Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Daniel Huerta. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Daniel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I’ve always drawn but not in some precious, artsy way. More like a weapon. I used to draw people I knew just to clown them. I’d bring the drawings to my friends and we’d laugh like idiots. That was my first “art career”: making fun of people with a pencil.
In 2015, I went to a two year college for three years trying to become a funeral director / mortician… which sounds cool on paper, but in real life I was terrible at it. I didn’t have whatever it takes to be calm around death and paperwork. I wasn’t built for that world.
So I took a painting and drawing class for one semester and it hit me like a truck. Painting didn’t feel like school. It felt like I found the one thing I could actually do without forcing myself to be someone else.
Fast forward to COVID…I got fired from my fabrication job, and suddenly I wasn’t just stressed I was cornered. I had bills, I had habits, and I had no plan. So I started painting like a man possessed. Stuff like Dead Rappers, Dead famous painters, my rendition of paintings from dead famous painters, Nightmares. The Manson family. Cartoon characters, Whatever came out of my head. And the crazy part? …People actually bought it.
That was the first time I realized this isn’t just “a hobby.” This is a way out.
Then I started animating on an iPad my friend Spencer mailed me from South Carolina shout out to Spence, because that changed my life. I spent a full year learning how to use Procreate Dreams. I almost quit more than once. I didn’t have the patience at first. I wanted results immediately like the Aries I am.
But once I got over that hump, it was over. I started animating day and night, for hours on end. I’d sit there building frames for days like a psycho. No exaggeration. Just locked in, obsessing, pushing it, trying to get the movement right, trying to make something real out of nothing. That’s when I knew. This isn’t something I do for fun.
This is what I do when I’m trying to survive. And I’m still doing it.

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

I’m Daniel Huerta aka Krookid Hooks. I’m an artist, painter, animator, lyricist and designer.
I make visuals for people who are tired of everything looking like it was approved by a committee of cowards.
My work is built from the same stuff most people spend their whole lives trying to avoid: pressure, obsession, dark humor, and that quiet rage you get when you realize the world rewards mediocrity as long as it’s packaged nicely.
I paint. I animate. I design album covers, posters, merch, logos, and surreal concepts. My style is somewhere between hip-hop, horror, satire, and the kind of truth that makes people uncomfortable because it doesn’t ask permission.
I draw first because I like my art to have fingerprints on it.
I don’t trust “perfect.” Perfect is usually fake. Perfect is usually empty.
Then I take it digital and sharpen it into something cinematic. Something that looks like a movie still from a scene where everything is about to go wrong. Because that’s where the real emotion lives right before the explosion.
My inspirations aren’t trendy. Not only is algorithim hard to spell, its hard to chase. I’m not trying to fit into whatever’s popular this week. I don’t feel like me when doing that. I’m inspired by underground culture, old horror/exploitation movie posters, comic books, raw storytelling, and the ugly side of human nature that people keep trying to Photoshop out of reality.
My focus is simple: Make work that isn’t disposable. Most visuals today are fast food.
They’re designed to be consumed, forgotten, and replaced by the next bland thing in line. People call it “content.” I call it landfill.
I’m building something different. I’m building a world piece by piece , frame by frame where the art actually has a soul, a point of view, and a pulse. I want my work to feel like it’s staring back at you. Like it knows something you don’t.
I’m not here to decorate your brand. I’m here to give it teeth. And if that makes some people uncomfortable… good.
That’s usually how you know it’s real.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I have a conflicted relationship with NFTs. When they’re generated by the thousands and promoted by celebrities, it can feel hollow more about speculation than substance. In that sense, parts of the space do feel like a scam. Not because digital art isn’t real, but because intention gets replaced by volume. But since their birth back in the early 2020’s I’ve been curious about that type of art. Recently , Ive had my work exhibited in the NFT space, including being displayed at ETHDenver. Experiences like that showed me the side of Web3 that feels real artists gathering, digital work being treated seriously, conversations happening in physical space around pieces that were born digitally.
There’s something meaningful about digital art having provenance about animation and screen-based work existing with ownership and history attached to it. That part feels powerful.
So I’m skeptical of the hype. But I believe in the potential when it’s used intentionally when it’s about preserving art, not mass producing it. For me, NFTs ( I don’t think they’re even called that anymore) aren’t an identity. They’re just one format my work can inhabit.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My mission isn’t fame. It isn’t chasing trends. It isn’t pretending to be something I’m not.
What drives me is honesty making work that actually reflects what it feels like to live inside my head. The tension between ambition and self doubt. Beauty and damage. Confidence and contradiction. Whether I’m painting, drawing, or animating, I’m trying to create something emotionally undeniable.
But I’m not naive about it either.
I need to make a living from this. I’ve got a mouth to feed. Art isn’t just expression for me it’s survival. So part of my mission is figuring out how to stay authentic while building something sustainable. How to create work that’s raw and real, but still valuable enough that it supports my life.
Long term, I want to build a body of work that feels cohesive and lasting something that can stand on its own. Not just content, but legacy. I’m not chasing hype. I’m building something that can hold me up and hopefully hold weight in the culture too.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.krookidhooksanimation.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krookidhooks_art/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedarkagendaiswrong/
• Twitter: https://x.com/krookidhooks
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@digitaldopeart?si=kzwvHKXrCilO-S0y
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/179MeqGiTbPYX4criJUrB4?si=MFE0WBOLSn2SimxhaJapOA

Image Credits

Pictures by Krookid Hooks