We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Freaking Ding Bat a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Freaking, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I started out not knowing how to draw at all. It was only after going through the 2008 market crash and constantly working for companies that closed down that I realized I needed to something that benefited me. I need to develop skills that no one could take away from me and that I could use to make my own money. So every night I set aside an hour to draw. I bought a giant roll of white paper, markers and pencils and I would draw. After I would set aside another hour every night to watch YouTube videos of other artists, drawing techniques and research the history of art.

I wish I would have learning drawing fundamentals way earlier. I was so eager to just dive and in make things I made so many mistakes early on that could have been avoided by just slowing down and focus on the basics of drawing. Learning how to draw heads and hands and how bodies move should have been my focus way earlier.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got my start doing illegal street art. I was going out at night and putting up little characters I had drawn. Because I was always going out at night I landed on this little bat character. I started to identify with them as it seem we started to keep the same sleep and eating schedule.

Soon after I started seeing people asking on reddit about who was leaving these bats all over the city and one comment that said “I wish I could have one of these in my home”. So I used the same process for street art and created a product people could buy. As soon as responded and told them it was me and I made a handful of wooden bats I sold out instantly!

Now years later the hardest part has been balance. Creating products, recording videos, editing videos and then posting those videos to social media to sell new products. Then taking that money and figuring out what to invest in new projects and what to use for bills, Being a successful creative isn’t about making the best art. It’s about being a responsible business owner and I had to learn that aspect super quick!

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

NFTs are the future. It is too early for most people to understand but culture always follows art. People just think they are pictures of animals. But once you start thinking about NFTs as a digital programable receipt on the crypto block chain, things get a lot more interesting. It’s a complete disruption of every market once you go down the NFT rabbit hole.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Knowing you left your mark on the world. Creating something that has never existed before. I have birthing something from nothing that can never be recreated by anyone else. The satisfaction of bring something that has never been created into existence makes you a god.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.FreakingDingBat.com
• Instagram: FreakingDingBat
• Facebook: FreakingDingBat
• Linkedin: FreakingDingBat
• Twitter: FreakingDingBat
• Youtube: FreakingDingBat
• Other: FreakingDingBat

Image Credits
Photo by Freaking Ding Bat