas of illustration, in his opinion, fashion illustration is becoming more and more popularised and influential. The world will learn more and more of new illustrators names from around the world.Thanks to tools such as instagram, illustrators from around the world can express themselves, their unique style, vision.

Some time ago, photography surpassed drawing in the world of fashion, but now more and more fashion designers are beginning to collaborate with illustrators, invite them to shows, use live drawing at events, and in his opinion this trend will continue.