We recently connected with GABRIEL DIETER and have shared our conversation below.

Hi GABRIEL, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I’ve drawn all my life and a few years ago when I was looking for a design job I was approached by a local tex-mex restaurant chain to become their in-house artist. I had never done “commercial art” before and didn’t even know what that would look like in todays terms. I’m still figuring that out but it’s been pretty nuts drawing for steady money and some of the assignments these folks come up with have been fun and challenging to get from point A to point B. My first T-shirt assignment was the Mandalorian and Grogu riding on a burrito. Never in a million years would I have drawn that on my own. Its so fun and random.

Along side this Tex-Mex adventure, I’ve been drawing my own line of coloring books and selling them on amazon. My latest work is fantasy themed and its been a lot of fun creating new characters and mixing them up with some old ones and putting them in some tricky situations. I’ve always been into story telling with one panel and this has been flexing that muscle more than ever.

At the time I was approached with this interview I was kicked off amazon and I turned that anger and confusion into hands of fire. I have executed a line of monster t-shirt designs on redbubble.com. For a couple of years I’ve been sitting on the desire to draw faces really big and colorful on shirts. Art beats trauma for me most of the time haha. Also, when there is a flurry of activity everyone benefits. Usually when passion leads to productivity, as long as there is a plan… it usually works out for the better.

Anyway, I think the best way to earn a living from art is, one by one, NOT ALL AT ONCE, have a few irons in the fire. Build a few small incomes and let them feed off of each other. I’ll check back in and let you know how this works out haha!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

On February 5, 2011 I entered the world of making art for money. Not because I had grand aspirations of professional art, but because I had a body of work building and the timing couldn’t be anything other than synchronicity. I was in a crap relationship and was keeping my desperation bottled up in my art studio every second of my spare time. I had been experimenting with drugs and THAT wasn’t helping my situation. My brotha from anotha motha and fellow art guy Rene Cruz saw what I was working on and put some feelers out for a solo art show. As soon as I had the green light at the local amazing book store and art venue named DOMY, I set up an art factory at my sisters house. I finished 100 pieces of art and began making merch to augment the show experience. I made so much merch my hands hurt just thinking about it. I had t-shirts, zines, art prints, and had even bought like fifty paddle balls to mod podge my art onto. I even packaged them to look like something you would find at a flea market in the 90’s. I just felt like if I had something at a lower price point than original art I would do ok and people could take a piece of the show home with them. Its been working like that ever since.

Also, I didn’t know anything about promoting art shows but I had a hand in promoting punk rock shows since I was a kid. I had distributed flyers and posters I made myself all over the area but I didn’t feel like that was enough. I wanted to push this thing way over the edge so I decided to make a spectacle out of myself walking around handing out flyers. I dressed up in my favorite Halloween costume which consisted of a beautiful blue mexican dress, a blue luchador mask, and Mohamed Ali training boots. I looked like a super hero rodeo clown or something. Anyway, that was mostly well received and I like to think it helped.

Now that I think about it, maybe embarrassment was the only constant leading up to the show. The local alternative newspaper called me for an interview and I was so shy clenched up I probably gave the worst answers to everything I was asked. Sound familiar? I have no idea how that guy pulled a solid article out of that mess, but he did. I still have copies of that issue more as a testament to professional journalism, than the content I provided.

The show was a banger, as the kids say. It was the first time I had a spotlight in me like that. I can barely remember the experience I was so nervous. Over the year I had kind of become a hermit. My studio could be called a womb and this show was a birth? I went from being alone with my thoughts for a year to being surrounded by a large crowd of people. Luckily I could wade into the clot of family and friends when I needed to decompress. I still get a little weird doing shows with a crowd. Especially after covid was over.

My first show was pretty much the most well attended of my art career. I’ve been more successful in other ways, but nothing had the impact on my confidence that this one did. In my mind it was just the first chapter of a very long book.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The difference between drawing for myself vs drawing to share with others, has flipped a switch in the way I interact with the world. I’m not great with words. I fail at public speaking when its just my family haha! I’ve always felt like an outsider for one reason or another. So seeing hundreds of people looking at my stuff and laughing or pointing and rolling their eyes is so satisfying. Even when people get disgusted with my work and chew me out about my art being violent or dark in a way they dont approve of, it’s all coal for the furnace. It allows me to connect with other people in a way that’s very unique and the feelings generated can be very unexpected. My spirit has never felt so nourished as when someone says they get some cartoon I’ve drawn. I love it.

It’s also great to take my wife to a celebration dinner after a show. We do everything ourselves and that takes a lot of time and effort. So it’s really something to be able to pay for things from my imagination.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When you open yourself up to the public, not everybody is going to like you. You aren’t going to like everybody either. People are a mixed bag and it can be really hard to interact with them. From the viewing public, to customers, to vendors, to other artists you collaborate with, not everything is going to work out.

I’ve had to deal with a LOT of rejection in this journey. It’s ok. My work is not for everybody. My personality is not for everybody. Usually I approach things like a reverse mullet: Party in the front, business in the back. My favorite business guys don’t dress in suits. They wear golf clothes and always have a drink in their hand. I try to follow that type of thinking. Just be cool under pressure and let people be people and act accordingly. Don’t let anyone dictate you’re behavior.

I’ve had someone tell me they’re suicidal over a hard decision I had to make not to work with them mid-project. That was a tough situation to navigate because on one hand I felt like they were trying to manipulate me and on the other, how would we continue the project when you drop that emotional bomb on me? Woof! That was a tough one. I try to be fair to others but you have to be fair to yourself as well.
Things never got ugly but I’m sure my reputation took a hit in certain circles without people knowing both sides of the story. I guess they know part of it now a decade later…

I have been doing this a while so I have quite a few stories like that. But the experience of dealing with them has made me grow as a person and now I can deal with them a lot easier and not take things so personally. Less scorched earth, more “they must be having a rough time, let’s find another way”.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.revengeoftheworld.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabrieldieter
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabriel.dieter
• Other: Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/GabrielDieter