by Brian McCaffery
( Q )Where were you born?
I was born in a small town called Sittard which lies in between the
German and Belgium boarders.
( Q )Have you always been interested in art?
I have always had respect for the Masters such as Rembrandt,
Da Vinci.
(Q) Did you study art, school, collage, etc.?
No I have no art diplomas. However I have been doing pencil
drawings from a young age. But where I come from money was
tight so the walls at home were my canvas. Needless to say that
my parents were not very pleased with me at an early age.
Firstly I would like to thank Airbrush Technique Magazine for giv-
ing me the opportunity to have a crack at doing this interview.
Right lets get down to business, I first met this artist Ed Schaap
at an airbrush show here in Holland last year and have come
across him at three airbrush shows up until now. I have to be
honest and say that when I first saw his work it totally blew me
away and I spent a good hour just looking and studying it, trying
to work out what sort of characters he was portraying.
I could not come up with a plausible conclusion, well at least one
that would quench my curiosity. After a walk around the rest of
the show I was drawn once again to this mans work. ( Q) How long have you been airbrushing?
This time I thought I’d cracked it the characters are beings from I acquired my first airbrush around 1988 so approximately 21
outer space no they are a sort of creature from the bowls of the years. But way back then I had no idea in what direction I was go-
earth, they could also be characters from a computer game. ing. I just started spraying using loose shapes and shields to try
In the end I just had to ask but because he was in the middle and color my pencil drawings.
of painting one of his creations I waited patiently until he took a (Q) Who are your influences?
break. When I approached him this very shy quietly spoken man In 1987 I saw the film Alien about a year later I read an article
I suddenly thought it would be great if I could interview him for which was to do with the artwork from the film by the Swiss art-
the magazine. To my surprise he agreed. So here you have it. ist Giger and how the airbrush played a big role in the painting of
Interview with Ed ( Alien Man ) Schaap. this creature. That seemed to be when the penny dropped with
me in the respect of what I wanted to do.
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