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Healing, Connection, and Letting Art Breathe with Yohan Daza
57 Plays1 year ago
In this episode I speak with Yohan Daza, a local artist and mental health activist. Yohan has a degree from Kendall College, and worked with Wedgewood Christian Services working with struggling youth. Since then Yohan has had a deep passion for mental health, which has played an active role in his artistic process, where art is closely tied to healing, and space to breathe.
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Transcript
Introduction to Johan Daza
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey friends, welcome back to Artists of the Way.
00:00:02
Speaker
I'm John, the host.
00:00:03
Speaker
Today, I'm very excited to welcome on Johan Daza to the podcast.
00:00:08
Speaker
Johan is an artist and mental health activist in the Grand Rapids area.
00:00:12
Speaker
He's worked at Wedgwood Christian Services, has a degree from Kendall College, and I was introduced to his stuff from the Stray, the local coffee
Art Style and Children's Books
00:00:20
Speaker
shop that I go to.
00:00:20
Speaker
He has a really cool art style that kind of blends this mixture of street art and graphic novel art and classical art.
00:00:29
Speaker
really great color usage.
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm a big fan of it.
00:00:33
Speaker
And then he also does a lot of work for children, has written and self-published a couple of children's books that deal with mental health awareness or bullying.
00:00:43
Speaker
Just a lot of really great work.
00:00:44
Speaker
He was really lovely to talk to.
00:00:46
Speaker
We have some examples of his art that he brought in that we're able to show you guys and some really great insights and recommendations for artists.
00:00:54
Speaker
So I'm super glad you guys are here to join us, listen to this discussion and hope you guys enjoy it.
00:01:02
Speaker
So how are you doing today?
00:01:04
Speaker
Pretty good.
00:01:05
Speaker
Thank you for having me, John.
Podcasting and Anti-Bullying Efforts
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's a beautiful day.
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:09
Speaker
A beautiful Saturday.
00:01:11
Speaker
I haven't done a podcast for years.
00:01:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:14
Speaker
You did a little bit of your own podcast at some point.
00:01:18
Speaker
Is that right?
00:01:18
Speaker
In the beginning, yeah.
00:01:20
Speaker
With my friend Jeff Vili.
00:01:23
Speaker
Okay.
00:01:23
Speaker
When we started doing an anti-bullying program many years ago when...
00:01:29
Speaker
all this anti-bullying stuff started.
00:01:32
Speaker
We were one of the few first ones here around the area.
00:01:35
Speaker
Okay, that's cool.
00:01:36
Speaker
Even before a lot of the popular ones that you see nowadays.
00:01:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:41
Speaker
So yeah, we started some of those and now he is a motivational speaker.
00:01:46
Speaker
That's his full-time job.
00:01:48
Speaker
And I was the artist behind that.
00:01:50
Speaker
And we did some podcasts.
00:01:52
Speaker
Yeah, without knowing what we were doing.
00:01:55
Speaker
That's fine.
00:01:56
Speaker
That's how podcasting goes.
00:01:58
Speaker
Yeah, and I think, yeah, there was a few podcasts back then.
00:02:01
Speaker
So, yeah, it was fun.
00:02:04
Speaker
The editing part for me was difficult.
00:02:06
Speaker
Editing is the boring part.
00:02:07
Speaker
And then you're listening back to your own conversation again.
00:02:10
Speaker
So hopefully this one is not going to be as bad that we have to cut, you know.
00:02:15
Speaker
Sure.
00:02:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:17
Speaker
So the first, there's a couple of questions I always ask everybody at the start of each episode.
Art's Purpose in Johan's Life
00:02:21
Speaker
My first one is, how is God using art in your life right now?
00:02:26
Speaker
You know, that's a good question.
00:02:27
Speaker
And I'm glad that you asked because...
00:02:31
Speaker
Sometimes we forget.
00:02:33
Speaker
You know, we have that eight to five job.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:36
Speaker
And just a few months ago, I was probably too busy with work.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:43
Speaker
And when I was a state of mind that you like, you don't feel like doing anything unless somebody asked you that question.
00:02:49
Speaker
And then you realize, oh, actually I've been doing some stuff.
00:02:52
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:02:53
Speaker
And for the last few, I would say few months, I've been pushing to do more art.
00:03:00
Speaker
And some of the things I've been doing is, you know, I do children's books, illustration.
00:03:05
Speaker
I like to paint.
00:03:07
Speaker
But I've been trying to figure it out every year.
00:03:10
Speaker
I try to figure out a way to have a message with my art.
00:03:15
Speaker
I do a lot of art.
00:03:15
Speaker
It's just for my own, you know, like my own pleasure.
00:03:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:19
Speaker
Just because I like to draw.
00:03:20
Speaker
I like to paint.
00:03:21
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:03:22
Speaker
But at the same time, I always try to find how am I going to use this for God?
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:30
Speaker
Because he gave us the gift, you know.
00:03:32
Speaker
So we have to use it for him, too.
T-Shirt Project and Inspirational Messages
00:03:34
Speaker
So, you know, lately, and I brought one of the t-shirts here.
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:40
Speaker
I always done t-shirt design.
00:03:43
Speaker
I have never printed my own.
00:03:44
Speaker
I always, you know, design it.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:47
Speaker
Every, I will say every year I will have one, a new one.
00:03:52
Speaker
And this time I was at church doing a service and the pastor was talking about when you feel tired physically and mentally.
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Speaker
And I think this year I've been feeling mentally tired.
00:04:09
Speaker
I work from home.
00:04:11
Speaker
I don't get to see a lot of people.
00:04:12
Speaker
So I work on the phone all day long in the computer.
00:04:15
Speaker
Yep.
00:04:16
Speaker
It's just that mentally tired.
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:20
Speaker
It's completely different than physical tired.
00:04:23
Speaker
I experienced both.
00:04:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:25
Speaker
Maybe when I was younger, I was very tired doing like the heavy work, but mentally affects me way more.
00:04:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:32
Speaker
So, you know, in one of the verses, you know, and he mentioned the verses in the t-shirt.
00:04:38
Speaker
I don't know if you want to.
00:04:39
Speaker
I'll hold it up.
00:04:40
Speaker
So if you're on the video, you can see a sample here of the shirt.
00:04:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:45
Speaker
So it's in English.
00:04:46
Speaker
in Spanish.
00:04:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:48
Speaker
It's Nehemiah 6.9.
00:04:49
Speaker
Well, it's paraphrased.
00:04:51
Speaker
It's not the full verse, but that was the line, God strength in my hand.
00:04:56
Speaker
So in Spanish also says, Dios fortalece mis manos.
00:04:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:00
Speaker
So that's kind of like when you feel that tired, like physical, mentally, that you need to hear that, that God understand that.
00:05:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:10
Speaker
and that he can help you during that moment.
00:05:14
Speaker
So when the pastor mentioned this, right away I saw that in a t-shirt.
00:05:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:18
Speaker
That's like, maybe I can make that for the church, to help the church.
00:05:22
Speaker
But at the same time, we can wear it.
00:05:25
Speaker
And you never know, you might be walking down the store and somebody might see that verse.
00:05:29
Speaker
And that might make their day.
00:05:31
Speaker
Maybe you're not going to have the conversation, but they will read that and say, yeah, that's how I'm feeling right now.
00:05:35
Speaker
You just need to be acknowledged.
00:05:38
Speaker
Sometimes we don't have the solution for things, but to feel that you're being acknowledged and God understand that.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:47
Speaker
It's pretty big.
00:05:49
Speaker
Like for me, especially working from home, you don't have the interaction.
00:05:54
Speaker
Like you asked me, do you want to do this virtually in person?
00:05:56
Speaker
Like in person.
00:05:59
Speaker
Because everything I do is virtual.
00:06:01
Speaker
And you lose that connection with people.
00:06:05
Speaker
And, you know, sometimes you need to hear that or see it.
00:06:08
Speaker
So my idea with that teacher is like, yeah, I'm making it for my church church.
00:06:13
Speaker
But I want to be able to give it to other people.
00:06:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:15
Speaker
So they might be walking on the street.
00:06:18
Speaker
They might be walking in the store.
00:06:19
Speaker
You don't have to say anything.
00:06:20
Speaker
They might be able to see it.
00:06:22
Speaker
So...
00:06:24
Speaker
it might help that little bit of that healing moment.
00:06:27
Speaker
You know,
Personal Story and Mental Health Themes
00:06:28
Speaker
having that bad day.
00:06:29
Speaker
We have good days and bad days.
00:06:31
Speaker
So that's one of my, one of the things that I'm working on, but there's a lot of other things, but that's one of the things is trying to figure out an easy way to communicate people.
00:06:40
Speaker
For me, like art, graphic design, I can communicate that way.
00:06:45
Speaker
You know, that's the way I communicate with people.
00:06:47
Speaker
Yeah, no, I love that.
00:06:48
Speaker
And I love the, I feel like,
00:06:51
Speaker
Just the idea of like being able to put the art out there on a t-shirt is just not something I would have thought of, but then it can just, I feel like it, oh gosh, what's the, see my brain's falling apart and the words aren't coming.
00:07:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:03
Speaker
Um, like the strength of art is, is really in, like you said, there's not always a solution, but it can just be that little seed or that little step towards being heard and being seen for healing.
00:07:14
Speaker
And I know.
00:07:15
Speaker
like i saw on your instagram page the shirt and that like you i i work from home half the time that i that i work and i'm on phones and chats a lot so i'm talking to people all the time and so i totally get that mentally tired thing yeah and then it's like oh well i i have a podcast going we're in the midst of godspell it's like well i have this consistent other artistic thing that requires a lot for me mentally and so i
00:07:38
Speaker
really relate with that idea of, I don't have the strength, God be my strength.
00:07:43
Speaker
I just need, I need you to help me float along here.
00:07:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:47
Speaker
And that's the thing sometime, maybe the beginning of COVID, that's when I started working from home.
00:07:58
Speaker
I mean, I was having a lot of like physical issues.
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:02
Speaker
where to a point I was having a hard time working and I don't know how I was doing the work.
00:08:09
Speaker
And when I look back, it's like, it's just God keeping me there.
00:08:12
Speaker
Like, you need the job, you need to work.
00:08:16
Speaker
And I just kept pushing, but at the same time, it's just not me pushing, there's that hand.
00:08:20
Speaker
It's pushing you.
00:08:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:22
Speaker
Sometimes, you know, people say you just keep pushing forward.
00:08:25
Speaker
But who's pushing you forward?
00:08:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:27
Speaker
That's the biggest thing.
00:08:29
Speaker
If you, especially when you're working from home, you feel alone.
00:08:32
Speaker
Even though you might see your wife, kids, I have dogs.
00:08:37
Speaker
It's those eight hours that you feel kind of alone.
00:08:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:40
Speaker
Because you're not having that physical, personal interaction.
00:08:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:47
Speaker
I don't know.
00:08:47
Speaker
It's important to feel that push.
00:08:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:49
Speaker
And a lot of my art, you know, even this one, you see hands.
00:08:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:54
Speaker
That one again.
00:08:56
Speaker
This one is an older one.
00:08:58
Speaker
And this one is more related to mental health.
00:09:01
Speaker
When I was working for Westwood Christian Services, I worked there for over 20 years with kids at risk, like young kids and also like teenagers.
00:09:12
Speaker
And I,
00:09:13
Speaker
I mean, this one is a representation of that and also my own representation
00:09:19
Speaker
That's a big story behind this, but that's God's hand grabbing you from the water.
00:09:28
Speaker
A lot of people will think, oh, is that Jesus grabbing Peter from the water?
00:09:32
Speaker
Similar.
00:09:33
Speaker
When I created it, I wasn't even thinking about that.
00:09:36
Speaker
That's the amazing thing about art.
00:09:38
Speaker
Sometimes you create stuff, and then people find meaning to it.
Art and Mental Health Awareness
00:09:43
Speaker
You're like, oh.
00:09:46
Speaker
I didn't think about that.
00:09:48
Speaker
This was my idea, but then like this, find your reason to live.
00:09:53
Speaker
There's so many people that they have their own interpretation.
00:09:56
Speaker
That's a beautiful thing about art.
00:09:58
Speaker
And then you can use that to communicate.
00:10:02
Speaker
But this one has to do with me almost drowning when I was a kid.
00:10:07
Speaker
And I was born in South America and Chile.
00:10:11
Speaker
He went to the beach with my family.
00:10:13
Speaker
My uncle was there and we got into the water and the ocean.
00:10:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:20
Speaker
Racked flags were there.
00:10:23
Speaker
The idea was like, we're just going to get into the water up to the knee.
00:10:28
Speaker
Right.
00:10:28
Speaker
And I remember that we were just kids.
00:10:30
Speaker
I don't, I can't remember how old I was, maybe 10, 12.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:34
Speaker
And then it's like, okay, a little bit more to the waist.
00:10:36
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:10:38
Speaker
And you don't know about the undertow, the currents and all that stuff.
00:10:44
Speaker
And suddenly we're like up to the deck.
00:10:47
Speaker
And I was with my uncle, he was close by and he's like, okay, we need to get out.
00:10:53
Speaker
This is not good.
00:10:54
Speaker
And he's a strong swimmer.
00:10:55
Speaker
I was not a strong swimmer.
00:10:58
Speaker
And then, you know, you start feeling like it's pulling you into the ocean, pulling to the ocean.
00:11:03
Speaker
Then the waves are a little bigger than you think.
00:11:07
Speaker
And then, you know, I start going underwater.
00:11:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:12
Speaker
There was a moment that I was underwater thinking this is it.
00:11:15
Speaker
Because I was not a strong swimmer.
00:11:18
Speaker
My uncle was like, he knew he can get out.
00:11:20
Speaker
But he waited next to me.
00:11:23
Speaker
Because he knew I couldn't.
00:11:25
Speaker
And I was like, okay.
00:11:29
Speaker
But the weird thing is I was underwater but I was not that afraid like I thought I was going to be.
00:11:36
Speaker
And I just started praying.
00:11:38
Speaker
Underwater.
00:11:39
Speaker
And it's like...
00:11:40
Speaker
If you want to take me, take me quick.
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:44
Speaker
Because drowning is probably the worst thing.
00:11:46
Speaker
So just take me quick.
00:11:48
Speaker
But if you're going to save me, do it now.
00:11:50
Speaker
Right there, I felt the water just... It was... Me and my uncle were just... Right by the shore.
00:11:57
Speaker
And it was super quick.
00:11:59
Speaker
Now, I didn't know how long we were in the water.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:03
Speaker
But I could feel like there was something that was taking me out of the water.
00:12:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:10
Speaker
And that's what it represents here.
00:12:12
Speaker
Now, my uncle stayed with me there.
00:12:15
Speaker
My dad was, by the short, he didn't know how to swim, so he was freaking out.
00:12:19
Speaker
Oh, man, yeah.
00:12:20
Speaker
My mom was crying, and she thought I was already dead because they couldn't see you because the waves were going like this.
00:12:27
Speaker
So you couldn't see anything.
00:12:28
Speaker
They couldn't see me at all.
00:12:30
Speaker
And then I was suddenly there.
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:33
Speaker
And after that, it's like, oh my goodness.
00:12:35
Speaker
It's like, I was just super young.
00:12:36
Speaker
I was already playing at a church, but it's like that day.
00:12:39
Speaker
It's like, I remember the next, I don't know if it was the next day, but that week I brought my electric guitar and one teacher was like, okay, I'm going to dedicate my music and continue my work because you took me out of the water.
00:12:53
Speaker
So it was kind of like a promise to God.
00:12:55
Speaker
It's like, I have to use my art.
00:12:58
Speaker
And that time was music.
00:12:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:00
Speaker
I was not an artist yet.
00:13:01
Speaker
I was a musician.
00:13:03
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:13:04
Speaker
And I mean, the promise.
00:13:05
Speaker
So, and as I got older, you know, that changed more into art.
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:10
Speaker
You know, but, yeah, that's what this represents.
00:13:14
Speaker
So this one is going back to, like, something super personal.
00:13:17
Speaker
Yeah.
Inspiration Behind 'Bigfoot is Bully'
00:13:18
Speaker
Then now working with kids, you know, that I used to work at Westwood.
00:13:25
Speaker
That's how it feels, depression.
00:13:26
Speaker
It feels like drowning.
00:13:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:29
Speaker
And, you know, when you don't work with...
00:13:33
Speaker
that group of people, you don't group in that environment, it's hard to understand depression.
00:13:38
Speaker
But that's how it feels like in, you know, I got to see that like almost every day.
00:13:45
Speaker
I think we all go through depression, you know?
00:13:48
Speaker
But that's one of the things in talking to kids and teenagers, like that's how they feel, they feel like they're drowning completely.
00:13:55
Speaker
But one of the things is like, you gotta be willing to reach out
00:14:01
Speaker
You know, with your hand.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:03
Speaker
But at some time, there's going to be somebody also willing to grab the hand.
00:14:06
Speaker
So that's what this means.
00:14:08
Speaker
So, you know, there's a lot of different meanings to this one.
00:14:11
Speaker
You know, you can reach out to God, but you also got to be willing to take the hand from somebody else, too.
00:14:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:16
Speaker
Because God could be using somebody else.
00:14:19
Speaker
to reach out to you, you know?
00:14:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:21
Speaker
So, yeah, there's this one.
00:14:24
Speaker
We had a little, I don't want to call it campaign, but between my friend, I created this t-shirt, then I made a little one of my first book and it was stories of different people telling their reason to live.
00:14:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:38
Speaker
So hearing stories from other people, you know, and I entered our price.
00:14:42
Speaker
I did our price with this.
00:14:43
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:45
Speaker
So
00:14:47
Speaker
that's kind of the things that I like to do.
00:14:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:50
Speaker
But it's not like I plan.
00:14:51
Speaker
It's just kind of like... It kind of... The inspiration hits you and God arranges things.
00:14:57
Speaker
And it's one of the things that's from all the people, from all the Christians and non-Christian.
00:15:04
Speaker
They tell you, you just got to listen to that voice sometimes.
00:15:06
Speaker
You just got to act on it.
00:15:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:09
Speaker
And not just like, okay, I have this idea, but I'm not going to do anything about it.
00:15:13
Speaker
So sometimes you just got to get the...
00:15:15
Speaker
comfortable position it's like yeah okay we're going to do something about it it's you know we're not trying to be famous or anything like that it's just like how can i communicate this message how can i be part of that little bit of healing you know yeah
00:15:31
Speaker
I'm not an expert in anything.
00:15:34
Speaker
But one of the things is like, yeah, we can all be part of that little bit of healing, a little bit, you know?
00:15:39
Speaker
And we have to act on it.
00:15:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:41
Speaker
What was it that, because mental health awareness is a big part of your art and things that you platform, I suppose is the word for it.
00:15:49
Speaker
So what was it that first made you passionate about that?
00:15:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:56
Speaker
So working out Western Christian Services, at the beginning I was working with teenagers and I don't want to use the word, well, it was more like the delinquent part.
00:16:07
Speaker
Okay, yeah.
00:16:08
Speaker
So that was a little bit different.
00:16:10
Speaker
But then I started working with a different type of population.
00:16:16
Speaker
There was a group of young kids, they were, you know, they didn't have families and they were being bullied.
00:16:24
Speaker
I also work in another program where they deal with suicide ideation.
00:16:30
Speaker
So I was working on those programs.
00:16:32
Speaker
And that's when I think I became more passionate about it because we have great therapists.
00:16:37
Speaker
They start teaching us about that.
00:16:41
Speaker
The other program, not so much, but this one.
00:16:44
Speaker
But there was one young kid that I remember...
00:16:50
Speaker
He was probably eight.
00:16:54
Speaker
He had a lot of different kind of issues, but we were just playing basketball.
00:17:00
Speaker
He liked to skateboard a lot, so we would go outside and kind of skateboard together.
00:17:07
Speaker
We'd shoot hoops together, and he just asked me the question out of the blue.
00:17:10
Speaker
It's like, why do people hate me so much?
00:17:14
Speaker
And then he also said, why my parents hate me?
00:17:17
Speaker
And it just kind of struck me.
00:17:19
Speaker
Like, how can a kid say that?
00:17:21
Speaker
Especially about their parents.
00:17:22
Speaker
These were adopted parents.
00:17:27
Speaker
And just kind of like, I didn't know what to say to the kid, you know?
00:17:30
Speaker
You know, and it's one of the things, I didn't give him like a straight answer because I didn't have a straight answer.
00:17:37
Speaker
So we started working on it.
00:17:39
Speaker
And we kept playing, you know, during the week.
00:17:45
Speaker
And one of the things we start...
00:17:47
Speaker
joking around was about Bigfoot.
00:17:51
Speaker
And I try to use the analogy of Bigfoot.
00:17:53
Speaker
You know, why he gets... We just made some jokes like, you know, what if Bigfoot went to school and how he would get bullied because he's so big.
00:18:02
Speaker
He couldn't pronounce his... He can't pronounce his words because he's Bigfoot.
00:18:05
Speaker
Right.
00:18:06
Speaker
So he started laughing.
00:18:07
Speaker
And so we just started kind of like playing around with the whole idea of Bigfoot, how he gets bullied.
00:18:13
Speaker
And then he started talking about how he gets bullied.
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:16
Speaker
I didn't have a plan or anything about that, but...
00:18:21
Speaker
That day, I think it was the same week, I talked to my friend Jeff and we were talking about we wanted to do something related to bullying.
00:18:33
Speaker
This idea came out and we just started talking and talking and he started researching and we came out with this book that took like two years.
00:18:43
Speaker
I'll show on the camera as well.
00:18:45
Speaker
Bigfoot is Bully.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yeah, he did a great job researching how to deal with that.
00:18:53
Speaker
Because when a kid asks you that question, it's like, why do my parents hate me?
00:18:57
Speaker
Or why do people hate me?
00:18:58
Speaker
Why am I getting bullied at school?
00:19:02
Speaker
And one of the things that we started learning little by little is how to cope with that.
Writing Process for Children's Books
00:19:07
Speaker
A lot of people say, well, tell all your parents you're getting bullied.
00:19:11
Speaker
Well, he was saying his parents hate him.
00:19:14
Speaker
Tell all your teachers.
00:19:15
Speaker
Teachers, sometimes they don't have the answers.
00:19:18
Speaker
So we have to teach kids how to cope, you know, give them the skills, how to cope with that.
00:19:23
Speaker
Because a lot of times they're going to get bullied.
00:19:27
Speaker
Adults are not going to be around.
00:19:29
Speaker
So that's one of the things that we started working on this book.
00:19:31
Speaker
It's like, how do we teach kids to cope with that?
00:19:34
Speaker
Give them the tools.
00:19:36
Speaker
One of the things that I learned working with kids is, like you like to do, to practice by acting it out.
00:19:45
Speaker
If you practice acting it out, you get more comfortable.
00:19:49
Speaker
So if they start picking on you, making fun of you,
00:19:54
Speaker
And we're just practicing.
00:19:56
Speaker
You practice what to say back without being mean, you know?
00:20:00
Speaker
You learn how to respond in a positive way.
00:20:04
Speaker
So that whole practicing
00:20:06
Speaker
It's just like theater kind of.
00:20:09
Speaker
So that's kind of like what this book is about.
00:20:12
Speaker
It's like you practice.
00:20:14
Speaker
The more you practice, you get better at it.
00:20:17
Speaker
We don't teach kids at school how to deal with bullying.
00:20:21
Speaker
They just have plans.
00:20:23
Speaker
It's like, tell your teacher, do this, tell your parents.
00:20:27
Speaker
But I think some of the things that we're missing in schools and parents sometimes, it's like you have to teach your kids how to deal with it.
00:20:34
Speaker
It's part of life.
00:20:37
Speaker
It's not going to go away.
00:20:38
Speaker
So you have to teach kids how to defend themselves without using aggression, without being physical.
00:20:46
Speaker
So you have to, you know, it's one of the things you learn.
00:20:49
Speaker
Actually, it's a good skill even for an adult.
00:20:52
Speaker
How to deal and work with bullies.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:55
Speaker
or how to deal with somebody who is being aggressive at work.
00:21:00
Speaker
Same principles.
00:21:01
Speaker
So if you practice those kind of things, you get better at it.
00:21:05
Speaker
And then you feel more comfortable, and then you can deal with that.
00:21:09
Speaker
And one of the things is like in this book, right at the end, we have steps.
00:21:15
Speaker
They're very simple steps.
00:21:17
Speaker
Let me go to that page.
00:21:19
Speaker
And it says step one.
00:21:22
Speaker
you don't get upset.
00:21:23
Speaker
That's the first thing because that's what the bully wants you to get upset.
00:21:28
Speaker
Which is really hard because we all get upset.
00:21:32
Speaker
As an adult, we can say that to a kid.
00:21:37
Speaker
You're driving somebody just not following the rules.
00:21:40
Speaker
You get upset.
00:21:42
Speaker
This is really hard, but you have to practice how you control yourself.
00:21:46
Speaker
So as an adult, we also have to practice with a kid.
00:21:48
Speaker
And, you know, it says when others are being mean, don't get upset, be calm on the outside and strong in the inside.
00:21:55
Speaker
So you have to learn how to do that by practicing, you know.
00:21:59
Speaker
You know, and there's other things.
00:22:01
Speaker
Step two, treat your enemy like a friend.
00:22:04
Speaker
Now, maybe we don't want to use that word anymore, but treat others like a friend, even if they're being mean to you.
00:22:10
Speaker
You know?
00:22:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:12
Speaker
This is coming... You can find this in the Bible.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:22:17
Speaker
So there's nothing new about this.
00:22:19
Speaker
Right.
00:22:20
Speaker
It's the golden rule, pretty much.
00:22:21
Speaker
You know, Jesus taught the golden rule.
00:22:23
Speaker
Gandhi taught the golden rule.
00:22:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:25
Speaker
Mark the Luther King.
00:22:27
Speaker
So this book is just... It's the golden rule.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:30
Speaker
That's what we're trying to teach.
00:22:32
Speaker
But the golden rule is not as simple as saying practice.
00:22:35
Speaker
The golden rule.
00:22:36
Speaker
No, you have to practice.
00:22:39
Speaker
It's still hard for me.
00:22:41
Speaker
I have to practice.
00:22:43
Speaker
I work from home, customer service.
00:22:47
Speaker
You really have to practice.
00:22:51
Speaker
You have a lot of opportunities to practice.
00:22:53
Speaker
Right.
00:22:53
Speaker
And that's the thing.
00:22:57
Speaker
I use these skills in customer service and it works.
00:23:00
Speaker
You can turn a negative call into a positive call.
00:23:05
Speaker
And also you learn how to set boundaries too.
00:23:09
Speaker
which is the biggest thing, it's like how you set boundaries.
00:23:12
Speaker
But yeah, I don't know if I went off track with that.
00:23:16
Speaker
No, that's good.
00:23:19
Speaker
What's different, if anything is different in your process?
Approach to Children's and Adult Art
00:23:23
Speaker
Because this and Louis the Little Pirate, you do things that are aimed towards children and then you also have other works of art that are more...
00:23:32
Speaker
yeah um i don't know general is there a difference in your process or what your goals are with those like do you notice differences in how you work yeah i think my i think my mindset is completely different yeah um you know as an adult we
00:23:49
Speaker
There's a lot more mature subject.
00:23:52
Speaker
Maybe I get into more of the dark parts of life.
00:23:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:56
Speaker
Which I, you know, more careful with children's, you know?
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:01
Speaker
When I work, you know, I try to do children's books.
00:24:03
Speaker
This is taking me back when I was a kid.
00:24:06
Speaker
I like kind of like a lot of imagination things.
00:24:09
Speaker
Be playful, imagination.
00:24:11
Speaker
And what I try to do with like children's books is to give that little spark so kids can use imagination.
00:24:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:18
Speaker
For adult is more like less, um,
00:24:23
Speaker
let's look into more like more of the dark stuff.
00:24:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:26
Speaker
You know, kind of like serious stuff.
00:24:29
Speaker
So it's completely different.
00:24:31
Speaker
I also like to do art just for the beauty of it.
00:24:33
Speaker
Right.
00:24:34
Speaker
So, you know, a lot of the artists, you know, sometimes like what inspires you is like, it's just beautiful sometimes.
00:24:42
Speaker
But sometimes we go into other parts where it's like, we're trying to show other part of life, you know, especially with adult stuff.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:51
Speaker
Which, you know, we have good days and bad days.
00:24:53
Speaker
And I like to show both.
00:24:55
Speaker
So it's a different approach.
00:24:56
Speaker
And I think that my mind is completely different when I'm working on children books.
00:25:03
Speaker
It's almost like taking me back when I was a kid.
Artistic Process and Meditation
00:25:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:05
Speaker
So every time I'm working on kids stuff, it's almost like me when I was 10.
00:25:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:10
Speaker
Or 12.
00:25:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:13
Speaker
And when I'm working on more adult stuff, it's just me now, like in life.
00:25:18
Speaker
So it's kind of interesting because I think our mind kind of goes back and forth.
00:25:25
Speaker
I don't think we ever change.
00:25:29
Speaker
Like if you look back when you were a kid, you're kind of still the same.
00:25:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:36
Speaker
but not really at the same time.
00:25:38
Speaker
Like you can go back, it's like, yeah, I mean, I still feel the same way.
00:25:44
Speaker
But it's interesting, and this is my own personal, I don't know about other artists, but I think my mind goes back, it's like, this is me when I was 10.
00:25:54
Speaker
Luis, a little pirate is about foster homes, but a lot of the games and playful stuff here is stuff that I used to like
00:26:02
Speaker
play pretend yeah i did that all the time uh stuff that i did with my daughter like um you know trying to find treasures and things like that you know um so going back when i was 10 or going back when my daughter was little yeah um so i think our minds just kind of like go back and forth like in time almost but yeah um it's interesting process but um i did that with art and music i usually kind of
00:26:31
Speaker
If I'm working on a subject, I kind of like to get soaked in that subject.
00:26:36
Speaker
So, you know, if I'm doing skateboard, for giving example, I try to get soaked on that.
00:26:45
Speaker
I would ride maybe like longboard.
00:26:47
Speaker
I will look at some skateboard videos.
00:26:49
Speaker
I will look at skateboards.
00:26:50
Speaker
I will look at the art.
00:26:51
Speaker
So I'll try to get soaked with that moment during those weeks.
00:26:56
Speaker
And then if I'm working on children's books,
00:26:59
Speaker
I'd be looking at children books.
00:27:00
Speaker
It's almost like you get to get yourself completely soaked on that.
00:27:06
Speaker
That's my process.
00:27:08
Speaker
I need to kind of like feel it in a way.
00:27:11
Speaker
But it's not like one day I'm working on this and the next day I'm working on the next.
00:27:15
Speaker
I spend weeks on one subject, one state of mind, almost like actors.
00:27:23
Speaker
If you're going to play a role,
00:27:27
Speaker
you stick with that role for a while and then if you play another role you know you get into that role for a while too yeah and i think i do the same as an artist um i did that the same with music too so if i will write composition i will stay with that state of mind for a while because i need to like understand myself what i'm doing right um most artists we don't know what we're doing
00:27:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:53
Speaker
You know, people think it's like, oh, you know, how can you come up with this idea?
00:27:57
Speaker
I have no idea.
00:27:58
Speaker
Yep.
00:27:59
Speaker
I have no clue where they come from.
Art as a Living Entity
00:28:01
Speaker
And that's when people, you know, ask you that question, like, how do you know God is real?
00:28:08
Speaker
That's how I know.
00:28:09
Speaker
Because I don't know where that comes from.
00:28:12
Speaker
You know?
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:12
Speaker
There's so much beauty in the world.
00:28:14
Speaker
There's so much beauty in the art that we're...
00:28:18
Speaker
It's like I don't have a clue.
00:28:20
Speaker
I can look at some of my art.
00:28:22
Speaker
I have no idea how I did it.
00:28:23
Speaker
I don't know where the idea came from.
00:28:25
Speaker
And then there's something pushing you to do it.
00:28:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:28
Speaker
Something divine.
00:28:29
Speaker
And that's the, you know, that gift that God is giving you.
00:28:31
Speaker
So... Just kind of embracing the mystery of that and giving it space to breathe and develop.
00:28:38
Speaker
That's the thing.
00:28:38
Speaker
It's like you have to let it breathe.
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:42
Speaker
I mean, that's when art becomes real.
00:28:47
Speaker
That's why...
00:28:48
Speaker
you know i don't do a lot of graphic design for me graphic design is more like it's work yeah it's just like oh here's a logo yeah here it is there's nothing behind it right art is alive it has to breathe yeah so and it has to grow too so sometime i can even at home i do i will paint a canvas just the background and just let it sit in the living room until i get an idea
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have white canvas.
00:29:17
Speaker
What I do is I grab a canvas, I start mixing some colors, I'll make a background.
00:29:22
Speaker
And then I will stare at it.
00:29:25
Speaker
the color for even a week sometime until something and they're like there it is um but yeah it's it it is kind of interesting all sometimes we'll draw something and it won't be unfinished but it'll be sitting there where i can look at it for a week yeah uh until i can finish it yeah but sometimes it's never done so i love that i i feel like i think that's something i've been
00:29:51
Speaker
discovering is this idea of like, it's okay to kind of let it go and let things inside of you work themselves out.
00:29:56
Speaker
Um, and it's so counter to,
00:29:59
Speaker
the culture we're in where it's like you've got to hurry up and do this thing and always be productive.
00:30:03
Speaker
And I think I've noticed it for myself when I've been doing school because I've been doing Bible school.
00:30:08
Speaker
And so that is a time frame where it's like in a week I have to write a paper and research all this stuff.
00:30:14
Speaker
But a lot of times I've found if I just kind of read everything I'm supposed to and then I just let that sit and stir in me for a little bit and then I re-approach it in like three days...
00:30:25
Speaker
it has just breathed and sort of worked itself out.
00:30:27
Speaker
Right.
00:30:28
Speaker
And I find that in art too, like you said, if I'm just living with a character, like you'll just discover those things.
00:30:34
Speaker
And so building in or giving ourselves permission to take that time as artists and just as people, because that's kind of the same way with our emotions too, and figuring out what's going on inside of us.
00:30:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:46
Speaker
We just need room to breathe.
00:30:48
Speaker
And I feel like.
00:30:49
Speaker
And that's what people talk about meditation.
00:30:51
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:30:53
Speaker
That's my meditation.
00:30:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:57
Speaker
You know, a lot of people sit there and just relax and do the breathing exercise.
00:31:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:01
Speaker
They're really helpful.
00:31:04
Speaker
For me, meditation is, I can see a blank skateboard or canvas.
00:31:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:10
Speaker
And my mind is just meditating and just trying to find that, trying to grasp that idea.
00:31:18
Speaker
There's something there that I'm trying to grasp and then suddenly just kind of,
00:31:23
Speaker
you know, it's a spark.
00:31:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:24
Speaker
You know?
00:31:26
Speaker
And then you go with it and then it's like, yeah, that was the right thing.
00:31:29
Speaker
And sometimes you just sketch, you know?
00:31:31
Speaker
There's all there.
00:31:33
Speaker
Every artist is different.
00:31:34
Speaker
So there's people that will sketch, sketch, sketch until they get an idea.
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker
Especially if you're working for somebody.
00:31:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:41
Speaker
You have to do that.
00:31:42
Speaker
But if I'm not working for somebody, this is my own art.
00:31:46
Speaker
I will take the time.
00:31:48
Speaker
That's the beauty of it.
Skateboard Art and Storytelling
00:31:51
Speaker
I like how you say, let it breathe.
00:31:54
Speaker
For me, art is a life.
00:31:55
Speaker
And that's why I brought real things.
00:32:01
Speaker
Because the digital world...
00:32:03
Speaker
Sometimes you cannot touch that.
00:32:06
Speaker
You can't.
00:32:09
Speaker
But yeah.
00:32:09
Speaker
I love that.
00:32:11
Speaker
So one of the things you brought is a skateboard that you've painted.
00:32:15
Speaker
And I've seen some of your stuff at the Stray too.
00:32:17
Speaker
I don't know if you want.
00:32:18
Speaker
Yeah, we can hold it up.
00:32:19
Speaker
That are just these everyday objects that you've painted, which I always love to see.
00:32:24
Speaker
So when you get these things, is it like...
00:32:27
Speaker
Are you like, oh, I proactively know I want to do something on a skateboard sooner?
00:32:31
Speaker
Or is it more just like you come across it and you do just kind of let it sit and see what comes to mind?
00:32:37
Speaker
Yeah, so...
00:32:40
Speaker
I love the whole skateboard culture since I was a kid.
00:32:42
Speaker
You know, the whole thing of riding.
00:32:46
Speaker
I can't do tricks.
00:32:47
Speaker
I ride longboard.
00:32:49
Speaker
But just, you know, watching skateboarders.
00:32:52
Speaker
I grew up in Tony Hawk's age.
00:32:55
Speaker
We're all the same age.
00:32:57
Speaker
And just love the whole thing, that feeling.
00:33:01
Speaker
But when you see skateboard art, it's kind of plain.
00:33:06
Speaker
One of the things, I think I was messing around with a skateboard one time with ink.
00:33:13
Speaker
And actually it was for one of the kids that I was working at Westwood.
00:33:19
Speaker
He wanted me to, because he knew I was an artist, paint when I see skateboard.
00:33:24
Speaker
So I sanded the skateboard.
00:33:27
Speaker
And the skateboard, you know, that wood is different than the white paper.
00:33:32
Speaker
Right away, there's color in there.
00:33:35
Speaker
And the other thing I noticed with ink, it kind of looks like, you know, a tattoo in a way or a skin.
00:33:44
Speaker
And I didn't have to work that hard.
00:33:47
Speaker
Well, I did.
00:33:51
Speaker
But by himself, when I started applying the ink, it's almost like it was happening by himself.
00:33:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:55
Speaker
You know, like the shading and all of that.
00:33:58
Speaker
It's like in the paper, you really have to be very clean about it.
00:34:03
Speaker
This one was the wood was soaking the ink.
00:34:05
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:34:06
Speaker
And then at the same time, I was using my fingers to push that in.
00:34:10
Speaker
So in a way, it felt like, I don't know, it was like becoming part of the skateboard.
00:34:16
Speaker
I like the whole idea that art has to look alive, you know.
00:34:20
Speaker
And somehow, it was just giving more...
00:34:24
Speaker
life to the skateboard that would you can feel that wouldn't you know have to send it so there's a lot of like that process you have to touch have to push with my finger laying so there's a lot of intentional stuff happening yeah that you don't see in digital art you know even though i went to school i did a lot of digital art um and even though i don't have any tattoos when i see tattoos it's like
00:34:50
Speaker
that ink in the skin in here is similar.
00:34:54
Speaker
There's something alive.
00:34:55
Speaker
This one
00:35:01
Speaker
Yeah, it kind of worked the same way.
00:35:02
Speaker
I'll sand the skateboard and just let it sit there.
00:35:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:05
Speaker
I have a fascination for birds.
00:35:07
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:35:08
Speaker
Different type of birds.
00:35:09
Speaker
Just the whole idea of flying.
00:35:11
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:35:13
Speaker
So I knew I wanted to include a bird, but he was not the first one.
00:35:17
Speaker
I started drawing her first.
00:35:19
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:35:19
Speaker
And this is based on some of the stories that I'm working on.
00:35:23
Speaker
I like to write short stories.
00:35:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:26
Speaker
And...
00:35:27
Speaker
So for this one, it's kind of based on a story that I haven't finished writing yet, but I have drawings.
00:35:36
Speaker
And this story is...
00:35:39
Speaker
humans become birds.
00:35:43
Speaker
Once I get it done, maybe I'll share it.
00:35:45
Speaker
So that was the whole idea become this.
00:35:48
Speaker
The whole idea, you know, you got the idea of angels, but this one is a little bit different.
00:35:53
Speaker
It's like humans, it's like, I like all that kind of,
00:35:59
Speaker
magical world, kind of like Lord of the Rings, Narnia, fantasy,
Fantasy Storytelling and Art
00:36:06
Speaker
right?
00:36:06
Speaker
And in this world, at sunset, the birds will fly and their feathers will kind of cover all over the forest.
00:36:16
Speaker
And if you were around that, those feathers would kind of drop over you and then you will become one of the birds and you will fly with them.
00:36:25
Speaker
it's all fantasy.
00:36:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:27
Speaker
But I was like, I started working on doing the art first because I couldn't flesh out the story.
00:36:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:33
Speaker
So she, she's one of the characters.
00:36:35
Speaker
She's one of the, the characters in the story.
00:36:39
Speaker
You know, this is one of the birds that's flying.
00:36:41
Speaker
You have the feather here.
00:36:42
Speaker
So some of my arts are based on my own personal stories that I wrote.
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:48
Speaker
Or haven't finished yet.
00:36:49
Speaker
And people don't know that.
00:36:50
Speaker
Right.
00:36:51
Speaker
So I have a lot of art pieces that are connected.
00:36:53
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:36:54
Speaker
So actually this one have, um, I had it at the Stray.
00:36:58
Speaker
There's like three, um, graffiti drawings that I did and they all connected to the story.
00:37:03
Speaker
Okay.
00:37:04
Speaker
And, um,
00:37:06
Speaker
And those, actually, the idea became, just having walked with my wife, right at dusk, twilight.
00:37:14
Speaker
Everything looks a little bit blurry and kind of magical.
00:37:18
Speaker
That's why people, you know, they talk about twilight, it's kind of magical.
00:37:22
Speaker
And I was telling my wife, we were going for walks, it's like, I wish I could paint, draw this.
00:37:28
Speaker
How can I draw this?
00:37:30
Speaker
And I did some drawings.
00:37:32
Speaker
where everything looks a little bit blurry and kind of like that twilight yeah time where everything's possible and a lot of people thought in back back in the days it's like that's a magical moment yep and it is magical because it the light will trick your eyes you know you you think you see things you know like people that they they thought they saw fairies back in the days like it was around twilight because your eyes were playing tricks yeah
00:37:58
Speaker
But, you know, playing with the imagination, it's like, how can I actually draw that type of light?
00:38:04
Speaker
And I didn't bring one of those drawings, but I did some playing around with graffiti and charcoal where I faded a lot of the charcoal where it kind of seemed a little bit blurry.
00:38:17
Speaker
And kind of that twilight hour, you know, time of minutes.
00:38:20
Speaker
I don't know how long it lasts.
00:38:21
Speaker
Right.
00:38:23
Speaker
And...
00:38:25
Speaker
I think I kind of captured it, but this story is happening during that time.
00:38:29
Speaker
It's just a magical moment.
00:38:31
Speaker
So that's the other way I approach art too.
00:38:35
Speaker
I will create stories in my mind while I write it down.
00:38:38
Speaker
Maybe I will never share
Vision for Illustrated Adult Books
00:38:40
Speaker
the story.
00:38:40
Speaker
Right.
00:38:41
Speaker
But they're all connected.
00:38:43
Speaker
And this one is a series of stories.
00:38:45
Speaker
They're all connected.
00:38:46
Speaker
And hopefully one day I'll make a book.
00:38:48
Speaker
And that will be a book more for adults.
00:38:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:51
Speaker
And it will have illustrations like this.
00:38:53
Speaker
And there's a lot of books like that.
00:38:55
Speaker
They're like children books for adults.
00:38:57
Speaker
But they're illustrated books.
00:38:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:00
Speaker
Graphic novel.
00:39:01
Speaker
But that was the idea of this one.
00:39:04
Speaker
It just kind of captures some of the characters.
00:39:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:07
Speaker
That's cool.
00:39:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:09
Speaker
I don't know.
00:39:10
Speaker
That's awesome.
Passion for Visual Arts
00:39:13
Speaker
So you started off in music.
00:39:14
Speaker
What was it that got you interested in visual arts and painting and that world?
00:39:26
Speaker
When I was in South America and Chile in school, I went to a Christian school.
00:39:34
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:39:35
Speaker
And you know, you always have that art class, but your art teachers are not like super artists.
00:39:42
Speaker
They're art teachers.
00:39:43
Speaker
Right.
00:39:44
Speaker
But we were lucky that when I moved to that school...
00:39:48
Speaker
The art teacher was an amazing artist.
00:39:51
Speaker
It was just, it blew my mind.
00:39:55
Speaker
And he just shared, like the first day he showed a picture with a charcoal drawing of shoes, leather shoes.
00:40:02
Speaker
They looked so real.
00:40:04
Speaker
You could see the leather, almost touched the leather and it was done with charcoal.
00:40:09
Speaker
And when I saw that, like the first time I saw like that type of art, you know, and I was just a kid, I was in,
00:40:16
Speaker
sixth or seventh grade, maybe.
00:40:19
Speaker
When I saw it, it's like, I really want to learn how to draw like that.
00:40:23
Speaker
And I think it was his class.
00:40:26
Speaker
You know, having a fine artist teaching you, sixth, seventh grade, it makes a huge difference.
00:40:32
Speaker
I mean, I was drawing before that.
00:40:34
Speaker
I like to draw cartoon, comics, in a way.
00:40:40
Speaker
My mom and dad told me that...
00:40:43
Speaker
I guess I won a competition when I was in first grade, which I don't remember.
00:40:49
Speaker
I have a vague memory.
00:40:51
Speaker
Maybe it's just an implanted memory when they tell you this story.
00:40:56
Speaker
So I always like...
00:40:58
Speaker
to draw but I was not good at it.
00:41:01
Speaker
But I think that class, just having a fine art artist teaching you and showing you fine art, it made a huge
Value of Formal Art Education
00:41:10
Speaker
difference.
00:41:10
Speaker
So that was one of the things.
00:41:12
Speaker
That's where I started.
00:41:13
Speaker
Then I started trying to do portraits and things like that.
00:41:18
Speaker
And when we moved here, I was in high school.
00:41:21
Speaker
At the same time, I was able to take a lot of art classes in high school.
00:41:26
Speaker
The teachers were not fine artists, but they gave me the space to work on a lot of stuff.
00:41:31
Speaker
My classmates were great.
00:41:33
Speaker
And that was the thing.
00:41:34
Speaker
It's like always having the, I guess, the opportunity to meet people that actually were good.
00:41:41
Speaker
There was a comic artist in the school that...
00:41:45
Speaker
he was doing stuff like DC.
00:41:48
Speaker
And they were putting it in the school magazine.
00:41:50
Speaker
And when I was looking at his stuff, I was like, oh my goodness, he's doing some high school.
00:41:54
Speaker
And his stuff is like DC.
00:41:55
Speaker
I don't know where he's at now.
00:41:56
Speaker
He's probably working for comics.
00:42:00
Speaker
And I got to see his stuff right there.
00:42:03
Speaker
I keep bringing this back.
00:42:08
Speaker
You know, looking at art in the computer and your phone is not the same as looking at the real thing.
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:14
Speaker
And if you're an artist or you want to be an artist, go and look at the real stuff.
00:42:20
Speaker
Look at the fine art.
00:42:21
Speaker
Go to a museum, see a Van Gogh, see a Salvador Dali, Rembrandt.
00:42:27
Speaker
When you see the real thing, your brain can see the difference.
00:42:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:32
Speaker
and you can actually learn by looking at real painting.
00:42:37
Speaker
Looking at a digital picture, you don't get none of that information.
00:42:40
Speaker
You just see a flat image.
00:42:42
Speaker
And there's not much learning process.
00:42:46
Speaker
Your brain is actually getting more information from a real painting.
00:42:49
Speaker
And I think that was one of your questions you had, like you emailed me.
00:42:56
Speaker
It's like, that's one of my biggest recommendations is like, go and see real art in person.
00:43:01
Speaker
you will see the difference.
00:43:03
Speaker
It actually will inspire you and you can also learn from that if you take the time to look at it.
00:43:09
Speaker
Or hang out with artists.
00:43:10
Speaker
They're better than you.
00:43:13
Speaker
I remember that was one of my art teachers.
00:43:16
Speaker
Always hang out with people that are better than you because they will teach you.
00:43:22
Speaker
I went to Calma College and I remember my first year I met this guy
00:43:27
Speaker
I think he was like a year ahead.
00:43:29
Speaker
But his art was like way ahead of everybody in the class.
00:43:34
Speaker
He was an illustrator.
00:43:36
Speaker
And as soon as I started hanging out with him, just looking at his stuff, you know, and asking questions to do was super, super friendly.
00:43:45
Speaker
And he took the time to explain things.
00:43:47
Speaker
He was an animator too.
00:43:48
Speaker
He was a better animator than anybody.
00:43:50
Speaker
There's teachers.
00:43:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:53
Speaker
And I was having that conversation with my wife today.
00:43:55
Speaker
It's like, it was, that was my first year.
00:43:58
Speaker
When I was in my third, fourth year, it was the opposite.
00:44:02
Speaker
The new students were coming to me.
00:44:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:04
Speaker
And I was like,
00:44:06
Speaker
And when you realize that, it's like, so I am learning, you know, I am learning because now, you know, we're turning things around.
00:44:15
Speaker
But I remember like my first year, like I was looking at the other students, like they're so good, you know, I want to.
00:44:21
Speaker
And that's what some of the teachers, they'd like sit with them, ask them questions.
00:44:28
Speaker
And I was not a fine artist, so I was taking more of the illustrations, so we're a little bit more open to criticism.
00:44:36
Speaker
Right.
00:44:38
Speaker
Like that's the first thing they teach you.
00:44:39
Speaker
You have to learn to be criticized.
00:44:42
Speaker
Yes.
00:44:44
Speaker
Fine artists, they have a hard time with that.
00:44:46
Speaker
because it's so personal.
00:44:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:48
Speaker
It's so personal.
00:44:49
Speaker
It's what was in my heart.
00:44:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:51
Speaker
And that's one of the first thing I learned is like, you got to learn that because you will grow from that.
00:44:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:58
Speaker
And at the beginning, it's kind of like, oh my goodness, you're destroyed my heart.
00:45:02
Speaker
I know.
00:45:03
Speaker
But then you realize that's how you actually learn.
00:45:06
Speaker
And then, you know, teachers taking apart your drawings is like, you got
Learning to See as an Artist
00:45:10
Speaker
to work on this.
00:45:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:12
Speaker
One of the things they did, it was amazing.
00:45:14
Speaker
It's like,
00:45:15
Speaker
We did live drawing, still live drawing.
00:45:18
Speaker
They will sit where you're sitting.
00:45:21
Speaker
Grab your drawing and compare it.
00:45:24
Speaker
And tell you, okay, this is what you got to do.
00:45:26
Speaker
So they actually sit where you're sitting.
00:45:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:29
Speaker
And see the angle.
00:45:30
Speaker
The angle.
00:45:31
Speaker
Perspective, yeah.
00:45:33
Speaker
And then they'll actually fix.
00:45:35
Speaker
I'll show you how to fix it.
00:45:36
Speaker
But when you're seeing that, somebody's actually guiding you.
00:45:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:41
Speaker
And the teacher will tell you, sometimes you have to learn how to see.
00:45:47
Speaker
The first year is you have to learn what you're looking at.
00:45:52
Speaker
But sometimes you don't know what to look the right angles or where to look because proportions were completely off.
00:46:00
Speaker
Drawings will take me forever.
00:46:03
Speaker
I remember one time they asked us to draw objects or toys, and I had some toys I was drawing.
00:46:11
Speaker
And because they're 3D, it's hard to draw something that's in front of you as 3D to 2D paper.
00:46:19
Speaker
It took me two, three days.
00:46:22
Speaker
And nowadays I can do that in like
00:46:25
Speaker
half hour, 15 minutes because you weren't learning.
00:46:28
Speaker
But that lesson of teachers sitting where you're sitting and guiding you is kind of like, you know, that walking with you, kind of going back to all these things with mental health.
00:46:38
Speaker
Like, it's very important.
00:46:40
Speaker
All that stuff is like real important.
00:46:42
Speaker
Like somebody wants to be a better artist.
00:46:45
Speaker
It's like you actually, if you want, if you want to form an education, yeah, if you can afford it, do it.
00:46:51
Speaker
If you can't afford it, hang out with artists.
00:46:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:54
Speaker
Because they will sit with you and they will show you how to do things.
00:46:59
Speaker
And I love that idea of the first year you're just learning to see.
00:47:06
Speaker
Which again, I feel like connects back to what we were saying about...
00:47:09
Speaker
giving it space to breathe, letting it be slow.
00:47:11
Speaker
But I feel like for every art, like I think about myself as an actor and early on, I'm like, oh, I just want to make people cry.
00:47:17
Speaker
If I could make an audience member cry, then that's like, I'm winning.
00:47:21
Speaker
And it's like, okay, but before you do that, you have to like,
00:47:24
Speaker
Learn how to just understand people and listen to the other actors on stage.
00:47:29
Speaker
And see the other actors.
00:47:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:31
Speaker
And it's just this slow, untangling process that initially you're like, but I want to do the cool thing.
00:47:38
Speaker
Right.
00:47:38
Speaker
But giving yourself that time to just learn to see the world around you and slow down and develop.
00:47:49
Speaker
Be patient.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:51
Speaker
is so important for artists and people in general.
00:47:53
Speaker
And I always have to relearn that, I feel like, because I always want to hurry up.
00:47:57
Speaker
Well, think about Jesus.
00:47:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:00
Speaker
33 years.
00:48:02
Speaker
He was a carpenter.
00:48:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:04
Speaker
He didn't come to this world to be a carpenter.
00:48:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:07
Speaker
He took his time.
00:48:08
Speaker
So even that's like the biggest example of to be patient.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:13
Speaker
You know, it's like when you as soon as you say that, that came to my mind.
00:48:16
Speaker
It's like he 33 years, you know, Van Gogh started painting when he was an adult.
00:48:23
Speaker
Yeah.
Dedication and Practice in Art
00:48:24
Speaker
But yeah, I.
00:48:29
Speaker
I love the whole idea of acting too.
00:48:31
Speaker
Like when I was a kid too, I love all that.
00:48:34
Speaker
I can't memorize lines.
00:48:37
Speaker
But yeah, you have to be patient.
00:48:39
Speaker
You have to take the time.
00:48:42
Speaker
The other thing is like, if you want to be a better artist, and that was one of the questions you emailed me, is anybody can be an artist.
00:48:52
Speaker
The biggest difference between a good artist and...
00:48:54
Speaker
and a so-so artist is how much time you spend drawing.
00:48:59
Speaker
People are not willing to do the work.
00:49:02
Speaker
So, I mean, first two years in school,
00:49:07
Speaker
The amount of drawing that we did, it was insane.
00:49:09
Speaker
I never drew so much in my life.
00:49:13
Speaker
I mean, in a week, I have to do like, I don't know how many drawings that they will tell you like, okay, I want you to do sketches per day, about 20.
00:49:21
Speaker
And then you do finished drawing about two.
00:49:24
Speaker
And then you're doing over 100 drawings a week or more.
00:49:29
Speaker
That process, you know, your hand is working, your brain is working, and suddenly, second year, it clicks.
00:49:39
Speaker
It's almost like all those wheels were separated, you know, and that learning process, that coming together, and suddenly it just clicks.
00:49:48
Speaker
You have to put the work.
00:49:50
Speaker
You have to actually do the work.
00:49:51
Speaker
That's the, a lot of people tell me, like, I don't know how to draw.
00:49:55
Speaker
I'm never going to be a good artist.
00:49:56
Speaker
How many drawings have you done in your life?
00:49:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:58
Speaker
If you haven't done over a hundred, a thousand, yes, you have to do the work.
00:50:05
Speaker
And that's with everything in life.
00:50:06
Speaker
If you want to be good at it, you actually have to do the work.
00:50:10
Speaker
And a lot of people, a lot of new artists, they give up too quick.
00:50:15
Speaker
Well, I did five drawings.
00:50:16
Speaker
I'm not good at it.
00:50:18
Speaker
five you yeah after you do 100 or 200 maybe yeah but you still gotta keep going um any any type of art you have to practice if you're a musician how many hours you're gonna put to be a musician i i'm a guitar player i i used to spend when i was younger
00:50:40
Speaker
I don't know how many hours a day playing the guitar, playing the guitar, playing the that.
00:50:44
Speaker
Because I loved it so much.
00:50:46
Speaker
But people ask me how, why you became so good at guitar.
00:50:50
Speaker
I play like five, six, seven hours a day.
00:50:54
Speaker
It's the same with art.
00:50:55
Speaker
Most people don't, they don't want to spend that amount of time because I guess,
00:50:59
Speaker
You have to be passionate about it, but if you want to be an artist, do the work.
00:51:04
Speaker
I mean, I guarantee if I'm looking at a picture over there beside Captain America, is that a kid's drawing?
00:51:14
Speaker
Which, oh, which kind of, what is it?
00:51:16
Speaker
It's a little picture in the blue.
00:51:18
Speaker
It's a stick figure.
00:51:20
Speaker
Oh, this guy.
00:51:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:22
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:51:23
Speaker
So, it's actually Hitler and there's a background to that.
00:51:28
Speaker
So, I have...
00:51:30
Speaker
My wife drew that.
00:51:31
Speaker
She actually is a good drawer, but she drew me a little stick figure Hitler because I have an action figure of the original, like Captain America costume and his first cover, he's punching Hitler.
00:51:41
Speaker
So when I was setting this all up, I like put him in the punching pose and I was like, I don't have a Hitler action figure for him to punch.
00:51:48
Speaker
So she drew that.
00:51:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:51
Speaker
But I want to use that example.
00:51:53
Speaker
If you ask somebody to draw like an adult and they draw like
00:51:58
Speaker
it looks like a kid's drawing.
00:52:00
Speaker
That's the age they stop drawing.
00:52:03
Speaker
It doesn't get better.
00:52:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:05
Speaker
So, and I've done that experience with people, like they,
00:52:09
Speaker
So I taught a few classes.
00:52:10
Speaker
I'm not professionally trained to teach, but people ask me to teach drawing classes.
00:52:18
Speaker
And people start drawing.
00:52:20
Speaker
And then you can see the drawing.
00:52:21
Speaker
Okay, it looks like probably you stopped when you were 8 or you were 10 or you were 5.
00:52:26
Speaker
When was the last time you drew?
00:52:28
Speaker
If you remember when you were a kid, you probably used to draw.
00:52:30
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:52:31
Speaker
in a certain age you stop.
00:52:35
Speaker
If you start drawing now, you're going to draw exactly the same when you stop.
00:52:38
Speaker
That is interesting.
00:52:39
Speaker
I'm thinking back, I just did Godspell and there was a couple stage pictures that I had so specifically in my brain that I wanted to try and draw them.
00:52:47
Speaker
And I hadn't drawn in a little while, but I used to like
00:52:50
Speaker
I loved superheroes, so my brother and I would draw, like, comic books and superheroes all the time and different things.
00:52:54
Speaker
And then eventually I was focusing on other things and I didn't do it as much.
00:52:58
Speaker
But I was, like, remembering and I was like, oh, I'm enjoying this.
00:53:00
Speaker
This is fun.
00:53:00
Speaker
But it was, like, it did look exactly like, and I don't know, I was probably, like,
00:53:06
Speaker
late middle school or junior high or something.
00:53:08
Speaker
But I'm thinking, I'm like, yeah, that would map like totally to exactly where my skill level was.
Significance of Learning from Others
00:53:13
Speaker
Stop, yeah.
00:53:13
Speaker
That's when it stopped.
00:53:14
Speaker
So yeah, if you keep going, it gets better.
00:53:18
Speaker
So why Leonardo da Vinci?
00:53:20
Speaker
drawing looked like a master he never stopped and the amount of drawing he did it was ridiculous yeah you know if you if you think about it um i mean any uh the famous artists if you if you start looking at how many drawings they did that amount is ridiculous i mean it's hundreds and hundreds and i was telling my wife it's like i have a horrible memory i don't keep track of my art
00:53:44
Speaker
I have given away a lot of art, I have soul art.
00:53:47
Speaker
I forgot what I had done.
00:53:50
Speaker
And I want to start documenting because I see like in writing, oh, so-and-so made a hundred thousand drawings.
00:53:56
Speaker
I have no idea how many I've done.
00:53:59
Speaker
Because I lost track.
00:54:00
Speaker
But I want to start putting it in a book.
00:54:02
Speaker
Maybe take a Polaroid picture.
00:54:05
Speaker
I drew this, I give it to so-and-so.
00:54:09
Speaker
But yeah, it is important to whatever you like to master, whatever the art is, you actually have to work on it.
00:54:18
Speaker
Really put the work.
00:54:19
Speaker
I mean, it is possible.
00:54:20
Speaker
Anybody can draw.
00:54:21
Speaker
It's just how much amount you want to put to it.
00:54:24
Speaker
So if you want to draw like when you were 10,
00:54:28
Speaker
Yes, if you stop at 10, that's how I was going to stay.
00:54:31
Speaker
But if you're going to keep going and you want to draw like you went to college, to an art school, yeah.
00:54:36
Speaker
I wasn't that good when I entered Kendall College.
00:54:40
Speaker
my skill level was probably like a high school, you know, because I was still drawing high school.
00:54:46
Speaker
And then it made a huge leap from my first year to the fourth year.
00:54:51
Speaker
That training and amount of work you have to do, it is worth it.
00:54:56
Speaker
To me, it was worth it.
00:54:57
Speaker
Because even if I don't have a job, like,
00:55:01
Speaker
I would love to work for DC or Marvel, but I still have to do a lot of my art.
00:55:08
Speaker
I make my own books.
00:55:10
Speaker
I do my own designs.
00:55:11
Speaker
I create work for people.
00:55:13
Speaker
I create a lot of work for the church.
00:55:16
Speaker
I still use my skills, and I went to school for that.
00:55:19
Speaker
Not for my own personal things.
00:55:20
Speaker
It's to actually use it in every aspect of my life.
00:55:25
Speaker
So, yeah, if you can afford, you know, formal education, I highly recommend it.
00:55:30
Speaker
If you can, hang out with artists.
Exploring Purpose and Mental Health
00:55:33
Speaker
They're better than you.
00:55:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:35
Speaker
You're always going to learn.
00:55:35
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:55:37
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:55:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:38
Speaker
We're getting close to our time here.
00:55:39
Speaker
So the last question, we've been talking about resources for people growing as artists.
00:55:45
Speaker
As far as people's faith, do you have resources or things you would recommend for them to deepen or grow in their Christian faith?
00:55:51
Speaker
A lot of people probably know this one.
00:55:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:55
Speaker
And this is related to a lot of the purpose-driven life.
00:55:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:59
Speaker
A lot of people probably read it.
00:56:03
Speaker
People probably read it and they forgot about it.
00:56:06
Speaker
I remember reading it and then completely forgot about it.
00:56:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:11
Speaker
We used it in one of the programs with suicide ideation.
00:56:16
Speaker
Okay.
00:56:16
Speaker
It was hard because it was not a Christian program.
00:56:20
Speaker
Right.
00:56:21
Speaker
So...
00:56:23
Speaker
but I still used it and I bought copies and left it around so people wanted to read it.
00:56:31
Speaker
you know, the big question, what on earth am I here for?
00:56:35
Speaker
Asking those questions of your purpose in life is very important.
00:56:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:38
Speaker
Um, and this is a great book.
00:56:40
Speaker
I mean, you know, you can use it to study, you know, with somebody else or a group.
00:56:46
Speaker
I think this book is great not to read it by yourself, but to read it in a group.
00:56:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:51
Speaker
And, and learn from each other.
00:56:53
Speaker
The, um,
00:56:56
Speaker
like i mean proverbs 11 28 right here says a life devoted to things it's a dead life a stump a god-shaped life is a flourishing tree so just that verse right there it's like that's the purpose you know you have to have a purpose in your life yeah if
00:57:16
Speaker
And sometimes, you know, you got to take that time to find a purpose.
00:57:20
Speaker
It can take you your whole life.
00:57:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:21
Speaker
You know?
00:57:23
Speaker
But you have to be looking for that purpose.
00:57:25
Speaker
And sometimes, like, even, you know, if we relate this to art, if you don't know what your purpose is, you know, hang out with people.
00:57:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:36
Speaker
Then maybe they have a little bit of idea what their purpose is.
00:57:40
Speaker
Or talk about it.
00:57:42
Speaker
You know, same principles, you know, hang out with somebody, with another artist, hang out with another Christian.
00:57:49
Speaker
Same principles.
00:57:50
Speaker
Like, you might find a purpose in life.
00:57:53
Speaker
This is a great book, like, to start reflecting on that if you feel you don't have a purpose in life.
00:58:00
Speaker
I mean, and this is going to go back to the Bible, too.
00:58:04
Speaker
So it's good.
00:58:05
Speaker
Sometimes we lose that, like, okay, I have the Bible.
00:58:08
Speaker
I don't know what to do with it.
00:58:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:10
Speaker
like what book should i read sometimes you need like another guy to guide you to the bible i think this is a great one this one is in from my point of view it's related to a lot of the mental health and also christianism so yeah it's kind of like it's related a lot um i used this in the suicide ideation program i thought it was great um i used it at church i lit up
00:58:36
Speaker
like a small group with this.
00:58:38
Speaker
And it was an easy way to start communicating with people.
00:58:42
Speaker
I think we're all trying to find that purpose in life.
00:58:45
Speaker
But somebody, I don't know who posted on Instagram, it's like the whole thing about Jesus that he didn't come to this world to be a carpenter.
Finding Purpose Through Faith
00:58:57
Speaker
What is his real purpose in life?
00:59:00
Speaker
You know?
00:59:01
Speaker
He came to this world to be a savior.
00:59:05
Speaker
And a lot of times we have jobs that are not our purpose.
00:59:10
Speaker
That's part of our life.
00:59:12
Speaker
But what are we here for?
00:59:16
Speaker
Maybe I'm not here to be an artist.
00:59:18
Speaker
Maybe something deeper.
00:59:20
Speaker
So I'm still searching purpose.
00:59:25
Speaker
And I think this also helps
00:59:28
Speaker
with that guy because if we're mixing mental health, there's good days, bad day, depression is real.
00:59:35
Speaker
Having
00:59:37
Speaker
a purpose or trying to find a purpose.
00:59:39
Speaker
Or maybe, you know, you talk about seasons, like what are you doing during this year?
00:59:43
Speaker
What is your purpose this year?
00:59:45
Speaker
Maybe you don't have to think about your full life.
00:59:49
Speaker
What is your purpose this year?
00:59:51
Speaker
And kind of set that goal.
00:59:54
Speaker
You know, that's going to be very helpful, like to keep pushing, you know.
00:59:57
Speaker
But also, you know, having that guide from God, like, okay, how can I accomplish this purpose?
01:00:02
Speaker
Is that the same purpose?
01:00:05
Speaker
purpose God is giving you though.
01:00:06
Speaker
Sometimes we try to...
Resource for Writing Children's Books
01:00:09
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:09
Speaker
We try and manipulate it a certain way.
01:00:11
Speaker
Manipulate our way.
01:00:13
Speaker
I like doing this.
01:00:15
Speaker
Sometimes your purpose is something you don't like doing.
01:00:18
Speaker
So, yeah.
01:00:19
Speaker
So this is one of the... I will say... I will recommend and I don't want to forget about this one.
01:00:27
Speaker
If you ever want to write a children book, this is a great one too.
01:00:34
Speaker
yeah take my diamond children books are very complicated it's a lot of work uh you would think like writing a novel is a lot of work children books are way more complicated because you you have to think about this is for a kid and we are an adult yep this one will give you a step by step uh my friend jeff billy he uh researched different book and found this lady in the internet
01:01:00
Speaker
And this book actually did all the homework for us, like how to go step by step, how to publish a book.
01:01:05
Speaker
That's awesome.
01:01:06
Speaker
Without like making all the mistakes you have to make.
01:01:10
Speaker
So it's a great book.
01:01:12
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:12
Speaker
It will save you time.
01:01:13
Speaker
That's awesome.
01:01:14
Speaker
I mean, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to do it.
01:01:17
Speaker
And then when he found the book and we started reading the book, it's like...
01:01:20
Speaker
Here it is.
01:01:21
Speaker
Yeah, that's great.
01:01:21
Speaker
Somebody actually knows the steps.
01:01:24
Speaker
And it's very, very, very easy to follow.
01:01:28
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:29
Speaker
So if you want to do a children book or a book, I recommend for people to write a book.
01:01:34
Speaker
This one works too.
01:01:35
Speaker
Awesome.
01:01:36
Speaker
Sweet.
01:01:36
Speaker
Well, thank you so much for coming on and chatting.
01:01:38
Speaker
This has been a really lovely discussion.
01:01:40
Speaker
Thank you for having me.
01:01:41
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:42
Speaker
Appreciate your time.
01:01:43
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:43
Speaker
All right.