Interview with Studio Ace of Spade

I have the pleasure to bring to you an awesome interview with the all talented and incredible Studio Ace of Spade. They don’t use textures and the term grunge doesn’t really apply to them. Check it out!!!

Where are you from

Simon

I’m Simon, one of the halves of Studio Ace of Spade. I’m originally from France (close to Strasbourg in the east of France), but after a series of personal and scholar decisions, I ended up in Goshen, IN.

Jon

And I’m Jon, the other half. I’m from Chagrin Falls, Ohio and have migrated to Goshen, Indiana for college. But, now that I’m all done, it’s yet to be seen how long I’ll remain in Indiana.

Before starting a project

Simon

Research is key. About the client, the type of project, the processes you’ll use to execute the project, etc, etc.

Jon

I’ll clean my desktop and organize all the files that I’ll need for the work. I’ll usually make a detailed schedule for the project so that I have some way or another to keep myself on track. Lastly, a cup of coffee. Then, I can get started.

First job as an designer

Simon

I remember creating a table-based website for the band I was in almost 6 years ago. But if you count paid gigs, then it was a website for a candle maker (still in France and still 6 years ago).

Jon

Hahaha, well, back in the dark, dark days of the dawn of the internet – somewhere right after the dot-com bust – you could have found me on forums across the internet. I would get paid to create “sigs” for people in Photoshop. Sigs were the things underneath people’s posts, if anybody recalls. Looking back on them, most of them really were terrible. Some were decent, though.

Craziest thing you’ve done during a project

Simon

Mhmm. Staying up too late to wrap a project up maybe? I don’t think “crazy” really applies to how I work.

Jon

Designing, coding, and creating content for http://13spade.com and http://studioaceofspade.com in a week to prepare for Weapons of Mass Creation Fest this past year. That was brutal.

Tunes while working

Simon

Ha, that’s interesting. During the whole year, we’ll be doing that thing we called Project 52: every week, we’re releasing a new quote-based poster. The first quarter of the project used quotes taken from some of our favorite songs. We even put a “mixtape” up on the Studio’s blog (http://studioaceofspade.com/2011/08/project-52-the-mixtape/). And then, there’s also my LastFm account to keep track of what I’m listening to (http://www.last.fm/user/simon_torsions). But it’s mainly something that’s based on guitar, bass and drum.

Jon

I listen to a lot of things depending on the season, weather, and type of work that I’m doing. Sometimes it’s metal; bands such as Between the Buried and me, Opeth, and August Burns Red. Other times it’s more progressive rock with Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree. Or classical (I love Shostakovich) and bluegrass. I’m all over the board with what I listen to.

Favorite place on earth

Simon

Man, that’s a tough one. I mean, it would be easy to say that I’m missing France and that I want to go back (it’s been since 2008 that my wife and I haven’t been back), but I’m not sure I like France (as in the country) that much. There are some beautiful spots in the US too… And then, as my wife insisted on me to add, where my heart is (aka where she is)

Jon

Yellowstone was beautiful when I visited there. I love to get out in to nature as much as humanly (and financially) possible.

Last object you bought

Simon

Hmmm, let’s see. Probably a pack of gum, chocolate or beer, can’t remember for sure.

Jon

I pre-ordered The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim for the PC and Uncharted 3 for PS3. I’m gearing up to build a new computer sometime in the next year.

If you illustrate a book, what would the title be

Simon

Oh boy. Well, the Studio had a book cover project earlier this year (which I loved to do by the way, http://studioaceofspade.com/2011/06/safe-and-ignorant/). But if I could pick up the book I’d like to design/illustrate, it would probably be within the works of Chuck Palaniuk (the guy who wrote Fight Club) or René Barjavel, a French anticipation author that wrote a novel called Ravage (Ashes, Ashes in English – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravage_%28novel%29), that made a a strong impression on me when growing up.

Jon

I’d probably title it “Drunken Scribbles.”

Technology or handmade

Simon

Depends for what. But it’s true that I’ll always advocate for pencil and paper before touching a computer…

Jon

I love every minute of technology.

Favorite toy as a kid

Simon

Some of my Batman toys were awesome, but then my Legos and toy cars, absolutely. And then, my first computer. You know.

Jon

My parents told me that I started playing with Legos when I was two years old. I don’t think I stopped playing with them until I was about 14, when my passion switched over to building and repairing computers.

Coffee or Tea

Simon

Coffee for sure, but tea can be swell too (in the evening, with a good pile of books or in front of a movie, once the beer and pizza is gone).

Jon

Espresso or a really dark roast of coffee always floats my boat.

Favorite Blogs

Simon

Well, that’s an easy one, right? BLKFRMT, of course Also, the GoMediaZine where I learned most of my Ps/Ai knowledge (and that we have the chance to be the editors for these days), Smashing Magazine, Abduzeedo, Flyer Goodness, …

Jon

Smashing Magazine is fantastic for finding web related tutorials. CSS-Tricks also taught me a lot of my tools of the trade.

Candyman

Simon

If the question is about me loving candies, the answer is hell yes. And I’m a chocoholic too.

Jon

Are you referring to the creepy film, “Candyman”, that has the bee crawling into the person’s eye on the cover?

Heroes

Simon

Oh wow. There’s quiet a list, in a bunch of different domains. Design and art wise, Jeff Finley, Angryblue, Obey, Hydro74, Saul Bass, Luke Beard, Von Glitschka, James White, Scott Hansen, OK Pants, Francis Bacon, Rotko, Brian Wood, Frank Miller, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and the list goes. Music wise, guys like Metallica, Radiohead, Leonard Cohen, Wilson’s Reservoir, Frequency Theater, Saez, Pamela Hute, Hubert Félix Thiéfaine, She Wants Revenge, and the list goes on. Misc wise, my wife, Gandi, King, Nietzsche, Pierre Desproge, George Carlin, Louis CK, Frédéric Beigbeder, Leo Mallet… It’s a multidisciplinary and really long list.

Jon

Vonnegut and Carlin. Well, them and the guy who narrated the “Real Men of Genius” for Bud Light. I’m also a pretty big fan of Jon Stewart.

Words of advice

Simon

“If you don’t try, you don’t know”, and “Keep trying”.

Jon
“If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you’re a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.”

I design at Studio Ace of Spade | Check out 13 Spade