STACY Pills, the brainchild of CFW, is dropping series II on November 11th at 4:20 PM EST. I am honoured to be included as a guest artist and collaborator for this series. Initially, I questioned if CFW was sure of his request. I was concerned that because I am primarily a 2D acrylic painter, that somehow I would be unable to be of assistance to a 3D artist. How could we even collaborate? However, CFW was not concerned. He quickly reassured me and said, "We will figure it out". Then, immediately after I accepted, he publicly announced the line-up, thus ensuring I couldn't chicken out.
CFW was right. We did figure it out. He sent me the blank canvas, and I stared into it until an idea emerged. I sent CFW some reference images, and he did the digital equivalent of smile and nod (see GIF below).
CFW gave me space to work out the design and asked me questions when necessary. Then, I sent him some 2d designs, and he did the building. A few corrections back and forth, and we were done. It was quick, easy, and enjoyable, and it made me curious about how the other STACY collaborators worked, so I asked.
BOXHEAD
JL: Hello, Lovely! I have an idea for a blog article, and I need your help. Can I ask you about your work on STACY? How did CFW ask you to participate?
Boxhead: 'elloo. Sounds great! Just making lunch now, but it went like this…
JL: That's gold!
Boxhead: Haha! My internet was crap, so I was getting his messages with delay. It was a fun convo.
JL: How did you meet CFW?
Boxhead: We met on the FND discord, I think. We just connected through joking around and really liked his work.
JL: How did you and CFW kick it off? Did he give you guidelines?
Boxhead: I just started making my pill and kept sending him screenshots. It was pretty organic.
JL: Did he ever say anything except, "Whoa!" or "Awesome!"?
Boxhead: Haha! Not really. He gave me all the freedom. He gave me the pillbox template, and I worked on it on and off for a couple of months. I tried a few different things along the way.
JL: Are you happy with the final?
Boxhead: Super! It looks like a candy machine.
Orphan
My voice chat with Orphan was lovely. He was confident and easygoing, not surprising from a Twitch streamer.
"Show me your pill!", Orphan insisted as soon as our call connected. He sounded very excited, so of course, I obliged. Orphan was ready with his pill as well, but I had already seen it. CFW had shown it to me to help give me some ideas and references when I started working on mine.
As Orphan and I looked at each others' pills, Orphan described how chill it had been to collaborate with CFW and how they had met at the Orphanage (his discord). He told me CFW had approached him for feedback before the launch of STACY series I. Orphan explained he had been surprised that CFW hadn't asked him to participate in the first series, and when he mentioned that to CFW, CFW was shocked that Orphan would even want to join.
Maybe it was CFW's humility that kept him from asking Orphan initially, or perhaps CFW played it perfectly and did what was necessary to get Orphan on board. Either way, it worked out brilliantly, and they have produced a lovely pill for series II.
Orphan described himself as a non-3D native and admitted Blender wasn't his forte. Instead, he collaborated with CFW by providing the pill's environment, and CFW fashioned the pill itself. The result is a simple composition that showcases some outside-of-the-box thinking.
It's not surprising how easy Orphan found the collaboration. CFW seems to have a knack for putting his artists at ease.
SHAKKABLOOD
JL: Hi Shakkablood, My name is JL, and I am also a collaborator for STACY Pills series II. I am writing a blog about collaborations, and I thought it would be good to get some quotes from the participating artists. I would love to know how you met CFW.
SHAKKABLOOD: Hello! CFW has been a fan of Hoppers for a while and asked me some time back to collab. I was 100% down.
JL: How did the two of you work together? Anything you can tell me about the process would be greatly appreciated.
SHAKKABLOOD: I did a reverse collab where I provided my 3D assets, and CFW dished out the coolest piece for our collaboration. I really appreciate how unique and different projects like these are. They revolve around a particular character/object rather than the same things you see every day.
JL: Did CFW send you updates along the way?
SHAKKABLOOD: Yep! Honestly, besides some EXTREMELY minor changes, the first round he sent me was perfect. I'm very particular about lighting too, and he knocked it out of the park.
JL: What did you think of the STACY promo video Take The Pill?
SHAKKABLOOD: Loved it. Favourite part is the bike riding animation.
Argonauta
JL: Hello, Tomato! (my nickname for Argo) I want to ask you questions for my blog. I am writing an article about what it was like to collaborate with STACY. Are you still finishing your pill? I would love to know how you found the process of working with CFW?
Argo: Can't answer yet 😄, we're still on it. Not sure how it's turning out yet.
JL: How do you guys work? Did you send sketches back and forth?
Argo: I initially sent him a quick sketch and colour scheme. Then I started sending some art and stuff, and he'd do quick renders and send them back to me. Then, I type 1000 things I want to do, and every day I keep rejecting them myself.
We talk about a lot of different things, so other work gets mixed in a conversation, and then we forget. I think we think alike in many ways, so we both trust each other's work.
Much of my process is about eliminating, so he's been patient, letting me talk about things to then change ideas. I've revised my work like four times.
CFW and I use different mediums, so I don't interfere with the parts he knows best, and he just lets me do my doodles.
JL: How did he ask you to collaborate?
Argo: He didn't. I found out.
JL: He just assumed you would do it?
Argo: Yeah, he's awesome, and we've been talking and helping each other since the start, since the FND discord era.
JL: Do you think you need the deadline, or you would collaborate forever?
Argo: Unclear deadlines usually make both people lose interest. That goes for everything, not just this.
Ilya Kazakov
JL: Hi, Ilya! Thanks for accepting my request. The article I am writing is about the STACY II drop, but the focus is more on the nature of collaboration.
Ilya: Wow! Awesome that you are doing this! I will try to answer your questions.
JL: Can you tell me how you met CFW?
Ilya: A few months ago, when I drew the NFT Party, someone requested STACY Pills be added to the composition. Before that, I didn't know about STACY Pills.
Afterwards, I think CFW knew about me from my project (someone mentioned him on one of my tweets), and then we followed each other.
JL: So, did he send you files and let you work? Or did you send him sketches? How did the process go?
Ilya: He sent me a blank animation sequence as a gif file.
JL: Are you a 3d artist as well?
Ilya: Oh, nope. I am a 2D artist, and we wanted to make my pill in a different style, so I made my work as frame-by-frame animation.
JL: Wow. That sounds time-consuming!
Ilya: I think it's less complicated than working in 3D.
JL: Fair. I can't wait to see your pill!
Natirupe
JL: Hey Lady, are you done with your CFW collab?
Natirupe: I don't know. It seems like yes because I sent him my ideas and some references, then a sketch and I drew a sketchy still in Photoshop. Here, let me show you what I sent.
JL: So you haven't seen the final?
Natirupe: No, not yet, but CFW said he doesn't need more.
JL: How did you meet CFW?
Natirupe: I met CFW during an auction of his art, La+ch had put in a bid of 1ETH, and we were all very excited! I remember that night we had a call on discord, with CFW and Argonauta. CFW struck me as a very sweet person.
JL: What was it like to work with CFW?
Natirupe: I feel like CFW is amazing as an artist because he can read minds. He has that knack for bringing ideas to life, and that’s a magical quality.
I reached out to all 10 of the guest artist for STACY series II, and I was fascinated by the responses I received. CFW seems to tailor his workflow to accommodate each artist in a bespoke way. He makes it easy for them to be creative and gives them the freedom to do their best work.
I chatted with CFW directly to ask him about his collaborations.
JL: Do you remember your first collab?
CFW: In the NFT space, my earliest collaborations have been for STACY series I. Specifically, La+ch was the artist I collaborated with first. It's crazy how diverse artists are here. To give you an example, La+ch and I completed our collab pill in about a day, while my collaboration with Julien took almost two and half weeks of constant work.
It's just how they see the world. La+ch is spontaneous, believes that perfection isn't human, and always goes with the flow. While Julien is a perfectionist, from the precise colour schemes, to where every star is placed. Everything is methodical. And, that's just two artists!
JL: What do you look for in a collaborating artist?
CFW: To be able to collaborate, the artist needs to be approachable. Working with every artist is a unique and rewarding experience, to understand how they work, to know their workflow, how they think. The trickiest part, I guess, is making sure I've done my best to explain the vision for the project and hope they love it.
And CFW seems exceptionally skilled at recruiting. I contacted a few artists from series I for this article, but I think one artist summed up the collective consent nicely.
"STACY is, in my opinion, one of the best collectable projects ever, good quality, a lot of different artists are part of the project, and the pieces are affordable. The project is successful, and this is all due to CFW's hard work. He created a solid community, a discord, a roadmap, and he's one of the first artists to fully understand the power of collaboration."- Gael Corboz
For more info on the STACY series II drop, join the CREW and take the pill. https://discord.gg/yEdp66WG
Public sale opened at 4:20 PM EST 11/11 on Rarible. https://rarible.com/stacypills
