Hi there. My name is Max Whitehead and I’m an illustrator. I have a wide range of traditional illustration techniques under my belt and use them in combination with my continually growing digital skills to be an adaptable and adventurous designer and illustrator.
I love all kinds of illustration work and dream of one day writing and illustrating my own books. I constantly try to push myself and my design and illustration styles in new directions.
I hope you enjoy this snippet of my work from this year and if you like what you see please feel free to view more of my work on my instagram and behance or find my contact details on my CV.
This brief tasked us with creating an interactive epub (electronic publication) with a focus on the theme of posthumanity. In order to solve this brief I created a story about a small delivery robot flying through the runes of Cape Town.
I did this by using images taken in google street view as references to create accurate depictions of areas of the city and then used my imagination to add creatures and destroyed buildings while removing any signs of human life.
You can view the epub in its entirety as well as download a pdf version by clicking here.
This brief tasked us with picking a cause and developing merchandise in support of that cause. In order to solve this brief I created a series of 3 illustrations for the brand ‘Cooked Snoek’ in support of keeping the oceans around South Africa free of chemical pollution.
I developed the illustrations using linocut techniques and styled them after famous ‘stoner’ characters, placing appropriate quotes from the inspired source material next to the illustrations.
I then placed these illustrations onto t-shirts and developed a small swing tag for the brand which provides some extra information about the brand.
This entire project was a collaborative effort between the following Red & Yellow students: Andrea Rossouw, Danielle Herbst, Allison Brennan, and myself. This brief tasked us with conceptualising a video game for the brands Rare and Xbox and then creating a trailer for the game.
Our team created a game called Jaju in which players take the form of extinct animals with the goal of exploring and discovering how their species went extinct. To make things more interesting and entertaining we developed nonverbal communication for the multiplayer elements of the game.
We developed a world and characters based on extinct creatures and used these models to animate our trailer.
In order to solve this brief I chose to focus on a local restaurant, The Raptor Room. I developed illustrative precautionary measures with the goal of spreading awareness for proper safety measures while in a restaurant.
The first thing I developed was a disposable menu with an illustration on one side. The second was a website landing page which would inform people of safety measures at the restaurant while also beginning the process of collecting required information should they wish to book.
Finally I developed large hanging barriers which would hang between tables within the restaurant to act as a physical barrier between patrons.
In order to solve this brief I attempted to rebrand Rugani Juice, one of the largest vegetable juice producers in South Africa. I developed a font and illustration style inspired by the owner of the brand’s family heritage, being half Italian and half South African.
I then used these new brand elements to develop packaging for their juice as well as boxes to transport those juice boxes. Finally I redid their facebook page using the new branding and created a banner using the new packaging.