#2018 was the first time I've ever tried digital art and I was using my fingers and my phone 💀 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

seeminglydark · 1 year

Note

Idk if this means anything to you but I'm a comic artist who's had a hard time doing art for a few years. The first four was because of life hardship and lack of time/chronic pain, but now lately I've had time but a mental block. I'm creeping up on 30 and felt bad about myself for "missing out" on my opportunity to be a comic artist. It was really validating to see you post about being 41 (correct me if I'm wrong) especially since you have such wonderful comics that I've been following for a while now. It makes me feel less like I'm wasting my time putting my things in order when I "should" be drawing.

Hopefully this doesn't come across as offensive or anything. It was just comforting and validating. Anyway, big fan! Love your characters a whole lot and hope you have a good day!

Dear Anon

I am 41 years old. I have wanted to make comics my entire life. before my dad got sick, and my childhood kinda fell apart, all i did was draw. after that, i used the stories in my head to cope. life moved on. i was convinced not to accept a partial scholarship to an art school in California. life got hard. i worked at a hotel, and after i escaped an abusive relationship at 22 i hitchhiked/bused far far away to start over. i tried to make comics again, but i had to survive, and so i got another job doing the only thing i knew how to do, hotels. and i worked. and worked. and life got harder and times got heavier and i didn't get time to draw and i worked double hours, 15 to 17 hours a day. and i went four years without drawing a single thing.

i kept working myself into the ground. i was 29 now. i picked up a pen again and drew a red haired boy. he had a hard life and no love and no friends. his problems were on the outside, for everyone to see. he ran away but his problems went with him.

i was 32. surely i was too old now. my time to be an artist was gone. i had no school. no hope. i was so far behind the younger gen i saw online. i cried. all the time. i wrote stories in my email drafts while i worked shifts. i stayed up late trying to learn how to draw again. i cried some more. the boy grew. i called him Fiach. worthy. a raven. later i renamed him Avery. he was like a bird, he had wings, he was my hope. i started writing some friends for him. the people i wished i had around me.

i started finding time and space. i got a new job, something where i was lucky enough to set my own hours. for the first time i had a partner who believed in me. things were hard. but i was drawing now. and that helped.

i went on a road trip and i started drawing pages of an unnamed story on 6 by 8 paper in a sketchbook. i drew 20 of them. 'what could i call this?' i thought. Nothing Seems as Dark...no says my partner. Seemingly Dark. he made me a logo. i was 35. i bought an ipad, i cant do this on paper, its too much story i have too much to say. so i learned how to draw digitally by tracing my own trad art pages.

I spoke to my dad for the last time on June 17th, fathers day that year. he said 'you're good. i'm proud. and you're gonna do amazing things. none of this is your fault. and we will speak again soon.' i didn't know id never hear his voice again. he died a week later.

i turned 36. i kept trying. i'm old, i don't understand the internet. how can i share this?

i stumbled across Lore Olympus. i was introduced to webcomics. id read comics online before but the thought never occurred to me. i opened an account on Tapas. and then i stared at it. what if no one likes it. what if its bad. my art isn't good. i should wait til i'm better. but will i ever really be better? or will i always believe that tomorrow is better? do it now. if even one person gets something out of this story, this story about a boy who is you, a boy who looking for hope, a boy who might make it, then that is enough isn't it.

June 17th 2018 i launched Seemingly Dark.

SD's five year anniversary is in a week. 0ver 700 pages. leaps and bounds in progress with my skills. a printed comic under my belt as of monday. i was always a storyteller. but i was always an artist too.

I am 41 years old, dear anon. I did not truly embark on this journey til i was 35. life got in the way. even now, chronic illness gets in the way. but its worth it. its never ever too late. i believe in you the way my dad believed in me. i reset my life again and again. but I was always an artist. and if thats who you are, and who you want to be, even if things dont go the way you wished they could, you're an artist too.

im 41 years old. i speak about my age, even though i often feel too old to belong in spaces, cuz really, in this case age is just a number. take care of yourself. do what you need to do. and little by little, when your able, carve out your space until it becomes more of a habit. sometimes i think about all the years i lost not drawing or creating. but there's a lot of factors that make me believe had i made my story then, it wouldn't be the story it is now, i needed to live a bit. i needed to find myself. i know this was long, but i just wanted you to see i also had to put my life in order, and getting notes like this reminds me it wasnt at all a waste. im glad i could offer you some comfort. thats honestly the best compliment i could ever receive.

TL;dR I was 35 when i sat down and seriously started making comics, because life always got in the way and so did my confidence. i always feared being too old. im 41 now, still going strong.

#rj rambles #this is really long im sorry anon #i think my late comic blooming story is kinda important for people to hear #thankyou for giving me a reason to tell it

194 notes · View notes

bryan360 · 2 years

Text

Here’s my note before I’ll get started….

(DON’T YOU EVER COPY FROM MINE OR MY FRIEND’S WORK, CHARACTERS, AND STUFF IF ONE OF YOU ARE IMPOSTERS WHO HAD HABITS OF PLAGIARISM! I WILL BLOCK YOU FROM MY BLOG IF I SEE YOUR POST WITH MINE OR MY FRIEND’S ORIGINAL WORK BEING EDITED ALL OVER! I’LL EVEN SHARE IT ONTO MY BLOG SO IF EVERYONE WILL SEE THAT YOU TRYING TO COPY MINE OR MY FRIEND’S THINGS FOR NO GOOD REASON WHATSOEVER! That will be all….I mean it.)

Easter Time is Max Time and Chocolate Bunny OCs

🇵🇷Me: Today's the day of what I came to prepare during this year's Easter with Maxwell and his family. Though decided of bringing two related artworks I've work on from past weeks, but originally would've save it at DA. Nevertheless, I'm came for to share at Tumblr as a way to celebrate Easter with my closest friends. Hope to see them and everyone can have their good Easter Day as well. What that being said, here's what I called my latest art posts to worth checking in.

🦊⚽️Sam: Definitely. While looking at it though would've been so cool if you go with digital coloring via PicsArt app when you had much time to go around.

🇵🇷Me: I know. At least knowing I'm doing well with using colored pencils to work out. Although needed to edit things up later to make it look brighter as I can.

🦊⚽️Sam: I see. Good thing that it looks alright for both artworks in quality. 👍🏼

🐰🖌Maxwell: Mhm. The first one that he placed on top though is surprisingly bring some of my cartoon art style appearances. There's even on the left side in "Jellystone!" version of myself that you've previous did back in November. 8th, 2021 to list on; including others as well.

Ollie and Moon Maxwell (April. 18th, 2018) - Link Here

Playkids Maxwell (November. 6th, 2018) - Link Here

Peppa Pig Maxwell (April. 19th, 2019) - Link Here

Cuphead Maxwell (July. 3rd, 2019) - Link Here

George of the Jungle Maxwell (October. 13th, 2019) - Link Here

The Simpsons Maxwell (Dec. 9th, 2019) - Link Here

STH Maxwell (February. 15th, 2020) - Link Here

Animaniacs (April. 18th, 2021) - Link Here

Jellystone Maxwell; aside May and Sam's inclusion (November. 8th, 2021) - Link Here

🐰🖌Maxwell: Though almost complete of myself that would like to see all of them, but at least this came close enough while having to celebrate this year’s Easter.

🇵🇷Me: That's alright, Maxwell. I had the same feeling as you were for a reason. However I may wanted to included those in their rabbit forms as your are. You know, because today’s Easter Sunday in terms of rabbits? 😅

🐰🖌Maxwell: I see. Well no problem that you've tried your best to go through it. Still looks pretty good anyways. As for the second one though, wasn’t that a remake from your original 2016 Easter artwork that you’ve posted on DeviantArt?

🇵🇷Me: That’s right. Thought I’m hoping it was a good case to have. I did well to redrawn your family or just your chocolate designs of yourselves; while making sure to added details and changes. It looks better to make as a comparison if you wanted to check out my original through link down below. ⬇️

Happy Easter 2016 - Link Here

🐰👊💥May: That’s really good to take us back in memories from years ago, but this looks better with the flowers bloom then last time you’ve drawn. No offense, though.

🇵🇷Me: That’s alright, May. It was something I worked on when doing practice I’ve been getting through in my life.

🐰🖌Maxwell: Well gotta say that it turn out alright after you’ve finished it, but also to share with my family and friends together. Just wish you can join us, Sam.

🦊⚽️Sam: Yeah. Though make me wanted crave those chocolate bunnies to snack on....I mean not literally on real bunnies of course! Just saying. 😅

🐰🖌Maxwell: Okay then? Anyways, hope you guys enjoy our creator friend’s art post to celebrate Easter Sunday this year. See you next year when we’re hopping around! 😆

Maxwell (plus other of his alternate cartoon art style versions of himself), May, Choco, Windy, and Scottie created by me; BryanVelasquez87 (Bryan360)

9 notes · View notes

hannaaahty · 5 years

Photo

Sobrang mainstream kung magpopost ako ng ganto on the night of the 31st, so ngayon ko na gagawin. Besides, ayokong ipublicize lahat ng struggles ko sa FB, Twitter and IG...dahil ayokong magmukhang fragelita. char.ahaha. Himala na lang kung matunton to ng pamilya ko, close friends, or other people close to me. Hahaha.

Trigger warning.

This time last year, I was so close to ending my life because of too many things. Pero sa lahat ng yon, ang pakikipag tunggalian sa sarili kong thoughts ang battle na pinaka nahirapan akong harapin. Para sa akin, making decisions should not be a conscious effort, dahil natotorture ko ang sarili ko tuwing naiisip kong kelangan ko mag decide. I am very indecisive and impulsive. I rely on random energy spikes everyday. Pero hindi ko alam na ang ugali kong ganun ang magdadala sa akin sa despair.

Alam kong maling binabalikan ang nakaraan dahil masakit lang.. Pero I always try to look back kasi those struggles made me who I am now. My birthday last year was a horrible day. Halos wala akong kinausap, maski boyfriend ko nun. I was forced by my family to get out of the room..but I just can’t. I felt like a total piece of shit. Hahahaha. A few weeks after, I was molested and raped. Alam ko na sa sarili kong depressed ako at may anxiety, pero that night was the first night that I felt my whole being giving up. I deactivated my FB, said goodbye to my closest friends and told my boyfriend that “I’m just gonna go to sleep.” I was ready. Honestly ready... until after a few minutes, I saw a beam of light out of nowhere. Hindi ko alam kung totoo ang miracles o kung totoo ang Diyos dahil para sa akin, everything is just a social construct. Pero after seeing that light, bumalik ang diwa ko, I cried so much and put my airplane mode off out of nowhere. At ang unang nag appear sa notifs ko was Niko (a close friend). He simply told me, “Bumalik ka ng elbi. Magusap tayo.” And that was it. I apologized to myself and I kept crying and crying lang. When my heart was finally ready to go back to elbi, Niko was just there. And I cried to him. Inipon ko lahat ng guts para makwento sa kanya lahat ng nangyari. After talking to him, hinatid niya ako sa dorm ko at pagkauwi ko, nagset siya ng rules kung paano ako makakarecover. #1 was, wag ako mag airplane mode. Hahahahaha. Tangina nun. Then, we promised to let go of our toxic attitudes at magbabago kami sa 2018. Niko was there until kinaya ko nang makarecover mag isa. He’s the friend everyone wishes for. He’s an angel.

And then 2018 came. I met Kassi. Seatmates kami sa SFI 100 at groupmates sa lab. We instantly got close when one day, I told her I can’t go to our fieldwork because inaatake ako ng anxiety. Out of nowhere, she appeared in my dorm and talked to me about it. We talked and talked until hindi na namin napapansing umiiyak kami. Hahahaha. After that, we cooked food and slept and talked again until matapos yung araw. That was the start of our friendship. Just like Niko, Kassi was just there. She held me until I was ready to get back up again.

On the early months of 2018, nagkaproblema kami ng boyfriend ko. On-off kami. One day, okay. The next day, parang hindi kami magjowa. That went on and on until one day, nagising na lang ako sa katotohanang tama na. Di na dapat pinipilit ang wala na kahit last year pa dapat kami naghiwalay. Wala nang may willing mag effort sa amin. Wala na ring willing mangausap. We weren’t strong enough...the both of us. Although I tried working it out, pero one day, he cheated on me. He slept with a person who likes him, while flirting with another girl. Pinilit kong intindihin pero wala na talaga eh. Haha. We ended in good terms because hindi ko idedeny na isa siya sa mga dahilan kung bakit andito pa rin ako today. He has such a good heart and I hope one day, he finally finds the answers he’s been looking for since he lost his parents.

Kasabay ng breakup namin ni Lawrence, nanalo ako sa student council...again. Masaya, syempre. Because bagong mukha ang mga nakikita ko. At hindi ko inaasahang magiging ganun ang takbo ng eleksyon. From #1 last year, I became #3. Pero it was fine. Natuto akong tumayo sa sarili kong mga paa habang nagtuturo sa iba. For the first time, I felt the burden sa eleksyon. Hahaha. I had to train my slatemates while training myself at the same time. Isama mo pa yung acads, yung problema sa jowa, yung anxiety at yung lagi akong nagkakasakit physically. I was almost diagnosed with pneumonia that semester. I met people who broke my heart. I met people who healed it. The early part of 2018 was such a roller coaster ride. Pero I knew and I was certain that this year.... I am going to change. And I was right.

August. I resigned in my position sa student council. Napakabigat na desisyon, pero I had to do it for the greater good. I realized na maybe this sem should be a sem full of pahinga. Full of recovery. Dahil alam ko sa sarili kong kapag tinuloy tuloy ko pa, baka mawala na naman ako sa sarili ko. Baka maulit yung nakaraang taon. Dito ko naramdamang I should be mature enough to recognize my mistakes and be able to get back up without Kassi, Lawrence, or Niko.I went back to zero. Literally zero. I was lost, but this time, I knew where to start. I started with the question “What would Hannah do?” and bam. The only answer that I got was “She listens to her heart.” and there. I looked back to the things that I loved doing...na ang tagal ko nang hindi ginagawa dahil sa depression ko. I was ready to embrace them again. Siguro kaya malungkot ang mundo dahil tinatalikuran natin ang mga bagay na mahal natin para sa conformity. And that moment, I bent that rule. Because I wanted my heart to be completely happy. I got rid of my daily college routine. I went back to digital design, drawing, typography, photography and performing arts. I shared my passion to the world. I taught kids how to do public speaking, I created my portfolio, and I became open to freelance work.

On the same month, I met Spiro. No words. Just pure love. Our relationship for three months gave me strength and courage to be mature not only for the both of us, but for my life as a whole. He’s the best work of art I have ever seen and I don’t think anyone can ever measure the love and happiness I felt the moment I first knew that someone like him exists. Love. Just love. Always.

My birthday was simple lang this year. Tahimik. Pero masaya. I was with Spiro in the morning, I ate my favorite Spaghetti with Papa and Ate in the afternoon, and did some paperworks lang in the night. It was simple, but it was very meaningful.

After a few weeks, I decided to stop my freelance work and settle for a corporate job. I applied in several famous brands as Graphic Designer, and I was called for several interviews, but did not pursue them because 1) lagi kaming late nagigising ni Spiro (hahaha) and 2) one of my mantras is: if the universe gave you a sign, that’s it. Pursue it. And after how many days of indecisiveness, an online bag brand contacted me for an interview in BGC. I remember I was too lazy to go, since wala kaming tulog ni Spiro (haha) pero naging sign siguro yung pinipilit ako ng Papa ko sumama sa kanya sa Makati, so I decided to give it a try. And a few days after, I was called for a final interview. I still remember the feeling. Yung ang saya saya na bigla akong nagka breakdown sa CR. Nakakahiya. Hahahahahaha. Kasi alam mo yon. I was so close to death last year, at kung ginawa ko yon, hindi ko mamimeet si Spiro. Hindi ko makukuha ang trabahong to. Hindi ako matututong magpatawad, magsurrender at mag let go. Hindi ko marerealize na ang sarap pala mabuhay kahit systemic ang probolema ng mundo (charararat). At higit sa lahat, hindi ko matututunang sumubok ulit. Grabe ka, Hannah Ty. Dami mong pinagdaanan. Charz.

Sa totoo lang, hindi ko pa rin alam ginagawa ko. Hahahaha. Ngayong December, fucked up person pa rin ako at hindi ko itatanggi yan. Hahahahaha. May masakit pa rin somewhere deep inside me. Andyan pa rin ang fears ko. Nandyan pa rin yung confusion minsan. Andyan pa rin yung uncertainty sa future ko. Marami pang kailangang harapin, pero ang layo na ng narating natin, self. The simple fact na you were able to get out of your room on the day na you were supposed to kill yourself, that’s a big step for you na. Look where it brought you. To recovery. To Spiro’s arms. To Fetch Bella.

If there’s one thing that I could tell everybody, that is sometimes, we have to listen to what our heart speaks when all else fails to do so. Maski sa simpleng desisyon na “I don’t feel like doing it pa.” Then don’t. Do not torture yourself too much. If your heart wants to rest, rest. Pero don’t let it stay that way. Get up when you’re ready. Decide when you’re all good. Reach out when you’re finally ready to speak. Sometimes, we don’t have to decide impulsively. Sometimes, it’s okay to not know yourself yet. You will be fine. You will be okay. That’s for sure.

Now these are the memories I had for this year. Believe me, I tried my best to save the pictures and not cry. Hahahahahaha. At so far, wala pa namang luhang tumutulo. Lol.

To everyone na nasa photos, mahal ko kayo. Sobra. You have my admiration, always.Thanks for letting me be part of your 2018, and please remember that you made my year so memorable. I am always grateful for all of you.

Self, this is it. You’re getting older na... and getting more emotional. Hahahahaha. Buhay single ka na naman puta ka. Char. Hahahaha. I love you! Always and always and always and forever! You are so loved! Here’s to more kakulitan with you!

#personal

12 notes · View notes

damnthatnoise · 4 years

Text

Darko The Super | Of Dogs & Devils | An Interview

Hip Hop has long been about bravado, skill, and how your personality can capture and pull the listener in even further than just your skillset. There have been many an MC who’s personality sometimes outshined the lyrical prowess for better or worse, but when I sit back and think of some of my favorite MC’s growing up (Redman, Slick Rick, Kool Keith, E-40, and Del to name a few) the personality often was near cartoonish with no real effort from the MC to make it appear that way. Enter MC Darko The Super who since first coming across his music via Already Dead Tapes has oozed oddball personality, and ever evolving skills as an MC. Darko is no joke rapper though, instead he is adept at delivering some stark reality raps littered with glints of humor we often use to cope with the pain of existence.

Fresh off delivering one of my personal favorites last year in the form of Card Tricks For Dogs, he returns with his friend Steel Tipped Dove to give us The Devil Defeated, and makes a claim as one of the indie hiphop scenes freshest, most colorful, and promising voices making music.

You can order the digital, cassette and SUPER vinyl copies of The Devil Defeated here, as well as all Darko The Super Items.

The Devil Defeated by Darko The Super & steel tipped dove

_____________________________________________________________________

Damn That Noise: Darko The Super. What’s the origin of that name and what’s it come to mean to you now?

Darko: I think Darko The Super was my gamertag on Xbox Live before it was my official artist alias. I did two albums as Evan Darko after I seen Donnie Darko in high school. It had a big impact on adolescent me. The Super comes from another big influence on me at the time, MF Doom. My favorite song my senior year was "Dead Bent". I thought the ending of Operation Doomsday was really cool. The way it let you decide between hero or villain. I was big into vigilante justice at the time. I wanted to be like my favorite superheroes. So that's where the name came from. Nowadays it's just a name. More people know me as Darko than my real name these days, so it'd be silly to change it. Name's don't define you. It doesn't matter much to me. Though I like it.

DTN: You’ve had a pretty prolific young career given that you’ve dropped 10+ projects since 2011, but when we were taking recently you said you’ve just now started to feel like you now know your voice. What’s changed in the last couple of years to get you to that place?

Darko: Since 2011 I may have done nearly 100 albums. Most haven't lasted. I've deleted and erased most of my material pre 2014 from the face of the internet. (If anyone has a Loser CD, please destroy it.) I put out 10 albums in 2018 alone. All better than the previous. "Watered Down Demon Fuzz" from 2017 is the album I truly found my voice on. I listened back to "Oh, No! It's Darko" for nostalgic purposes and it seems more like a comedy album than anything, and not that good of a comedy album either. I was 18 when I made the first album I put on cd and gave to everyone at shows when I was starting to go out and perform. It was called Loser, inspired by Beck. Next cd I made was a compilation, also terrible, but somehow it's going for $75 on Discogs. I personally don't like anything prior to 2016. "Carve a Happy Face on my Tombstone" had a few good songs. Those were transformative years. My perspective on life has changed severely. It's hard to be happy with things you create when you're not even happy with who you are. I think in finding myself, I found my voice too. Life will always be a mystery. But at least I'm more comfortable in my own skin at the moment. Therefore more comfortable in my art.

DTN: Why erase the evidence of growth though? If anything that could show folks the rapid progression of Darko?

Darko: I'd prefer to leave a better first impression. Maybe I'm too insecure to show people my progression. It's also just a matter of that not being the way I feel anymore as far as the way I wrote back then.

DTN: Your style is a bit unorthodox in that you kind of dance all over the pocket of the beats, and your inflections seem to change at the drop of a hat. I know E-40 and DOOM are a couple favorites of yours but who else’s impressed a young Darko and helped give us the man we have now? Who made you say “I think this is something I want to do!!”?

Darko: Murdoc and MyGrane McNastee from Orlando, Florida were a couple of the first independent rappers I got into from watching the Wake Up Show freestyles on Youtube. They were big influences on me. From there I got into MF Doom, Madlib, and J Dilla. During the datpiff era, I got really into Charles Hamilton's mixtapes. I was a big fan of a web series around that time called Internet Celebrities. Through them I found out about Das Racist. I remember listening to them for the first time on MySpace. I saw Big Baby Gandhi in a video with them. Later on his Debut would become one of my favorite albums. I was really into going on hip hop blogs. I remember watching Open Mike Eagle rap "Qualifiers" in a laundromat and having my mind blown. He told me Serengeti was his favorite rapper which had me watching every Kenny Dennis video I could find. Dennehy became my favorite album. I got into Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire from seeing the Last Huzzah video with Das Racist, El-P, Despot, and Danny Brown. That's still my favorite posse cut. From checking out rap battles I got into Soul Khan who I remember posting about Homeboy Sandman's album The Good Sun. Blogs also got me listening to every Blu song. Her Favorite Color was something special to me. All those artists were huge in developing my approach. Nowadays my favorite rappers of all time are E-40, Serengeti, and Kool Keith

DTN: Card Tricks for Dogs feels like your most fully formed artistic statement yet and The Devil Defeated feels like the exclamation point showing folks you’re a real force. What helped bring those two records to life?

Darko: Both albums took a long time to come together, which usually isn't the case for me. I remember writing some of those Card Tricks for Dogs tracks while on vacation with my girlfriend and her family. I had tons of beats from my good friend and longtime collaborator Phil Ford aka BLKrKRT (Blacker Karat) loaded on my phone for those trips. I started it shortly after meeting Steel Tipped Dove for the first time. I released an album of his on my label and he offered to mix and master some tracks for me. So this was the first solo album of mine I let someone else do all the mixing for. I took my time with it and let it come together naturally. I believe everything happens at it's own time. As for The Devil Defeated, that album started out as a project called Contemplating Lonely Stuff, inspired by a Serengeti lyric. It was for the most part produced by Height Keech and Steel Tipped Dove. Eventually I decided to do albums with each of them separately. The album with Dove was pretty far along in the process and originally I wanted to call it "Playing Skee-Ball With Zev Love X" but we both agreed that was kinda corny and not many people would get what we were referencing. Then I heard the news of Daniel Johnston passing away, who is a hero of mine. I listened to nothing but Daniel for a few days straight and a few lyrics in particular stuck out to me. The one that landed was "The Devil Defeated" another possibility was My Yolk is Heavy. Me and Dove made over 20 songs for this album and eventually narrowed it down to the most cohesive project we could. We'll be doing a follow up of course. That's in the works now. I'm very proud of this album. My favorite track is a story I wrote based on a song called "Suzy's Face" by my favorite punk band, The Spits. I had to convince Dove on that one. There's another track I tried to convince him about too, but that will never see the light of day since I ended up agreeing with him.

DTN: You’ve has a chance to work with a lot of interesting and well loved folks. How the hell did the tracks with Lil’B, Charles Hamilton, Denmark Vessey and others come about?

Darko: I did an album called “Thank You BasedGod” dedicated to Lil B. I produced a track for him way back in 2014. He reached out to me after TYBG and offered to do a track together. So I sent him a couple Steel Tipped Dove beats and he chose the one that ended up on the album. Later I saw Charles Hamilton posting about doing features. I sent him the Lil B track since that’s a dream collaboration of mine. Lil B is a big Charles Hamilton fan, and they’re both internet gurus of their eras. Charles conquered the blog era by releasing tons of free albums on his own blog, landing on all the mixtape sites. Lil B mastered social media and became a marketing genius, even transpiring music. I’m proud to say the first time they worked together was with me. As for getting Denmark Vessey on the album, he had already worked with Dove and toured with my good friends, The Difference Machine. I was the one who showed them his album Buy Muy Drugs while I was out in Atlanta for a week. That album’s my favorite of the decade. He had posted about doing features so I sent him an email and made it happen.

DTN: You’ve released a lot of projects via Already Dead Tapes as well as starting UDDTBA. What is the connection with ADT and why start your own label? What have you learned from ADT and how has the played into how you run your label?

Darko: Already Dead Tapes taught me everything I need to know about running a record label. I met them in 2014 when I sent over my latest at the time “Oh, No! It’s Darko.” They were nice enough to release that on cassette. Soon after they invited me to play their weekend long festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I brought along ialive and we booked our first tour. Staying in Kalamazoo at the Knights Inn we recorded an album together and formed the now infamous duo The Hell Hole Store. From there we’ve played the Already Dead fest every year and I’ve released quite a few albums on Already Dead Tapes. U Don’t Deserve This Beautiful Art was grown out of wanting to support my friends and artists I admire. I brought on my best buds Steel Tipped Dove and Harvey Cliff to help me run things. Now the sky’s the limit.

DTN: “Suzy” is life a very interesting record as is “lo-fi princess” off of The Devil Defeated. You mentioned the influence for “Suzy” came from another artists song...how’d this end up on your record and why? Also what’s the idea behind “Lo-Fi..”?

Darko: During my commute one day I listened to The Spits first self titled album. I hadn’t played it in a while and instantly remembered why they’re the best. One song in particular stuck with me throughout that ride, “Suzy’s Face”. I decided to write a song building off of their track. Almost like taking a short story and creating a movie. I tried to describe in detail about why someone would shoot Suzy in the face at a high school dance. So that’s what I came up with. Lo-fi princess 2 is a sequel to the original from “Watered Down Demon Fuzz” both love songs to my girlfriend, Alora. I liked the phrase cos it reminded me of “Bow-tie Daddy” by Frank Zappa. Now that I think of it, an actual Lo-fi princess would be an anime babe trapped in the track art of a SoundCloud beat. We’d have to defeat the chill hop brigade to save her.

DTN: You and iAlive have a really dope chemistry and have two very different styles but similar energies that work so well off of each other. What makes that partnership work and why’d you guys want to keep it going after the one hotel infused brainstorming session?

Card Tricks For Dogs by Darko The Super & BLKrKRT

Darko: We kept it going cos there were more hotel sessions to be had. On tour you’re on the highway with a lot of time on your hands. That’s where most of our songs and ideas come from. We set up shop where ever we’re staying and start to bring these ideas to life. The people seem to like us and we enjoy performing together. That’s what keeps the hell hole going. We survive off friendship and fun times.

DTN: Okay sir Darko. You can only eat at two fast food places for the next year because you lost a bet. Where you going??

Darko: Obviously Taco Bell is numero uno, I’m a big Taco Bell enthusiast. Next would be Wendy’s, best fast food burgers by me, and they got those spicy nuggets. Plus I heard their salads are good too, which I would need a salad every now and then. I don’t think this is too far off from my normal diet. Worst thing that could happen is I have a heart attack. But I’m on that path anyway. Maybe I’ll start exercising. Maybe.

DTN: What are you picking if you only have Thor and Spider-Man as costumes for Halloween?!

Darko: Spider-Man of course. I could pull off a husky Spider-Man. Family Guy made it look good. I’d need the fake muscles for Thor. Fake muscles never look good. I don’t have the luxurious hair either.

DTN: What’s the writing process like for you?! Do you let the beat decide the direction? Do you have an idea or some lyrics written and you locate a beat that fits?

Darko: Either or. Writing always comes to me. It’s second nature. If it doesn’t come to me, I don’t write. That’s all there is to it. I only write when I’m inspired. That’s an easy way to go about it. My number one thing is creativity, I don’t wanna be complex or even an intellectual. I want my lyrics to be universally understood.

DTN: So what’s next on the horizon for Darko The Super?

Darko: Next up I’m working on an album with skits from a comedian friend of mine. He does tons of great characters and videos as Hot Talent Buffet. I think he’s a comedic genius. I’m also working on an album sampling nothing but my favorite band 10cc, titled “Strawberry Studios Jam ‘72” and another album sampling one of my favorite songwriters, Dean Friedman. The Dean and I have a 7” record on the way with my remix of his classic “McDonald’s Girl” on the B side with the original on the A side. I have a couple other collaborative albums coming along. The artist they’re with wants me to hold off announcing it until they’re ready, but I will say it’s a dream collaboration and I’m very excited for it.

_____________________________________________________________________

0 notes