Who stole my fortnight?

Good evening fellow life-onoughts, I hope these words find ye well!

It has been 2 weeks now since the last update, and I decided to update even though I dont ahve any visceral goodness to share. The reason for this is purely business - everything I have painted for the last two weeks is under non-disclosure and haven't had free time for any personal paintings. I have been doing plenty of personal train-of-thought sketching, self portraits, studies etc but these are mostly traditional and in lieu of finding my digital camera these shall have to wait.

Last night marked the conclusion of a good 7 weeks of work I have been doing to define the new art style for the flagship title at Epiphany Games (Champions is the OLD IP and not the new one!). I have found the challenge of defining 'rules' for an art style from the ground up to be quite time consuming, not to mention having to concurrently produce art that 'fits' the style.

The result of my efforts was a 250 page document accompanied by 37 paintings that provides the complete authoritative definition and guidelines for the art style of our unique IP. The advantage in having this is not limited to continuity within the game itself, but also to a broader application of the IP should it be deemed appropriate.

The 37 paintings were fun to do and I love the freedom of working in a setting of my own dictate... I am dealing with a genre and themes that I have loved since I was a child. Pursuant to this I have also been getting serious with my traditional painting (inspiration off the back of receiving Shawn Barber's DVD). I also bought Alla Prima by Richard Schmid which is a font of knowledge, and I have been soaking that up by candlelight.

I seem to have struck a happy balance between my commercial and personal endeavours, establishing a harmony that lets me pay the bills and still retain artistic integrity and develop my own visions.

In addition to the Art Style work for Epiphany, i have also been working on my other regular freelance work for the 'Lascivio Project' which is tightly under wraps, but I can tell you its scifi and it is allowing me to flex some muscles in departments outside my comfort zone (particularly, straight lines!). They are a good client.

And also more beach scenes for Popcorn Events which i can post up as i do them.

As for the remainder of my time in the past two weeks it has been pretty chilled, I have stayed away from partying so I can save up a bit of money and repay my debt to the sleep bank which has been good. Its also allowed me to maintain my drive to paint and I have raised the bar on my productivity which is a refreshing feeling of progress (knowing I can get stuff done!).

I did check out Earthdance which had a cool dub tent on a hill made out of the cockpit of a troop carrier plane... that was pretty cool but the rest of the festival sucked. Been to an exhibition or two but nothing work writing home about.

Also I met a girl (I was sketching her in a bar near to my house) from France and we hit it off and enjoyed an intense but brief week together and then made the executive decision not to get too wrapped up in each other because each of us has a dedication to our art and creative pursuits that at this time does not suit a 'relationship' lifestyle. However I have made a good friend and a deep connection with Miss Elfie Kiss and I'm sure our stories will continue to intertwine. I have found it interesting that I walk a knife edge between craving the connection and trust of a relationship with someone who understand my lifestyle and my need to paint daily, but whenever I find myself in that position I feel restricted in my ability to connect with new people (which I value as highly important to my art - similar to Marko's view on life). I think it is a matter of feeling that relationships make me 'comfortable' which is in antithesis to my need for (healthy) challenge to progress as an artist.

Anyhow thats about it for the past two weeks. Time is freeing up and I will be able to get some personal painting done which I will post up forthwith. Also sounds like last man standing 3 will be kicking off soon which will be a good opportunity to spend a longer period of time than usual on a painting and produce some finished art.

Take care, share the love etc
A xx

Pleasure + productivity

Hola !

As you have probably noticed, am not very present at the moment on this blog. Fortunately, Adam is still providing. Am just a little bit busy ... ahah
What too much Street fighter and Final Fantasy 12 ?

Anyway, i ve painted till 5 am last night, trying to represent a dream i had about somebody i ve met recently and who i like very much... But it ends up on something quite different, completely different actually than the dream except for the tree :). Don't worry darling i ll give it another try soon !



So was very fun to do as i ve tried a new knife brush and a different approach in drawing.
Also, Adam lend me a fantastic screen to paint on ,which changes everything ! So much space !!! Thanks again dude !

Am trying at the moment to construct more my artworks, to take much more time to really think about what am doing, especially about composition and color theory.

We spent our saturday afternoon sketching and studying in different places : we first start by the Art Gallery of New South Whale in the Royal Botanic Garden where happen at the moment the first major retrospective exhibition of the figurative sculpture of Bertram Mackennal (1863-1931). Mackennal was the first Australian appointed a member of the Royal Academy, and arguably the most successful of this country's expatriate artists.

Amazing works !! Very inspiring. I reconciliated myself with charcoal studies ! Pics soon.

Then, on the way back home, we stopped at a cornerstreet bar on Oxford St for a beer and to sketch people waiting at the traffic light. Good to train your eyes to read major lines quickly. It's amazing when you take time to observe people how they can be so different in details and so funny ...

So it has been one of this very inspiring day where we succeeded in combining pleasure of creation and productivity. So goood !

Y.

FACH.

christ what a day. in list form:

1. Paid an exhorbitant amount of money for a haircut which i NEVER normally do and it looks like a 6 year old cut it with rusty scissors. Its so bad im shaving my head tomorrow. Yeah fuck you all.

2. My Shaun Barber oil painting dvd arrived today. Except when i opened the package i found some retarded american basketball dvd that was supposed to be shipped to some robert egermayer dude in WASHNGTON AMERICA. What the fuck?

3. Gabor, our 3rd roommate-to-be pulled out of moving in about 5 minutes after i ordered the removal truck, and now i have to waste a whole day or more looking for another roommate (but we still love gabor). It also means we are covering double rent till we find someone.

4. I got SLAMMED (sic) with work im not being paid for, love jobs, in the middle of insane deadlines.

5. My PS2 died

6. One of my clients COMPLETELY changed directions on one of my projects, which means i have to start all the design work over.... GRR.

7. The dude at the caffe where i had lunch didnt have any of the ingredients for anything i wanted... and when i finally did order they forgot the order and it took my food an hour to arrive. Did i mention the DEADLINES??!?!

8. I got a phone call from a restaurant about a friend who left their fone there. I went and picked it up and then took it home and called the friends home phone. I explained that id picked their phone up and had it, arrange a time to pick it up etc. Turns out that friend goes to school above that restaurant EVERY DAY. So now i have to take the fucking thing back. GRRRR

9. Our toilet is broken and we are being attacked by vicious floaters

10. The thing im most angry about is being angry. Im never angry. I dont even swear much, honest. Im really a little bundle of joy and love.

Above all else, the kicker is that i didnt even get to do any painting today. I feel like a kid whos sent to bed without dinner. But i guess its ok to laugh at the comedy of the whole thing. Theres a part of me that thinks the whole drama is hilarious... I suppose im lucky to have that side of me that sees it all as good clean fun and entertainment.

Forecast for tomorrow? Showers clearing to sunshine and warm temperatures :)

Proof Of Life

Not much to say today...

Last night I bought a $7 Pasta for a homeless guy while I was getting my coffee. I went back in today and they told me that after I left the homeless guy came back in and went off at them because the pasta was cold and he didnt like it. I thought that was totally awesome of him... made me smile :D



Heres a quick (14m) self portrait i did, experimenting with a new brush technique for fast sketching which im really liking. It allows you to be loose and free with your brushwork without compromising your colour accuracy.

Cheers all,
A

2.20

Hey ladies and gents... hope you all had a good long weekend... if you protested, I hope it went well... personally I chose not to protest because I prefer to demonstrate when it has a visceral effect (for instance, Buy Nothing Day). The difference between a protest and a demonstration are basically the ratio of personal sacrifice to the effect it has (oversimplified). I believe both are valuable, but feel more comfortable protesting when my time or energy have a significant and direct effect. Anyhow... we decided to have a bit of a RavePEC RaveBQ on the public holiday Friday... pretty close to where the big security op was going down too. Kind of eerie to hear the gunships overhead all day. Our city is a police state at the moment. Not that you would guess from the photo below ;) And yes, you with the discerning eye, I AM the one wearing the maternity pants and fluoro orange hunting jacket!


We also got our washer/dryer installed here at the studio over the weekend. Check out our Paddington Chic:


Today started with some enviro thumbs, 2 of which I was keen on...

And studies:




Then I worked on another image for the Slam festival which im not happy with yet... the rendering is not consistent, the shapes are off... but I guess i did it quicker than usual. Will finalise it tomorrow...


And finally tonight I knocked up an entry for EOW#64:

The Mark Of Imaga

By the end of the second nuclear winter, the air was so cold that snow could not fall. Like the eye of a tornado, the world was silent and immobile.

With all but a few remote regions blanketed by electromagnetic radiation in the first nuclear winter, the social and political geography of the world splintered and was set adrift. Fossil fuels were consumed excessively in old, conventional, innefficient devices to keep the major population centers warm. Within ten years, fuels were depleted and the world so damaged that it was unanymously agreed upon that there was not even a faint glimmer of hope remaining. The second nuclear winter was a result of the global implosion of spirituality - the last vestiges of humanity that clung on for survival had run out of consolation in their prayers and meditation, and those who refused to take their own lives began projecting their frustrations onto the remnants of their world. Cities were rocked as warheads and power plants were set alight by the fires of martyrdom.

The Mark of Imaga was the final bomb to go off in the second nuclear winter. Launched from a base deep in Alaska, the bomb sailed up into the stratosphere, catching the light from the cold sun like a dove. Eventually its engines burned out, and it hung like a forlorn tear amongst the clouds, finally turning in a slow cartwheel and tumbling down. It landed in what used to be california, setting off a chain reaction of explosions that rocked the san andreas fault line. The resulting cacophony of global disasters put an end to what was left of life on earth. It was all over in a matter of days. Like the eye of the tornado, the world was once again silent. Silent as it was at the beginning of time.

Silent now, at the end.



Finally, our 3rd roommate, Nina, moved out (Au Revoir!) and we have arranged for a good buddy Gabor to move in. He is a talented web and print designer and that will make 3 full time artists in house working/living here. Its going to be a hot bed of creativity, moreso than it is already.

Peace and bickies,
A

Quelle belle Ratatouille !

Bonjour !

It's completely happy and amazed about life that I am writing this first gribouille on this blog. But first I would like to apologize once and for all for my poor english and the probably weird way I will say things here. Excuse the french ! as he says.

So this is it.
Ground zero.

After 6 years spent digging randomly in the underground, scratching my hands, hurting my head, I finally found what I was searching for, a friend, a traveling companion, somebody to share with this everyday passion for creation and art. Together, we kept digging for few more weeks. But something has changed, we were now heading up ! And we finally reached the ground level, full of dust and shadow, a smile enlighting our faces... We know it is a major step to this elsewhere we're searching for.

It's been a week now that we're living around this new inspiring environment, so many things had happen, so many creations started, so many people met already.
And it's just the beginning !

So I welcome you all to this healthy happy little world ! Come anytime, bring your heart and don't forget your little spoon cause there will always be something to feed on here if, as me, you have a huge appetite...

Y.

GASSY

Yohann and I took a stroll down to Global Gallery tonight to check out the annual GAS exhibition. Doze Green was doing some live painting... super smooth lines and flawless curves with what looked like some sort of Japanese brush pen... fluid.


There were some very nice contemporary illustrators showing, with nice attention to detail, and smooth linework coming across as a common theme... Nanami Cowdroy stood out with detailed pen work on a larger scale than some of the other works... always nice to see intricacy at an A4+ size.

Went home early-ish to unleash with the oils. Y diverted away to schmooze a lovely lassy with his sketchbook and I was left alone to paint on the front porch. Results:



Pretty impressed with the exhibition, quite like the space, and we are considering it as an option to exhibit in the next 6-9 months... lots of work ahead of us. And bonus, its not even midnight yet! Hasta Manyana!

Plotting Course

Gday, Adam here...

Been steadily munching through work the last two days, i finished off a quick illustration job for Popcorn Events who run the Slam Volleyball Festival around the east coast of Australia. I will be at the Manly/Coogee events in december/feb - they are showing a lot of promise with their ramped up organisation this year.





Last night Bumskee (Min Yum) was around for a coffee and we had quite a long discussion about how to progress as an artist. His philosophy (nutshellafied) is that you should focus quite rigorously on something as you are starting out - say anatomy, or landscapes, and focus sollely on that for about a year, then start diversifying.

I struggled quite a lot with this concept, as I am passionate about a variety of subjects. My natural strength seems to lie in environments/landscapes, but i love portraiture, oil painting, and illustration (particularly of things like dreams or philosophical visual metaphors). How does one find the right balance for their own progression, between focusing and diversifying, and if you do choose to focus, do you focus on what you are best at or what you love? For the moment I cant decide... I tried quite hard, but i couldn't bring myself to drop anything from my repertoire, so instead im just going to try to cut down the excess stuff around the edges (vehicles, creatures, graphic design etc) and focus more on a narrower set of things and hope they complement each other. Heres hoping.... a few studies from today:

Salut!

Hello loyal earth-humans! You may have noticed that we deleted the previous 5 posts on ETF as I started the blog as a personal thing. It has now become the blog (and to a degree, the identity) for the studio *as yet unnamed* of Yohann Schepacz and Adam Paquette. We still aren't sure of what to call the studio... perhaps "Untitled #1"?

Anyhow, along with a regular account of the goings on of the ETF kids, we would also like to collate a whole lot of content for you guys including tutes, reviews of shows we go to, and other artists we meet, and so on. Henceforth we are accepting any and all requests for stuff youd like to see on the blog - and of course if you know of anything cool in Sydney we should be checking out drop us a line.

C'est la vie!