I have known Davey Blaze for the better part of 10 years now and have gotten to see him grow and evolve in his many artistic projects. Being able to watch another artist during such a chunk of time is truly an amazing thing. It is a gift to be let into an artist's life and has been inspiring for my own creations also. I hope you enjoy this peek inside as much as I did!
What started your love of creating? It’s hard to say for sure what started my interest in Art. My Mother is a Poet and Father was a Painter, so I’m sure some if it is in the blood, but I think the main influences that got me started were my Older Brother, Johnnie and my cousin, Julio. They would draw cool and funny drawings for me when I was very young. I would then try to draw the same thing and get very frustrated that mine wasn’t as good and that created an insatiable desire to improve. I also remember getting those “How to Draw” books when I was a kid, and instead of starting with circles and shapes like they recommended, I would usually skip right to their finished drawing and try to duplicate that. What is your favorite medium? Currently my favorite artistic endeavor is making Custom Action Figures. Doing it requires a lot of different mediums, from sculpting materials to silicones, liquid plastics and various paints. In this case, my favorite mediums are whichever works best. Paint wise, for this, that’s usually acrylics. What made you become a Customizer/Toy Maker? I first started making Custom Action Figures in High school. I made figures of my friends and I kind of as a gag, to get a laugh. They were a lot more rough than the ones I do now, of course, but did get a laugh. Then I heard about a figure of a superhero (Cable) who came with a little baby in a baby harness (Hope Summers). Being a Dad myself, I really wanted the figure, but it was rare, expensive and was also only about 3.5” tall, so I thought “why not just try to make my own, bigger and better?”, I never thought of it as something someone could do with such a level of sophistication until then. When I saw some of the work that others had done it raised the bar and I found my way back to the art form, but on a new level. Do you have any artistic quirks? (like only using certain colors or you have to do a specific ritual) With this art form, My biggest artistic quirk is probably that to some degree I view my pieces as something I am giving Life to and after a certain point in time will often refer to them as “He” or “She” versus “it”. When they are complete I regard them with a feeling that’s perhaps akin to animism. Sometimes I’ll even say things to my pieces while working on them (usually when it’s going well), like “Wow, you are freaking beautiful”. Recently while working on an “Apocalypse” figure I muttered, “Damn, You are a BAAAD MOTHERF#CKER.” There is also a stronger vibe of being Dr. Frankenstein in his Lab, while he creates his magnificent Monster than being someone like Leonardo Da Vinci while he paints the Mona Lisa. When I think something feels like a masterpiece to me, it’s because it feels “alive”. What inspires you? Stories. Stories that make you feel deep in your soul. The work of other artists is a big one, especially if I think it’s better than mine; that combines with that insatiable urge to improve and they create kind of a stew of admiration, frustration and determination to create something moving and real. The urge to express parts of myself through other characters. Music. Love. Pain. Do you believe in the intangible "muse"? I don’t know, but I’d have to say as a lifelong artist, I don’t think it’s good for an artist to have one particular “muse”. I think one can be inspired to great heights by Love, and create a beautiful piece inspired by Love, but I think muses can be found in everything, not just Love or other people. I really think anything that stirs emotions can be a muse. Who are some of your favorite artists/creators/musicians and what about them do you love? That’s a really difficult question, because there are so many. My favorite sculptor is Michelangelo (di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni). When I first saw an image of the face of Mary in The Pietà I looked at it for hours. I couldn’t believe someone could express so much with so subtle an expression, so powerfully and so beautifully. My favorite painter is Otto Dix. There is a French term, “Jolie laide” which means “Ugly Beautiful”. I would say his work is Jolie laide. It can be Beautiful and Grotesque at the same time. My favorite solo musician is probably David Bowie. Partly because he is obviously a survivor. He has led a long, fulfilling Life and is still enjoying that Life as we speak. He’s been unafraid to reinvent himself. Some of his work he may later have considered a failure, but he always continues to create, unfettered by failure and succeses. My favorite philosopher is Bruce Lee. My favorite Martial Artist is also Bruce Lee. My favorite Batman is Adam West. I Love artists who are clearly Human, who stumble and get back up and are simply humans doing their best. I do Love some artists who fell and never got back up, but I mourn for them. What is your favorite music,television or silence to work to? This varies quite a bit, but it is almost never silence, unless I’m mixing chemicals or something. I notice if I work in silence I notice the passage of time more. How would you classify your style? Emotive Do you have any creative schooling or are you more self taught? I think artistic drive is innate, but artistic skill is developed through practice, self-scrutiny, acceptance that you will always suck at first, and perseverance. Most of my artistic skills are largely self-taught, but I did have a lot of art classes in school. It was noticed when I was pretty young that I had a knack for art, so I had more art classes than the average student from middle school on. At the time, I might have thought I didn’t learn much from them. Now I would say I probably did, and probably most of all I learned how to learn and to teach myself. | links to davey blaze |
Do you have any pet peeves while doing commissions?
Having any kind of deadline sucks. I hate the thought of putting quality aside for speed. For this reason, working as an artist professionally, I rarely accept commissions with deadlines and those cost extra. I think while working on commissions it’s also good to have a project or two on the side that you enjoy doing artistically. Doing only what other people want you to do can be artistically draining and going back and forth with something you want to do creatively keeps the juices flowing. I also think if you feel totally uninspired on a certain day and not in the mood to work on art, don’t. Take a break for a day or two, but know when to go back to it.
Do you have any advice for kids who are starting to think about getting into art and/or music?
Yes. Firstly, don’t assume you will only ever have one creative outlet. Be open to finding more than one. Secondly, Go for it. Express yourself in a positive way. Indulge your creativity. Create. It may be a struggle to make a career at it, but try. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you fail, just try again, perhaps in a slightly different way. Make sure you have a way to get by while you’re trying, but try. Art does so much in Life. It lets us Humans know we can relate to one another. It outlives us and shares our feelings beyond our Lifetime. It entertains and challenges. The World may never fully appreciate what you do, or maybe it simply won’t during your Lifetime, but who knows, maybe the World will. Either way it’s still worth doing. You may need to find another way to pay the bills while you create, but create anyway. Someday, you may find a way to combine your creativity with a way to pay the bills, haha and that will be a lucky day. Other than that, survive, create and Live as best you can. Even the way we choose to Live can be a form of expression and thus can be a creative outlet.
Having any kind of deadline sucks. I hate the thought of putting quality aside for speed. For this reason, working as an artist professionally, I rarely accept commissions with deadlines and those cost extra. I think while working on commissions it’s also good to have a project or two on the side that you enjoy doing artistically. Doing only what other people want you to do can be artistically draining and going back and forth with something you want to do creatively keeps the juices flowing. I also think if you feel totally uninspired on a certain day and not in the mood to work on art, don’t. Take a break for a day or two, but know when to go back to it.
Do you have any advice for kids who are starting to think about getting into art and/or music?
Yes. Firstly, don’t assume you will only ever have one creative outlet. Be open to finding more than one. Secondly, Go for it. Express yourself in a positive way. Indulge your creativity. Create. It may be a struggle to make a career at it, but try. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you fail, just try again, perhaps in a slightly different way. Make sure you have a way to get by while you’re trying, but try. Art does so much in Life. It lets us Humans know we can relate to one another. It outlives us and shares our feelings beyond our Lifetime. It entertains and challenges. The World may never fully appreciate what you do, or maybe it simply won’t during your Lifetime, but who knows, maybe the World will. Either way it’s still worth doing. You may need to find another way to pay the bills while you create, but create anyway. Someday, you may find a way to combine your creativity with a way to pay the bills, haha and that will be a lucky day. Other than that, survive, create and Live as best you can. Even the way we choose to Live can be a form of expression and thus can be a creative outlet.