Columbus, Ohio's very own Blueprint gained the attention of hip-hop fans with his collaboration on RJD2's song "Final Frontier" in 2002. After joining RJD2 for a couple of albums, they joined forces in Soul Position. The restless Blueprint is also a member of The Greenhouse Effect, which consists of himself and Illogic. Racking up a number of solo albums with Weightless Records and Rhymesayers he's been a staple of the underground hip-hop scene for well over ten years. While he's not producing albums for himself or other artists he's touring heavily. Traveling in Europe with the Family Values Tour, MOVEMENT got the chance to shoot him some questions...

You've been on tour for quite some time now with "The Family Vacation Tour", clearly staying very busy. What do you do in your spare time when you have a day off?

In my spare time I've been working on a lot of video projects.  Last year I started messing around with video editing and I've been learning a lot about it and experimenting with it.  I've got a few small video projects I try to work on to keep myself busy during down time out here.  Either that or writing stuff for my blog at printmatic.net, but mostly video stuff.

I know with the Rhymesayers label you took a six year break between the 1988 album and the new one, Adventures In Counter-Culture, was there a reason for this? Do you still plan on releasing things on Weightless Recordings? You were rocking with Greenhouse Effect for a while back in the day, and then decided to do your solo thing, do you think you will do another collaborative in that vein anytime soon?

The main reason for the break in between albums was that I was unsatisfied with what I was doing artistically and wanted to something way more ambitious, but before I could do something more ambitious I had to have a better understanding of music.  Unfortunately, it takes years to really learn about music and learn to write songs that aren't just rap songs.  I was happy with the straightforward hip-hop stuff I was doing, but I felt like I had to have talent to do more, and the only way to do that was to take a break from releasing new records and really dedicate my life to learning about music, and following it wherever it took me.  

I still plan on releasing things on Weightless Recordings, but last winter when I saw how much time I was going to be touring I decided that I needed to take a step back from my role in running the label. I talked with all the artists and slowly started shifting my focus to my solo career.  Everybody involved was really understanding when they realized how long I had been putting out records but had never truly been dedicated to my solo career.  I'd done many Greenhouse and Soul Position albums, as well as produced a ton of albums for other Weightless artists like Zero Star, Illogic, and Envelope, but I never really made myself or my career a priority.  But with Adventures in Counter-Culture coming out I decided that I needed to change that and shift my focus, or else I would go my whole career not knowing what would've happened had I really pushed it as a solo artist.  There were other roles I had to give up as well that were preventing me from concentrating on myself, so it was a gradual process of coming into my own and realizing that for me to be successful long-term I had to put myself first.   I do plan on doing more Greenhouse albums this winter with Illogic though.  I really enjoy working with him and it doesn't interfere with what I'm already working on.

I do plan on doing more Greenhouse and Soul Positions, hopefully next year.

Watching you perform live recently there was a definite branching out of the hip hop realm a bit, what influenced that and have you gotten any negative feedback from it?

I felt I had to change the live show to really do the album justice.  Because Adventures In Counter-Culture is such an eclectic and progressive album, I felt like I had to do something really different and innovative onstage to match that, which meant that all the standard nuances of a hip-hop show had to go out the window as well. Not because I feel like don't love those things, but because I feel like I'm in a different place and I want to push boundaries and challenge people.  All the people who come out to shows expecting me to do what I've been doing for years are taken aback by the new performance style, but overall it re-energizes them, and the way people view me now has completely changed.  Before I was just a dope rapper, now people view me more as an artist who can and will do whatever the fuck he wants to do, which is what I feel better about.  I hate feeling like I'm being safe, and the only way to ensure that doesn't happen is to constantly challenge myself in every area of my art.

I have been heavily influenced by rock performances more than hip-hop performances over the past few years, so that influence comes out a lot in how I set up the live show.



How are the dynamics of playing with a live band different from just having a DJ onstage? I noticed there were a lot of instrumental jams during the show and that isn't something you hear often during hip-hop sets. How did you meet your bassist Bobby Silver?

They dynamics of playing with a band are really different, mostly because whenever you do something live you introduce the potential for error.  There are nights where I hit bad notes and although it sucks, it makes me feel more alive because I know I'm actually taking risks and that it's not programmed.   The biggest advantage is that you can put together something really unique and one of a kind onstage.  I can throw in instrumental jams and blend them into the vocal stuff and it feels like one cohesive piece--not just thrown together.  It's really hard to create a set that's one cohesive, continuous piece of music with just a DJ, but adding instruments has allowed us to do that.  At heart I'm a hip-hop dude, and always will be, so that mentality will be present in what I do, but now we can do so much more with it.

I met Bobby through the rock scene in Columbus, and from spending many nights drinking with him until four or five in the morning, back before I stopped drinking.  He was in a band called Brainbow an incredible band that I've been a fan of forever.  Me and his band collaborated a couple times so we've all been friends for awhile, and he always said that whenever I start incorporating live musicians into my show to hit him up.  So when I started planning out the live set, he was the first cat I reached out to.

I gotta ask, what’s up with the keytar?

The keytar is my secret weapon! It was always something that I used to joke about bringing onstage for a hip-hop show, but they were always too expensive until the latest one came out with the Rock Band video game.  I did some research on it and found out it could be adapted for my show and I brought it on tour with me immediately, without even really practicing that much at home with it.  I just felt like it gave me something completely different on stage that kind of bugged people out when they saw it because it’s the last thing they’d expect at a hip-hop show.

Do you still write your rhymes shorthand? Like in a notebook or do you mostly just jot’em down on a smartphone or computer?

I still write all my rhymes in my phone. I used to do it on my Sidekick but now I've got a Blackberry.  I haven't had an actual notepad in almost 10 years.  It helps to be able to do it on the phone when you're touring a lot.

Growing up, did your parents play a lot of music in the household? Do you remember that first song that you heard that made you go, "Damn! This is awesome"?

Definitely.  My parents played a lot of gospel and R&B in the house when I was growing up.  I think the first song I really repeated over and over again was "Boogie On Reggae Woman" by Stevie Wonder.  We had the 45 and I would sneak off into my room and listen to it on repeat over and over.

Who are some other lyricists that you look up to?

Always looked up to guys like Rakim and Saul Williams the most.  I think they're both incredible writers but in completely different ways.

Anyone out there that you are looking forward to working with or want to? What albums or books are you into right now?

Not so much right now.  I've been doing so much touring that collaborating with people would probably be very difficult.  Hopefully I will do some music with DJ Therapy while I'm in town. He and I have been talking about it for a while, so once I get the beat from him it's gonna be on.  Lately I've been reading a bunch of technical books about filmmaking and trying to learn Ableton Live so I can start incorporating it into my live show more.  I would like to read more fiction but it's hard to find the time because I've been so busy reading all the manuals lately, trying to stay sharp and aware of the newer technology that’s out there as far as beat-making goes.

Knowing that you have played in Jacksonville a couple times, how have your experiences been so far in this city? Jacksonville has a very deep-rooted hip-hop scene and I’m always curious to hear about people’s opinion and experiences... And word on the street is that you have plans on coming back soon?

So far my experiences in Jacksonville have been great.  It reminds me of Columbus in the way that it's a smaller market and how the acts in the city have great camaraderie.  I already knew DJ Therapy (Paten Locke) from touring with him back in 2007 and we have been friends since, and I just met Willie Evans Jr, and I think he's a really dope artist too.  It’s awesome that they come out and support me when I'm in town or just shoot through to say what’s up.  I like the people in the city as well.  Can’t wait to play there again.  I'll be back Saturday Dec 17th @ The Phoenix Taproom.


Interview by Jessica Whittington
Photos by Max Michaels


1. Is this the first Cult Fiction convention?

Yes, this is the inaugural run for Cult Fiction Drive-In. However, Bob Slendorn (co-promoter) and myself (Ken Nelson) have been involved in conventions for years and years.

2. Who conceptualized the event and why?

I write for a magazine called Horrorhound and they throw these enormous events in the midwest, however they are catered almost entirely toward the horror audience. And similar events exist all over the country, however there really wasn't anything out there that provided that same sort of experience for fans of cult cinema in general beyond those who appreciate scare flicks. Bob conceptualized the idea of doing a 'cult' movie convention and approached me about joining him in the endeavor and I jumped at it. We envisioned it as a chance to not only bring in different kinds of celebrities that don't necessarily fit into the lineup at a horror convention or comic con, but also to highlight some of the less celebrated work - at least on a mainstream level - of different celebrities who often frequent such events.

3. You are from out of town (where?), so why choose Jax to hold it over cities like Tampa or Orlando?

At the time Bob came up with the idea for the show he was living in Port Orange, FL and Jacksonville just seemed to be a great central location to draw in fans from all the surrounding areas. Being in Northeast Florida and right off of I-95 provides easy access for fans to come down from places like Georgia and the Carolinas, as well as from Florida too.

4. Who is your favorite cult icon? (and will they be at the con?)


My favorite cult icon has to be Pam Grier - she's just been in so many classic exploitation films like Coffy and Foxy Brown that are a blast to watch over and over again. Not to mention her role under Tarantino as the title character in Jackie Brown - she's just such a great actress. And it certainly doesn't hurt that she was a badass and a beauty in those old grindhouse-era flicks. We're fortunate enough to have her at the show the entire weekend to meet with fans, sign autographs, perform a Q&A and more. We're also showing her best flick in my opinion, Coffy, on our outdoor drive-in screen Saturday night.

5. What is your favorite cult film?

There are so many that it's nearly impossible to choose. One of my favorites has to be Critters - it was sort of a Gremlins ripoff in the mid-80's that had this wonderful blend of sci/fi, horror, and humor - it's the kind of flick they just don't make anymore these days. I couldn't even begin to count how many times I've seen it. We'll also be hosting a Critters series reunion (yes, there are 4 of them!) at Cult Fiction Drive-In with Dee Wallace, Don Opper, and Liane Curtis in attendance. We'll also be showing Critters 2 on our outdoor drive-in screen Saturday night.

6. How has the pre-show response been? (are pre-sale tickets doing well?)

Ticket pre-sales have been great for a first-time show! There seems to be a lot of people excited about an event like this coming to Jacksonville - the community has been great at getting the word out there with lots of businesses going the extra mile to help out too such as Maverick's and EU Jacksonville.

7. If this convention does well, will you keep it in Jax for the next one - will there be a next one? Either way, do you promote events like this elsewhere, if so what/where?


Absolutely! We envision this to be an event that grows and becomes something that everyone looks forward to year after year. If the buzz we've received so far is any indication then I think we'll certainly be back in Jacksonville for many years to come!

CULT FICTION Drive-In
Underground Film and Cult Cinema Convention
at the Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk

May 20-22, 2011

Friday - 4pm-10pm
Saturday - 10pm-7pm
Sunday - 11pm-5pm

Get all the info at http://www.cultfictiondrive-in.com/

We're here with the Edbot5000. First, thanks for coming out Ed!

"Thank you!"

You want to fill us in on your real bio? The bio from DeviantArt didn't say anything about you except you were drinking coffee and listening to angry music.

"I'm not into the artist bios. Every time I do one it comes off sounding like I'm a pretentious ass, so I like to keep them short and funny. I keep it simple. I'm a big comic book fan, quasi-collector, quasi-musician, quasi-art historian."

Pringle's or Lay's?

"The company Frito Lay?"

No, the crappy Lay's potato chips.

"Pringles, then. Definitely."

Where are you originally from? Are you the increasingly rare, 'Jacksonville native?'

*laughs* "Well, I've been here most of my life, but I was actually born in a small town in Indiana called Bunker Hill."

Bunker Hill, really?

"Yeah, it's like what Live Oak... well, maybe... no, definitely. It's what Live Oak would be to Jacksonville. One-street town in Indiana. I vaguely remember it, because it was like pre-school and kindergarten."

So the first five years?

"Yeah, about that. According to my folks, we spent a year or two in Arkansas, but I can't remember that at all. I think I probably blocked it out of my mind completely."

I don't blame you.

"Yeah, lucky me, I can't remember anything about it. So, a couple years in Arkansas and then my dad got stationed here when I was about six or seven."

Where'd you go to school?

"I'm actually surprised at how sane I turned out because there's a funny story about where I went to school. I actually, until eighth grade, went to St. Matthew's, which was a Catholic school."

I have scars on my knuckles from rulers at Catholic school.

"Yeah, I actually went there when the nuns were getting sued. I guess a nun slapped a kid in the face, so the parents weren't really down with that and sued the school. So I actually had a nun-less school my last year there. Pretty crazy. It was all like regular civilians there my last year. Nun-less."

I remember the order of escalations from Catholic school. There was like detention, then parent-teacher conference, then suspension, and then you went straight to hell.

"Yeah, exactly. Pretty much it. But I wasn't Catholic, so there was like me, and another group of kids that weren't Catholic either who hung out, kind of on the fringes. But we all went to Catholic school because our folks wanted us to go to private school, because it was a better school."

Was it?

"Allegedly, not really. So it was me and a handful of other kids that would hang out because they wouldn't let us take part in communion, or confession, or whatever... because, you know, they made you do stuff like that. We would just kind of hang out, isolated from everyone else, while the Catholics were doing the confirmation thing."

Isolated?

"Yeah, like gingers or something."

Were you already doing art in school there?

"I doodled a lot because my dad got me into comic books and stuff when I was really little. He'd always get like the ten for a dollar or the back-issues... then pre-screen them, of course, and then, you know. Give them to me. So I always doodled and was really into comics, but I didn't have any, you know 'formal' training until post-high-school. Because, actually, the second part of my weird school story is that for high school, I went to Trinity Christian Academy. So I went from Catholic School, to Fundamental Baptist... talk about a HUGE difference! So at Trinity art was like,

Wait, really? So you went from Catholic School to Fundamentalist Christian school and you were neither Catholic nor Fundamentalist Christian?

"Yeah, I know... anyway, at Trinity, art was like... banned, because it was the devil."

So you've already done your time in hell?

"Yeah, exactly! I pretty much went to where rich bad kids got sent my whole life."

Were you a rich bad kid?

"Nope, I was neither rich, nor bad. But people left me alone because I wore a trench coat one day to school and from then on everyone thought I was a Satanist."

For wearing a raincoat?

"Yeah, totally. And this was before the Colorado incident with the trench coat mafia, but they left me alone."

I can see the connection. Rain gear definitely equals Satanist.

"Absolutely. I wore the trench coat actually, because... do you remember the show back then? Parker Lewis can't lose? I wore it because of that sidekick guy. He would always pull all that stuff out of his trench coat and I thought it was cool with all his gadgets. It was kind of a TV rip off of Ferris Bueller. So everyone left me alone because I listened to metal and wore a trench coat. Never mind I wore it because I liked a stupid show."

Did you have long hair?

"No, they didn't allow it. It wasn't like a uniform like Catholic school where you had to wear the same thing every day, but it was a collared shirt, no facial hair, no hair past your collar, nice pants, and you know. So, not like a uniform, but still, you had to wear your hair a certain way."

Was it co-ed?

"Yeah, totally."

You get down with some fundy chicks? You know, since you were such a bad boy?

"I didn't do a lot of dating in high school."

They were all saving themselves for non-Satanist guys wearing Member's Only jackets or something?

"Kind of, but I was really fat and pimply in high school too, so that negated any 'bad boy' attraction that I could've had. I'm still fat, but my skin cleared up nice."

So I'm guessing from your body language and voice inflection that high school and primary school, not really the best times of your life.


"I don't remember them fondly. Not at all. When I got out of high school, I didn't even want to do the ceremony. I just wanted out, I didn't want to do the commencement, I just wanted out. Like, just mail me my diploma and let me get on with my life. I had some really good friends there, because I could kind of float between the cliques, but it definitely wasn't fun. It was, you know... like most high schools, run by the jocks and rich kids. Except with not as many drugs or shootings at Trinity... although there was a like, rumble in the parking lot, with like 40 kids from Trinity and then some from the public school. No one really got hurt..."

A rumble? Or like a ruckus?

"Definitely a rumble, but not like, you know, 'Warriors... come out and play!' or anything. Like a big brawl, but only like one guy from our school was the one that got beat up, no one really got hurt, just mostly pushing and shoving, but this one guy got beat, like took the brunt of all the beatings."

Did he deserve it?

"No, he was an okay guy, a decent guy... you know, well, he probably didn't deserve it. He was alright for a jock. No, I guess he deserved it. Yeah, he totally deserved it."



Alright, so what about the time after the 'bad time.' College? Any formal training in college? Where did you go?

"I did the FCCJ thing, I went to JU for a couple of semesters. My dad worked there, so I didn't have to pay the full-on private school tuition, but then when he left, I had to go to FCCJ. I was kind of directionless, like most people in school. Just took a bunch of art classes, went to UNF afterwards. Finally got out of UNF with my graphic design degree. Tried doing that for a year and hated it. After taking all the fine art classes and traditional art classes, working within those parameters was just, you know... I like design and I liked studying it, but you know, it was very rigid. Very structured. I worked doing freelance stuff for City Hall. I had a really bad experience right out of high school, when I got out, it was when multimedia was becoming the hot thing, so I just finished up this print-based degree and the very next year everyone was wanting multimedia guys. So, part of it was bad timing. They implemented the program the year after I left, so I was definitely on the 'blunt edge' of the graphic design program, you know? But I did do some freelance work, and I still do some freelance stuff now."

Well, you're definitely print-based now. I mean, it doesn't get more fine art than painting.

"Yeah, definitely."

What medium do you work in most often?

"Right now, just due to my lack of studio space, I work in acrylics, because it's not as messy. You don't have to have toxic chemicals hanging around the place like working with oils."

Do you prefer oils then?

"I actually like acrylics because I'm so impatient, but oils definitely have richer colors. More vibrant. But they take forever to dry. I just want to paint something and be done with it and move on to something else. So I'm definitely going to be sticking with acrylics for a while."

I like that some oil-based paints have arsenic in them.

"Yeah, if you're a angst-filled oil artist you can just off yourself in the studio when you're done with your masterpiece."

Nice. So, you canvas or board or what? I saw that you did an acoustic ceiling tile for Universe of Super Heroes.

"Yeah, a ceiling tile, that was Frankenstein. It was kind of like painting on canvas. It went better than I thought it would. It soaked up a lot of the paint like painting on canvas over wood. It had a nice texture and held the paint really well. I should be dropping that off this weekend."

Some quick work-related questions for you. Ready?

"Shoot."

Was Astaroth the head or belly?

"Pretty sure he was the head. I think the belly was like an independent, like mindless minion or something. The new stuff I'm doing, I like to do new stuff every month. Like the show I did last month was called 8-Bit Evil. Just trying to draw the bad guys from the old video games."

I loved the one from Contra. That definitely resonates with me. You know, everyone knew that boss.

"Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Select, Start."

Were the Contra guys gay?

"Yeah, totally gay. Lance and Bill? They wore matching outfits that didn't include shirts. Completely gay. It's funny though because all the stuff that was so macho-manly in the 80's and early 90's is so gay now. Like Magnum PI with his bristly mustache, Hawaiian shirt, and his short-shorts. Back then he was the epitome of manly heterosexuality, now... so he'd be so gay."

A bear.

"Yeah, exactly. Look at his mustache."

Speaking of facial hair, I notice your beard is pretty tame.

"Yeah, it's pretty low-key. My mom is from Taiwan originally and I had a chance to go there last year in April, so before I got on an international flight, I definitely didn't want to have a foot-long black beard in the airport with my complexion. It was definitely more paranoia than anything, but I'm sure it was a good idea. I mean, I never really noticed how big it was, but I look at pictures now and I‘m shocked at how big it was."

It was huge.

"Yeah, it was getting ridiculous. I mean, I guess I made the statement I was trying to make with the beard, but it's time for a change. Just moving on. It was ridiculous. I mean, I had to tuck my beard into my shirt to eat soup, or anything like that. I look at pictures and I'm like, 'That was so huge.'"

It was easily as big as your head. It was massive. It had its own gravity.

"You never notice it when you look in the mirror. But it was definitely getting out of hand, and once something interferes with my eating... sorry, got to go."

If you can't eat E-street beer-cheese soup, what do you really have, right?

"Yeah, definitely had to go."

Frankenstein's Monster... where are the bolts?

"I was definitely trying to do my interpretation of the monster. And I was scared to death of making it look like the Hulk. It's a big muscular green dude in my style, so it would definitely look like the Hulk so I changed my style for the painting. I thought about the bolts, but when I had finished the painting without them..."



It looks complete the way it is.

"I think so too. If I had added the bolts, they would have looked 'added,' and kind of cluttered it up."

It's creepy as hell, Ed.

"Thanks. I like it. I was happy with how it looked, so I didn't want to go back. I was more concerned about making the body look stitched together."

You can see the musculature under the skin.

"Exactly, I definitely wanted to make it look more horror than comic-book. Very sketchy. That's how I made him look, you know... NOT like the Hulk. I had never done a Frankenstein monster before, and my friend Nick did Bride of Frankenstein to hang up on the ceiling at Universe, so I wanted to, you know... complete the set."

Are you ready for a pretentiously artsy-fartsy question?

"Oooh, definitely yeah."

So, they say that eyes are the windows of the soul, and I notice your Frankenstein's monster has eyes completely shadowed and invisible. Are you saying that the monster has no soul? Or did you even think that far ahead to a hypothetical interview where you'd be asked this question?

*laughs* "I actually thought far enough ahead in that vein to think, 'I don't want to paint eyeballs because they're hard to do right' That's about how far ahead I thought, but I wanted to make sure that all my darker stuff, especially characters with the big brow, I usually end up putting their eyes in shadow because it looks right. Just maybe putting a highlight in there, but with the Frankenstein’s monster I didn't want to do that because I didn't want it to look like the Terminator."

Did you ever come up with a back story for your toons? Shyloh, Crabcakes, Claws, all those? And the Doom Floater... which incidentally, sounds like the toilet after Taco Bell.

"I get that a lot. I'm used to the jokes about floaters. I kind of have a story. It's about a dystopian future, you know, where reality TV has taken the place of just about everything. Shyloh is basically a bounty hunter, but the first female one, so there's a whole new dynamic taking place as she's filmed catching criminals or whatnot. It's like, the police have to not just catch the guys, but make it entertaining because they get paid by ratings. My problem is that writing isn't really a strong suit of mine, so I like putting the characters together, so I ended up with a storyline like a cross between the Running Man and Robocop. Everything's corrupt, corporations own everything, everything is about entertainment, instead of actually enforcing the law. But mostly, I like putting characters together, so I don't think much of the story and I just kind of left it there. When I was first starting to paint, it was darker stuff."

You keep mentioning 'dark stuff,' and I have to tell you, 'Shadowbot?' I want that hanging in my foyer like you wouldn't believe. It's freaking awesome.

"Really?"

Oh yeah, definitely. I love that stuff. The way you sketched it, the menace was like a punch in the gut. So, is that what you're talking about, or darker than that?

"I was doing more figurative stuff before. I don't have that kind of stuff online because I like to keep stuff current, but its definitely more expressionist stuff. Like German expressionist. Very dark. But then I took a break, working a lot more, and when I came back my style had completely changed. I hadn't picked up a paintbrush in years when I started getting back into it, around 2006."

Was it like riding a bike?

"I wish, but no. My style had totally changed. My drawings and paintings definitely have a more uniform feeling now. Before, when I would sketch, it would be comic book stuff and when I'd paint, it was a loose, kind of flowing abstract expressionism, but now, my sketching and painting are definitely more similar than different."

Tell me about the Mega-Girls.

"With the Mega-Girls, which are basically the bosses from Mega-Man, just gender-swapped. I had this image of the Metal Man as a girl and it ended up looking like one of the Mortal Kombat girls, which was pretty cool. I did that one and I got a huge response. I had always known that when you're doing online social network stuff, like DeviantArt, the response you get is always pretty fast. But whereas before when I was doing my own stuff, I'd always get some response, but when I did something that people knew, the response was instantaneous. It sucks that it took me this long to figure out, but as soon as I put a twist on something that people already knew, I got so much more response that it definitely shaped the next few pieces."

So it resonated with more people?


"Definitely. I read something that people in our age group, it's all about nostalgia. They want to see stuff that they've seen before. Something that reminds them of the stuff they were into when they were kids, you know?"

I'm just flattered you think I'm in your age group.

"I'm not too far behind you! But looking back, you know it's a big part of how people around our age look at the world. Nostalgia is a huge part of why I do this. Once I started doing Mega Girl, people came out saying, 'Do this! Do that! Are you going to do the rest of them!' and I got more hits on that one piece than on everything I had ever done before then. Now I don't even necessarily have to search for ideas. All the work's already been done, the characters, the Mega Girls, have already been designed, now I'm just putting my little twist on something that's already out there that people like. So I did all the bosses from Mega-Man 1 and 2, and I'll start on 3 as soon as I'm not sick of doing them anymore."

What do you mean?

"I was getting to the point where I would knock out three or four a day. I'm taking a break for now, although I'll get back to it soon. I think the reason they resonate with me as an artist is because that simple design, with the simple colors is so riveting. It helps to already have the design out there. I'm just making the Mega Man men into women. I'm not even the first person to do something like this, but I have to say that it's fun and I'm getting good response, so I'll keep doing it. I want to keep it simple, 8-bit character design. It helps me as well, with my characters. You know, you don't have to get so technical about it. You can make a very simple design that catches the eye and pulls the viewer in, you know? When you get complicated and very technical, you get wrapped up in fine details."

You're a musician too, so I know that you're familiar with the extremely simple hooks in music. It's the same thing then?

"Definitely. You get onstage, play something that's extremely difficult to learn, impossible to master, that's complex and subtle, and you play your heart out, look around and there's nothing but crickets. You play a three-chord song with a catchy hook and people fight each other to get on the dance floor. Four on the floor, three chords and you're done. Same thing."

MAre you trying to become a more commercial artist? Obviously you sell your work, so is that what you envision yourself doing?


"I'm not sure what my goal is, but I'm trying to get into certain markets for sure. I'm a huge retro-gamer, and I'm trying to get into collecting them. I have all the emulators, so I can play all the games I couldn't afford as a kid, so it's pretty awesome. It's awesome that there's the technology that lets me be a retro gamer in 2011."

Just throwing it out there, if you ever get a chance to draw the wasps from Yar's Revenge or Q-Bert's pyramids, let me know.

"Definitely. I've been looking at Atari stuff as a new focus. I definitely want to paint some Q-Berts."

It's very phallic.

"So much phallus, yeah."

Which brings me to 'Drill Robot Drill.' That could definitely go a couple of different ways... because where his drill is...



"Some people pointed that out. I tried to keep it subtle, really to just complete the shape. It was either going to be some sort of propulsion system or the drill, and people pointed out that it looked phallic. It wasn't gratuitous, so it wasn't bad. It's not like Ashley Wood where there's hydraulic pumps just hammering away in the groin area."

Over Your Shoulder, you described this a kind of dark self-portrait. Really? Where do you get you out of that? What were you thinking when you did that? Were you at a low point in your life or what?

"He's kind of wearing glasses. He's skinnier than I am. But definitely, without revealing too much, it was a pretty low point. When I was doing that stuff I was frustrated with a lot of things in my life. And you know, when I say, 'darker stuff' it means, like the characters. Just the concepts and stuff. At that point I was in my, 'I want to be Derek Hess phase.' So I was doing a lot of sketchier, looser things. At that point, I was doing stuff in all digital. I was just doing things that I didn't have to worry about making a mess, I'd have it forever, just print it out and there you go. That's kind of where my mind was during that time. Of course, you always come back to painting. There's no real way to replicate it, no matter how good the technology gets, there's something about having actual paints on and actual piece of art that you can hold and touch that's special."

So where do you see the fine arts going? Not necessarily asking for global trends, but like, here, in Jacksonville? We're sitting in Café 331 right now, surrounded by fine art, there's Art Walks all over the place with thousands of attendees, even the airport has a little gallery, are we in a fine art revival here in Jacksonville.

"The Art Walks, I can only really talk about the one here downtown, but they're always a blast. I have some pieces hung in the Art Center on Adams Street and I'm definitely the odd one out there. The other people are more traditional fine artists, my stuff is definitely the odd one out. There's a lot of good stuff everywhere now. There are a couple thousand people coming in there and it's great, after being in this for so long to see stuff like this bloom and then wither away, it's nice to see it coming back and getting some recognition."

There was a mini-revival in the early to mid-90's here, and now it seems like art is almost taken for granted in Jacksonville.

"Well, that's kind of cool. That there's enough artists out there working that you can take it for granted. I don't know if I see any real focus, it's mostly just chaos. Jacksonville is this huge place with all these different parts of the city where people don't really leave. Like people at the beach aren't going to cross the ditch. People in Mandarin aren't going to go to Orange Park. It's a strange town because people are stuck in their comfort zone, in their area, so they don't go anywhere. If you've got something going on, you have to get the people in that immediate area and then start getting people from slightly outside and then expand from there. I mean, if you grew up here, you'd know that you have to drive for 30 minutes to get anywhere in the city, but still people don't want to do it. People who think nothing of making an hour commute during the day to go to work, won't drive anywhere at night. It's weird that everything is so scattered. There's not any unified mentality to Jacksonville, there's just these little pockets of stuff going on, but each person's Jacksonville is right around their house and everywhere else is too far."

I live in Orange Park and there's people who won't go north of the highway for anything.

"I remember working at the Orange Park George's Music and people from Mandarin would call and say, 'God, I don't want to cross the Buckman to get there.' but really, it's like what? Four miles? I think it's more an aversion to bridges. If there's a bridge involved, forget it."

City full of vampires.

"Can't cross running water?"

Right.

"It's cool though, since it seems like there's more opportunity for people now. The library has a ton of stuff going on every month. There's some guys converting warehouses into music and art venues. It's a good time and lots of cool things going on, but you have to know where to look for them."

Okay... so let's say that you, beyond the wildest of wildest dreams, become the next big thing. Your characters, like Shyloh or Sickle or something gets a series or someone wants to make a comic book with them. How do you react to something like that? Are you actively pursuing success?

"That's interesting to talk to someone without using the phrase, 'selling out.' It's weird, because if you had asked me this before, you know, when I was younger and a lot more idealistic, I wouldn't do it at all. Now though? I'm ready. Let's do this. I'm tired of having no money. But, I don't know if I could ever just outright sell my characters off, you know? Like if I were approached and they would own the rights to my characters... unless it was some ridiculously huge amount of money that I just couldn't turn away. If someone wanted to take my characters and use them, it's tough, because there's always a part of me that used to look, like other artists, at their art as like, their children. They get so attached to them, you know? But at this point? If this is my career, I don't think I have the emotional attachment to my work where I couldn't let it go. I mean, there's definitely something there with each and every piece, but there's not enough of an attachment that I couldn't sell them. I had someone ask about the Astaroth piece, and they were like, 'Is that for sale?' and I said, 'Of course it's for sale. Everything I do is for sale!' Not even thinking like one of those artists that doesn't ever sell their work. There's artists out there that won't even SHOW their work because it's too private and personal part of themselves."

That's always annoyed me at gallery shows, 'NOT FOR SALE.' Why the fuck not?

"Exactly. Why are you showing it in public at all then? Is it just saying, 'Look how good I am?' It's kind of weird, unless its a show where the pieces have already been bought and it's part of someone's collection and they're showing the piece just to, you know, round out the collection so there's enough to fill the gallery. I want to understand why someone would show a piece in a public setting like that without wanting any kind of compensation for it. I mean, words are great, yeah, but words don't pay bills or put food on the table. I'm at the point where I'm not as young as I was when I started, and I'm definitely not as idealistic as I was, so everything I do is for sale. Everyone has a price, and the term, 'selling out' doesn't mean as much to me as it did when I was younger."

Well, the phrase 'selling out' is really overused. If you're still doing what you want and no one is telling you what to paint, then you're really just 'selling art,' not selling out. Having art with commercial appeal doesn't mean your art is shallow or 'not art.'

"Take the Nintendo stuff, the video game stuff. That's easily my best-selling work. I've sold almost a dozen pieces of the small pieces. The stuff that sells for me are the small ones. I sold some stuff to a gallery down south called Bird & Bear Gallery, it's part of Tate Comics. It's huge and really supports local artists. Those guys know everyone. Check it out. It's like a 6000 square foot comic book store. A lot of the artists, like lowbrow guys... artists that you'd see in like Juxtaposed, they're friends with them down there. The artists do like fixtures and sculptures for the store. It's awesome. If you're a comic book fan, they've got it. Everything."

Awesome. I'll check it out.


"Bird and Bear, amazing stuff."

I have two more questions about your work.

"Okay."

So, how close are Sickle and her Friend? Are they like BFF's or what? She clearly has both hands full of sickle... is she steering with her thighs or what?

"I'd like to think it's a telepathic bond or something. I'll go with that. Keep it kid-safe. I drew that because I was thinking about video games and how all these bosses are just floating giant heads. It didn't really make sense, so I wanted to show who's driving the giant floating head. I want to get some stickers made of that, which is why it's just 2 color. The video game stuff has been very well received, so I'm going to try to get my original stuff out there in the same vein."

I noticed you're doing a lot of stuff for bands, like flyers and so on.

"Yeah, definitely. That's one way to get it out there. That's how Derek Hess got big. With band flyers. It has to be simple too, because no matter how good the art is, you need to know who's playing. Also, I've been really wanting to get into the rock band poster thing as well, since it seems like it's coming back. When I get some studio space I definitely want to get a screen printing machine so I can make some t-shirts and stickers and whatnot. That's something I'd really like to get into. I haven't done it yet, but it's definitely something I want to try. I want to get my stuff out there in as many different formats as possible, just cover the world with stickers and t-shirts and flyers. I mean, that's the way to self-promote, 'Here's a free sticker with my art on it' and it cost me a tenth of a penny and I just made a lasting impression on someone who is going to talk me up to their friends or buy something themselves. I want to make some sticker business cards as well. There's so much I want to do and it's a matter now of just getting it done."

Last question, how high is the Cyborg Barbarian Chick?



*laughs* "It's probably after-effects of the drugs from getting that mace put on her arm and caffeine. She's definitely a fun one to draw."

I'd like to see more of her. That goofy grin and her wild eyes standing in a circle of the heads of her enemies or something.

"You know, actually, that one, for an original character, got a ton of response. A guy, like some stranger I didn't know on DeviantArt, sent me a message and asked to draw her. That was really cool. I've never had anyone fan-art me before. That was really nice, it definitely gave me some validation that something I imagined struck a chord with someone to the point that he wanted to emulate it. I've been watching a lot of Thundar the Barbarian cartoons, and before it got goofy, that used to be one of the most amazing cartoons before they added all the silly animals and stuff. They had these hand-painted backgrounds that looked like a whole team of genius artists worked on the background for weeks."

I remember those. Then they had a six-year-old draw the actual cartoon on.

"Yeah, exactly. I want to do something like that with Cyborg Barbarian Chick. Just put her in front of those amazing backgrounds so she really pops out at you. Some kind of apocalyptic thing like that, just something goofy that could go anywhere."

So, you do commissioned artwork, right?

"Yeah, definitely."

So if people want to get in touch with you, how would they do it?

"You can email me directly at edbot5000@yahoo.com or go to my DeviantArt site at www.edbot5000.deviantart.com. You can always catch me on Facebook as well, Ed Dansart, or go to my Blogspot at www.edbot5000.blogspot.com. If you forget all of those, just Google search EdBot5000 and there I am."

Thanks a lot, Ed. Any final words?

"Umm..."

I don't mean 'final words' like, I'm not going to kill you or anything.

ED - *laughs* Thanks for clearing that up.