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

David, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

All art is political. the things we treat as normal, the things we treat as strange, these are statements about society and our place within it– so it follows that it is very important to me to take on projects i agree with and believe in. there are certain clients I won’t work with on principle if I think they would use my work to spread a message I don’t agree with.

Luckily, this sort of issue does not arise often, and I’ve been fortunate to work on a wide range of projects of which I feel are very important, from children’s books that explore the importance of emotional regulation and acceptance, to comics that embrace the need for societal restructure and revolution against the violence of capitalism, or projects that support my love of nature and animals.

One such project I have been working on long-term delves into much of this, a comic I have been getting published with the New England Olde English Sheepdog Rescue (NEOESR), where tell the comic story “Blue & Jay” the story of a stray sheepdog finding his forever home, and the diverse relationships animals have not only with humans, but with one another. this story is near and dear to me, not just for its politics, but also because Jay is based on our family dog Jake, a sheepdog we rescued!

Blue & Jay is part fairytale, part slice-of-life, and has been a joy to tell in the quarterly newsletter. once the story is completed I plan to produce it as a book, and put a portion of profits towards helping other sheepdogs find their forever homes.

David, 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?

Art has been a core part of my passions and who i am from my earliest memories. my grandmother would come home with huge reams of discarded printer paper (the kind with green and white stripes) and i would draw all day on those stacks of paper. Being from New England, I later would take classes at the Worcester Art Museum after school, and then pre-college summer art programs, and eventually receive my BFA at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and my MFA at Academy of Art University, both with a focus in illustration, but the latter with a specific focus in comics and concept art. from there, i would eventually move out to Los Angeles, and begin my career freelancing full time on projects big and small while applying to studios. I’ve worked on projects that are studio-big all the way to indie freelance, and everything in between.

I am primarily a visual development/character artist and comic book artist, although i do make puppets when i can spare the time. lately I’ve worked on pitch decks for animation and comics, as well as done a great deal of storyboards for commercials!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Art is not the icing. Art is the Cake. We’re the ones telling your story, we’re the ones selling your product, and we are essential, and you aren’t just paying for the time and effort, you’re paying for the vision and insight– so pay us fairly, and pay us promptly, because the passion we bring to our own work is the same passion we want to bring to yours.

There is an assumption non-artists sometimes have where they thing artists should either work for free or cheap because we are passionate, or that the art is “a flourish”, a detail on their brilliant idea. they use these kinds of misunderstandings to justify underpaying artists or even trying to steal from them, either indirectly through ai, or directly the old-fashioned way.

An artist is the most important part of your project, and cutting that corner is condemning the next big thing to utter mediocrity.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

NFTs are a scam. They are nothing.
They are less than nothing*.
They are a receipt for nothing, wasting precious energy and resources to mint something that no one really wants beyond convincing someone else that they ought to buy it from them.
Silicon valley, the mecca of the capitalist cult, would burn the world to ashes if only to raise their stock’s value trading lighter fluid.

anyone who embraces with kind of privileged greed should keep away from me.

I am Literally a Communist, and I will never work for NFTs or anything else that exploits artists.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.davidwentworthart.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/davidwentworthart/
• Facebook: facebook.com/artofDavidWentworth
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/davidwentworthart/
• Twitter: I’m on Bluesky.
• Other: I’m @DavidWentworthArt everywhere, except Etsy, where I am DavidWGallery

Image Credits
David Wentworth