By Ruby Love
Max and Porter are two Greener buds who like to make art together. They made a front and back cover just for us! Yay! See what they have to say for themselves.
How did you meet, and when did you start making art together?
We met in fall quarter of last year (2015) when we drew a Cthulhu on our class diagram. From then we spent the majority of time drawing in class and bothering people in our vicinity with antics and glorious camaraderie.
Working collaboratively can be a challenge – how do you decide who does what, whose ideas get chosen, etc?
We work pretty organically, so whoever is better at the task at hand takes the lead, then we throw ideas back and forth until we have a cohesive concept. It’s not infrequent that we pass a work back and forth and make changes and additions according to our respective sensibilities.
Why create together? What does collaborative work lend to your artwork that wouldn’t be accomplished if it was created by just one of you?
We find that our individual ideas are improved by bouncing them around first. We have about 1000 horrible ideas for every nugget of good idea that we produce, on top of that most of our good ideas never make it to a finished project.
You created pieces specifically for the CPJ covers (thank you!) how did designing for the cover influence your choices?
We wanted to communicate as much about the world we made without directly saying it, so we got the idea for an encyclopedia or a bestiary as a neat way to show off the animals and such.
What inspired you to create this particular piece?
It just happened to be the world we were working on when we were asked to do the covers
Can you talk a little about the piece and its process – what are the ideas behind its creation, what was the process like, etc?
We started by chatting with our pals about weird animal names (puddle pig; ham hawk, misty mandies), from there we sketched some of them out and it snowballed out from there. Eventually we had full page spread.
Is there anything you want the Evergreen/Olympia community to know about you?
Dear Townsfolk,
Be warned, for the Gurch is coming! Soon it will be upon us and we will be forced to make tough decisions. Hide your Jools and Qoins, and be certain your children are kept quiet at night by filling their pillows with wet earth and skerm powder. It is crucial that you stay ever vigilant and beware the Gurch’s flesh walls that he crafteth with his dark fleshmancy. May the Zimthars Keep your Cloak Dry.
