How David Globerson Built a Career as a Full-Time Illustrator | Buying Local #83

00;00;00;00 – 00;00;08;09
Speaker 2
Welcome, everyone, to Buying Local. I’m your host, Mike Nelson from Five Towers Media, joined today by Dave. And Dave is it is a global one.

00;00;08;11 – 00;00;13;01
Speaker 1
Yes. Yeah. Okay. What was this one? I see you got it right on the first one said oh yes.

00;00;13;03 – 00;00;18;19
Speaker 2
Toodles to me. Yeah. Dave Glover said from DFD illustrations. What’s up man.

00;00;18;21 – 00;00;20;09
Speaker 1
Hey man how’s it going? Thanks for having me.

00;00;20;15 – 00;00;36;21
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. Happy to have you on here. Like something I did, you know, as we were talking a little bit right before we started the show, I’m excited to hear about the kind of work that you do. I would say I’ve seen pictures, you know.

00;00;36;24 – 00;00;43;23
Speaker 2
I’d see it on the Instagram and, other. Introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit, a little bit about who you are and what you do.

00;00;43;26 – 00;01;06;19
Speaker 1
Yeah. So, Yeah, my name’s Dave. So I work full time as a commission based illustrator and painter. I went to college for this. I went to, Hartford Art School in Hartford, Connecticut. So I my bachelor’s in, fine art and illustration, and I kind of took a little while before I got into, like, making art full time.

00;01;06;21 – 00;01;29;11
Speaker 1
But during the pandemic, it afforded me the ability and the time to be able to just, like, write a business plan, sit down and focus with it. And, you know, my art has really evolved since then, since, you know, I’ve been able to, like, really focus on it and really put in the wraps. You know, it started as me drawing mostly fantasy creatures, dragons, monsters and stuff like that.

00;01;29;14 – 00;01;55;21
Speaker 1
And I still get to do that. But, it turned more into portraiture and pet portraiture as, like, commissions started rolling in. And, you know, that that’s afforded me the ability to make, make a living doing art. And in doing so, it’s improved my art exponentially just because I’m doing it all of the time. You know, I put a lot of weight on myself with each of these two because it’s something that’s really meaningful to somebody.

00;01;55;24 – 00;02;17;18
Speaker 1
You know, so it’s like, you know, so yeah, I, I’m just always working to get better and figure it out. And then somehow I got into designing, craft beer labels as well. So, you know, I, most artists have, like, you know, gallery shows and stuff. My, walk in coolers are now my, my own personal gallery.

00;02;17;20 – 00;02;20;04
Speaker 2
That’s amazing.

00;02;20;06 – 00;02;21;09
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;02;21;11 – 00;02;26;25
Speaker 2
It’s really where I work. Go into the beer cave. It’s. Stuart’s a flag.

00;02;26;27 – 00;02;44;12
Speaker 1
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Women. Whitman beer, brewing. One of the companies that I work for, they’re the first, brewery to, like, hire me, to to make labels and stuff. And, yeah, they just signed, deal with Stuart’s. So we are carried there. So that’s actually.

00;02;44;14 – 00;03;20;08
Speaker 2
Yeah. That’s amazing. I, I want to hear you. So you mentioned, you know, making that transition into becoming a full time artist, which I don’t think it’s easy for anyone. Right. And now, one of the things I’m curious to hear about, like, and you kind of touched on it a little bit was you’re you are, you know, you’re drawing what you like to draw, and then all of a sudden you find yourself doing portraits and and doing pet portraits and people portraits and like, was it just you’re just hanging out some day and someone’s like, hey, do you think you can do a painting of my dog for me?

00;03;20;08 – 00;03;23;11
Speaker 2
Like, how does that even start to happen?

00;03;23;13 – 00;03;46;06
Speaker 1
So, so during the shutdown, I had just paid off my student loans and I was like, I’m going to celebrate this. It took me ten years to pay off my student loans. I’m going to do ten paintings for 50 bucks for people. Right? Just like purpose and whatever. And what that ended up doing was showing me the market, without me having to do anything.

00;03;46;08 – 00;04;05;02
Speaker 1
So what ended up happening was that nine out of ten of those were, were pet portraits, and one of them was just, hey, make me something weird. The guy who asked me to make me something weird is, still a very good friend of mine to this day. You know, like, that’s the way to my art.

00;04;05;04 – 00;04;26;19
Speaker 1
But I ended up painting. Yeah, about nine pet portraits, whether that be cats, you know, dogs, whatever. And, then I was like, okay, there’s obviously a market for this. And I saw the reactions of people with that work, which I never saw with my original work. Usually I would be like, hey, look at this thing.

00;04;26;19 – 00;04;52;03
Speaker 1
And they’re like, well, that’s terrifying. You know, you’re a disturbed person. I’m not. And, so then I started doing these dogs and cats and people were like, this is really meaningful. And they’re starting to cry. I’m like, and I’m a deeply empathetic person. So to, like, have that experience of, of gift giving like that or doing something meaningful, it just it, it was like, oh, all right, well, this is my calling.

00;04;52;06 – 00;05;00;04
Speaker 1
And then I just leaned into it, and now it kind of just feels like a home with the universe when I do these things.

00;05;00;06 – 00;05;05;23
Speaker 2
You’re I’m so. So they were crying. You were crying? It was a big emotional,

00;05;05;25 – 00;05;07;13
Speaker 1
Somebody chopping onions somewhere?

00;05;07;14 – 00;05;27;07
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah, for sure, for sure. And so some of these, I think most of the pet portraits that I’ve seen of yours are, It’s not just like a dog. It’s like. Like I keep thinking of the one I want to say. It’s some sort of hound. And he’s, like, wearing, like, like a 1800s.

00;05;27;10 – 00;05;28;00
Speaker 1
That one right there.

00;05;28;00 – 00;05;29;08
Speaker 2
Yeah. Is it behind it? Yeah.

00;05;29;08 – 00;05;59;18
Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So there are like. So those are like my personal ones. And there are requests for that. At the advent of I kind of took away the novelty of that. So I’ve leaned more into the fine art aspects of things. And I’m going to try to take back the, you know, the, like elevated portraits of dogs where they look like they belong in, like the hall of, of, like Parliament or something like that.

00;05;59;18 – 00;06;21;08
Speaker 1
Yeah. So that’s actually, a series I’m going to be working on. I want to do about a dozen, like, small paintings of dogs and cats just like that, just because I, I don’t have any, like one thing that’s interesting about being a commission based illustrator and painter. I have very little of my own work, like just laying around.

00;06;21;10 – 00;06;39;28
Speaker 1
So, like my actual first gallery show, I had to borrow all the pieces from people that have commissioned me, and it worked out because the my first show was actually at the Crandall Library in and Glens Falls, where I’m based out of. And, you know, I called it on loan and it was it was perfect.

00;06;39;28 – 00;06;59;24
Speaker 1
It worked out great. Yeah. So yeah, it was a way that I didn’t have to create a whole new body of work for it. But, you know, it celebrated everybody that there’s, like, you know, a big part of the story, part of the reason why I’m able to do this. And huge turnout. It was awesome. Well, you know, we’ll never remember that for the rest of my life.

00;06;59;26 – 00;07;09;13
Speaker 2
So when you was it, like in the media thing when you did, you did those first hand, paintings and you’re like, oh, I think I could actually turn this into a business.

00;07;09;15 – 00;07;52;04
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I, I immediately like, you know, I looked up some, you know, small business acumen stuff. Got a DBA, just made sure I was legit and then. Yeah, I mean I’ve just been then the momentum just now kept going because, you know, I think during 2020 this was before Instagram was entirely video based. So I was able to just post pictures and immediately get, you know, get attention or get commissions and, I mean, you know, I created a system that it it’s take me a while to get it to the point where, like, oh, now I’m in actual, like, business, like you fill out a form that took me

00;07;52;04 – 00;08;15;12
Speaker 1
up until, like, last month, honestly. But, you know, it’s always a work in progress. And mostly it’s just to minimize stress for myself. And, you know, I also make it easier for the client. But. Yeah, once. Yeah. So all the pet portraits came in. They just kept coming in, and occasionally I’ll get, like, a stray, or it’s like, hey, can you paint this or can you paint this?

00;08;15;12 – 00;08;43;18
Speaker 1
Or would you be willing to do a mural or some merch? But it’s interesting because I, I contain multitudes with my art. So the pet portraits are, are wonderful because, you know, it’s introduced me to so many people and organizations and I’ve been able to help out and a lot of ways, not just emotionally, but like also with fundraising and, you know, I don’t I mean, it’s it’s opened a lot of doors for me.

00;08;43;26 – 00;09;16;04
Speaker 1
And then there’s the other hand where I really like making sci fi art. I like making dark stuff. So striking that balance between the two because, you know, it’s like, oh man, I want to make all this awesome stuff that I think is awesome. And turns out to be very niche. But the pet portraits are universal. So, you know, it’s, I’m realizing that, you know, and that and that musician that is, you know, wrote all of these songs, but, you know, the crowd wants to hear the hits.

00;09;16;06 – 00;09;33;21
Speaker 1
You know, so I’ve decided to just completely lean into the pet portraits and portraits right now just because, I mean, it’s great. It’s awesome. It’s fun to do. And if anybody wants, you know, knows me well enough, they’ll commissioned me to make something original. Not old snake stuff original on my own and let it speak for itself.

00;09;33;24 – 00;09;48;15
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, I really I mean, you do an amazing job. I like I really love the, the bridal one that you did with the, I assume husband and wife. And she’s in her gown and it’s like, splayed out. I mean, it’s it’s great.

00;09;48;17 – 00;09;58;10
Speaker 1
That was a fun one to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh. Go ahead. No, no, I that that’s great. It was fun.

00;09;58;12 – 00;10;15;23
Speaker 2
Well, I was just going to ask I’d love to hear about, like, the process of, like what it, like how does it all happen. Like, are you taking a photograph and then creating a painting from it, or are you doing it like, are you like, are you there in person or like someone bringing their dog to you and you’re, you know, making them sit somewhere or lie down or whatever?

00;10;15;23 – 00;10;17;19
Speaker 2
Like, what does that look like for you?

00;10;17;21 – 00;10;36;06
Speaker 1
I mean, I’m a masochist, but I, I will not let I like I wouldn’t have I be doing live paintings of dogs or weddings. You know, it’s all from photos. So typically I have, like, a, a composite of a bunch of different photos and, you know, fine art paintings and stuff like that to draw inspiration from.

00;10;36;08 – 00;11;00;12
Speaker 1
So, typically, like, I use a few different apps that just help me kind of create like vision boards of, the paintings. And typically I do a digital, digital mockup. So I’ll do like a color composition first. Well, first a sketch, then a color composition. Then I trace some, transfer that onto a canvas. And then I paint from there.

00;11;00;14 – 00;11;10;25
Speaker 1
And my dog is still in the background right now. And once I just got a letter out. Yeah. Of course.

00;11;10;27 – 00;11;36;07
Speaker 1
Okay. Yeah. So I, so that’s usually the process. So I am working from photographs. Almost always, unless it’s like my own imaginary work. But even then, I have composites of of, of reference photos, like, I’m pretty good. I’m, I’m pretty good at drawing entirely out of my head, but, like, there’s you all. At.

00;11;36;14 – 00;11;59;11
Speaker 1
If you are a professional artist and you want to have representative like representational art or realistic art in any way, you have to have after you have, strong reference photos. So the better they are, like, the stronger the painting will be. You know, I, I always take my own spin on it, but, like, you know, it’s also how I capture a lot of the personality of the dogs and stuff.

00;11;59;11 – 00;12;22;17
Speaker 1
So, you know, if you, if you go to my commission page, there’s a PDF that you download and there’s a whole section of it like, you know, here’s some examples of good quality photos and here are some ones that I’ve received that are not good. It’s like, you know, it’s like a blurry dog running or something like that, you know, and they want, you know, a high end, high, crispy looking photo of this dog.

00;12;22;17 – 00;12;42;01
Speaker 1
I can’t even tell it breed. It is. So, you know, there’s challenges within that. That’s where being able to draw in my imagination does help. You know, because dogs are dogs and cats are specific shapes. You know, it’s oh, you can capture some elements of it. Yeah.

00;12;42;03 – 00;12;58;17
Speaker 2
Yeah. So you so you were seeing a challenge in your business where it was making the process harder for you. So you then developed this like your own process, like, here’s how I’m going to mitigate these things that are happening that always throw a wrench in the gears. Right. That’s why you did the whole document and the website.

00;12;58;17 – 00;13;14;23
Speaker 1
And yeah, I mean, we’re always trying to, you know, soft soften the landing with this, right? So like, I just have I want it to be easy for myself and easy for clients because, you know, this this is an awesome process and a lot of people. But for me, a lot of this is like their first time commissioning a painting.

00;13;14;25 – 00;13;33;22
Speaker 1
So, you know, I really want this to always be a, you know, good experience and memorable experience for them. And, you know, there’s been some bumps in the road, as with any business. But, I feel like I, I have a, you know, a very good track record of it. And I mean, that’s why I, I get a lot of work.

00;13;33;24 – 00;13;35;02
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah.

00;13;35;04 – 00;13;59;21
Speaker 2
It’s, do you find, because I always saw this, with my photography was like when you’re because you had mentioned this before and made me think of this, but like where you have, like, the stuff that you like to do, then there’s this stuff, you know, the hits that you said, right. Do you always do you ever find that, like when you’re delivering something to someone that you’re like, are they going to like it or are they going to hate it?

00;13;59;24 – 00;14;03;18
Speaker 2
Like, do you go to that emotional roller coaster before I deliver a piece.

00;14;03;20 – 00;14;38;07
Speaker 1
All the time? You know, I always send them an email with the picture first. You know, I know that, I think I’ve done awesome. And, yeah, I mean, like, the whole time, especially with, portraits or like, memorial portraits, too. It’s like. Yeah. Am I doing am I doing this justice? And, you know, I have all like, you know, I like the ghosts of all of my professors, like, hovering over my head or, you know, that goes but, you know, like, apparitions of that just talking to me about, like, you know, oh, do this, this, this, this.

00;14;38;09 – 00;15;00;13
Speaker 1
And, you know, I put a lot of pressure on myself for that. But the word like, in the end, it’s just, you know, it’s a really incredible feeling to see that all pay off. You know, I, I keep trying to raise the bar for myself, too. I think that’s that, something that happens when you’re you motivated to do this stuff.

00;15;00;13 – 00;15;21;05
Speaker 1
You’re always trying to raise the bar, raise the quality. Well, what worked on this one? What didn’t? I think the worst thing that happened to me, though, was, I just finished a painting for, like, one of my oldest friends. It just. I was commissioned by another person, and I had put, varnish on it, and the varnish dried weird.

00;15;21;07 – 00;15;40;05
Speaker 1
And so I had this, like, shiny. Like it looked like, it just looked like drippy all throughout it. It didn’t it didn’t blend in smoothly. So, you know, I had to put like, five more layers of varnish on it to this thing. It looks like it’s encased in, like, you know, acrylic or something like that. But yeah.

00;15;40;07 – 00;15;58;28
Speaker 1
So like, that’s that’s the nerve wracking part, honestly, is when somebody says that I love it and then I put the finishing touches on it. Since then I have moved to a, just a, you know, a matte, kind of, a varnish so that I do not need to worry about that again. Yeah.

00;15;59;01 – 00;16;04;02
Speaker 2
Yeah. Well, because how long is like a painting, a pet portrait take you.

00;16;04;05 – 00;16;25;02
Speaker 1
From start to finish? Like, probably about two weeks. That’s like the painting itself. Doesn’t take me that long. It’s all the planning and stuff like that that leads up to it. Yeah. So, you know, I do the sketch that gets approved, then I do a value study, which is just, black and white, just a drawing of it.

00;16;25;04 – 00;16;44;25
Speaker 1
Then, then I do a color composition of it and then, you know, and then I take that to canvas. So by, like, doing all of that, I’ve already drawn this animal or this portrait, like 3 or 4 times. Yeah. So I by then I have the wraps in where it’s just like, all right, I’m just going to take this to canvas.

00;16;44;28 – 00;17;02;13
Speaker 1
And if the stars are aligned correctly and you know the colors working well in my favor, it can take 2 or 3 days. Once I’m painting, sometimes in the afternoon, if I’m, you know, if I’m just locked in, like, the one that I did of of my dog, it’s it’s over here. Actually, both of the ones behind me.

00;17;02;16 – 00;17;22;25
Speaker 1
I did those in the day. Yeah. But those were paintings for me. I gifted those to my wife. So there were less, like, I wasn’t being paid for it. So I think, like, you know, I just I didn’t have any stress on me for it. Yeah. So it was a lot quicker. But. Yeah, 2 or 3 days, once I’m once everything’s rolling.

00;17;22;27 – 00;17;29;21
Speaker 2
But still not something that, if the varnish doesn’t dry right, that you want to have to start all over again and and do it.

00;17;29;24 – 00;17;52;08
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah. Terrifying. Bill on are. And there have been things where I’ve had to start fresh like, you know, and I, I’ve kind of, adopted that, that Zen philosophy that was just like, all right, you know, not there’s impermanence to this. And, yeah, you know, like, yeah, I put in a lot of work, but this thing is messed up.

00;17;52;08 – 00;18;06;21
Speaker 1
I got to start fresh. So I’ve done that. I did that more in my earlier years for sure. I don’t have to do that nearly as much now that, like, I have, like, better structures in place, but yeah. That sucks.

00;18;06;23 – 00;18;22;22
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. Go crack a Whitman’s and, you know, like, relax for a couple minutes. Yeah. So it’s so, like, how many portraits are you doing a year, roughly speaking?

00;18;22;24 – 00;18;53;03
Speaker 1
On a good year, probably anywhere between 30 to 50. Wow. Yeah, that’s a lot. Yeah. And then. And then probably about, Yeah. Ten labels per brewery on average too. So on top of that, 20 and then I’ve illustrated, several children’s books as well. And that’s so. Yeah. Keeping busy that I just, I kind of just say yes to everything and figure it out.

00;18;53;03 – 00;19;19;09
Speaker 1
You know, I just did, a big illustration for, for an event planner. They wanted something like, for this themed party. So I made them like this, this illustration that they can print up to any size. So that’s for a children’s birthday party. You know, it’s just use, you know, use the talents I got and figure out, you know, where the chips are, like.

00;19;19;09 – 00;19;39;19
Speaker 1
But right now, things because I, you know, last couple months were a little slower for me, but that was actually really good, because I’ve been able to focus more on the business end of things, which I desperately needed to do. So, you know, I was able to, refine some of that and. Yeah.

00;19;39;22 – 00;19;46;21
Speaker 2
Yeah, it’s, I’m sure that slowdowns are sometimes a welcome break, I think. Right. Like.

00;19;46;23 – 00;20;02;03
Speaker 1
They are, you know, but it’s like a it’s a disruption of routine, you know, I’m used to like. All right, like, today I’m going to be priming these canvases, and I’m going to be doing this and this and this. And then once I get into that flow, you know, that’s just I’m just going, got it going.

00;20;02;05 – 00;20;30;08
Speaker 1
And then it’s slowed down for a little bit. And I’m like, you know, I could breathe. But you know, when that train is chugging along and all of a sudden it stops, sometimes the back of that train folds over the front. So, you know, but some really cool opportunities of, have emerged since then. And I have, I finished a, the full rough draft of, illustrations of a of a new children’s book I’m going to be working on.

00;20;30;10 – 00;20;52;29
Speaker 1
I’m hoping that will, you know, publisher will pick up or just shopping that around right now. Nice. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s awesome. It’s, it’s it’s themed around grief, actually. So, you know, it’s an important thing to talk about. I don’t think a lot of, you know, think organizations or like, you know, books talk about that for, especially for kids.

00;20;52;29 – 00;21;12;14
Speaker 1
But, you know, we framed it in a way that’s really accessible, but it hits you like a gut punch. Kind of like the first five minutes of the of the movie up. Yeah. So but it’s it’s a beautiful story. It’s really well-written, local author. And, you know, I’m hoping that, that gets picked up by a publisher.

00;21;12;14 – 00;21;17;00
Speaker 1
But if not, you know, we’ll, we’re tenacious. We’ll we’ll figure it out.

00;21;17;02 – 00;21;19;14
Speaker 2
You know, there’s always Kindle direct, man.

00;21;19;16 – 00;21;21;05
Speaker 1
There is, there is. But.

00;21;21;07 – 00;21;51;17
Speaker 2
You know, it’s self-publishing. Yeah, I know, yeah. I’m curious of, like, these different things. So, like, obviously you started off you’re doing the pet portraits and regular portraits, and then you somehow end up doing beer labels, and then somehow you end up doing, illustrations for children’s books, like, are the were these just, like, happy accidents that just kind of came along like you’re in the conversation and someone’s like, oh, I wrote a kid’s book and and, you know, stranger and you’re like, oh, hey, I, I’m an illustrator like that.

00;21;51;23 – 00;21;53;28
Speaker 2
How does that all come to pass?

00;21;54;00 – 00;22;16;08
Speaker 1
I think with all things, it’s like a matter of the relationships you built. So, you know, when you have the pet portraits. I’m fortunate enough to be very outgoing. So, you know, I have, a lot of friends and support and, like, you know, really wonderful people in my life. So they wanted to support me, and they wanted, you know, a piece of my own art.

00;22;16;08 – 00;22;43;12
Speaker 1
They always have just kind of waited for the right moment with the beer labels. I was working at a brewery, started chatting with, a couple other brewers, landed me some gigs with that because, like, I will find a way to to work into a conversation that I am a working artist, like, you know, I’m just, you know, I, I, I will do that verbal jujitsu where all of a sudden I am, you know, I’m telling somebody, hey, I’m commission based artist, you want to see it?

00;22;43;12 – 00;23;10;09
Speaker 1
And I just, you know, I have business cards on me. Yeah. Because this is what I want. Anything else that I’m doing is to be social or, you know, or to, you know, supplement this business. It’s things a bit more expensive. But, and then the children’s books, the first one I did, but actually both of them, were from a friends of mine that I’ve known pretty much my whole life.

00;23;10;11 – 00;23;31;03
Speaker 1
One is about the history of Saratoga Springs. The author, Patrice Mastroianni, she got a grant from, from Saratoga. I figure out what the actual grant is, so I forgive me for for that, but, she got a grant to illustrate or to write a book about the history of Saratoga for, like, middle school kids and above.

00;23;31;05 – 00;24;02;07
Speaker 1
So I ended up illustrating that, it’s called Find Me in Saratoga. That’s all over the place in Saratoga Springs and also available online. And then Cooper’s camper van adventures. It was like my first, like, traditional style children’s book. And my friend, Bridget Forry, wrote this and it’s about that’s somewhat autobiographical, about, their travels throughout the country and, in their camper van from the perspective of their dog, Cooper.

00;24;02;10 – 00;24;27;14
Speaker 1
And that one was like, that was a real learning experience for me because I was like my first book. You know, we went through all sorts of hurdles with it, but, you know, it proved to be like, really just a wonderful learning experience. And it’s won a ton of awards. So, like, I never went anything so like to have, like, awards and medals and stuff like that is like really, really cool for my work, you know?

00;24;27;14 – 00;24;32;15
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome. What?

00;24;32;18 – 00;24;53;22
Speaker 2
So it’s, it’s interesting to me too, with the beer label thing because I remember, the first time I experience like, like hand-drawn quote unquote, beer labels was with, racket River up in Tupper Lake. They had, someone that was like, doing that. I was like, oh, that’s a really cool idea. And, so when, when I saw that on your part was like, oh, look at this man.

00;24;53;22 – 00;25;02;23
Speaker 2
Like, that’s that’s pretty awesome. Like, I like, I like the, the handcrafted ale with the handcrafted labels, so to speak. Right. Like it’s a really cool.

00;25;02;24 – 00;25;28;26
Speaker 1
Exactly. I just did I, I’ve been working with, are you a coffee guy at all? Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, I, I partnered up with Cru coffee as well, so, I just redid a bunch of their labels. And so we’re launching a bunch of those right now as well. So now I’m also in the coffee game, so, you know, I got, I got everything going on right now.

00;25;29;01 – 00;25;29;22
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;25;29;24 – 00;26;01;25
Speaker 2
Well, I, you know, to be fair, like, and you mentioned I earlier kind of, invading that the pet portrait with the, you know, the different, jackets on and things like back to the, the humanized pet portraiture. But, I’m curious to hear a little bit about that, about what you’re seeing with that. But at the same time, like, I feel in some ways it’s making things like what you do more important because it’s not I slop, it’s a real human created it.

00;26;01;25 – 00;26;18;00
Speaker 2
There’s real creative behind, you know, like, I just to me, I feel like it gives them more value. So when you see brands like Cru and Whitman and they’re using local artists to do their labels and do their graphics for their containers, I think that’s awesome. I think it makes it I think it makes it a better product overall.

00;26;18;00 – 00;26;41;19
Speaker 1
But but it’s I mean, I love this segue because, crew did use I on a number of labels because I think that they just had a deadline that they needed to get these out, and they had commissioned a bunch of different artists, to do these things. And I think that a lot of times artists are famously, flaky, with deadlines.

00;26;41;19 – 00;26;58;19
Speaker 1
So, you know, I got it. So I stepped in because I saw that and, you know, I, I did some work for them before, and I was just like, look, you know, I’m going to cut you a huge deal on this. Let me just get let me just redo this for you. Like, let me just do this for you.

00;26;58;19 – 00;27;30;15
Speaker 1
So I redid the whole concept and, you know, the value that I bring to any artistic endeavor that, that I do is that I’m 40. So I’m going to go and do some, like, research on the history of, you know, of the subject of, like, you know, of, like, for instance, with the Ethiopian brand coffee, or the Ethiopian origin coffee, you know, we’re celebrating, the women behind, behind the scenes with that.

00;27;30;21 – 00;28;00;11
Speaker 1
They’re the ones who are really running the show over there. It’s equal opportunity, but coffee, it has helped, lift Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, out of just abject poverty. And so I wanted to celebrate that. So I made a local watercolor style painting of that, like celebrating the heritage of that. And, you know, the this, the coffee ceremony that they, that they do, along with the, the famous dancing goats for that copy.

00;28;00;14 – 00;28;22;25
Speaker 1
Now, what was the original label? It was two guys in African garb holding coffee cups with a million little coffee cups all around it. One guy had an extra hand growing out of his, you know, out of his belly button. And now the cup had, like, three handles. And I’m just like. Because at first I looked at it and this is like at the very beginning, I, I looked at it, I’m like, oh, that’s actually really cool.

00;28;22;25 – 00;28;56;26
Speaker 1
I wonder who did that? And I wasn’t scoping it out for all the imperfections that because it was brand new, I didn’t, you know, I didn’t notice it. And then I started noticing trends, and now I kind of wagged my finger at anybody that’s using I for like, the graphic design or for the posters or anything like that, just because it looks cheap, like if you’re a DJ or you’re a band or something like that, like, you know, I get it, like, or even just like, you know, the mom and pop deli, I get it, budgets are tight, but like, it looks exponentially better if you do that punk DIY thing where you just like,

00;28;56;26 – 00;29;19;28
Speaker 1
you know, put the ransom, no pictures or, you know, the letters on something with like, you know, like some sort of picture and put that in a Xerox machine and you put that up, that’s going to look a million times better and show that you put some effort into. Rather than a hot dog like a perfectly rendered hot dog with like this weird shiny, you know, film to it and like a million different toppings on it.

00;29;20;00 – 00;29;58;28
Speaker 1
I’m thinking of one exactly right now if I had. But you know, what happens with eye design is that it’s busy, and now it’s. Well, and with eye art, it’s it feels weirdly perfect, like. And there’s reasons for that. But it, it, I think that with the advent of all that stuff, it’s brought a lot more value to what I do because, you can make you could go online and say, make this dog look like a, you know, a royal king leading over a court, and it will do that.

00;29;59;00 – 00;30;20;15
Speaker 1
It’s not going to look like your dog. Your dog will have eight paws, but it will do that. But if you give that to somebody, they’re going to go, oh, versus I commissioned this portrait of your dog by my friend Dave, who made this for you. I thought of you. Here you go. It is. I mean, it’s just a night and day difference.

00;30;20;15 – 00;30;46;00
Speaker 1
Yeah. And, you know, so if I can be part of that, that revolution spine, you know, like, I think AI has its features that are really great, especially for like organizing business or like, you know, handling spreadsheets or, you know, or even just compartmentalizing data. Great. But that’s a software. Don’t make art or music with it and claim that you made that.

00;30;46;02 – 00;31;09;05
Speaker 1
It’s just you didn’t go through the struggle. You didn’t learn, you didn’t grow. Yeah. You know, and there’s applications for it. But just keep art out of it. Like these dorks in Silicon Valley that think that they’re making the world a better place by set, by allowing you to just type in something and then, you know, it spits out, you know, something in there.

00;31;09;08 – 00;31;40;21
Speaker 1
It’s cool that there’s tech that can do that. But like to say that it is art is like, you know, it’s like, there’s a great analogy that I heard was that it was it’s like taking, and and Uber, it’s the, it’s the finish line of a marathon and claiming that you’re a marathon runner. Right. You skipped all the hard work, you skipped all the training, you skipped all of, like, you know, the struggle and the point of doing all of this just to claim that you made it to the finish line.

00;31;40;23 – 00;32;01;22
Speaker 1
Yeah. And I think that, you know, we can all do better than that. And I think that, you know, what ends up happening too, is that there’s there’s no fulfillment for people that are making this kind of art or design with, with AI, there’s no fulfillment. So they just get bored. It’s just like a new it’s like another toy.

00;32;01;25 – 00;32;09;13
Speaker 1
Yeah. Versus this where, like, I have to make art or I’ll explode. Yeah. Oh. So. Yeah.

00;32;09;15 – 00;32;26;06
Speaker 2
Well, it’s very disposable, right? Like you make something in ten minutes, but I it’s like, if it gets thrown in the garbage, no big deal. Or. Yeah. You commissioned an artist to do a painting of you and your wife or your dog or whatever it is, like, that’s something that you’re going to take care of. You’re going to want to keep around for a long time.

00;32;26;06 – 00;32;32;14
Speaker 2
Like there’s a, you know, it’s just not a I stuff. It’s I think it’s just very disposable.

00;32;32;14 – 00;32;48;01
Speaker 1
But yeah, I agree. I again, I think it’s really good for, like, helping handle business or like, you know, helping give direction if he need it. But other than that, like keep just and keep art out of it, you know. Yeah yeah I.

00;32;48;01 – 00;32;57;21
Speaker 2
Agree I agree. So what does what does the future look like for DFDS illustrations you’re going to keep? I mean obviously you’re gonna keep making art.

00;32;57;23 – 00;33;19;28
Speaker 1
Yeah. Or you’ll. Yeah. Or I will explode. I like the amount of, of teachers that I frustrate of growing up. It’s just like, you know, with all the drawings and all of my margins of everything, you know, I has to do. To answer your question, what’s next is right now, I’m I’m, you know, I have a print shop.

00;33;20;01 – 00;33;45;10
Speaker 1
I’m designing merch for myself. Just, you know, have that. So I’m looking to build up an online friend store. I will be starting up more at, local markets and selling, selling prints and originals. I’m building up a portfolio right now because, like, my end goal is to end up becoming like, a concept designer or, or 2D artist for video games or movies.

00;33;45;10 – 00;34;08;06
Speaker 1
That’s my ultimate goal. And you’re hearing it first. So I’m building up a portfolio for that. I’m, also, you know, putting together some other portfolios and just some more professional things to shop around, and hopes to just kind of land a more steady gig because commission work is wonderful, but it’s not steady.

00;34;08;09 – 00;34;27;23
Speaker 1
So, you know, I’m looking to turn my art into something a bit more of a certainty, but, yeah, for now, it’s just, you know, I’m working with Lucky Popping. I’m working with Whitman and working with. Well, it’s also brewing, you know, all through coffee. I’m. I am very fortunate to to have the support that I do.

00;34;27;23 – 00;34;34;20
Speaker 1
So I plan to continue cultivating that. Love it. What’s up?

00;34;34;22 – 00;34;52;01
Speaker 2
If people want to learn more about you, maybe they want to hire you, or they want to buy some prints of some of the other stuff, like that rabbit, print that you got on your website. I saw that earlier. I was like, I think my son would like that. That, like, that’s more of a darker, what I think is one of your original pieces, like the rabbit with eyes popping out of it or whatever.

00;34;52;02 – 00;34;52;08
Speaker 2
Oh.

00;34;52;08 – 00;34;53;18
Speaker 1
The rabbit? Yeah.

00;34;53;21 – 00;34;55;02
Speaker 2
Rabbit is our.

00;34;55;05 – 00;35;02;09
Speaker 1
Rabbit. Yeah. And I got I got to put that up as a as a print man. I love that piece. And my buddy, that.

00;35;02;09 – 00;35;10;14
Speaker 2
Was like, my son would love this. But if people want to learn more about you, they want to find out where they. Where do they find you?

00;35;10;16 – 00;35;33;10
Speaker 1
You can check out my website at DFG illustration.com, or, follow me on Instagram at DFG illustration. Yeah. And the after is my middle name, so it’s Farnsworth. It’s not like de flocking globosa, but but it give me bit. Yeah. It’s over. Yeah. It’s over a day. Fun time illustration. Yeah. It’s open for interpretation. Whatever.

00;35;33;15 – 00;35;35;17
Speaker 2
Whatever you want to put in there. Right.

00;35;35;20 – 00;35;37;24
Speaker 1
Exactly.

00;35;37;26 – 00;35;44;15
Speaker 2
Oh, man. Dave, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Spend some time with me at the audience and talk about what you’re doing. I love your work.

00;35;44;18 – 00;35;45;11
Speaker 1
So much, man.

00;35;45;14 – 00;35;49;04
Speaker 2
And, again, going to see a Savage Sunday here. Another week or.

00;35;49;04 – 00;36;00;28
Speaker 1
Two. Perhaps I think we’re going to be at the Cape during that time, but, I will see you at one of these times. Yeah. All right, all right. Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate you coming on, man. Thank you for taking the time.