We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andres Salazar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Andres thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Creating visuals (art) or stories (writing, film) really “fills my bucket”, I get the most charge and joy when making something and that process honestly fuels me, a lot. I’d say in tandem is consuming it also excites me and I am re-fueled and inspired when I go to a museum or some place like that. I have done the regular 9 to 5 and I have done just the solo artist gig. Unless you are very successful and well-known, it is extremely hard to live (especially here in California on the coast) on just selling paintings, comics, what have you. You need to have that steady income (or a spouse to provide that) so I have had those jobs. I used to dread them and see it as the kiss of death, but you need to see them as a way that they give you money SO that you can make your creative dreams. They allow you the ability to make art. If you see it any other way, you will hate it.

Andres , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Well, I have always made comics and written stories, but it wasn’t until I was 36 that I seriously said, okay let’s do this. I was between jobs and doing some stand-up comedy and also working on this TV pilot spec script that I wanted to get into the hands of someone that could make something happen. I then thought about drawing it myself, and after some failed attempted found an artist that I could work with. We made 3 volumes of Pariah Missouri, a horror-western graphic novel. I am now making my own graphic novels, Shangri-La, Boaz and Weekend Warriors, all you could find on my Patreon. So I am self-publishing those. I am proud of all the work that went into Pariah, that was 5 years to make that, it was a lot of work, and it’s great to have something like that completed. Since then, I have also had some commissioned artwork, illustration, fine art paintings and logos, and graphic design. I worked on some film projects and just finished the feature documentary, Small Town Quirky. which is now going through the film festivals in 2024, I’ll be looking for a distributor for that soon. So I have a lot fo various projects and things I’m interested in. I also have a YouTube channel, the Art of Comics, where I interview artists and talk about making art.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

Honestly, I have no use for them. Maybe I just don’t understand them and what value that have, but from all the interactions I’ve had with them, they seem to be sketch. I like Paper, canvas, tangible things. I don’t even like to make digital art. My comic was all watercolored, analog, so NFTs are a bridge too far.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

When I speak to family members who are not creative, there is a gap in understanding of what it means to create. When I am working on a story or painting for example, there are moments that I am tapping into something greater than me, that there is a since that I am on auto-pilot and just doing something automatic and intuitively, and it comes out something that I couldn’t have planned out or thought of. It’s like there’s a river of creative power that is moving and there’s moments that I can jump in or grab some and be taken with it. It’s not spiritual, but it’s something other-worldly, or at least that’s how I interpret it. There’s also a deep emotional element to it, the elation or joy and making something new that has never existed before.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.decadebrothers.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andresjsalazar/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andres.salazar.9277
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andresjsalazar/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/andysalazar
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyPdG7qaeuziVl21b-idcDA
• Other: www.patreon.com/andresjsalazar