Graphic design20.09.2010

Interview Maxime Quoilin, graphic designer

Maxime Quoilin is a very talented young Belgian Graphic Designer. His works distinguish themselves from the others thanks to their fascinating minimalistic style. Discover our interview of this artist.

Hello Maxime, can you introduce yourself in a few lines?

Hi, my name is Maxime Quoilin, I’m a 22 years old fella from Liège, Belgium. I’m a graphic designer and digital artist at some point. I had started studying graphic design for quite some time, but it’s only since last year that it really struck me and that my interest has grown. Now my work start getting some attention and I’ve been featured on sites like Behance or Abduzeedo, and on magazines such as Advance Photoshop Magazine or Computer arts. I don’t know what tomorrow is going to be made of, but I’d really love to have a career in this industry.

Small flashback: what studies have you made to come thar far? What did you get out of them?

I got my bachelor as a graphic designer in June 2009. I got to say I wasn’t thrilled by my studies. I don’t think you can really learn design just by attending courses, it has to be a passion feeding itself. I think a good portfolio is way more important than a diploma in this industry.

Your style is unique and makes the strength of your creations. How do you define it?

I’m not quite sure I got a really established style. After all, I’ve only been creating these kind of artworks for a big year or so. However, I think I’m slowly finding my way, with some kind of minimalistic style. Instead of having a lot of graphical elements, I try to have few, and focus on their interactions with each others, more deeply. I think that’s quite obvious on pieces like Avantgarde or Thank Me Later. Being stuck in a style is, however, something I’d like to avoid as it sounds less interesting.

“ Instead of having a lot of graphical elements, I try to have few, and focus on their interactions with each others, more deeply.”

Most of your works are on white background, or really clear background. Why?

I never really asked myself about this, but I like it. A white background allows you to put the foreground in evidence and can make your overall artwork stronger. It probably also fits in this minimalistic approach. I love to leave some emptiness there and there, I think it creates some kind of frustration that makes the piece more emotional.

Can you describe your typical creative process?

It depends, the constant is that I never open Photoshop without a purpose, I need an original idea. It could be a colour, a composition idea, some simple picture that struck me, anything. However I don’t like to to have a 100% defined image in mind when I start a project. I like to let a part of freestyle through my work flow. Once I’m set, I got some music in the background and all I’m thinking about is my piece, it’s a great feeling, really.

Where do you get the images that you use on your creations?

For defined objects or subjects, I can use a Shutterstock account. I like cgtextures a lot for textures and sometimes I take pictures by myself. It’s all about finding the right lighting and perspective, wherever the picutre is from. I directed my first photo shooting not so long ago, and I have to say, when you get the lighting you want on a particular picture, it becomes really interesting once in Photoshop.

What other artists influence you?

At the moment, I’m more inspired by random pictures you could find on some old Flickr accounts than by particular artists. If I had to say 5 names, I’d say Mark Weaver, Jercio Santander, Peter Jaworowski, Rik Oostenbroek and Emeric Trahand (well, it varies A LOT).

“ I don’t think you can really learn design just by attending courses, it has to be a passion feeding itself. I think a good portfolio is way more important than a diploma in this industry.”

Do you want to create works in a totally different style in the future?

Probably, yes, but I’m in no hurry. I’d like to make things a little crazier. I guess it’s a better thing to explore deeply a style and master it, so you can move on and adapt your style more easily afterwards. It’s pretty cool to look through some digital artists work and see the evolution. You get to see surprising things.

If you want to add something, now it’s the time.

Thanks a lot for the interview, it’s always appreciated. You can follow me on Twitter and on my website. I’ll (try) to add some new work shortly. Anyway, keep it up with the blog, it’s nice :).

Thanks a lot for this interview.

Discover the website of Maxime Quoilin, his Behance, and follow him Twitter.