My conversation with 404tearzzz is a pretty raw one. We’re both pretty rapid speakers, so this one goes at a pretty quick pace, and we cover a lot of ground about what it means to be an artist in this day and age. Plus, his experience with tattooing, drawing, and digital canvases makes his perspective a pretty unique one, compared to most artists that stick to one or two mediums their entire lives.
Ultimately, this discussion covers a lot of ground about the challenges we face as creatives, how different industries have different demands of us, and how we should probably learn to set better expectations of both others and ourselves. It’s a nonstop, intense episode, so feel free to take some breaks along the way!
What I love the most about 404 is how unapologetically honest, and straightforward he is. He might actually cuss more than I do, which is a lot. I might have met my match when it comes to crunchy semantics 🤣. I’ve always been very supportive of folks who are very blunt about how they feel about things, because I find that most of the world veils its thoughts, perspectives, and opinions about things.
It becomes very clear early on in our discussion that 404 has always been very honest with himself about what he doesn’t want. He’s not the first person I have interviewed that went to school for architecture, and ended up leaving it behind. He is very lucid about how he has always and continues to want to stay in creative realms with what he does.
It’s pretty wild to think that somebody that tattoos can also be an animator for most folks. To be honest, I think it makes perfect sense. Tattooing is a very challenging medium, and most tattooers out there don’t really ever find their own flavor. 404 not only has his own style in that world, but brings a unique aesthetic to his animations as well.
Check out both of 404’s tattoo accounts to get an idea of his versatility:
01 - 404Tearzzz
02 - 404Tearsss
Personally, I love the bizarre crossover of vintage 20s/30s cartoons and traditional tattooing styles in his work. It’s what I see in my head anyway. The closer you get into the insanity that is 404’s illustrations though, you start finding yourself in some pretty fucking crazy places. Check this out:
Getting deeper into what the shit is going on inside 404’s brain, we discover that he’s always been like this. LOL. I’m here for this madness, there is a brilliance to the freedom he feels when he’s creating these worlds. He says he loves shapes, and feels things that he’s drawing. It’s almost like a mentally tactile experience, which he states feels almost like sculpting. I definitely think what’s going on in there is a form of synesthesia.
From a love of nature and how he connects with it, to treating art as a therapeutic process, we barrel through so many topics. He gets really personal, and I love that we circle around to the notion that we create things to stay sane. I think as artists, we have these weird spaces we inhabit in our own minds that are very difficult to explain to others sometimes. To see it take form, is to release our internal realities to share with others. It’s a form of vulnerability.
I think we both are on the same page when it comes down to why we create - marketing is not exactly in the forefront of our minds when we’re getting lost in the flow of our creative processes. Is this a problem for us? Should we do things differently? Should we rethink our approach more often? Who knows.
Our conversation goes fucking deep into technique, mentalities, philosophies with art, and also some pretty dark places about humanity. 404 is not just brutally honest about the world around him, but about how he deals with things internally. The concept of being a tortured artist is not foreign to most artists, but his process of dealing with it is fucking intense to hear. This is why I love these conversations; shit gets real sometimes. I have nothing else to say about it, other than that you should listen to how he breaks things down. Especially about this piece:
I think I could write a few pages about what I got out of our conversation, but I’m going to cut this short here, because this dude has an insanely brilliant mind, and I don’t think I can do justice to what’s going on in there. We cover so many topics that artists can relate to, that the best thing to do is not tl;dr it in anyway.
Please take your time to listen to the entirety of this conversation, including us being total fucking jackasses here and there and laughing like idiots. From perspectives on how we can approach art, to how others express things in their own ways, there is a plethora of views about the importance of art in this world we are all experiencing in our own ways.
Be sure to Follow 404 on Twitter, and please check out his work that addresses the kettle of fish that is life on this planet. Whether we’re chasing happiness, contentedness, or just trying to find meaning in things, 404’s journey is a well of different and thoughtful perspectives for both artists and non-artists alike.
Next up! My amazing and lovely friend, Leigh Raven. Heads up: it will be X-rated. Eep!
Transmission #24 - 404tearzzz