We’re back with another installment of Monographs — our behind-the-scenes video series where we interview illustrators in their studios.
When we met Maxwell Oginni in June 2016 at his London home, he spoke with us about building a career in the animation industry. From not knowing what to charge for his first paying job, to successfully running a children’s workshop, sharing his passion with the next generation.
Last year, Maxwell was part of a Children’s Media Conference (CMC) panel discussing the portrayal of black male characters in children’s content. Where are the Smart Black Boys in TV? is an insightful discussion around the importance of breaking stereotypes in media and advocating for the inclusion of positive black male role models.
Curious to know what Maxwell has been up to since our interview, we reached out for an update:
Since 2016, I’ve gone on to work with the likes on Sony Pictures Animation, Matthew A. Cherry (Director of Academy Award Winning short, ‘Hair Love’) & Carl Jones (Executive Producer of ‘Black Dynamite’ TV series), as a character design artist on the upcoming series adaptation of ‘Hair Love’, which will be airing on HBO Max very soon.
I’ve also recently finished working with Warner Brothers Productions as a Story Artist on the upcoming feature, ‘Coyote Vs Acme’ Directed by Dave Green (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2016) and starring John Cena. Outside of this, the last two years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Laura Henry-Allain (creator of JoJo & Gran Gran) on her next children’s series production titled, ‘Daddio & Co’, which I provided the main character designs for, and am honoured to say I’ll also be directing.
Finally, I’ve recently expanded to the world of children’s book illustration and am now signed with United Agents as an illustrator. If you’d like to keep up with my work, you can follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my website maximajination.com.
Maxwell Oginni
