I am totally happy to announce this interview. It is a pleasure to get in touch with people like James. Thanks for you time and hopefully you find some time posting on our forums James :)
Personal:
Name: James Paick
Age: 30
Website: http://www.jamespaick.com
Blog: http://scribblejames.blogspot.com
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On behalf of CGPAD.org we’d like to thank you for taking the time out to give us this interview.
For readers that don’t know of you could you tell us a little bit of background info? (name, age, birth place, currently living, education etc)
My name is James Paick. Born in Jan, 18, 1978, raised and work out of Los Angeles, CA. My family is from South Korea. My formal education in art is from Art Center College of Design majoring in illustration with a focus on entertainment design. I always drew a lot as a child, much of the time got me into trouble in grade school. But as the years went on, many people grew to notice my ability to draw and it was finally harnessed a bit with a focused goal when entering into college. With the right people around guiding me I found the school that would set up my future, Art Center. Its a hard school to get through, but I would never trade the experience or knowledge for anything else.
What’s a typical day in the life of James Paick?
These days my life was flipped around going into the world of freelance fulltime. My typical day consists of the normal morning routine and hit the studio for the rest of the day...and night at times. For the most part all I do is enjoy what I do, which I think is the key to anyones success. I work in my studio and either work on art and design for clients or the various personal projects I am currently juggling around. I enjoy going out to long lunches (fresh air does a body and mind good). Friends and fellow artists drop by from time to time to chit chat, work together or play some xbox360. I like to work hard and play hard as well.
Ok now for what every ones waiting for, questions on your art.
Its interesting how you change themes but maintain a distinctive style, could you explain the evolution of how you arrived at this style?
My style is something I’ve always thought about. I never thought I developed my own style and look until one day a friend saw one of my paintings floating on the web and said,” I spotted your painting from a mile away. I could tell its yours.” From then on I think I had more confidence in what my style is.
Much of the time as a student, I tried to emulate styles of other artists that I admired. These people were the ‘go to’ guys for concept ie Goodbrush, Ryan Church, Dusso etc. I spent so much time trying to figure out how the heck they got their amazing style and design. Slowly I started to figure out techniques and also figuring out myself. My eye had changed and adjusted to what I thought was good for me. The only way this was possible was through the countless hours of sketching and painting. One thing I knew was that I didn’t like to do super rendered pieces. I love the way a loose painting with hot spots of detail look and feel. Much of this was the way I worked at NC Soft in Santa Monica.
Would you mind talking about your ‘painting’ process and techniques, how you go from idea to final image?
Sure.... I used to paint thumbnails all in black and white. Later on, I started to gain the confidence and speed to paint from color from the first step. I guess everyone calls this ‘speedpainting’. Just a quick way to convey an idea, mood, lighting and design within a few hours. So in terms of starting off a piece, it varies. I sketch, painting in color or bw or sometimes just sit around and gather reference, surf the net or look at books to get an image library in my mind ready to generate ideas. From that point, I just go crazy. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. I felt that once I wasn’t afraid to make every piece a masterpiece, I had a lot more confidence to go wild and just see what comes up. At times, I don’t even know what I’m painting while I’m painting. Its a very natural and subconscious thing that happens when you let your mind go and let your wrist roam free.
Are there any artists that inspire you and drive your artistic goals?
Yes of course. Inspiration is something you cannot teach or learn in my
opinion. Its the driving force that some people have......and some don’t. I love art and I have a reference library of different art ranging from stick figures, 3d models, oil paintings to concept art. I just gather everything I can that brings out an emotion out of me. To be quite honest, everyone has their ‘go-to’ guys as mentioned earlier. But right now I look around me and mostly at my close circle of art buds for that inspiration. We push eachother and have fun.
Are your works purely digital based?
Right now they mostly are all digital with the ocassional pen and ink sketching I love to do. Due to the industry being the way it is, and the fact of digital medium being very economic, it lends itself to be my primary way of working. But, I always want to get my hands dirty with the good old paint brush.
What is your current setup?
Well its funny you ask because I just picked up a new set up.
I’m running a Dell XPS 720 – duo 3.0 GHz something or other with 4 gigs of ram. I run a dual screen apple 23 inch for primary and a dell 22 inch for secondary monitor. I run photoshop cs2...sorry guys no painter over here. And finally my trusty intuos 3 9x12.
Do you listen to music whilst painting?
I’m the kinda of guy who just hates silence. I’ve worked in studios where the WHOLE place was quiet. ARGH! I cannot work like that. I listen to music, TV, DVDs and something just leave the window open to listen to ambient noise.
How do you feel about the praise you receive for your art?
Well...its a bit weird. I work hard at what I do and I’m proud of it. But its a wierd feeling when people I don’t know comment on my work. I love the way it feels when a piece I do brings out an emotion from a person or when a design hits the note to the tee. But all in all....its feels great to get the right response to hard work.
What do we expect to see from speedpaintings in the near future and what are your goals?
I think speedpaintings are something thats grown fast from the first time I heard the term. I think its a very quick way to show an idea but there is so much more to concept art than just a quick painting especially when its related to production ie games, movies etc. I do speedpainting sessions with friends about 3 times a week. We gather together with Joel Chang, Steve Chon and Eric Chiang ( concept artists in the gaming field) and we just have fun doing themed speed paintings. It helps to get our creative juices flowing and take breaks. My goals are simple. I just want to grow more and more as an artist and complete my own projects, hopefully. I love working as an artist. My ultimate goal is to eventually start my own company or firm. Nothing super insane or huge, but something small with a small group and art team that just produces quality work. Seeing it in the end as a finished product is what its all about! Other things I want to get into are teaching at Art Center, maybe do some workshops, book illustration. I want to branch out and try to do more art and illustration work.
Again many thanks from myself and everyone on CGPAD.org for allowing us this informative interview and we wish you continued success with your art.
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