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

Hi Doug, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project has been my ShadowMyths decks. When I first created them, I wanted to just have a way for me to come up with new stories. I didn’t want to do just an art book. I wanted something different (all artists want that so that they can stand out from the crowd). I realized that, if I lay down my images in a random order, they told a story. So, I used that to write my fantasy world and my first illustrated book. I was thinking: “Hey others who have the same problems coming up with story ideas could also use the decks!” So, I created the deck.

When I sold them at my first gaming show, I noticed that most people weren’t interested in them other than as a deck of images. A DnD dungeon master asked if she could use them in her game. Now, I’d play a lot (off an on between the late 70’s until the late 80’s) and I knew what she was talking about. So, I said “Sure! Use them as campaign ideas or props in the game.”

Then I found that people were using them as oracle cards to do readings for others to help them. Now, it started getting interesting. The part that really set me back was when I found out that a couple of school counselors were using them with their troubled students. I was like “Really? How do you do that?”

Seems there’s a field of therapy called Drama Therapy. Several other therapists say that they also use them to help their patients. Essentially, they use them as talking points and having the patients tell the stories. The dark images help them frame the stories in their heads and makes it personal to them. This was fascinating. I never imagined the cards could have been used that way.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I don’t like horror. However, I do love twisting reality and seeing things different from the norm. My favorite comic books were always the Dr. Strange ones because they weren’t the usual superhero stories. They involved magic and weird landscapes and very very strange people. For fine art, I love surrealism and some of the darker works of Geiger and Gustave Dore. Essentially, I love that which is not common.

I’ve drawn off and on for most of my life. I loved reading comic books and would regularly copy the images in the books or the covers off of my favorite science fiction or fantasy novel. However, most of the time, it was just a hobby. Something to pass the time by when I was bored. As much as I loved the comics and fantasy novels, I never thought that I could make a living at it. So, it was just a side thing while I was pursuing computers and physics (which I did get a degree in)..

Over the years, drawing and art dropped off the map while I was pursuing my work goals. Eventually, in my late 30’s and early 40’s, I found my way back to art. I was doodling for a while and playing with watercolors. At one point, a friend of mine wanted one of my paintings and my wife (the smarter one in our relationship) told me that I should name a price. I did… and my friend paid it. I was like “Whoa! Someone would give me money for my art?”

So, I started signing up for art fairs and gallery shows and, eventually, I would make some income (not a lot) but people were buying my landscape paintings (which I did because I thought that would sell). I was making minimal amount of money for a number of years and… then we moved. We moved from Vermont to North Carolina.

I had a hard time getting into galleries and was talking to my wife about the issue. I said that I loved landscapes. She said, “No. You don’t. You LIKE landscapes. You LOVE monsters. That is what you should be doing.” Like all good husbands, I listened to her. I did my very first one day comicon and I was shocked. I made more money and sold more art in one day then I did for a whole year as a gallery artist.

The second major thing that happened to me was when an art director friend commented that he didn’t care for my fantasy work. However, he loved my outdoor landscape (plein-air) work. He was an art director. I could see where he was coming from. So, I applied my outdoor style with my fantasy/monster subjects and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, when I create a painting, I only do 2/3rds of a piece. I don’t tell the whole story. I want the viewer to bring themselves to the piece. Combine that with the fact that each painting has a moral and uplifting story, each person can see themselves in the work. So, when I’m doing a show, they come up to my table and there is always one piece that makes them stop. They read the story and go, “OMG! That is so me!” They identify with it and understand that the painting is about them.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

My most rewarding aspect is that I make people cry or happy or some sort of emotion. I remember an instructor, Rebecca Guay, said that “If you don’t feel anything for your art, no one else will.” All of my paintings are about issues that I go through or daily thoughts. Some are pleasant. Some are not. You know what? That’s okay. Not everything has to be roses.

My favorite experience was when a gentleman came to my booth at a show. He saw a number of pieces that he liked and read the meanings/stories of the painting. He started crying and kept apologizing. I told him not to worry about it. A lot of people do that. He then said, “I always heard that art was supposed to make you feel something but never understood it. Your art does that.”

I love art that makes you think. That type of art stays with you for years rather than a moment of time.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson that I needed to unlearn is that art is a product and not a product. If you want to make art that sells, you have to understand your market and where you sell your art. You can’t just do whatever you want and expect the money to be rolling in. It’s about presenting your ideas that are consistent with a broad fanbase but be unique enough that people notice you.

By the same token, you can’t just do what will sell. I did that when I was selling my landscapes. I would be much farther along if I had just followed my heart and painted my monsters. As much as I love surrealism, I knew that there isn’t a large market for it. However, monsters are prevalent due to the movies and popularity of comicons, nowadays. So, that is somewhere I can delve into and make my own mark.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shadowmyths.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadowmythsart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShadowMythsArt
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShadowMyths
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrTLWUxxxOM0GZtq1beUinA