This Man, These Monsters, The Art Of Dave Correia

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
How you doing? I'm Dave, Welcome to Direct
EDITION. And I'm Dave, the other better
Dave. And welcome to direct edition.
No, no, no. I'm.
Dave And this is direct edition.Yeah, that's what I said.
I'm, I'm Dave. This is direct edition.
So welcome to the direct editionwith Dave.
Listen, I'm Dave. Oh, no, no, I'm Dave.

(00:22):
Look, my name right here, says Dave and also has a exclamation
mark next to it, which usually means louder and better.
So hey, I'm Dave. Listen.
Hold on, let me. Hey, Jim, this fucking guy
thinks that he's Dave on Direct Edition.
All right, man. I'm looking at my watch and I've

(00:44):
been Dave for a year and a half longer than you.
So I think that I am the older, more established Dave and I'll
be here direct edition. Dave, I'm at it.
Fuck this, I'm good. Welcome back to DIRECT Edition,

(01:14):
a podcast about nothing and everything.
I'm your host, Dave, and we madeit.
The Season 3 finale is here. 60 episodes overall on this
podcast. And I never thought it would get
this far, and I never thought itwould grow this big.
Not that it's huge or anything. That's what she said and what a
way to introduce today's guest, my friend of over 15 years, Dave

(01:39):
Korea. Dave Korea is a master
illustrator, an artist, a love crafty and nightmare bringer, A
sculptor and just an all around fun guy, great guy and
enthusiastic human about the arts.
And I met Dave years ago at TaraMcpherson's gallery in Brooklyn,
Cotton Candy Machine. And we quickly had a fun night

(02:00):
of drinking and bonding and talking about all the things
that we love. And if you are following along
with the podcast, Alex Party wasa guest this season, Dave.
Alex's closest. Friend started zero friends with
Alex and they grew together as artists and collaborators and
idea makers and it's just been fun to watch both of their

(02:23):
journeys artistically. But Dave is, you know, become
one of my closest friends. He is 1/2 of the reason why my
other channel, West Coast Avengers exists.
It started with our Rd. trips during COVID, driving from San
Francisco up to Seattle and hitting comic stores and antique
markets and just having fun in in the car as Rd. trips

(02:44):
typically go. So my conversation with Dave is
wide-ranging. We talk about his art and some
of the things that have inspiredhim along the way, as well as
things that he's kind of teaching to inspire other
people, as well as his amazing printmaking skills and just all
around fun. And we talk about Jaws in movies

(03:05):
and influences, comics and all that good stuff.
And for me, I would appreciate it.
If you're enjoying this podcast at any point, just hit subscribe
on the platform you're on. It helps grow this podcast and
helps me bring more guests. And if you see Dave at any of
the oddities conventions he's doing this year, you should tell
him that I said that this makes a great candy.

(03:29):
OK, maybe not because it's not candy.
Anyway, here's my conversation with the dastardly Dave Korea.
Hi everybody. Welcome back to another awesome
episode of Direct Edition, a podcast about nothing and
everything. And today it is 2 Dave's one

(03:52):
podcast, somebody that I have been friends with for 15 years
or so, but one of my favorite artists to ever walk this
planet, who's been responsible for so much of the decor in in
my house, which you see behind me paintings and album artwork
and magazine covers and prints and basically the ignition to

(04:15):
start West Coast Avengers, whichbirth this podcast Direct
edition. I'm talking about none other
than Dave Korea. Dave, how you doing brother?
I'm good. How are you doing?
I'm. Good, I'm good.
I I It took me a couple of yearsto get you in front of the
camera, but I finally got you infront of the camera to record an
interview about evil monsters. Yeah, well, we did a couple on

(04:39):
camera things for the early WestCoast Avenger, Instagram and
YouTube stuff. Yeah, yeah, we did.
We did. But never like kind of like,
let's let's talk about art and specifically your art and things
that inspire you because that, you know, we've had these
conversations for years about the things we grew up loving,

(05:02):
the things that inspired us to collect, to read, in your case,
to create an illustration and painting and sculpture.
So yeah, I appreciate you doing this for the season finale, the
Season 3 Direct Edition finale. I'm like the caboose on this
season's podcast. Or if we're not calling you an

(05:25):
ass, how about how about the cliffhanger?
Maybe you leave me with a cliffhanger where you ask me a
question at the end and it ends before I get to answer.
OK, I'll do that. Yeah.
Or or maybe they're the smoke monster for season 3.
Yeah. Yeah, did you ever watch Lost?

(05:47):
I did and I think we've had thisdiscussion.
I fall into the minority of people who didn't like Lost.
I didn't, I never. I like season 1 because it was
very mysterious and weird and different and there was lots of
just like things that you would go like, oh, this must mean
something. This must come back later.
And then I watched season 2 and I don't think I got through to

(06:07):
maybe I started watching season 3 and it just got to be one of
those things where I'm just like, oh, they're just like, I
don't think they know what they're what they're doing.
They're just kind of like makingthings up and they're not really
getting back to things that theyaddress in season 1.
And what really bothered me is like, so I didn't watch like
season whatever, 2 through 6, however many seasons there are.
But I watched the season finale with Alex because he was he was

(06:28):
really into it. He write out these long like
conspiracy theory things like, Oh, I think this is going to
happen. This is going to happen.
And I'm just like, dude, you're wasting your time.
I'm not going to cover any of that shit.
And then the the last episode spoilers, whatever, they're all
dead or they're like, it's like this the most thing.
And the first thing I said was like, oh, it's like Jacob's
Ladder. Just.
Like I'm like, they've done thisbefore, you know, and Jacob's
Ladder is amazing. So like, that's, that's like

(06:51):
that would that bothered me a little bit, but whatever.
I I know people love it. I know you love it.
It's like one of the TV shows. But yeah, I, I don't hate on it.
I just, it just wasn't for me. Fair enough.
I mean, like, that's the great thing about art in general is
that you can have that discussion of not liking
something, but understanding whypeople do totally, you know, I
think that's the, I think that'sreally the, the, the thing that

(07:16):
gets left unsaid or people just tend to ignore when we talk
about art in general, whether it's illustration or it's music
or it's movies, Is that like, you cannot like something that's
fine, that's life, but you also have to understand why people
like it. I think gives you a better
interpretation of things. It's like, oh, I get it.

(07:37):
Yeah, and it's it, it's like that this happens with comic
book movies and stuff. It's like, you know, they takes
like Lost and Jacob's Ladder, for example, like I just said,
like they're both interpretations of a similar
theme, just told differently, you know, like there's different
ways to tell that same story. So it's like, yeah, I get why
people like it. It's an interesting concept, you
know, like it's a really interesting concept and it lost

(07:59):
just wasn't for me. And Jacob Slaughter was.
And I get why people like Lost. It's really well made.
It's just, you know, it's like, like it's like art.
Yeah, it's not my thing. There's, there's plenty of
things out there for us all to like.
We don't all have to like, agreeor disagree or get upset at
people for not liking my favorite thing.
Yes, yes. And I think that's, you know, we

(08:20):
can, we can even broaden that topic into life in general.
But you know, we don't have to get that deep that quick.
I've been accused of getting very deep on this podcast very
quickly. So.
You know we. Can go wherever you want all.
Right, we're going to New Jersey, said Nobody.
Ever. Oh, I wanted I, I love asking

(08:45):
this question. I, I know we've probably gone
over this before, but I really love giving people a sense of
what makes a person take in that.
Do you remember the first time or like when you kind of made
that conscious or subconscious choice to pursue art or
something that inspired you to be like, this is what I want to

(09:07):
do. Yeah, You know, so I think like
a lot of kids, I grew up just loving to draw, you know, and I
just, it was the thing I just wanted to do all the time.
Like I wasn't really good at sports and I wasn't, you know,
super outgoings, but I just loveto draw.
It's where I felt the most comfortable at such an early
age. And how is to tell people like

(09:28):
that that never changed, you know, like I stuck with art
through junior high and through high school.
Like I'd had, I went to my old high school a couple weeks ago
because I taught like this mask making class and I was talking
to teacher there and I was the kid who had like back-to-back
art classes. And I would stay there through
lunch sometimes, you know, so I would be in The Art Room for
like 3 hours and that's my teacher was cool with that.

(09:50):
And I love that. And that never changed.
Like I was always just so immersed in making stuff and
just focusing on whatever it wasin front of me, whether it was
like, you know, drawing or painting or whatever.
And I wanted to pursue that as acareer because nothing else
seemed right. You know, it's like I didn't
want to get into, like, businessor I didn't want to get into,

(10:10):
like, you know, whatever other careers that were out there.
Art always felt like that made the most sense.
And I went to school in college for 3D animation and 3D modeling
because at the time, it was verynew.
Yeah. I think, you know, A Bug's Life
had just come out and Toy Story had been out for a couple years,

(10:32):
but other than that, there wasn't much.
And this 2000 and 1998, you know, the college for the first
year. So I did that and I didn't
really like know that that's what I wanted to do.
I just wanted to do art. And that seemed like the most
tech job at the time with art. And so I'm like always I'll get

(10:53):
a degree in this. And as I went through that those
years of college, I kind of figured out it wasn't what I
wanted because it was a very technical.
It was very just like, you know,at the time, 3D animation was
lots of just like you do some animation and you have to go
into the back end with all my coding and kind of like clean up
things and fix things. And that wasn't like art to me.
That was just like, OK, I have to figure out how this spline

(11:15):
bends and like make sure it's onthe Z axis at this one point
like that. It's got very technical.
But I took lots of painting classes and figure drawing
classes at that school and that kind of like fueled me through
through school. And around the same time I met
like Alex Pardee and John Wayshack and Robert Bowen and
Skinner and all those guys doingall these conventions.
And I'm like, oh, that's what I want to do.

(11:38):
Like they were doing like they were making such weird stuff.
Like they were making their scenes, they were making weird
comics. They weren't doing stuff for
Marvel. They weren't doing stuff for any
like big company. They're just making the weirdest
monstery, bizarre stuff. And that like spoke to me.
I'm like, this is like, this is what I want to do, not the
computer stuff. And Alex is just like, dude,

(11:58):
there's no money in this. But if you want to make a Zine,
I'm going to Sangoria next week and you can and you can come
with me. I'm like, oh, I'm like, yeah,
it's great. So me and Rob Bowen and Alex
went to Fangoria and the three of us, we had like this, we
shared like a four foot table. I mean, it was so tiny.
I had one, I had one little Zine.
It was like this little 8 1/2 by11 Zine that I folded in half so

(12:21):
it was even smaller. And I made it like at like
Kinko's, like the night before. It was like 20 pages and I sold
it for a dollar and Alex had a few things, Robert Bowen had a
few things and I think all weekend I may, I might have sold
like 7, right? I made like $7.00 all weekend.
But I was so excited. I'm like this is amazing because
like people are buying my work, people are buying my stuff.

(12:44):
And I wasn't trying to get a jobat like some company like,
because in animation, it's like it was all focused on like
making a demo reel and sending it out to like companies where
you can be on an animation team or on like a modeling team and
you're like names on the credit on something.
And like, you know, that never really it was, it was cool.
But like, you know, having my name on a Zine and someone

(13:05):
buying my art for me, the stuff I made, as weird as it was, that
was the most exciting thing that's that's happened to me at
that point in an art career capacity.
So and that was in 2000 and likeone or something like that.
And that kind of just like fueled me like that, like rush
of just like someone liking my stuff or what it was because it

(13:26):
wasn't like I wasn't drawing superheroes.
I wasn't drawing anything weird or anything like pop culture.
I was making weird monsters and weird drawings like just what I
wanted to do. I'm like, I want to chase that
because that's what Alex and Skinner and Wave Shack and bone
roll doing. And we just kind of like form
like this little like camaraderie group where we would
do conventions, we would do gallery shows.

(13:46):
Like if one of us had a gallery show or we got into a gallery
show, it's like, hey, we tell the gallery owners, like, hey, I
have these other friends, can they be in the show too?
So like we would prop each otherup with like other ways to be
exposed and get into galleries and this and that.
And sometimes little jobs came out of it, whether it's an album
cover or like an illustration gig or something like that.
So we always kind of like had each other's back as far as like

(14:08):
promoting each other and helpingeach other out along the way.
Yeah, that's, I mean, it's stilllike that.
I mean, it's 20 years later, 25 years later and we still do
that. So it's really cool.
I like the, the people I kind oflike came up with and it's, I
haven't stopped, I haven't stopped doing art.
I haven't stopped pushing that like that hustle that like,

(14:29):
because I ever, yeah, there's no, there's no paycheck, then
there's no cost in paycheck. Like I'm getting paid.
You got to make your own way. I got to make stuff just like
I'm in my frozen. It's like I have to make my
stuff, take it to a convention, put it online and sell it.
Make something and then find a creative way to sell it is kind
of like the mantra that we're all into.
So, and it's always been like that.
So I'm used to it now. There's some up moments and down

(14:52):
moments because, you know, finances kind of push that and
dictate that. But you know, it's, it's fun.
I like it. I couldn't.
I can't imagine myself doing anything different.
Yeah, well, I mean, that's, I still think that what you and
what you just described is exactly, you know, it's an art
scene. It's a scene.
And yeah, those things we grew up knowing about them and music

(15:17):
probably more than any other anything else because like a
music scene would pop out San Francisco perf, you know, Bay
Area punk, perfect example, Bay Area thresh scene, you know,
Seattle, the Seattle scene, the New York punk scene in the 70s.
Like these, these, this is how art moves naturally between

(15:38):
friends who do it and then people that promote it, whether
you know, it's music or, you know, like Zine show or a comic
book convention. I mean, these, this is what this
podcast is really based on. It's like talking about how art,
art and fandom go hand in hand. Like you're, you're you were a

(15:59):
fan of some of these guys that you became friends with or you
became friends with them and then you became a fan.
And it's what pushes you to be like, like you said, hey, this
is my friend. He's a fucking awesome artist.
That job would be perfect for him or that gallery would be
perfect to show his art. And you know, it's is it is

(16:21):
there? I mean, we know, I know
personally what we have like a lot of the same taste in art as
a kid, did you ever write any fan letters or anything like
that to any artist that you looked up to?
Because you know, Alex did, you know, and we talked about that
with Sam Keith, but was that ever something you ever did?

(16:43):
The only person who I ever wrote, and I don't know if you
know who this is, Me. I might have given you one of
his comic books, Martin Amande. Do you remember that guy?
OK, so he was in a comic book artist who I first discovered
through Glenn Danzig's publishing company, Verotic.
And it's funny, I just pulled these books out last night.
I was looking for And like the, the, the books are just like,

(17:06):
they're, they're weird. They're like very like Satanic
pornography, whatever. Like they're.
Yeah. But the art they got, Danzig got
some of the best artists in the industry to like to, to do this.
Like he has like Frank Frazetta doing stuff, Summon Bisley,
Martin Amal, like I mentioned, Frank Taran did some stuff.

(17:26):
You know, there's so many good artists who are doing like Eric
Canetti. But I discovered Martin Amande.
He just mostly did covers. He didn't do too much interior
illustrations. And then I, I got obsessed with
Martin Lamont and I, I found outhe did lots of other stuff for
DC Lobo at the time. A lot of stuff for Lobo.
Judge Dredd, White trash. What was it called?

(17:47):
White trash. He did white trash at Yeah.
Tundra Press or not, it wasn't. Kitchen sink.
Yeah, it was. Tundra.
Tundra. OK, yeah, but I, I wrote him an
e-mail and I, I forget what it was because I don't have the
e-mail address anymore. I never kept it, but I wrote him
an e-mail. I'm like, hey man, I'm just a
big fan of your stuff, you know,just I, I think I asked him if

(18:08):
he was going to Comic Con one year or something like that, and
he said he wasn't going to go because it was a year I was
going and unfortunately he passed away.
It was super, super sad. I remember when it happened to
really hit me because I, I, I loved his art so much.
I loved his style was so weird. But yeah, he's the only person I
think I reached out to as far aslike a fan, you know, like I

(18:30):
don't think there's other I never liked like the letters in
a comic book or anything else because like art artists were
hard to. There weren't many made ways to
I guess as accessible back then.You know, I guess with social
kind of coming up, they were some people I became friends
with. Like I reached out to Chet Czar
before I knew him. I found his I, I, I was on his

(18:53):
podcast like a year or two ago and he asked me how we became
friends. Like I'm like, I've actually
reached out to you because your production company was in the
back of a tool CD cover or something like that.
That's. Right.
That's right. And I'm just, I'm just like, oh,
like it was called screaming lobster.
He was doing like effects and stuff.
And I, I hit him up. I'm like, hey man, love your

(19:13):
stuff. Here's my site.
Just wanted to say hi and he hitme back.
He says, hey, you know, if you're in LA, let's grab lunch.
And we did, you know, I'm like, oh, so we became friends.
But I was definitely a fan of his work before I became custom.
Well, I mean, look, we wouldn't know each other if I wasn't a
fan of your work and didn't approach you at a gallery show.
I mean like this. Yeah, you know Pearson's gallery

(19:36):
in New York. Yeah, the cotton candy machine.
Yeah, that's that that was the thing.
And it was just like, I didn't approach you thinking like, oh,
I'm, you know, I'm going to, I'mgoing to hang out with this
dude. I'm going to get drunk with him.
But you know, we're going to eatpizza drunkenly in Brooklyn with
him or anything. And, you know, here we are 15
years later and, or whatever it is.

(19:58):
And it's like, oh, yeah, that that interaction really meant
something. And clearly when it comes to
like, because I'm kind of fascinated by the interactions
between like what fandom really means versus.
You know, kind of like that social, what's the, what's the
term parasocial relationship that exists now.

(20:21):
But you know, do you like, have you ever had somebody reach out
to you like that was a fan that years later you're like, Oh my
God, this person, I remember talking to this person, this
person's now this artist that I know.
It's funny you say that because like I, I do these conventions

(20:43):
now, these oddity shows and I'vehad so many people at these
oddity shows who are also vendors say they met like me and
Alex had like a sketch for sketch or, you know, they, they
came by like this girlfriend's booth a long time ago.
And yeah, there's like, I can think of like at least three or

(21:03):
four people at these audity shows who and they're good.
They're like really good artists.
And like they say stuff like, like, oh, like I met you like a
long time ago and you were like,really like nice and inspiring
and like, I'm like, I'm like, oh, wow.
Like because I don't remember these interactions because I
sure you just a lot these shows.Yeah, you can, you can sit down
at a convention and you can talkto like easily 1000 people over
the weekend because like you're just, they come up, they say hi

(21:25):
for like a minute and they leave.
And so I'll talk to some of these other artists at these
shows and they're like, Oh yeah,I had a a moment with you and
you were super nice and you sketched my book and then show
me the sketch. Like, Oh my God, that's so long
ago. But I look at what they're doing
and they're, they're awesome. They're doing like really good
work and like they're they're doing like kind of what I was
doing like they have a a booth, they're making good stuff and

(21:47):
they're inspiring other people now too.
It's like it's kind of like secular thing that like, you
know, I was inspired by somebodyto do something and now they are
and it just kind of like rolls down.
It's it's, I think it's amazing you.
Know yes, yeah and we've had, you know, hours and hours and
hours and hours of conversation about tracing influences back
and looking at that, you know, like just taking, for example,

(22:08):
Graham Ingles to Bernie writes in and then Bernie writes in to
Kelly Jones and you look at those that kind of lineage and
it's like, oh, I see it and it'sso cool to watch how someone
inspires somebody else to do something great and that person
who inspires somebody else to dosomething you know and great is
in the eye of the beholder. But still it's you know, when we

(22:28):
talk about that or movies, you know how I mean I.
If I were to pick knowing you for as long and you can tell me
I'm wrong or right. But I think if there is one
movie filmmaker that has inspired you more than anybody
else in your life, it's got to be John Carpenter, right Like is
there yeah, yeah, yeah. And what do you remember the

(22:50):
first Carpenter movie you saw was?
You know, my favorite, my favorite one is the thing.
But I know it's not the first one I saw.
I think the first one I saw probably was like big trouble
little China, you know, and as akid growing up, I loved horror
movies because the things that always took out were like the
monsters, you know, like from a little China, like those those

(23:10):
last scenes of them, like fighting and like that little
like beholder weird eyeball feature like and the guy
exploding like that stuff. I would just like watch.
I would rewind it and rewatch itand rewind every why they
because I could just just so different.
And I love the idea of like, there were things that weren't
humans, you know, And so that just got me into like looking
for more horror movies and looking for more, for more

(23:31):
monster stuff. And, you know, John Carpenter
put so much into that, into his films.
And then when I finally saw the thing, I was like, Jesus, this
is like a masterpiece. Like, it's so perfect, you know,
like everything about it is amazing.
So yeah, I visually inspired by him by.
And he makes great music too. So I just.
See, my he's, he's a Renaissanceman.

(23:51):
You know, like he does enough ofeverything to really contribute
pieces of these things into his overall creations.
And you know, I think when I think about, I probably saw a
big, I definitely saw a big trouble in little China first
because that to me, I think thatmakes sense.
It's the most like if our parents are the ones dealing out

(24:14):
the movies, it's the most familyfriendly of his movies.
But I didn't see, I don't think I saw the thing till I was a
teenager. I saw Halloween before I saw the
thing. But I was, I was late to the
thing probably because like, I don't know why.
And yeah, you know, it goes on to, yeah, something I've seen
countless, you know, countless amounts of time.

(24:36):
Yeah, it's a good point, I think.
I think Big Trouble with China was like always on HBO, and
Halloween was just Halloween, soit was always just on.
Yeah. But yeah, I think the thing was
a little like, different. So like, it probably wasn't on
TV because, yeah, we just watched like, HBO or, you know,
rent something. Yeah, My parents were a little
strict when it came to, like, merenting horror films, but my dad
liked that kind of stuff. So if my mom was around, he'd be

(24:58):
like, yeah, we can watch that, you know?
See, it's interesting because like, nobody in my family liked
horror until, you know, like, like I did.
So my mom wouldn't let me watch Aliens and, you know, because it
was too scary for her. So, you know, But my dad loves
gratuitous violent movies, so hetook me to the theater.
See RoboCop. Damn.

(25:20):
Yeah, Yeah. I all of my friends who got
exposed that early, they always had like, older brothers or
someone who would like, kind of like, just bring it into the
house. And I'm the oldest.
So I didn't have like that, you know, But I had five buddies who
had older brothers and my cousins were older and they
would show us that stuff. They thought it was funny to
watch us like kind of squirm andget scared.
So that's that's always good. My brother was into the humorous

(25:44):
stuff, but yeah, not really intoher.
Like, I discovered Dead Alive bed.
I discovered Evil Dead 2 on my own.
And that led down to the path that would be, you know, be
watching all of these schlocky horror movies.
But yeah, I Gremlins was the first, like, scary movie I ever
saw and it gave me nightmares. Yeah.

(26:05):
I don't, you know, it's funny, Idon't remember what movies gave
me nightmares, but I remember the game Doom gave me
nightmares. Like when I first played that
game, I was just enthralled by it.
I loved it. And I remember my dad brought
home like his laptop from work. It's like a little 1 speed like
CD-ROM. And I remember playing that at
night, like super late and I wasjust like terrified because like

(26:27):
that game at the time was just like fast.
And it was just like, you open the door and I mean, monsters
like horns. And I remember going to bed
that. And I remember waking up and
just like being so scared that like, like I just, those sounds
were still in my head, you know?That.
Dude, that's awesome. That movie was, you know, it's
so amazing to think about how like that was the second of the

(26:48):
first person shooters that really gripped us.
Wolfenstein predating that and being the first ultraviolet,
ultraviolet shooter. But Doom was on a different
level. It was just.
Oh yeah, yeah 'cause dude, 'cause Doom was like Doom.
What? Like Wolfenstein, you were
shooting like Nazis and stuff and, and that's its own thing,

(27:10):
but Doom was like hell. It was like unapologetically
just like satanic symbols and like demons and just like lots
of blood, lots of gore, you know, like you would shoot
something and they would just explode with red, you know, Like
that was that was just like thattook violence to like a new
level and engage with at the time.
Yeah, yeah, it was. It's a legendary and they just

(27:31):
came out with Doom, Dark Ages, Ibelieve.
New game just came out. I just bought that and it's, I
don't know if like it's 'cause I'm older, but like those games
are so fast. Like they're so fast-paced.
Like the old Doom, you go into aroom and you'd fight some
people. This one, it's like it's just
insane. It's like they come at you so
fast and like you can't blink. Like you're playing and you just

(27:54):
can't blink because like there'sjust.
You're just like. Balls of fire come at you from
One Direction, there's this big demon punching you from the
other. And it's just like you like it's
non-stop. But yeah, I mean, a certain type
of mood to play that game. You can't just like you can't
just chill, you know? Yeah, newer, newer games don't
really lend to that. I think it's just, it's just the

(28:15):
times. I mean, like you said, we're
getting older, but I think because everything's vying for
everybody's attention all over the place digitally, it's like
you have to make a game that doesn't give you a second to
think, you know? But it's OK.
I mean, I'll just play Last of Us 2 again and again and again.
I know after watching this season, I want to replay season

(28:39):
Part 2. It's like the funnest game.
I mean, we talked about this before.
It's like that game is like perfect, like storytelling, art,
just like emotionally just hasn't everything.
Like it's so good. And I know we're both watching
this show and that show. I think it's just amazing too.
Yeah, this past weekend. Did you watch Sunday's episode?
Yeah. Fucking ruined me.

(29:00):
Absolutely ruined me. It's so good.
I know, I know. And when he's to the porch scene
at the end, it's just fucking because I knew.
I knew the line was coming because at this point, when this
airs, it's going to be the season will be over.
But when Ellie said, you know, Idon't know if I'll ever be able
to forgive you, but I'd like to try, that just ruined me.

(29:22):
Yeah, and that's a thing too. Like we know because we played
the game and some people like weknow what's going to happen.
We know how this is going to allpan out.
But even still, like there's just scenes where you're just
like, how they going to do this,How they going to treat this for
for TV because they have like a little more time to like,
because in the game you're just playing, you're fighting and
there's cinematics. But in the show, they have that

(29:42):
time to kind of like spend some time on the characters and
emotionally develop them a little more.
And like, man, they do it so well.
Like those actors are cast so well.
I did always kind of want to askyou because I, I've asked this
to a couple different artists that have a very eye popping,

(30:05):
memorable color palette. Like where, hey, you know, for
people that don't know Dave's art, I'll flash some of the
stuff on the screen. But your color palette is so
unique to you. Where does that like, does that
come from somewhere? Is that just exploration in your
life of art and color? Yeah, I mean a couple of things,

(30:27):
like I I definitely would do some phases.
There was a while where I was just doing black and white work.
I was just doing ink work and stuff.
And then when I started painting, you know, acrylic
painting and oil painting, I, I started just experimenting with
color. I remember when I, when I first
learned, I used the, the classicRembrandt palette.
And for the, so like, like I basically load my palette with

(30:49):
what Rembrandt would have used at the time.
And it's just like, like earth tones and you know, black and
like, it's good for portraiture stuff.
And then I started, that was a little boring to me.
I'm like, I want to add some colors to it.
So I would I would go to the artstore and I would buy like a
tube of paint that was very different.
Like I get like a green or like a like a phthalo turquoise or

(31:10):
something like that. And I would mix those into my
palette and it just kind of likeheels me more like, oh, like
this is more like weird looking.This is different.
And then also as I was doing more like monster stuff, I was
making it look like really dark and like I didn't want my stuff
to look like overly morbid because like if you do like a,
if you like a like a demon or a monster and it's like black and

(31:31):
like dark Reds, it just looks like it's too, I don't know, in
a weird way generic or like off the cover of a death metal
album, you know? And like, that's fine.
But it's just like I didn't wantit to be super dark and super
morbid. Like I thought the colors, like
adding color to it was almost like a nice juxtaposition of
like dark subject matter, but light, different colors to take

(31:54):
an, an edge off of it because I didn't want it to be.
I'm not like a, you mean I'm notlike a dark morbid guy.
Like I, I wanted there to be like this sense of like hope or
brightness or playfulness to these monsters and changing the
color really made a difference. And I, I like that.
And also on top of that, like asI got it more into like reading

(32:14):
about reading like Lovecraft stuff, cosmic horror, it made
sense to me that like, you know,if you look at like the cosmos
and like space and stuff over like a in a telescope, it's very
colorful. Like those nebulas, they're like
they're greens and they're purples and they're magentas and
stuff. And like cosmic horror, like
that's where it's from. So like if I'm drawing like
these cosmic monsters, like, Oh my God, that's probably, they

(32:36):
would probably look colorful. Like we make monsters on Earth
look dark because they come fight the swamps and the pits
and stuff like that. But like I'm trying to think a
little more like worldly or cosmically with this stuff.
And I'm not the first one to do it obviously, but like that's
just how it makes sense to me. And even like things from like
the deep regions of space or thesea, it's like once you go down

(32:57):
to like those like bioluminescence creatures, like
they're very colorful. They look like UFO's and like
they have lights and their Bluesand their Reds and stuff.
So those palettes to me are a little more like attractive for
all the, for all those reasons. And I love it.
I love pushing color and making things that, like, are like dark
and dark and subject matter, butlike fun and playful colors like

(33:20):
that. Yeah, like that.
This is a. Oh shit.
This is that one. This is one of those frames I'm
working on. But you can see like, like the
the piece the Cthulhu is yeah, turquoise and purple and greens
and Reds and, you know, oranges and stuff.
And so I'm making these frames are like custom frames, but

(33:40):
they're going to be like baby Blues and pinks and stuff
because I don't see it and I like it and I think it fits all
together so. Yeah, and I think you're right.
When especially for people that are into whatever horror or, you
know, just dark stuff in, in tone, that doesn't mean that the
colors have to reflect that darkness.

(34:02):
They can be bright and it it's agreat juxtaposition.
It's fantastic. I mean, it, it, you know, if
we're talking about like your, your colleagues, your friends,
you know, Skinner or Alex and you, you guys do have a very
interesting color set that's unique to you, but it's, it's,

(34:22):
it's a juxtaposition as to what you would normally see.
Yeah, and it's funny like this Skinner and Alex, I mean,
influence is right. Like I think we all have
influences other they they have their own reasons.
I think Skinner comes from a very like psychedelic sci-fi
background, which influences hiscolor palette and his style.
Alex is, you know, more comes from a cartoon design, you know,

(34:49):
80s things. So it's like that's where his
style and colors kind of come from.
But we and then we all balance off each other.
I mean, we all shared studios for years.
Like, I feel like that has a lotto do with it also, you know?
Yeah, yeah. And it's, it's everybody's got
their own style. But that doesn't mean you can't
say like this person influenced,you know, like you can point

(35:09):
that out without saying like they're, yeah, they're they're
independent from each other, butthey're also influenced by each
other. Yeah, influences are everywhere.
I mean, I, I often get asked like, what influences me?
I'm just like, I don't know whatdoesn't, you know, like I mean
my friends, my family, just likewhere I, where I live or who I,
who I'm with, like every, everything has some kind of

(35:32):
influence. It doesn't have to be art
related, but like, right, it influences you and what you're
making. Politics, movies, like just
being where I am when it's like 85° out influences my mood.
It's just like all these things influence me and they all kind
of come together as I sit down and I just like put make
something, you know? I think sometimes I look at some
of the, you know, paintings you've done or, you know, some

(35:53):
of the pieces you've made, and I'm like, yeah, the face is
melting because it's 104° in thegoddamn Bay.
Area right now, yeah, just frustrated, just like the
frustration of just like sittingand sitting in my own sweat
trying to make something. Yeah, sometimes it's so hot up
there, you feel like that or that, you know, either or pick

(36:13):
it. Pick it where?
I, I mean, I know when you started getting into the
sculpting aspect of your art, which is kind of been now over a
decade and you know, your your friend Steve Ferrara was
definitely a huge push into that.
But was there, did you ever wantto do that when you were

(36:36):
younger, before you even kind ofknew how to get into it?
Was that something you always want to explore?
You know, I've, I've always loved it.
I've always liked the idea. And this goes back to like 8
watching 80s monster movies. Like, you know, I always knew
that it was a person in a suit, it was a, it was a mask.
It was something and I just lovethe idea.
But I remember when, when Halloween would roll around, I

(36:56):
loved it making costumes for Halloween and making things.
And I've always liked making stuff.
But then as like my art career kind of like became what it was.
I just got more into painting because like, I don't know,
whatever reason, I just, I just felt like that's kind of like
what I was supposed to do to getinto galleries, to get into
like, you know, when we had zerofriends, we sold like shirts and
things since like, oh, you have like make a painting to put on a

(37:18):
shirt. You have to put, make a painting
to put into a book. Those are the things we sold.
And as I was getting more into, like I've always wanted to do
more sculpture stuff, but there never was.
I'm not trying to think how I should put like like a moment
where I could pursue it because there's other things in the way.
Like 0 Friends was in the way ofthat because we were, we had

(37:41):
such a product line of specific things.
Yeah. We didn't know how to interject
like sculpture into it. And then once Zero Friends
ended, I think like the following week is when I went to
go meet up with Steve Ferreira. I'm just like, hey, like, how do
you make stuff? And he's just like, he's like,
I'm like, how do you make do? How do you make molds and how do
you make resins? And he just like, he's like,
here's some clay and go make something and then come back in

(38:03):
a week and we'll and we'll make a mold and a cast and like, OK,
And that's just when I like fellin love with them.
Like, oh, you can just like makewhatever and like, and then it's
been getting bigger and bigger. I've been making like yours now
and like other things and like, I just love it.
And you know, I'm making these frames.
I just like the tactileness of like making something
dimensional and working on it from you know, I was telling a

(38:25):
buddy of mine, it's like it takes all the parts of the brain
to do a sculpture like painting.And this isn't to like to lessen
what painting is because painting is super hard, but like
painting needs to look good on one on a panel, you know, and
but a sculpture has to look goodat every angle.
And I, and I like the idea that I like rotating something and
making something look good in a three-dimensional space and just

(38:48):
having them be something that can hold, you know, not, not
just on a wall. Yeah, yeah.
I mean. The last, yeah, the last like 3
or 4 years especially, I've justbeen like really into like
building stuff. And this is something I got some
3D print of a mask. Did I show you this yet?
No, you haven't. That's OK, so.
So it's what? Like a plastic almost.

(39:10):
So yeah, it's it's so this mask and whoever's listening, I mean,
sorry, but I'm doing some visuals here.
I don't. Know this video podcast?
Nobody's. Oh, well, yeah, yeah, whatever.
Well, I guess people can listen on Spotify, right?
They can so so this is a mask I made on paper mache and it's a
one off. It's you know, I sat down with
like latex and foam and paper tomake this thing.
But I've always liked this design and I wanted to make it

(39:33):
more. I want to make get into making
like latex mask you can wear like when you buy at spirit
store. So I tried re sculpting this
with clay, but I didn't have much luck.
So I got a 3D scanned. And so this is a 3D scan, but
it's larger reasons. So I need to like put this
together and a buddy of mine is going to help me make moles out

(39:56):
of it and then make latex mask. And the reason why it's larger
is, first of all, this is just asmall mask.
It's just it's it's almost too small for my head.
Yeah. Yeah, and also latex masks, when
they come out of the mold, they shrink 10%.
So I, I got it to be scanned. Yeah, I got it scanned and I got
it enlarged by 20%. So that way when it's made into
a mask, it'll be a cool rubber mask.

(40:19):
And the idea is is to get masks made a tie for Halloween so
people can be one of my monstersfor Halloween.
I will always be one of your monsters.
Yeah. You know, it's, it's funny
because the the tactility part of it is something that me and
Rob Sheridan talked about, abouthow like we were talking about
physical media, but also how he makes things that people can

(40:39):
hold. And he uses, you know, does this
kind of like distortion of digital, but he also turns it
into a physical thing. And I think that is important to
always keep for artists, for consumers, for collectors, for
fans, like the tactility and thephysical aspect is extremely

(41:01):
important to keeping art alive. You know, as we've seen just
over the last couple of years, the we're starting to see a push
back towards, you know, push back of digital, towards
physical. But it took a little bit for
this kind of to come back around.
Yeah, and also like to like one reason I'm in the sculpture,
it's just like it's creatively just the direction that like I

(41:24):
feel compelled to go in, you know, like I like painting, I
like drawing. I still do that a little bit.
But like, I don't want to like limit myself just to what I
think I'm only good at. I want to like constantly
challenge myself and constantly like I want to like wake up and
have an idea and be like, I don't know if I can do that.
And then just like, do it, you know, like whether it's like

(41:45):
making these frames or by makingsculptures that I submerging
water and put into jars or making masks or making whatever,
like they're all just like ideasthat I'm not quite sure I could
do, but I'm confident I can if Ijust like, work through it.
And the problem solving aspect of that is really what interests
me. Like, I just want, yeah, I love
problem solving, creativity creatively.

(42:07):
And this kind of stuff always poses a challenge because it's
never the same. And I like that part of it.
And that to me is just like really exciting.
And as a bonus, hopefully someone likes what I'm doing and
buys it, you know, like that's the second challenge that's
like, I don't even think about sometimes I'm like, OK, I just
got to make this thing look cool.
I got to get, get it done and hopefully I can bring it to a

(42:30):
convention or put it online and someone goes like, oh, that's
neat. I will give you money for that
thing. You know, that's the wild card
part of it that I don't always know.
And I, I definitely strike out sometimes, but I'll, I always go
like, OK, I'll figure that part out when I'm, when I'm done, you
know? Well, I for here comes a direct
edition moment of sincerity. I have always appreciated the

(42:53):
fact that you are one of the very few people I can ever say
I've known who has an idea and says I have A and I want B and I
have to figure out how to get from A to B.
And you always pull it off like you're always like, oh, I built
this thing or I built or I did this thing and then I tried it
this way and it works better. Or, you know, I've, you know,

(43:14):
you're talking about your, the oddities conventions coming up.
You're like, I just built a bigger fucking monster for that
that leaf. And it's like it moves and it
changes colors and it grabs small children and eats them.
And you know, like you're, you're, you're always able to do
that. And you tell me stuff like you
and your brother are like, oh, we're going to, we're going to

(43:35):
do this project. And you're like, oh, we did it
and it's perfect and it works. You know, I've always admired
that about you. Well, I appreciate that.
I, you know, I something Alex says is like Alex has like this
saying where he says, oh, my list of failures are longer than
my list of accomplishments. And I agree with that.
I don't always share the things that I don't do well because

(43:56):
they just I'm like, I that didn't work, you know, or like
that I would, I'll spend time ona mask or a drawing or a
painting and it's just like not working out.
I'll just shelve that. I'll come back to it later.
But like there, there are those moments where like something
doesn't work out and that's, that's, that's normal.
And that happens with every kindof thing.
But I think maybe something I, Ido, I am good at as I'm, I'm

(44:18):
persistent with stuff and I if it doesn't work, I try and like
assess like, OK, why didn't thatpainting work?
Why doesn't it look good? Why didn't that sculpture cast
right? Like what's wrong?
And I'll like, look at it, I'll break it down.
And I just, that's the problem solving part of it, which I do
like, and I do know I'm good at is like, I'll just kind of stick
with something until I kind of get it to work.

(44:40):
So I do have my failures long, but I also feel like I can kind
of like pivot and then accomplish, you know, get back
on and accomplish something. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, you shared with mesome of the, like, the blank
sketch covers that you tried to work on.
You're like, this shit doesn't work.
Like, I can't get this to this color or this paint to really
hold on it. And you're like, I'll try it.

(45:00):
And then when you showed me the other ones that you ended up
having for sale and like, these are insane.
They're amazing. Yeah.
There's like there's a Carnage 1and a Hulk one that I tried to
paint like two or three times. I'm like, this looks awful.
And I got so down and then I painted that joke and when I'm
like, oh, this one works. So, you know, so it's like
there's just some that work and that some that don't.
And for whatever reason, it maybe wasn't a good day.

(45:22):
Maybe it wasn't the pay I something.
I don't know who to blame on myself.
I'm like, yeah, it just happens.You know where it doesn't work
right? Yeah, and then you figured it
out. I mean, and maybe I'm wrong in
assuming this, but I is the reason you got into.
So for people that don't know, Dave also prints does printing
for certain artists. You do professional printing for

(45:45):
Jason Edmundston and a host of other artists.
Did you get into printing? Because you were seeing all of
the ways that other people were doing your own stuff and you're
like, I don't like the way this looks.
I'm going to do it myself. That was part of it.
So I deserved when we had zero friends, we did printing for
ourselves in house and we would do prints for other artists and

(46:07):
when zero friends ended, I'm like, I really enjoy that part
of it. I I think I was talking to this
about Chet. Like printing for me is like the
like final step that you can take with your piece to like
push the colors, push the dimensions, push the sizes to
all these things and make, make this piece that might have been
digital or scanned into something.

(46:28):
It's like fun and form. And I think that like when you
have control over that, you, it looks the best.
And yeah, I've gotten prints made through other print shops
and they're like, I'm always like, I was always like unhappy
with the results, whether they didn't use the red paper or they
didn't push the colors in a certain direction that I wanted
them to you. I'm really, really picky about
color and so I got my own printer and all my own materials

(46:50):
to do all the prints and I just wanted to have that for myself
and a few of the artists who we worked with at zero friends.
They're like, well, we want you want to continue working with
you for our printing because we like it.
Like they the same thing. They like Jason's told me he's
these other print shops and other artists and they're like,
we don't like the results. Like you're whatever you're
doing works. I'm like, I'm just a picky.

(47:10):
I'm just a picky asshole. Like I'm so anal about shit, you
know, and they're like, what's good?
That's a good thing. So I'm, when it comes to like
prints for other artists, like I, I will lay out like 20 proofs
and just look at the greens go, OK, it's got too much jello,
It's got too much blue. That's not right.
And I'll just keep tweaking it until I know it's correct.
And I, I, I like doing that again.
It's like that problem solving aspect I have where I just want

(47:33):
to make that thing look the bestit can because ultimately the
person who, who gets it, it's a representation of your work.
You know, like if someone's going to buy my work at an
oddity show or a Comic Con, likeI want them to take home the the
best representation of my stuff possible, you know, And that's
almost why I didn't like doing T-shirts for a while, because my
stuff doesn't really translate well to T-shirts sometimes

(47:54):
because like there's so many colors and blends for printing.
I can I can capture all that. And that's why I want someone to
take home is like that, that piece of my work.
But and I, I just, I've always liked printing and I it helps me
financially if I don't have likea lot of other stuff going on, I
can run print jobs for other people.
It's not, it's not a business. I advertise for other artists to

(48:17):
kind of like get prints for me because I already have like my
group of people I work with. And that's good.
But yeah, I've, I've always enjoyed it and it allows me to
do fun stuff. I can even like for this one I
just showed you like you can't tell because that's on video,
but I printed this on canvas. Oh yeah.
So this is like it's not going to be behind glass.
It's actually on a canvas piece that is I mounted to a wooden

(48:41):
panel. So it it looks it's it's it's on
it's on wood. It looks oh wow, looks and feels
really good person, you know? Folks, if you are thinking about
buying that, I have some bad news for you.
Whatever Dave's charging for it,I'm paying it.
And I also wanted to add, I think unsaid that that you

(49:02):
didn't say, but I think it can speak to it as the other reason
why you're, you know, with your printing, it's you also have a
respect for the art and not justthe artists art, but the art of
printing. It's it's a huge amount of
respect that you have for the work that you do.
And that's why you're like, I want this to look as good as it
should. Yeah, yeah.

(49:24):
I mean, I, I want the way I feelabout my stuff in someone taking
home my work. Like when Jason goes through a
convention, I want his work to be represented as best as
possible because, like, he's gota fan base that like, is rabid
about his stuff. And I want them to have like,
their best. I want them to have like the
best looking Jason Emerson. You know, I don't want to let

(49:46):
him down. I want to like, make sure that
he is getting like what his art deserves, basically.
And yeah. I think that's, and as a
collector fan, you know, both ofus together, you know, there's
only one original, right? There's only one original.
So you can only sell that once. But if you can create a print of

(50:07):
that original, that is, you know, affordable for 100 or 200
or 400 people to have like that's the idea of it.
And I think, oh, I mean, look, if we're talking about a company
that's the size of more than 10 people, they're not going to put
that kind of work in. But you, because you're doing
this as a private business with certain artists, it's like you

(50:30):
can put that work in, and that also goes a long way.
Yeah, is there's nothing worse than like spending a lot of
money on something like a print or something like that.
And you look at it, you're like like you can just tell the
colors like aren't great, like the color gamuts, not like not
right. They're not papers or whatever.
Papers thin or like over glossy.It's like, dude, like, I mean,

(50:52):
I, I can tell you some stories off off the video about some,
some prestigious companies that like I've gotten prints from
them. It's like, dude, like I don't
know what they're doing. Like they're, they're cutting
corners somewhere and it's not worth it.
Like they're maybe they're saving like an extra like 5% on
paper or 10% on paper or like they're not like proofing their
stuff or whatever it is. Like I don't get that part of it
because it's such an easy thing to do.

(51:14):
And it's, I just, I can't relateon that level to that, that that
kind of like mismanagement. I mean.
There's a certain company that was bought out by another
company that I bought a print from in the last six months.
And I texted you and I was like,dude, the paper on this is shit.
And it made me sad because the person who is the artist is one

(51:36):
of the most amazing artists out there.
But yeah, I'm not going to throwanybody under the bus.
And it makes. The artist look bad because like
no one, sometimes people don't know the print shop.
They go, oh, maybe the artist made this or maybe like it's got
the artist name on it and that'salways in the print shop name on
it. So in turn, it really makes the
artist look bad, you know, and it's not the artist's fault.
Artist like gives them the file and trusts them with like the

(51:59):
reputation that that they shouldhave and it just doesn't come
together. Yeah, yeah.
You know, what can you do? You can't win them all, but you
can win sometimes. Yeah, I don't know.
Actually don't. I'm not taking any clients.
Dave's books are closed. Dave's books.
But if you want to come to me, Iwill print your stuff.

(52:20):
I don't have a printer. I'm not a printer.
I'll just take your money. Always take a photo of it, yeah.
Yeah, I'll take a There you go. I'll do an artist recreation of
it. And Dave has seen my art and he
knows how amazing that that is to have.
A couple. I have a couple of your gems
here somewhere in my on my shelf, yeah.
Lord Weird weed, shark and weed,Bernie, Bernie Sanders and

(52:46):
whatever else I drew that night.I did want to I did want to ask
you because, you know, we we bond over movies all the time
and we had, you know, it's one of our favorite movies, but
we're approaching 50 years of Jaws, which out, you know, is
older than both of us by a little bit.

(53:06):
But in that where did you do youremember your first experience
seeing it? Like do you Where does that lie?
Is an impactful movie audio? I, I don't remember the first
time I saw it, but I remember when it, when it was one of
those movies I wanted to watch on VHS when it came out and, or

(53:27):
when I was aware of it was a thing and my mom wouldn't let
me. She's just like, no, there's no
way you're watching that. Like it's.
It's too scary. And because I want to watch it
really young. I I I was aware of that kind of
stuff when I was like, 8:00-ish years old.
Yeah. And she's like, no, no, no.
And but some, somewhere along the line, I watched it at a
friend's house. And I just remember, like, the

(53:47):
scene where the guy's leg gets bitten off.
Yeah. And that.
Yeah. And that, like, real.
I'm just like, oh, my God, this is crazy.
And that movie is just terrifying.
It makes the ocean scary. It makes like just, it's such a
good movie, like the build up. I I recently watched, I watched
the Joe Bob Briggs at the drive in on shutter, like whenever

(54:09):
it's on. And they did this thing about
slashers, like what's the first slasher?
And I forget which movie they decided was the first slasher.
It's like some like Italian horror film from like 1974 or
something like that. But they have like this list of
things that like what makes a slasher And I, I kept thinking
they were going to say Jaws because like Jaws is a slasher

(54:30):
film. It's like then the movie must
start off with a kill. You can't, you can't reveal the
reveal the killer to the very end.
Like all like these tropes of what make a slasher film a
perfect slasher. And there's like 15 of these
tropes and Jaws just hit everyone.
Every check mark Jaws hit. And it's like, yeah, like Jaws
is like the perfect slasher, youknow, like it really just like
this sense of fear and dread andjust like hopelessness and like,

(54:52):
this monster you can't defeat, Like, how do you fight, like
beat this thing is like, it's like, not not quite
supernatural, but it almost could be because like, it's just
like this real life monster, youknow?
Yeah, yeah, I love, I love Jaws.I think that's one thing that
you and I just like have talked on endless about it by like how
how perfect a movie that is. It's perfect as a slasher, it's

(55:14):
perfect as a drama. It's perfect as a blockbuster
because it is the first blockbuster.
It's perfect as a picture of life in in a certain point of
time. Yeah.
And it's, it's also just like that movie also cements and then
creates this entire career for Steven Spielberg.

(55:36):
And it's his what, second movie?And and you know, and then I
wonder, like, do you, you ever think about like how this man,
you know, he didn't write the story, but obviously, you know,
he adapted it from the Peter Benchley book.
And then he goes on to adapt Jurassic Park and we get these
two fantastic pieces, like structural pieces of her

(56:00):
childhood from the same guy. And then you look at Jaws and
it's like, we totally fear it completely.
But then we look at Jurassic Park and it turns us into a kid
because it gives us this childlike thing and you're not
scared of it. And I guess that's because we
never experienced dinosaurs as human beings.
We could go experience a shark right now.

(56:21):
We could go out, you know, on a boat and probably see a shark in
certain parts of the world 24/7.Yeah, yeah, you can like the
ocean is is scary, man. Like I like everything,
everything in the ocean can killyou.
And there's like this darkness like when you when you go in
like you can't see that far. Like if, even if you what, wade

(56:43):
out into like waste deep water, if you but your head, you can't
see. So like that fear, that terror,
that thing, it could be within afoot of you, you know, And the
thing that Jaws did really well is it brought that fear into,
into the lagoon and brought the fear close.
You know, even though you're on landing, you can be safe.
Like it just like the waters, like this mystical thing that
you can just go and get slaughtered in.

(57:04):
Whereas like Jurassic Park, you can't like go into the into the
woods and get bitten by like a like a Raptor or T Rex or
something like that. That that's true.
Plus, we're drawn as humans in real like reality.
We're drawn to the ocean becausewe don't know a lot about it.
Plus, it represents relaxation. It represents, you know, a day

(57:25):
at the beach represents a lot ofthings.
And Quillity, like, like, just nice, like leisurely fishing
and, like, throwing the ball around and sitting up there with
your waiters and stuff, like. Yeah.
And and Shaw's, like, the kid gets killed.
Like, I figured the guy's the boy's name, Alex.
And it's a little floaty, Yeah. And a little floaty thing maybe
like, 30 feet out, you know? And that's it.
That shouldn't happen, right? Yeah, it's such, I mean, it's

(57:47):
perfect. And fuck, I mean, that movie
created such an interesting exploration in my life of loving
sharks and like, being fascinated by them instead of
being terrified by them. Yeah, and.
Somebody else said Jaws is really good that I thought and
this might be a slasher thing also is like the point of view
of the shark. Like when it was like, you know,

(58:08):
you didn't get the point of viewof the Raptors in Jurassic Park,
but like you knew terror was coming when you were like in the
shark eyes and you would see thewater kind of like dip and
stuff. You're like, oh, God, this is
scary, you know, because you've been in the war like that and
you're like, this thing is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it's it's a master masterpiece of, of high order.

(58:36):
I do want to ask, you know, something that I think you know,
there's a lot of people that listen to this that are artists
or, you know, budding artists orwhatever creators was there.
Anything that you. Struggle with early at any point
or any point in your career thatyou would look back and could
give some advice to a young Daveor somebody that is struggling

(58:59):
with art. Yeah, it's something I get asked
quite a bit. And I was just at my old high
school. They I go in like twice a year
and I show them like a painting demo or something like that.
And I was talking to like some of the younger students and they
were expressing expressing general frustration with like
creativity. You know, there's there's a

(59:20):
writer's block. There's also artist block where
you just don't feel compelled sometimes to make something and
that never goes away. Like I still experience that.
And I know a lot of my other artist friends experienced that
who are also like my age and older.
And so don't get down on that kind of stuff.
Like everyone has moments of self doubt, I think, right.
So you but sticking with something and just kind of like,

(59:44):
I remember, like for me, I just want to like trust my abilities
and trust that I can kind of like get through stuff and
taking breaks is OK. I think that sometimes people
think that like taking breaks isgiving up and it's not as long
as like you just pause, step, step aside.
You know, like there's things that like I just, I have a

(01:00:05):
couple masks I put aside that I haven't worked on in months
because like they just weren't. Going the way I wanted them to
and if I just kept messing with them, they're just going to go
nowhere. So I'm like, you know what, I'll
put this one aside. I'll start a new one.
It's OK or I won't look at it for a couple days.
So and I, I've, I've struggled with self doubt my whole life
and it's just, you just got to know, recognize that feeling

(01:00:30):
and, and don't get down on it and don't focus on it and just
be like, OK, like just, I need abreak and that's fine.
And just kind of stick with it. Trust your abilities.
And as far as like just advice with artists like never stop
like learning, you know, like there's like pursue whatever.
Like if you have an inkling of like, Oh, I want to try
watercolor or I want to try this, like just do it.

(01:00:51):
Like it's so easy to get up and just do it, you know, like, and
you don't have to get like the most expensive art material.
So you can just make do with some with some cheaper stuff and
just just to kind of get like the, the repetitions in and
trying to figure out something you like and you know, nothing
happens overnight. Just that's another thing too is
like paintings take weeks, months.

(01:01:12):
Sometimes I think that while I was talking about these kids at
high school level and they're just like, why I want to paint
this, then show me a picture. I'm just like, dude, that's like
that could take weeks, months, you know, like I have a big
painting that Mother Nature one took me like 6 months to paint
and I was working on a lot, you know, and it's just being
comfortable with, with all the steps along the way.
OK, today I'm just going to get a couple doodles in.

(01:01:34):
I'm just going to do some doodling and that's all I'm
going to do today, you know, andif I just want to be happy with
some of these sketches. And then from there, take those
sketches a little further and a little further, maybe put on a
bigger piece of paper. Like you have to be comfortable
with these steps, like these baby steps that you take away.
That's like anything that's likethat's just like life, right?
It's like no wind to just chill,no wind to take a break.

(01:01:54):
No one, you know, like just don't try and like do it all in
one day. Just take your time, be patient.
I've struggled, you know, I've struggled with that.
We've talked about it and AD nauseam, you know, it's just,
it's like I dive into things andsometimes I forget to come up to
breathe and I just, you know, and then all of a sudden I'm

(01:02:14):
drowning and it's like, yeah, you got to, you got to recognize
the things, your limitations. And it doesn't mean like you're
there are permanent limitations,but I think maybe a daily the
limitation or just an energy limitation should definitely be
something you're aware of a lot.Yeah, yeah.
Do one thing that I do, and I mean, I I make, I make these

(01:02:36):
lists like every day, every single day I make this list of
like four or five things to do. And I mean, I have so much to do
for my next convention, but it'slike, oh, just today I'm just
going to prime all my frames. You know, I have like all these
frames, I'm just going to prime them because I can't finish them
all, but I can I can get that that's that step done.
And then I have other things, you know, so it's like just

(01:02:56):
checking off these manageable tasks that at the end you have
all this work done. But knowing what you're capable
of and setting realistic goals is just like the way that I've
learned to like, basically just function.
You know, it's like a human as ahuman being, you know, it's like
not quite up more than you can chew.
Learn to take breaks, spend timewith people that you, you know,
love and admire. And like, take that and don't

(01:03:19):
take that for granted, you know,like, let that inspire you too.
Because it's always gonna be like, art, art, art.
It can be like, oh, right, just cool conversation with a friend.
Is this like all I need that evening, you know?
I mean to me, you know, are are me walking and calling you and
talking sometimes, you know, hour or whatever it gets, but it
gets me like stoked. It gets me excited to just like

(01:03:42):
take that time to talk to somebody and then go on with my
day. And you know, whether it
inspires me with words or it just fuels me with having that
conversation. Hence, this podcast is another
thing that propels me forward todo it more.
You know, it's like taking breaks is one of those things

(01:04:02):
that like I, I wish I would havedone a lot more earlier.
I think I, I think I'm more aware of of that now, at least
knowing that what a real break really is.
It's like, yeah, I think I used to associate it with like not
working. It's like, oh, I'm by taking a
break, I'm not working. It's just like, no, it's just
relaxing. It's just like in time, it's
resetting. And like that's so important

(01:04:24):
because if you just fill a day with just like work, work, work,
work, like you just get burnt out, man.
And burned out. It is like a shitty feeling and
it adds to stress and anxiety and then and then you're just
sick, you know? And it's just like, why, how did
I get here? But like taking breaks and
allowing some time to just like breathe and move and not think
and just like connect with a friend and like a loved 1,

(01:04:44):
whatever it, whatever it is, youknow, like that's, that's,
that's important, you know? And like you said, it reinforces
that. It's like doing that ends up
inspiring you some way or another without you thinking
about it. And you're like, like the
conversation or the, the, the walk I went, you know, the walk
you go on to take the break. It's like you're taking in

(01:05:05):
stuff. Your brain is working and next
thing you know what you're like,all right, it's been 2 hours,
I'm going to go back to studio. And then all of a sudden you do
something or whatever. You have an idea, you write down
an idea. I mean, that's something that
over the last year I've gotten alot better with is just writing
down ideas. Sometimes they come back to him,
sometimes I don't. I think it's part of like being

(01:05:26):
comfortable with who you are too, you know, Like, I think
sometimes we measure ourselves against other people and it's
like, Oh, well, that guy, that, that artist, that person over
there, they have so much work done.
They must work all the time. I need to do that to get to that
level. And you're not really like
focusing on what you need. You're focusing on like you're
comparing yourself to somebody else and you're like, wait a

(01:05:49):
second, That's not how I should think.
I just need to like focus on like what makes me good and my
work good and like my, just myself, like a healthy person.
And that's when I get the most work done is like when I the
most good work done is when I, when I'm like the healthiest,
you know? Yeah, focusing on that, whether
it's mental health or physical health, is like super important.

(01:06:13):
And now we come to the segment where we determine who is the
better Dave. Oh.
Yes. No, no, I don't ever want that
segment to be real. So coming up anything let's talk
about the oddity shows, because people were listening to this

(01:06:34):
will be like, you know what? I really like that Dave guy.
I want to. I want to go buy something from
him in a convention, maybe shakehis hand and say you're the
better, Dave. Yeah, so I, I the last like 20
years or years, I mostly was doing comic book conventions.
And in the last like 2 years I've pulled back from comic

(01:06:57):
comic conventions and I've gotten more into like, you know,
these oddities shows or horror shows or whatever.
And it's just a sign of the timeas far as like, you know, when I
started doing conventions, it was mostly comic conventions
that were out there. And they've gotten so just
different in a sense that like they're very pop culture driven,

(01:07:20):
they're very fan art driven. They're very, they're very
expensive to get into. Either you're an exhibitor or
you're an attendee. They're like they're expensive.
Even the small ones are expensive.
And I just don't feel I fit in there as much as I used to
because when I started doing these shows, I was like in the
small press area, there's lots of like experimental artwork
there. And it was really good for me

(01:07:40):
and all the other artists I would do this with.
But in the last, like, you know,last like two or three years,
it's just gotten so different. So I, I, I got into like these
oddities shows. It's the oddities and
curiosities Expo. And what's cool about them is
like they're, they're very just like, they're just weird art
shows. And like, I love them.
And they tour all over the US. So every weekend there's,

(01:08:02):
there's one going on somewhere in the United States.
I think they were just in Bostonlast week.
And they just, they just travel around And what's good for me is
like, I can sign up for a few ofthem and just kind of hit the
ones that are like close to me or the ones I want to go to.
And when I go there, it's like they're, they're affordable for
people to get into. I need like $13 to, to get into

(01:08:25):
parking is not expensive. You know, and contrast to some
of these comic book shows that are like $80.00 to get into for
like one day. Parking is like another 25 or
30. And you know, it's just so these
shows are just like dark art markets.
And I like it. The people that are awesome, I
can't say good enough good stuffabout it.
So I'm doing like a lot of thoseshows this year.
Yeah, I think I'm doing, I thinkI'm doing nine of those shows

(01:08:46):
this year. Wow.
Yeah, I just, I just did this year LA, San Diego, Phoenix,
Albuquerque and I'm doing San Jose, CA Like in a month that
I'm doing Portland, Seattle, Utah, I'm going to Salt Lake.
Nice. Yeah.

(01:09:06):
And I think I might do another, another couple shows here and
there, like I think I'm getting the HP Lovecraft Film Festival.
Maybe they reached out to me andasked me to help him with some
stuff. And I think I also might be
doing Cape and calicon. So I do lots of conventions and
it's all on my social media. I have like a little pinned
thing that shows like, yeah, youknow what I'm going to be doing.
So if you want to see me and seemy big booth that I bring way

(01:09:27):
too much stuff for I make I makelots of things and have monsters
and I just I don't know I shouldI just bought a mannequin that
should that mannequin. I bought.
No, I don't think you showed me.I just bought a mannequin.
So I usually have a 10 by 10 booth.
And for this, for this new oddities show in San Jose, I got
a 10 by 20, which is massive. It's so much bigger.

(01:09:49):
We used to have a 10 by 20 when we had zero friends.
And it's just like, it's just, it's twice as big, obviously,
but it just fuels like so much more space And like, so I have a
bigger wall now and I'm, I have like these mannequins I'm going
to put in there. I'm going to make their, make
them have big heads and hands and things.
Of course they're going to lightup like they always do.
So it's more, it's more work as things like don't sell, but it's

(01:10:09):
it just looks cool. And I'm into like that part of
it. I love booth design.
I love, I love making the booth as equally as cool as the art
I'm trying to sell. It's it's very important to me.
Like Alex and I were always veryinto like branding and the
visual of how is your old friends look, not only what we
were selling, but like the identity behind it.

(01:10:29):
And I think that, like, booth design is part of that.
And you know, I want to stick out at these shows and make it
look neat so well. You do a good job at that, you
giant monster on top. I mean, you've been behind your
booth multiple times over the last decade and you know, it's
always fun to see people's eyes get big as they approach your

(01:10:52):
booth and they see a glowing Lovecraftian style monster in
person and they don't lose theirminds.
That's the whole thing. They don't.
They spend their money. I I, it all started with like,
you know, at these, at these shows, like you're, you're a
needle in a haystack, you know, like you're just another booth.
And Alex and I always wanted, itwas always like, oh, what we,

(01:11:12):
what we want people to like see our booth from like 3 or 4 rows
away and come over because of that.
And once they come over, like the artwork, you know, can kind
of like speak for itself and sell itself.
But like to get somebody who's like 50 feet, 80 feet that way
who don't, who doesn't know who we are to go, what is that?
That's crazy. I need to go check that out.
Like that's the hardest part at these shows.

(01:11:33):
So like getting people over. I love being at a convention and
seeing someone from like two or three rows over point to my
booth and go like what the and like and like walked over
because they don't they want it there.
They want to see what it's like.And I love that part of it, you
know, I think it's so cool, so. Well, for anybody that sees Dave
at a convention, you can bring him a soul and he will give you

(01:11:56):
a free skull. Yeah, but his soul has to be
contained. It has to be contained.
Make sure it's in a jar tightly tightly closed so then make the
lids on. So what's flying around?
And he will. Will you accept a live ghost
trap from Ghostbusters as well? Yeah, I'm working the, I'm
working on the Ecto containment unit right now, but I that

(01:12:18):
should be up and running by July.
So if you can bring one I'll I'll dispose of it for you.
Honestly, like I think a dream my maybe my projection of a
dream project for you would be designing a fully functional
haunted house. Like a fully functional
permanent 24/7 365 days a year. I.

(01:12:39):
Don't know if I ever told you this.
Alex and I, this is before like escape rooms were like a thing.
We wanted to kick start a haunted house art show.
How have I ever told you that? So when we had when we had those
zero friends warehouse in Oakland, we shared the warehouse
with somebody else, but we had the idea of like maybe buying
them out, you know, And we wanted to kick start this

(01:13:04):
haunted house where we would build like the face of this
haunted house and you would go into it and every room would
have like items in it. And based off of the items that
you can kind of like touch and read.
And there's all artwork, there'sall like paintings and
illustrations and sculptural stuff.
You can kind of like decide it'salmost like a choose your own
adventure where you can go through these rooms and pick a
path based off the artwork. And it'd be like an art show.

(01:13:26):
And every time you go through tobe kind of different because
there'd be different paths. And it would, it would, it would
pop you out at the end at a giftshop slash showroom that would
have things you can buy. So like we had like, and this
is, I swear, this is before escape rooms.
Like had this idea so long ago and we never did it, obviously,
but like building like a facade of a thing.

(01:13:48):
And we kind of did that with ourbooth at one year at Comic Con
where we built like the cabin and the cabin we built where.
I do remember. That cabin with like the with
the witches had coming through. Well, that was part of some an
idea we had a long time ago. But I think it I've always liked
the idea of like a choose your own adventure type of art show
or like these items, kind of like would would navigate your

(01:14:08):
path through these rooms to do something kind of neat.
And I think, you know, meow wolfkind of did that.
And you know, there's, there's there's been people who've done
that. So it's not like not like we had
that idea first, but like I think that's just a cool idea
for a show. I mean, look, you could
definitely still do it, and yeah, I would.
Back the space out of it. Yeah, I know.

(01:14:31):
We, we, we when we started, likegoing, OK, how much is this
going to cost? It's like, OK, like building
materials alone is like flashing, like thousands of
dollars. And then, you know, getting
someone to make it and then permits don't get hurt.
Yeah. It just became like, this thing
was like, OK, are we going to kick start?
Like, are we actually going to buy a house?
Like, what do we like? Like this thing got so expensive
so quick, you know? That might actually be the you,

(01:14:53):
you find a place where it's likereal estate's still affordable,
whether it's in California like or, or it's somewhere else.
But that would be amazing. Like, and then based off what
about this, based off the decisions that you make and the
objects you pick up, you, you come out into a gallery and it's
one of several artists. So you could pick up certain

(01:15:14):
objects and end up in the Dave Korea gallery, or you could pick
up certain objects and end up inthe Alex Pardi gallery.
And it's like, well, it really is it.
Choose your own adventure. Yeah, yeah.
And you know, yeah, I mean that.And that was kind of point that
like not the end part, but like knowing that if you go through
this thing and you had and you chose different rooms, it would
make you want to go through it again and go, OK, Like last time

(01:15:34):
I went through the painting on the wall.
This time I'm just going to liftthe sculpture that will make the
the the fireplace open up. So it's like only that you can
go through it again. You want to have different
experiences every time and see different artwork that told
different stories going to the house, whoever it was, you know?
Brilliant, brilliant. Well, I wait for that and the
sketch for Sketch 2 tour whenever that happens.
Killed us. Yeah, I.

(01:15:56):
Mean you're not getting any younger dude.
I know we we talked about doing like a, like a more like a
regional one. The last the time, the one time
we did sketch for sketch. And for those of you listening
and watching, Alex and I drove cross country and back and we
stopped all these cities and didlike a signing slash drawing
thing. And we did something like 20,

(01:16:18):
like 20 stops in like 30 days and it was way too much.
It was, it was so, it was so much because we would, we would
draw and sketch for like up to 8hours sometimes in one spot,
then like sleep for two hours and then hit the road.
It was just, we didn't plan it right.
But if we were to do it again, like a book tour or a sketch
tour, maybe pick like, you know,the East Coast and just do like,

(01:16:39):
you know type of thing. Just kind of like focus and give
ourselves like a couple days to actually get somewhere.
I think I hearing rumblings of acouple other people, namely Sean
Crystal, Jimmy Food and Matteo Scalera Inc Pop talking about
next year doing a little comic book store tour.
I think if somebody starts doingthat, like if, you know, it

(01:17:01):
gains traction, it's going to gain traction in a big way
because I just think that's the ultimate way to now connect to
your audience is to tour. And yeah, do it, you know?
Yeah. And if you're doing it as like a
signing, not like a big event, just designing, it's very
manageable and it's cost effective.

(01:17:23):
You're getting everybody to cometo you.
Yeah, the in person substrate, Imean, that's that's why I do
conventions is because like, youknow, online reaches like super
hard now to get new people. Whereas like a convention like I
can sit down at a convention fora day and 1000 new people will
walk by by my like they won't all stop.
But like I'm getting more new people.
Like when I look at like my socials after going to a

(01:17:45):
convention, I have way more new interactions and followers than
I do with any other type of method of like, you know, online
type stuff. So it's great to to be to be in
person. Plus, you know, artwork.
It's there's something about artwork where like it's meant to
be seen in person, especially like this 3 dimensional tactile
stuff I'm making. It's like on a on a 2 inch by

(01:18:07):
two inch Instagram window isn't cutting it.
You know, it doesn't look good. You can't see it.
Like you, like I just showed youlike this, this print that has
like a canvas, but you can't tell unless you actually like
look at it, you know? So like I like how my stuff
looks in person. So it's, it compels me to do
like these conventions and in person stuff because it's just,
I think it's how it's meant to be seen, you know?

(01:18:28):
Yeah. And I think I think that's best,
best way to say it is, is in person, see it touch.
Well, maybe not touch multiple $1000 piece of artwork if you're
in a museum, but at least get close enough that you can.
Yeah, so cool. Well, Dave, thank you.
I think I think this is a great way to wrap up Season 3, having

(01:18:50):
this great conversation with somebody that I've probably
spent more time talking to in the last 15 years than anything
else in my life. And you know, because I'm a good
promoter. All the links, all the things
will be in the description, whether you're listening to this
on Spotify, Apple, wherever, or watching it on the Youtubes,
Anything else you want to promote or anything else before

(01:19:12):
we wrap up Season 3 of Direct Edition.
No, I mean, just if you want to see me in person, how art should
be seen, come to one of the conventions that I'm going to be
at. I do lots of West Coast stuff.
I'm on the West Coast. I'm I'm going to like probably
try and branch out next year anddo some more like, you know,
Midwest, East Coast stuff because these oddities shows

(01:19:33):
allow me to do that a little more easier.
Yeah. But yeah, just follow my art,
come along for the ride. I'm constantly making weird new
things and I'm always going to be switching it up.
Yes, and I appreciate you, brother, West Coast Dave injure
brother, cool, awesome, well, buy or something.

(01:19:54):
I never know how to fucking like.
I never know how to begin these and then these.
Thanks for watching. I I'm so glad I got Dave on the
podcast. And what a way to just, you
know, kick off the end of the season is to have somebody that
is so delightful to talk to. And you know, you can support

(01:20:14):
Dave by checking out his website, davekorea.com
following, following him on social, buying some art from him
obviously. And if you're at the oddities
conventions, it's even better tobuy stuff from him in person
because he's so delightful and the stuff that he creates for
that booth is amazing. So thank you once again to my
buddy Dave and to you, the listener. 60 episodes on this

(01:20:37):
podcast so far and it's only. Just getting started.
So if you're watching this on YouTube and you can hit the like
button, subscribe and drop a comment.
If you're listening to this on Spotify, you can do all those
things to Spotify is trying to compete with YouTube by bringing
video and comments and all that stuff.
You can leave a review on any ofthose platforms that you listen

(01:20:58):
to, or you can just recommend this to a friend.
And a personal aside, I just wanted to say like, it really
means a lot to me that people are listening to this and
continuing to be a piece of a community.
I have the other channel, West Coast Avengers, which is my
comic book based channel, but trying to move all interviews
over here because it's two separate pieces of me in that

(01:21:19):
way. And also bringing you personal
stories and anecdotes. It's just a delight.
And you know, I've, I've been pitching this podcast to a lot
of people that are, you know, you would only see on very big
media outlets. But I think what I can bring
here, First off, I don't answer to anybody.
There's nobody in charge tellingme that I have to have certain

(01:21:41):
people on the podcast. This is all about what I like
the things I'm a fan of and bringing you the conversations
that are built out of pure fandom and historical
significance. So me wanting to dive into
somebody's background or why they do the things they do and
kind of the community that comeswith that as I like to pitch it

(01:22:02):
to people. It's a modern day successor to
classic fandom and fanzines. So you the listener can help me
grow this and bring more people on this podcast.
I think a lot of people respond to, you know, maybe public
relations people, PR people to respond to seeing a bigger

(01:22:23):
community because they want their person to talk about their
project. And I don't mind promoting
things. That's what I'm here to do.
But I'm doing it from a fan standpoint and I think that's
bringing more genuine things. I hope so.
Anyway, that's just my little spiel for the end of Season 3.
I've already, I already have some guest book for Season 4.

(01:22:45):
I'm excited. I think the breaks going to be a
lot shorter than I wanted it to be, but hey.
This never sleeps. Because I'm Dave anyway, this
has been in the last episode of Direct Edition for season 3.
I'll see you in season. Four in a.
Couple of weeks. Thank you so much and peace.

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