Step inside illustrator Max Knicker's hectic, highly-patterned world

Date
18 May 2017

When Hamburg-based freelance illustrator Max Knicker emailed us his portfolio, we sat up straight and took notice. Crammed full of off-the-wall thinking executed both digital and hand-rendered forms (with acrylic and crayons making a welcome appearance) across posters, zines, magazines, riso prints, linocuts and newspapers, Max’s excellent eye for characters and highly patterned, rush-hour chaotic environments has already found him clients in Adidas, Rolling Stone Magazine Germany, Fount Magazine, Pickles Magazine and Z-Bau Nuremberg (“with the art direction by Studio Unfun”).

“I grew up in Nuremberg, a city in the south of Germany, where I studied communication design,” he tells us. “That was the time when illustration began to interest me more and more, and so I decided to move to Hamburg after the bachelor’s degree and study for my illustration MA.”

“Recently, I’ve participated the Mash Up Contest organised by Fount magazine and made also an editorial illustration for them,” he says. And, as Max’s website demonstrates, the illustrator has explored his own ideas through a whole heap self-initiated work. There’s much in the pipeline for Max. “I would definitely like to start my master’s thesis and also stage an exhibition at the end of the year,” he tells us. “So I am painting some canvas and I am doing some printmaking in the moment to prepare the exhibition. Other than that, I try to remain open and embracing whatever comes to me.”

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Max Knicker

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Max Knicker

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Max Knicker

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Max Knicker

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Max Knicker

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Max Knicker

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Max Knicker

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Max Knicker

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Bryony Stone

Bryony joined It's Nice That as Deputy Editor in August 2016, following roles at Mother, Secret Cinema, LAW, Rollacoaster and Wonderland. She later became Acting Editor at It's Nice That, before leaving in late 2018.

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