Ozzy da Vyrus on Cinema Art - LA Comiccon Series
This past weekend, we caught up with graphic artist Ozzy da Vyrus at LA Comic-con 2023! He gives us his take on the creating great art in this climate. Cinematic art styles are starting to all look the same. He tells us how he gets his art to look so unique and effectively draw a crowd. Previously working for rappers like Gucci, you're not going to want to miss this one!
Transcript
This is Film Center.
Speaker:Your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff, all facts.
Speaker:Now, here are your anchors, Derrick Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Hey everyone, welcome to Film Center.
Speaker:My name is Derrick Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And today we're recording from the incredible Comic Con, the LA Comic Con.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Every year in Los Angeles, me and Nicholas are very big fans.
Speaker:It's always a really bunch of huge stars that come here.
Speaker:A bunch of celebrities.
Speaker:And today we have our absolute favorite artist, Ozzy the virus, man.
Speaker:Ozzy, how you doing today, man?
Speaker:I'm blessed.
Speaker:I'm good.
Speaker:I can't complain.
Speaker:I'm just here.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Ozzy is we met him for the first time last year, right?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And I've got I've already got like four of your posters, man.
Speaker:Already four.
Speaker:It's a nice collection to start.
Speaker:I got a nice collection started.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Ozzy has a really great art style that pulls in a lot of people.
Speaker:And Ozzy, you wanna tell us a little bit, the audience a
Speaker:little bit about your background?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You're actually not from Los Angeles, correct?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I'm actually from New York.
Speaker:Born and raised.
Speaker:I live out in Orlando.
Speaker:Queens.
Speaker:Okay, so you're from Queens.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm a Queens baby.
Speaker:Grew up in Long Island, spent a lot of my time there though.
Speaker:And yeah, no, art is just something that's just played like a huge part of what I
Speaker:do and everything that's about me and I just take the influence of graffiti,
Speaker:pop culture, high fashion, all the stuff I've been exposed to being young and just
Speaker:throw it into what I love, which is anime.
Speaker:And that's really it, there's, some of these posters are more than I
Speaker:would say just anime pictures exactly.
Speaker:These are works of art, man.
Speaker:Yeah, especially because there's a huge range here.
Speaker:You also have some things done from the Looney Tunes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There's also some work here from the Boondocks.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:What some people do are still argue is an anime, and I can, to be fair.
Speaker:It's definitely a cartoon, but, we blessed it in, you know what I mean?
Speaker:We consider it like an anime, in a sense.
Speaker:It seems like people try and copy your style here, and they just can't do it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Since, yeah, something that me and Nicholas have noticed is some people,
Speaker:even your the way you set up your art to present to other people, Yeah.
Speaker:Has been copied this year as of compared to last year.
Speaker:Do you feel that sentiment?
Speaker:Yeah, no, I've been doing this for about twelve years, online, and Five years
Speaker:in the con space and when you're doing something that's working, everybody
Speaker:want to, copy the formula as best as they can without actually knowing the
Speaker:formula, so they gotta eyeball it, so were you always interested in like
Speaker:art ever since you were like young?
Speaker:Yeah, nice to meet you man.
Speaker:Yeah, no, I've always been into art.
Speaker:I tapped into other things, like music and doing videos and all the
Speaker:types of production at some point.
Speaker:But I always came back to art because that was always like the first love
Speaker:and Honestly, the thing that brought me like the furthest in my career,
Speaker:so how did you end up choosing?
Speaker:Drawing like how did that talk about the inspiration that you
Speaker:have other things were inspiring?
Speaker:No, I mean drawing was always like the first so I was always young Drawing
Speaker:I used to be like in high school and grade school something like,
Speaker:artwork sounded like my binder, right?
Speaker:I used to have like my dad Photocopy my prints at his job, bring it into school,
Speaker:eliminated papers and sell it for 2.
Speaker:So I've been hustling for a long time.
Speaker:Were you one of the, I remember back in the day when Dragon Ball Z was real
Speaker:popular, you used to sell you had guys in the school that sell their Dragon
Speaker:Ball Z pictures for 25 a dollar.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Was that you?
Speaker:That was me.
Speaker:That was you?
Speaker:That was me.
Speaker:I have that story, and I got receipts.
Speaker:Check my Instagram, I got them old pictures from 2006 You know what I mean?
Speaker:Of all the stuff I used to do.
Speaker:And then what brought you, so just for our audience listening, as film center,
Speaker:we are recording we always record live with the only show on KHTS 98.
Speaker:1 FM shout out to them, obviously that we take the show on the road.
Speaker:And as someone who came from New York, you now currently in Florida,
Speaker:was there a reason for that?
Speaker:At first I had a job opportunity with Universal Studios,
Speaker:unfortunately, fortunately, it didn't work out the way I planned.
Speaker:I was given certain, I was given certain incentives that I felt would be, like very
Speaker:pivotal for my career at the time, but they did not turn out to work out that
Speaker:way So without moving back to New York I said I'm gonna just stay down here and
Speaker:just figure it out and I just went hard on Instagram I went hard on social media
Speaker:at the time when it was in its prime And next thing I know I got a fan base and a
Speaker:lot of people who just love the artwork and now they're just you know, the ones
Speaker:that's just you know, bringing everything to life now This was not obviously
Speaker:something that was created overnight.
Speaker:It's a lot of work sweat and tears in there What do you think, as an artist,
Speaker:and someone who, started really indie and now you're a lot bigger, what do
Speaker:you think was the moment for you where you're like, okay, you know what?
Speaker:I'm going all the way.
Speaker:I'm not pushing to try to do something else.
Speaker:I'm not pushing to hold back at all.
Speaker:I'm now going forward.
Speaker:Full throttle with this, because there's a lot of artists out there and we do
Speaker:have some, now a lot of our listeners are already in the industry themselves,
Speaker:but there's something that we love to hear is like their own, where, okay,
Speaker:this is when they decided to go forward.
Speaker:That moment for me, I guess to wrap the question, when I
Speaker:decided to go hard pretty much.
Speaker:All in.
Speaker:I'd say when I moved to Florida because I was always on my grind when I was in New
Speaker:York, as like an artist and doing stuff in music and videos and production for
Speaker:people, but when I moved to Florida and I did not, I no longer had that opportunity
Speaker:with Universal, that's like the moment where it was like, all right, I have
Speaker:to, figure it out and get it together.
Speaker:Am I going to go back and Start at step one.
Speaker:Am I gonna continue the path that I've chosen, make the best of it?
Speaker:And I had to ultimately make that decision to make the best of it and just go hard.
Speaker:My career at that point.
Speaker:And that was in 2016, so from 16 to now, I'm just still running
Speaker:off of that, that's awesome.
Speaker:One question I would have for you, because dude you're drawings are incredible.
Speaker:How did you know that you were just a cut above the rest?
Speaker:There had to, what?
Speaker:Was there a pivotal point where you were just like.
Speaker:Oh, I'm that dude.
Speaker:I never knew in the beginning, I'll be honest.
Speaker:I always knew that I could draw.
Speaker:And I could create something creative.
Speaker:But, I always knew there's somebody better than you.
Speaker:Or somebody that's going to be better than me.
Speaker:When I really started knowing and realizing I got something special,
Speaker:was when I realized that, Thinking outside the box and being able to draw
Speaker:people in with simple concepts of, just the way how it's put together.
Speaker:It's not about the way it's drawn.
Speaker:There's still people out there who draw way better than me.
Speaker:But the way how you do it, the way you put it together is what makes you different.
Speaker:It's not the art, it's just the way It's a combination of all of the details.
Speaker:You put the soul in your art.
Speaker:The way you do it, the way you market it.
Speaker:I'm not the best artist, but I'm gonna market myself as the best artist.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:And that's really what it comes down to at the end of the day.
Speaker:Now, a lot of your drawings pull from multiple franchises.
Speaker:You spoke a little about anime.
Speaker:You do draw a whole bunch of other really things from TV
Speaker:and movies and stuff like that.
Speaker:And artists who are on, I would say, are on your level have a
Speaker:whole bunch of inspirations.
Speaker:What would you say are some of your inspirations?
Speaker:Some of my art inspirations?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:As cocky as it sounds, myself, man, I ain't looking at nobody else.
Speaker:And I mean that in the most respectful, humble way.
Speaker:I don't need to look at nobody else's style or what everybody else is doing.
Speaker:I literally just focus in my own bubble and figure out what's best for me.
Speaker:What's gonna elevate something I already started.
Speaker:I don't need to draw inspiration from anybody because I already started
Speaker:something that's unique to me.
Speaker:It's just how do I keep evolving it is where I go on.
Speaker:So I think that it really helped keep your art very unique
Speaker:because it obviously stands out.
Speaker:Currently we are sitting in aisle 800 of the L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:Comic Con and his art stand always brings a very large crowd.
Speaker:Everyone's already really pulled into it.
Speaker:When you decide when you're making a piece, and cause like I said,
Speaker:some of these pieces have multiple different franchises on there.
Speaker:What is your usual connect tissue where Oh, I'm going to put
Speaker:these two characters together?
Speaker:I.
Speaker:That's not what you're talking about.
Speaker:The LSD collection, right?
Speaker:When I do like on the mix and mashups.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I got one that right now is just Dragon Ball Z, Bleach and Sonic.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I got two different collections.
Speaker:So I got the virus graphics collection where it's just the character by itself.
Speaker:I pay homage to, characters that we, truly enjoy and love on their
Speaker:own in their respective shows.
Speaker:And then I got the LSD collection where it's just the mashup collection where
Speaker:I just let the thoughts just flow free and just whatever I just feel like
Speaker:doing just happens, comes to mind, you don't have a specific process of which
Speaker:characters go in this particular project.
Speaker:So to give y'all some like gems on it, I really don't know what the piece
Speaker:is going to look like when it's done.
Speaker:I just draw or illustrate what I would love to see in this
Speaker:piece on separate layers, right?
Speaker:So once I get all the layers of what I want to see in the piece,
Speaker:I then bring it to a different program and put it all together.
Speaker:So when I piece it together, it's like solving a Rubik's cube blind because
Speaker:I don't know what it's going to look like when it's done, but when I.
Speaker:feel like it's finished, I know it's finished.
Speaker:And I came up with that concept and that method because I used to make
Speaker:mixtape covers for rappers and artists before I really went hard for art.
Speaker:So with that concept, you'd have to take the artists and photoshop
Speaker:the background or whatever you want around them or with them.
Speaker:And you're taking different assets and putting together a picture.
Speaker:So I take that same concept from my mixtape cover days, and
Speaker:I just do it with my own art.
Speaker:And that's it.
Speaker:That's literally the real secret to how I put it together.
Speaker:So how long does it take you to I would say, cause obviously the mashup
Speaker:Sounds like it's a little bit more complicated process than the singles are.
Speaker:With these singles, how long would you say once you know who it's
Speaker:going to be from start to finish, how long does that usually take?
Speaker:Three to four weeks.
Speaker:Four weeks?
Speaker:Three to four weeks.
Speaker:In and out a little bit each day.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So when you're in like the zone, cause we've spoken to a lot of different
Speaker:people and they usually have this sense like, okay, I'm on my grind right now.
Speaker:I don't feel like doing anything else.
Speaker:A lot of times editors describe it as a moment in which they
Speaker:don't even need to eat or sleep.
Speaker:All they need to do is just be in the zone and be in this piece.
Speaker:Does that happen to you for more in the beginning when you're
Speaker:figuring out or more towards the end where you're like, Oh, I see it.
Speaker:The entire time.
Speaker:Start to finish.
Speaker:The entire time.
Speaker:Start to finish.
Speaker:One question that I would have for you is, when do you know the artwork is done?
Speaker:Because I know from a lot of artists, speaking to a lot of
Speaker:them, you can sometimes ruin the piece if you do too much.
Speaker:How do you know when it's perfect?
Speaker:You gotta have that sense, man.
Speaker:You gotta have that sense of being able to talk to yourself and know when am I doing
Speaker:too much and when did I do just enough.
Speaker:And, oddly enough, with all the LSD pieces, it's I just keep playing
Speaker:with it till I feel like it's it.
Speaker:And the best way to know if you're overdoing it is obviously save a
Speaker:copy of your files, because now, if you did do too much, you can
Speaker:go back to your original version.
Speaker:Or the original revised version before you.
Speaker:Save it fully.
Speaker:So that's one trick you could always compare, something that you thought would
Speaker:work on top of what you already did.
Speaker:So that's one way.
Speaker:But for me I'll be honest, I've just been blessed to just have that sense.
Speaker:I just know when it's finished.
Speaker:I'll make it give us some fresh eyes and probably look
Speaker:at it like another day or two.
Speaker:And see if anything doesn't hit me, then that's it.
Speaker:It's just a feeling.
Speaker:There's a lot of people There's this issue in Hollywood right now, because
Speaker:not only do we do this radio show, I work as the writer director Nicholas
Speaker:is an actor and executive producer.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:There's this issue in Hollywood currently, and it's part of the reason why I
Speaker:wanted to talk to you, about things looking, quote unquote, Disney standard.
Speaker:Things looking the same.
Speaker:Especially right now, Animation is coming to this point where a lot of
Speaker:studios are making everything the same.
Speaker:It's part of the reason why the Spider Man animated Spider Man
Speaker:movies were so revolutionary.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:For this modern time.
Speaker:Because people are like, it looks so different compared to everything else.
Speaker:Now, You're doing a lot of 2D art here that is also quite unique.
Speaker:What is your, why do you think that there is a lot of studio art out
Speaker:there that just looks the same?
Speaker:Do you think it's the artist's fault?
Speaker:Do you think it's like the studios are probably making them do that?
Speaker:And what's your opinion on that stuff?
Speaker:It's what we said earlier, man.
Speaker:When something's working, we're in an era now where people just want to.
Speaker:working.
Speaker:It's very rare to see people just jump out the frame and just
Speaker:do something that's different.
Speaker:And you know that takes a lot of I was gonna say determination,
Speaker:it takes a lot of balls to just go out there and just take risk.
Speaker:Yeah, it's very risky to just say, all I don't know if this is working.
Speaker:I don't know if the market is going to like this.
Speaker:I don't know if this is going to make money.
Speaker:I don't know if people are going to attach this, but I'm going to try it anyway.
Speaker:I think a lot of people are just afraid to do that.
Speaker:And I was afraid to do that at first with my art because it
Speaker:wasn't how everybody else's look.
Speaker:But ultimately, and luckily enough for me That's what made you stand out.
Speaker:Exactly, but that might not work for everybody, so that same tactic
Speaker:does not apply for everything.
Speaker:So I think right now we're just in a space where everybody just wants to play
Speaker:it safe and work with what's working.
Speaker:So that's why we get a lot of the same, and that's why I could appreciate the
Speaker:Spider Verse movies because that's different, it didn't look like, like
Speaker:something that I'd, expect to see.
Speaker:Yeah, it felt so different, that's why I like it.
Speaker:So you gotta just know you got that if factor for whatever it is that
Speaker:you're working on, and Hollywood just has to realize the reason why we've
Speaker:won in the past is because we've done stuff that was not on the same level.
Speaker:safe route, but it also, it's a business thing too.
Speaker:It comes with money involved too, people's jobs and stuff on the line.
Speaker:So I get it, it's a risk.
Speaker:One of the things that I would ask you is you seem to focus exclusively
Speaker:on like anime and cartoons.
Speaker:Was there a specific reason for that?
Speaker:Is there a reason why you don't do?
Speaker:pop culture, maybe commissions, maybe something like that.
Speaker:Was there a specific reason why you decided to focus on that?
Speaker:I actually came up doing commissions.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Cause, cause just big, she was piggybacking off of that.
Speaker:He's right.
Speaker:A lot of it, like it's mostly anime focused, but then it's really in the
Speaker:mashups where you see other stuff.
Speaker:So you say you came up doing commissions?
Speaker:I came up doing commissions.
Speaker:I used to do mixtape covers for certain rappers and stuff, and certain artists.
Speaker:A couple well known artists like Birdman, Gucci Man, and stuff, so I
Speaker:had a whole nother career, before this career, but I just You know, I took
Speaker:a break from that, this is obviously a more steadier fanbase, a more loyal
Speaker:fanbase than the anime gaming community.
Speaker:So I stick with this more.
Speaker:And, focus on anime because obviously that's a lot of what I watched growing
Speaker:up, I was into a lot of things, but anime was more of where I was
Speaker:really at because of the art style.
Speaker:I like the cel shading style from like the 90s and Is there any anime you can
Speaker:list specifically that you were like, Oh, like I, I'm really loving this.
Speaker:Dragon Ball Z, Yu Hakusho, especially when they did their movies back
Speaker:in the day, the artwork was just.
Speaker:It's amazing, even like movies like Akira, the way how they were colored,
Speaker:the way how they were drawn, I'm inspired by stuff like that and that's
Speaker:like where like my style starts from, but I just add like that digital pop
Speaker:culture feel to it, it's like an anime Basquiat or something I'm going for.
Speaker:So what was your first poster?
Speaker:It was Dragon Ball Z?
Speaker:It's on my Freddy's collections?
Speaker:Yeah, the first one was actually my Master Roshi piece.
Speaker:That was the piece That was your very first one?
Speaker:Yeah, that's the oldest one of the collection as of the time
Speaker:of this recording, that piece is about eight years old now.
Speaker:And that one is still selling it just came out yesterday.
Speaker:Did you, would you, do you have a favorite piece?
Speaker:Do you ever do you have a piece that you're like, everyone
Speaker:else buys a different one?
Speaker:Yeah, that's why we're asking it, though, because we have to.
Speaker:No, I love and hate it.
Speaker:I love it because I know people always want to know.
Speaker:But I hate it because I love everything I've done, so it's hard to pick.
Speaker:It's like picking a favorite kid.
Speaker:So I'm going to help you out Dan.
Speaker:I'm going to help you out.
Speaker:Out of the fresh ones you've made this year, which one do you think
Speaker:shows the best of your abilities?
Speaker:All of them, because I put the best ability in each of them at that time.
Speaker:That's why it's so hard to answer that question.
Speaker:When I made that Master Archer, that was the best at my time.
Speaker:That's why it's still standing the test of time in my catalog.
Speaker:You can probably look at it and I'll tell you it was old, and you'll say,
Speaker:Oh, okay, I can see the difference in Ozzy's work in the last eight
Speaker:years, but it's still so good.
Speaker:But it don't feel like Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I just, BS in it at that time.
Speaker:So it don't sell as much.
Speaker:It's still people still pick it up.
Speaker:Yo, this is fire.
Speaker:Mine's just eight years old.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How do you continue to challenge yourself and get better?
Speaker:Cause you're already like, do you train in some sort of way or
Speaker:Yeah, man, it's be locked in the hyperbolic time shaping my crib, bro.
Speaker:Like I said, just working, but no, on a serious note.
Speaker:No it's what I said.
Speaker:I don't Pay attention to much of the artists in the most respectful way.
Speaker:I watch their moves, I watch what they're grinding, where
Speaker:they're going, what they're doing.
Speaker:But like their art, I really don't like to watch anybody else's art style
Speaker:because I keep it all within my own mind, my own sanctuary or whatever.
Speaker:You don't want to be influenced.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:What you're doing is already the best.
Speaker:I'm influenced off of the basics.
Speaker:The stuff I grew up into, the stuff I like, the stuff I've
Speaker:been exposed to and the type.
Speaker:a style, maybe, but I've evolved it based off of that.
Speaker:And I keep it all in the same mindset to evolve what I already started with.
Speaker:So this way there's no, cause you walk around here and they
Speaker:have similar paintings, right?
Speaker:They have similar projects, but it doesn't have that.
Speaker:It factors.
Speaker:It strikes me.
Speaker:It's very interesting.
Speaker:It's like some of them, it wasn't even like this last year.
Speaker:We did not see as many, I don't even want to call them copycats
Speaker:because that seems a little far, but.
Speaker:Your art style has obviously influenced the LA Comic Con at least, and especially
Speaker:the way you present your art to others.
Speaker:But I want to go back just a little bit, because you mentioned
Speaker:graffiti earlier, right?
Speaker:Was that like, where you first started?
Speaker:Like, where you first started looking at stuff and that
Speaker:piqued your interest at first?
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Graffiti was always interesting.
Speaker:Obviously, growing up in you come from New York, it's like graffiti is true.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You see it everywhere.
Speaker:It's a part of New York, were you ever into tagging?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I never got into it.
Speaker:By the time I got into really into art, I already had digital and a tablet, so
Speaker:I never got into that, but I love to try I don't know, on a canvas, obviously.
Speaker:Something legal in that sense.
Speaker:I try to get the influence of how it feels in the art a little bit.
Speaker:So like the paint drips, the paint splatters, the random
Speaker:color stripes, strokes and lines just throughout the piece.
Speaker:I take those little parts, along with all my other influences.
Speaker:Pop culture, jewelry, fashion, sketchiness of the art and the line work.
Speaker:Put all that together and that's literally like the main
Speaker:ingredients to an Aussie piece.
Speaker:But the way I do it is its own measurement and that's where, the
Speaker:copycats are, the people that are.
Speaker:Highly inspired, you know are not getting because they don't know the
Speaker:right measurements of those things.
Speaker:They just know what I'm using right and as an artist, They say they often
Speaker:say an artist doesn't translate to a different medium instead an artist
Speaker:Dominates in a different medium.
Speaker:Yeah, so you just said you would be tagging yourself like that.
Speaker:Obviously You know, tagging is gonna look different than something
Speaker:you would do digitally, right?
Speaker:So if you were to go into tagging, do you think there's anything
Speaker:that you would bring from your specific digital style over?
Speaker:I try to bring as much as I can over.
Speaker:And then figure out what else I could do new that I haven't
Speaker:been able to do on digital.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:I literally try to bring what I know over, but just try to ask something a
Speaker:little different in terms of flavor to it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:It seems like I would have a question for you about the fact that you
Speaker:never want to get bored, right?
Speaker:So how do you keep yourself interested in doing it?
Speaker:Is it by constantly challenging yourself?
Speaker:What are you doing?
Speaker:Discipline or is it motivation?
Speaker:It's a little bit of all that, coming to shows and seeing people like enjoy
Speaker:like the artwork, like I said, the other day when y'all came, show me that story.
Speaker:Stuff like that is what keeps me going, seeing how much people enjoy the artwork
Speaker:keeps me going and I've even heard some sad motivational stories where there was
Speaker:a guy who gave his art who brought one of my artworks for his sister, rest in peace
Speaker:before she passed away, and that made her day, stuff like that is hard to hear,
Speaker:but it's motivational because I never know what the art's doing for people.
Speaker:I'm just in the house, just creating it.
Speaker:I'm traveling making it.
Speaker:So to hear what it's doing for people is honestly one of the biggest motivators,
Speaker:you know My dad has your so for those listening I Showed my dad last year
Speaker:when we first met Ozzy I showed my dad a bunch of pictures that he drew just
Speaker:like on my phone we facetiming and One that my dad was like, get me that.
Speaker:It was the Boondocks one.
Speaker:With the black, it's a mix between the Black Panther movie and the
Speaker:Boondocks with Huey and Riley.
Speaker:He has that hanging up in his office and he gets compliments on it all the time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:One thing that I would like to go back to is, you say you get
Speaker:in a hyperbolic chamber whenever drawing your projects, right?
Speaker:And then, when to know, when to stop.
Speaker:Do you consult anybody?
Speaker:Like, whenever you're done, do you say, Hey, what do you guys think,
Speaker:or is it just all you just like, okay, I know this is going on.
Speaker:I know this is done.
Speaker:Because, like you said, it's a risk.
Speaker:There's a lot of artists out there, both professionally, Now, we our
Speaker:audience is mostly professional.
Speaker:But, a lot of people out there professionally and amateur, who are
Speaker:like, they do a lot of second guessing.
Speaker:Not only that, that's part of the professional space.
Speaker:We work in movies, right?
Speaker:And radio.
Speaker:So there's a whole bunch of people giving us notes
Speaker:consistently and things like that.
Speaker:You, you're more like the captain of the ship.
Speaker:So is there, yeah, is there someone that you really rely
Speaker:on for your taste or something?
Speaker:I might ask like a couple friends and personal people like in my circle.
Speaker:Hey, what do you think?
Speaker:But it's really towards the end when I'm already I just want
Speaker:to see what somebody will say.
Speaker:Maybe another fresh pair of eyes will see something that I'm not seeing, or
Speaker:give a suggestion that I wasn't aware of.
Speaker:But it's very rare.
Speaker:It's very rare.
Speaker:I'd say probably 10 percent of the time I'm probably asking somebody a little
Speaker:something, but 90 percent is usually nah.
Speaker:I stand on what I finished, I know it's gonna be good.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:One of the things that I would say is, you've previously said that
Speaker:you don't know what you're going to draw once you start drawing, right?
Speaker:When it comes to the LSD collection, I don't know how the piece
Speaker:is gonna look when it's done.
Speaker:I just have a crazy quick idea, like a rundown of what I wanna see in it, and
Speaker:then hopefully it makes it to the final.
Speaker:Because what I was gonna ask you is, how do you know the
Speaker:next thing you're going to draw?
Speaker:So in the beginning, it was just whatever I felt like, and now that it's more of
Speaker:a business than like a whole operation now, it's more of whatever the fans,
Speaker:suggest, mixed with what I want to do.
Speaker:So sometimes I'm doing something because I want to do this, sometimes I'm doing
Speaker:this because I just felt like doing this, and sometimes I'm doing this
Speaker:because I know everybody wants this.
Speaker:How do you know every, is it Instagram DMs?
Speaker:Instagram, DMs, Messages, Emails What's the process?
Speaker:All of that, everybody just, gay people coming up to me in shows telling me, I
Speaker:just keep a mental note of what people want to see and I just read my comments,
Speaker:read my DMs When one specific character is overwhelming you're like, I guess
Speaker:I gotta create this piece Yeah, pretty much I hear a lot of times that people
Speaker:will specifically artists, will a lot of times draw or write or something
Speaker:that they don't see represented a lot.
Speaker:Do you find yourself falling into that category sometimes
Speaker:or are you more like to market?
Speaker:It's a little bit of both.
Speaker:Sometimes I just draw characters that, people aren't really looking for, but
Speaker:by the time I draw it, I might change their mind and be like, Yo, I wasn't
Speaker:looking for this, but I'mma take it.
Speaker:What is the most recent show that you've drawn for?
Speaker:What cause there are some characters here where you've done that show
Speaker:or that movie, probably previously, you've done art for that previously.
Speaker:What's the freshest show or movie that you've decided to do art for?
Speaker:The latest piece I got as of this recording is Kempachi from Bleach.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:So that one is pretty sick.
Speaker:You know how to show Kempachi.
Speaker:Kempachi's Iraqi.
Speaker:Yep, I had to show him some love, so that came out pretty fire.
Speaker:Outside of that, yeah, no, I just listen to the people, man.
Speaker:I read all my DMs, I read all my messages.
Speaker:Text messages, emails, when people tell me I have shows.
Speaker:And I really just piece together what people want to see.
Speaker:And that's it.
Speaker:So when you are, so this is obviously a big operation.
Speaker:If you're going from Florida, we're in Los Angeles.
Speaker:We're recording here at LA Comic Con live.
Speaker:Those of you who are listening.
Speaker:L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:Comic Con, you will probably, they will probably be listening to
Speaker:you after the Comic Con is over.
Speaker:Ha.
Speaker:But for those listening, is it really hard to get all, cause you have all
Speaker:your merchandise and stuff here.
Speaker:Is it really hard to take all that from Florida?
Speaker:Do you have someone, is it stationed out here?
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:Since you did all this from the ground up, was it a trial and error learning
Speaker:what works, or did you have someone say, Oh, hey, this is how you do this.
Speaker:Yeah, a lot of trial and error, I work certain deals out with certain
Speaker:companies, but I, They're pretty much backing, what I got going on.
Speaker:You got trial and error within that, you got trial and error within What
Speaker:you're learning on the way, you got trial and error with the learning
Speaker:like profits and losses, taxes, a lot of trial and losses, man.
Speaker:I took a lot of different L's in so many different ways that
Speaker:you probably would never know, but I just keep those to myself.
Speaker:I only, tell people if they're interested in knowing those
Speaker:backstories and I just keep it pushing.
Speaker:So it's a lot.
Speaker:It's not easy.
Speaker:Is there ever going to be a point that you would move to Los Angeles from Orlando?
Speaker:Nah.
Speaker:Would you have to get to a certain level?
Speaker:Or you just like Orlando that much?
Speaker:I like Orlando, man.
Speaker:I like Orlando.
Speaker:I'm comfortable where I'm at.
Speaker:I'll come to L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:for business from time to time, but where I'm at right now, where
Speaker:I'm placed, I'm enjoying it.
Speaker:I got a studio out there.
Speaker:I got, a nice fan base out there.
Speaker:Everything is where it needs to be.
Speaker:Do you see yourself working in movies anytime soon?
Speaker:Or collaborating at least?
Speaker:If the opportunity presents itself and it makes sense, I'm willing to do
Speaker:whatever to push my career forward.
Speaker:Do you have any animation that you're doing or are you just
Speaker:strictly 2D for right now?
Speaker:I'm working on my own manga right now.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:So I'm working on that project.
Speaker:I'm 90 pages in out of 175, so it's, one hell of a journey.
Speaker:But when it comes out, it's going to be different.
Speaker:I promise you that much.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Is there any details you can give or it's all hush right now?
Speaker:It's called Addiction 48.
Speaker:You can follow the Instagram page.
Speaker:It already has 4, 000 followers.
Speaker:People ask just the waiting for it.
Speaker:Hopefully I don't keep on waiting too much longer and I
Speaker:got something sooner than later.
Speaker:But outside of that, yeah I'm gonna transition to my own IP, what
Speaker:made you decide to go that route?
Speaker:I've always wanted to do it.
Speaker:It's been years.
Speaker:It's been in the back of my 10 years now.
Speaker:I just haven't put the, the the, like the foot on the gas for it.
Speaker:And I think now it's finally time to start doing that.
Speaker:Is there ever an offer anybody could make for you to move to Los Angeles?
Speaker:An offer?
Speaker:Nah, I'm good, man.
Speaker:Cause there's a lot of offers that come through.
Speaker:here.
Speaker:Is there cause I'm sure you get a lot of commissions that come through.
Speaker:A lot of people want you to work with them.
Speaker:So how do you like, cause I'm sure there's sometimes I'm not feeling this.
Speaker:Oh, I'm not going to do this.
Speaker:Is there anything that you hear that you're like, Oh wow.
Speaker:Like, how do you ever hear anything oh wow I'm really excited to do this?
Speaker:What gets an artist like you excited to work like, whatever I want to do?
Speaker:What, both, but really, what gets an artist like you excited
Speaker:to move forward on the project?
Speaker:The excitement just gotta be there, man.
Speaker:Once the passion is there, then it's endless.
Speaker:It's up from there, do you do personal commissions?
Speaker:If if I said, Hey, Ozzy, can you do a personal picture of me like this?
Speaker:Do you do that?
Speaker:I used to, I'm coming back to it from time to time.
Speaker:So whenever like my link opens, I do take on custom products that people want, but
Speaker:for the most I am just doing like stuff with my art, my brand, and shows and
Speaker:everything for now, what made you go, what made you go to Comic Con specifically?
Speaker:Was it like, because obviously, you're working with, in the previous past, you've
Speaker:been working with musical artists, right?
Speaker:Like Gucci.
Speaker:What made you say oh, okay, I want to go start promoting a lot of my stuff to cons?
Speaker:Was it, someone suggested to you or were you already coming to cons previously?
Speaker:Just the market is there.
Speaker:The market's here.
Speaker:The likeliness of an anime fan or anyone that's into pop culture.
Speaker:Nerd culture gaming the chance of people walking around here and seeing some of
Speaker:my stuff and that growth is just pretty quick and Instantaneous because there's
Speaker:hundreds of people are thousand people in real time that will see learn about
Speaker:me And if they're really interested they'll follow so that's why I come to
Speaker:cons It's just a great market space, especially if the show's promoted and it
Speaker:comes out good and it's you know handle proper we're almost out of time here.
Speaker:What's really, what's next for you?
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:If we're going to be, brutally honest.
Speaker:Times are hard right now.
Speaker:What's next right now is trying to keep business alive.
Speaker:Keep business afloat.
Speaker:Keep my team in position where we're still winning.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Even throughout the hardest times right now that we got in
Speaker:the world, in America and stuff.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:That's just the realest chance I could give you, man.
Speaker:I can't focus on moving forward until I sustain what I got going on right now.
Speaker:That's smart.
Speaker:It's sustainability.
Speaker:right now.
Speaker:This year is all about just, keeping things together,
Speaker:keeping the foundation together.
Speaker:And then once I feel like I've gotten to a point where things are more
Speaker:together, not so up and down solid.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Once it's more solid, then we figure out on the next steps.
Speaker:And that's just some of the real truths as an entrepreneur that Not everybody's
Speaker:gonna talk about it, evErybody right now, whether they wanna explain it
Speaker:or not, is going through times where things are hard, so we gotta keep it
Speaker:together, and then we move forward after.
Speaker:So you can't even make a guess as to what you would do next because you're
Speaker:focused on I know what I'm gonna do next, but I'm not gonna focus on it
Speaker:until I got what I got going on first.
Speaker:But what's definitely next, for sure, is my own IP, my own manga.
Speaker:Bringing my studio to life where people can use and rent it out and
Speaker:just keep growing as just a personality in this art space man That's it.
Speaker:I keep it real simple.
Speaker:So this way it's not too much to stay away from thank you so much for
Speaker:sitting down and talking with us.
Speaker:Yeah, you are our favorite artist man.
Speaker:I really appreciate you Sitting down with us, giving us a
Speaker:couple minutes of your time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:More than a couple minutes, but yeah, of course.
Speaker:Where can people follow you?
Speaker:Go ahead and give 'em the socials or when they can contact you.
Speaker:Anything.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Make sure y'all check me out.
Speaker:Ozzy oz, da V-Y-R-U-S, Ozzy the virus.
Speaker:Check out my new website, ozzy the virus.com.
Speaker:So O-Z-Z-Y-D-A-V-Y-R-U s.com.
Speaker:I have discount codes for all my products, where I'm gonna be at for
Speaker:shows downloadable digital products like emotes and stuff, sticker packs
Speaker:for phones, all type of cool stuff.
Speaker:I have the credit card skin.
Speaker:Oh yeah, credit card skins, yeah, all the affiliates now.
Speaker:Oh yes, I do have an affiliate page now, so people who are out here
Speaker:stealing, you can go on my page to find out who's official, because
Speaker:if their logo's not on that page, I probably 9 times do not work with them.
Speaker:I got tons of cool stuff on the website that I actually just dropped last week, so
Speaker:make sure to check that out, ozzythevirus.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:Instagram, OzzyOzTheVirus.
Speaker:com and honestly, once you see those two, you'll see everything from there.
Speaker:Alright, well fantastic.
Speaker:Ozzy, it's been really great and those of you listening, obviously
Speaker:you can hear his determination and his passion and really in this
Speaker:industry, that's what it's all about.
Speaker:Well guys, this has been Film Center.
Speaker:My name is Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And we're here with OzzyOzTheVirus, one of the coolest graphic designers out.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And we'll see you next time.
Speaker:See y'all.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at FilmCenterNews.
Speaker:com Sign up for our newsletter and get the Hollywood trade straight to you.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next week for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been Film Center.
