Hueviews: Welcome to hue what where? The show where curiosity leads the way. I’m hueviews, and I’ve always been intrigued by people, their stories, their thoughts and the little things that make them who they are. Some questions may stay surface level, while others might dig a little deeper. Let’s see where we go with today’s guest – bananakin, a multi dimensional digital artist starting his creative journey in 2004 by sketching caricatures of theme park tourists. He quickly ventured into motion graphics, contributing to various attractions, live events and music videos. Known for his unique and enlivened style, bananakin has been making daily art pieces since January 1st, 2020, utilizing analog and digital formats including 2D, 3D, and VR. After 20 years together, he should be used to all my random questions. So let’s peel back the layers and explore the world of bananakin!

Bananakin: Peel back the layers. I see what you did there.

Hueviews: Hey, look at that. Sometimes I make a little joke. How’s it going?

Bananakin: It’s going good. You know, hanging tight with kitty cat.

Hueviews: How’s the other side of the house?

Bananakin: It’s great. He’s awake now. He knows something’s up, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he knocks on your door.

Hueviews: Oh god. I probably should’ve just left the door cracked. Should we get into the questions? I have a few for you.

Bananakin: Let’s do this.

Hueviews: All right. Okay. 

Bananakin: Thank you. Hey. Thank you for being for letting me be guest numero uno.

Hueviews: You are welcome. We’re going to work on our Spanish a little bit. All right, so question one. What would your autobiography title be?

Bananakin: Autobiography? That’s if I’m writing myself about myself, right?

Hueviews: Yeah, that’s what that means.

Bananakin: Okay. Sorry. I’m just getting use to this.

Hueviews: No. It’s fine. 

Bananakin: What would I name it? I never thought about this.

Hueviews: It doesn’t have to be, yeah. Go for it. It doesn’t have to be like the final edition or anything like that, you know. It could have the V1 after it. 

Bananakin: Yeah. All right. So we can do like a working title or something.

Hueviews: Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

Bananakin: You know, it have to be like Well, Here We Are. I think it’d be the most appropriate title.

Hueviews: All right. I can see you starting a story with that. Actually, you probably have started a story or two with that. And probably ended a store or two with that line. Well, Here We Are. Okay. Can’t say I was expecting that.

Bananakin: You know, cause it’s like, you can’t really sum up. It’s just hard to sum anything up into one. Yeah, I could, like this one thing that happened in my life and I could base it on that thing, but it’s just like, I mean, as you know, there’s been so much, like, crazy twists and turns that life has given us, so it’s like, you know, we’re just, kind of along for the ride, and well, here we are.

Hueviews: Actually, now that you say that and explain it that way that kind of makes perfect sense. Wow. Wow. I’m actually, that’s a good answer. I feel like I’m on Family Feud all of a sudden, but good answer.

Bananakin: Hey, Chiker [cat] approves too.

Hueviews: Great, great. Yeah, I’m sure he’s sleeping all the way through this.

Bananakin: No, he’s awake.

Hueviews: Oh gosh, that cat. Wow, that was really good. Sorry, I was gonna move on, but I’m like, oh now that you’ve explained it like that. Okay, let’s go to question two, shall we?

Bananakin: We’ll barreling through these things. Let’s go.

Hueviews: Oh no? Do you want to?

Bananakin: No, I stood on my soap box and kinda gave my explanation of why I would name it like that and yeah, we can ride on.

Hueviews: It was great. It was great. Yeah, I’m still like, should we talk about that some more? But no, I think you explained it well.

Bananakin: I mean, you can if you want, but.

Hueviews: I think we’ve gone on enough about it. No, I’m joking. Okay. Yeah. Next one. Where would you spend the day if money and resources were no subject? Or object, should I say.

Bananakin: Well, where would we spend the day?

Hueviews: I mean, it doesn’t have to be. I mean, you could do something on your own.

Bananakin: I wouldn’t want to, yeah, you know I don’t work like that.

Hueviews: All right. So, I mean, we do a lot on the cheap right now, so, like, go for it. Where would it be? Doesn’t matter. Let’s just go for it.

Bananakin: Oh geez. I mean, what was the question again? Where would I go to spend the day?

Hueviews: Yeah, just a day. Yeah, just random things to do throughout the day.

Bananakin: I mean, I feel like it’d be some kind of cool museum thing, right? I feel like we’d go to some kind of cool museum thing. I don’t know which one.

Hueviews: So are we traveling somewhere to go to a cool museum thing?

Bananakin: Yeah, it would definitely be not around here. I mean, probably the closest place would probably be Miami. We could go back to Miami. But we’ve done that, so you know it’s like.

Hueviews: I mean, planes do come back in a day.

Bananakin: They do.

Hueviews: I mean, we’ve had friends that have done that.

Bananakin: Yeah. It’d just we like, we need to go, like, somewhere where we could a cool museum thing, have a really good meal and, yeah, maybe like Denver or something. I don’t know, I’ve never been there. I feel like we could do something like that. That’s kind of weird for me to think that like, hey you have all the choices in the world and you would pick Denver. 

Hueviews: I’m sure you could just talk your way through that cause you just sold me on Well, Here We Are.

Bananakin: I mean, but I think we could do  literally, like, I just feel like it would be going somewhere that we haven’t been before. Let’s just say that, 

Hueviews: Yeah, I gotcha.

Bananakin: Because we I mean, obviously we’ve been to some places in like, you know, had experiences there.

Hueviews: You say obviously like not everybody knows where we’ve been..

Bananakin: Well, no, I’m just saying we’ve been together for 20 years. We’ve been to a few places together. We haven’t just been in the city and town that we live in currently at the moment forever.

Hueviews: Correct. Correct. All right. So you would just pick an out of state museum?

Bananakin: Oh god. Oh shit. Cat is getting under the covers. Holy shit. Holy shit. He just like popped up beside me but underneath the covers. Okay, okay. All right, sorry. That startled me. I gotta scoot over. Give me a second.

Hueviews: You know what I just thought about was yesterday when the door opened, when you opened the door. That was at the thrift shop And all of sudden I jumped backwards because I thought, like we were at one of the Humane Societies and I thought one of the cats was getting out, so I jumped backwards. It was a bell. It was just like one of those bell things, right?

Bananakin: Yeah. It was just a bell on the door. 

Hueviews: Yeah, it scared me though. I thought it was a cat trying to escape. All right.

Bananakin: So back to where I would spend the day. Yeah. So it’d probably like, general answer is like, it’s just anywhere we haven’t been that’s kind of cool. Like, we could do some museum-y and then eat a really nice meal. You know, find other local activities to do throughout the day, like that kind of thing.

Hueviews: Okay.

Bananakin: I mean, I’m pretty easy. If there’s somewhere we haven’t been, I mean, it’s just like, you know.

Hueviews: I gotcha.

Bananakin: And then, you know, we probably find a thrift or something that we could swing by and see where we could pick up. 

Hueviews: Of course.

Bananakin: I don’t know if that’s the answer you wanted.

Hueviews: It’s not my answer. I was asking you the question.

Bananakin: I don’t know. I’m pretty basic. So it’s not that deep. It’s pretty simple.

Hueviews: It just seems like that because that’s what you tend to do all the time, right? Like you go to different towns and you thrift and eat meals. That’s it. You just want to escalate this a little bit and go to another state. That’s all.

Bananakin: Yeah. Exactly. Do the same things we do regularly but just do them in new and exciting places.

Hueviews: All right, fine. Add that to the list. Go to Denver. All right. So, when was the last time you felt out of your comfort zone?

Bananakin: When was the last time I got interviewed? No. I don’t know. I mean, I feel like I’m always a little bit of my comfort zone. 

Hueviews: Okay. All right. You just always feel like that?

Bananakin: No. 

Hueviews: Yeah, I think at this moment, I think this is the last time you felt out of your comfort zone, right now. 

Bananakin: Probably so.

Hueviews: That is the answer, is right now, because I can hear in your voice. I’m sure everybody can hear it in your voice. You were very concerned about that answer, and I don’t know why. But, I feel like.

Bananakin: Well, you know, it’s just like, the past couple of years have been rough, you know, like with work and all that stuff. So it’s like, to say like, oh yeah, I’m ever in a comfort zone, it’s like, well, I mean, are you, you know what I mean?

Hueviews: I gotcha.

Bananakin: It’s like there hasn’t been any kind of like, since the lost all the Eth, let’s say. Let’s say the last time I was in a comfort zone.

Hueviews: You want to talk about that for a second?

Bananakin: I mean, we can, but it’s like whenever I lost all the Eth, that was like, that was in a comfort zone at that point. You know, there was a certain amount of comfort associated with, like just being able to, like, do whatever we wanted. Not whatever we wanted.

Hueviews: Yeah, we barely spent any of it before it disappeared.

Bananakin: Yeah, yeah. But you know what I mean, just like, you don’t have to, you don’t have that stress necessarily as prominent and just being self-employed for so long and then, you know, prior to earning that Eth, like it was hard to, you know who I mean, Goodbye Robot was almost ten years at that point and that’s just like, hey, it’s cool you get client work and all that stuff, and you go through the motions and stuff, but it was clearly never, nothing was ever guaranteed or anything. So it’s just like the basics, it’s just being a creative I think ultimately.

Hueviews: Yeah, and freelance.

Bananakin: So just to say like, oh yeah, there’s a comfort, I have a comfort zone, I mean, so many clients have gone away, you know, as far as day jobs and art doesn’t sell like it use to, so now I don’t feel like I’m in a comfort zone.

Hueviews: I gotcha. Yeah. 

Bananakin: But I mean, yeah, I mean obviously there’s levels to it, right. The comfort of being able to talk, I feel comfortable being able to talk to you about it and stuff. But I don’t necessarily feel comfortable.

Hueviews: No, I know, just the life. Life hasn’t been comfortable recently is what you’re saying. 

Bananakin: Yeah. 

Hueviews: In the money aspect of it.

Bananakin: Yeah. I mean, you know, there’s wealth and things other than finance, right.

Hueviews: Yeah, absolutely.

Bananakin: So I do feel rich in some aspects of that, you know.

Hueviews: Yeah. And the fact that you are even walking and talking and all of that today.

Bananakin: Oh yeah, there’s that too. There’s a general appreciation for life in general after all of that.

Hueviews: All of that being the fact that you were stuck in the hospital for 63 days.

Bananakin: Yeah. 

Hueviews: Due to a cancer scare and, well, I guess it was more than a scare. And a port placement that went wrong.

Bananakin: It was a whole journey package that we had to go through.

Hueviews: Yeah. So, yeah, there’s been a lot of things that have gone wrong, but thankfully you are still here to be able to talk about the b.s.

Bananakin: Oh yeah.

Hueviews: I was gonna cuss and then I was like, wait, I haven’t cussed yet, so I won’t yet. Sorry. Well, that just took me back for a second.

Bananakin: I’m sorry. 

Hueviews: No, no reason to be sorry. I was just like, oh, here we go. Let’s go back to a comfort zone for you. Shall we? Why do you think you draw so many faces? Like the abstract faces?

Bananakin: Probably cause of the caricature thing, I think. I don’t know, I kind of did a little bit before then, but then, like, drawing caricatures every day is like, okay, you’re literally drawing faces every day.

Hueviews: Yeah, but you didn’t do that that long. Did you? How long was that?

Bananakin: Almost two years.

Hueviews: Oh, was it? Oh wow. For some reason it didn’t seem like it was that long.

Bananakin: I don’t know. I just think that it’s, I mean, drawing bodies are more difficult I would say. So, yeah, obviously a comfort zone. And usually a lot of times when I’m doing my drawings, when I’m doing my every days, and then they’re usually started late. 

Hueviews: Are they?

Bananakin: Usually later than I should be doing them. And then, yeah, I guess I fall into a comfort zone there, but, you know, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

Hueviews: No, it’s not a bad thing. I’m just curious.

Bananakin: No, I know.

Hueviews: I mean, I obviously see your stuff often, so it’s just one of the things that there’s a common theme, right?

Bananakin: Oh, yeah, for sure.

Hueviews: But the thing is they don’t, when I see them come in progress, they don’t start as faces. There’s some random shape and then all of a sudden it’s like, oh, what the hell? How did that end up like that? So the final result, I mean obviously the final doesn’t look like what it started with, but usually if I just look over your shoulder to see what’s going on, it’s like, oh yeah, a face is not not the first place that that shape goes, you know. So I just think it’s interesting. It’s not a bad thing.

Bananakin: I’ll try to be like, oh dude, you’re not drawing another face again. Trust me, there’s that in my head too. You got to zoom out a little bit. You got to do something different. You drew a face yesterday. You can’t, you got to break it up like, so there is always like, I’m aware of it and I’m okay with it, but, I always gotta kinda like okay.

Hueviews: Yeah, you should be okay with it. It’s fine. It’s not a fault.

Bananakin: I don’t want to be, you know, I just don’t want to be that’s all it is. Hey, he’s just a face man.

Hueviews: I don’t think anybody thinks that’s all you do.

Bananakin: Shout out Faceman. I don’t want to be known as just that, you know.

Hueviews: Yeah. I don’t think anybody thinks that you’re known for just that, or just any one thing. It’s pretty versatile. Do you have any idea why certain pieces might stick with viewers? 

Bananakin: No. I mean, I’d like to say it’s a piece I put more time into, hey, people are going to resonate with it or whatever, but that’s definitely not the case. So yeah, I don’t know what the thing is. It’s weird because obviously when you touch on it, you hit on something, it’s like, oh okay, that’s the thing that people resonate with. But I can see why, like in the aftermath, but like it’s hard to be like, oh, this is going to be something people, I don’t know.

Hueviews: Yeah, I know. I know you go through that often where you’re like this, you know, we all go through that where it’s like, oh, I really like this piece. Especially doing it every day, every day for years. You’re like, oh, I really like this piece. I mean, thank god I do it for myself, right? Because I’m the only one that liked it. You post it to post it I feel like. And to get it, I don’t want to say a sense of relief, but it’s a sense of like, okay, that’s another one. I got that out of my system for the day.

Bananakin: I mean, no matter what, it can’t be a bad thing, right? You’re doing it every day. And the worst case scenario, you get better at whatever you’re doing and so the best case scenario, you sell this shit for 70 million. I don’t know. The worst case scenario is just too good to not do it, I feel like. 

Hueviews: All right. 

Bananakin: And plus when I started doing it, all of all of the work I was doing prior to that was just client stuff and unless you get really cool jobs all the time, it’s not the same as just doing something for yourself. It was important to put in time for yourself and here we are.

Hueviews: See. See. It works. It is the title for your autobiography. 

Bananakin: Yeah, exactly.

Hueviews: And also it could be a headstone all at the same time. I was about to say something and I lost it and I’m sure it’s going to be really great.

Bananakin: Speaking of a headstone, how many editions do we have left?

Hueviews: I don’t know, it’s fine. Why?

Bananakin: We’re taking a break right now for the advertising portion of this program. Speaking of headstones.

Hueviews: Yeah. but that was actually a lot of fun. I mean, I know we actually worked on things before together, but I feel like that was the first thing where it was like, oh, maybe not the first. I hate to say that, like where it actually was like, okay, I had this weird idea to make headstones, which is so not me. I do not enjoy talking about death, but, it’s just one of those, I don’t know. And then you were like, hey, we can do this. We can do that. And I was like, oh, make all these textures. Okay. That doesn’t make sense to me. And you were like, no, you make them and I will put them on. Oh, still doesn’t make sense, but thank you. So, that was really fun. That was cool. I need to utilize them more because they are very fun to look at and zoom in. But, I mean, obviously, I may be biased, but how you took my work and made it digital and all that stuff, it was just cool. Oh wow, that actually looks like it. And then you made stuff look like it had been stitched when it hadn’t been stitched. Inner secrets right there.

Bananakin: Yeah.

Hueviews: All right. So I guess my final question is how has a piece of advice changed the way you think? But also, what advice would you pass on to someone else?

Bananakin: It’s just about doing it, right. It’s probably like, this sounds so corny. 

Hueviews: You don’t have to quote something exactly.

Bananakin: No. I know. I don’t know the exact quote. It was just like, probably like getting into every days, right? I thought Beeple was a really cool artist, pre NFTs and stuff. It was consistent and it was just like, I just thought, it was like an alien at first, like a superhuman alien. And then I was like, oh my gosh, he’s making crazy, insane stuff. And then, I saw him do it live at some computer, I think it was NAB or some shit. He did it live and I saw it and I was like, oh and it was just a moment of it’s just about doing. I mean, yeah, he’s doing crazy stuff, but it’s all human, achievable type of shit. And it’s just by doing it every day and so you just show up. That’s half the battle with anything. For the most part, you just show up to your fullest. So it’s just like that. I started doing every days because I thought that was cool. And then I saw him talk about it and I was like, oh yeah, it doesn’t have to be finished fucking masterpiece or whatever every day. It’s just got to be something and then you’ll evolve. Yeah, that is definitely true. You go look at where he started and where he ended, just via the art and not even just how much money he has Just like just look at the art where it started and where it ended, or where he’s at now. It’s like, okay, well, yeah, you definitely put some time into it because he didn’t, they aren’t all.

Hueviews: He did a lot of showing up.

Bananakin: Yeah. And it all came down to showing up and I think that’s just, I don’t know and I’m sure I’ve gotten advice like that before too that not in that same, you know, it’s not Beeple or whatever. It’s just like whatever you’re trying to do, if you just show up on a daily basis, you can probably get to eventually somewhere that you want to be. So I feel like, as far as advice to me and advice to give, I think that’s that’s really prominent. And it doesn’t have to be every day, you know, it can be a weekly thing, monthly, whatever. If you set yourself to a certain thing, you can probably figure it out if you just keep at it. So this is me keeping at it.

Hueviews: Well, keep keeping at it.

Bananakin: You too. This is journey for it’s not just me. Anybody who’s making anything, doing anything.

Hueviews: Well, yes, but you specifically keep keeping at it. And, because I know there’s a lot of people out there that enjoy it and yeah, I might be super biased, but there’s people out there. So, they will show themselves.

Bananakin: Well, shout out to those people.

Hueviews: I didn’t want to leave people out, so I don’t want to.

Bananakin: I do recognize that there are a lot of people out there who do show support and show up for me and it’s recognized and I wish I could return the favor to so many.

Hueviews: One day.

Bananakin: We’ll have our day.

Hueviews: Yeah, one day we’ll be able to keep returning the favor. You always do and you always try. And I can vouch that you are very thankful for all of that. And I am thankful for you for joining me.

Bananakin: Segue.

Hueviews: Yeah, I did that segue. And allowing me to pick your brain even more than usual. It may seem like low hanging fruit to ask you to be the first guest, but quite honestly, I really wanted others to know, beyond how talented you are, that you’re actually really funny, and you say the most random things on a daily basis. But quite honestly, everybody lived out the well, here we are along with me. So I feel like that in and of itself was a proven testament to that. You’ve been really supportive to friends and family throughout the over two decades that I’ve known you. And you’re willing to get your hands dirty and fix the car and I am thankful for that. But I will never forget the time that you helped me pass a class because I had no idea how to build a computer. And we found that online website and we did that. 

Bananakin: Yeah we did. 

Hueviews: So, thank you for helping me pass that class at Full Sail.

Bananakin: Anytime. And if you ever need to borrow a flashlight again, I got you covered.

Hueviews: Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for the flashlight. That was how I met you. 

Bananakin: Yes. 

Hueviews: So, yeah, I sincerely thank you. And keep showing up.

Bananakin: You too. Thank you so much. It’s been an honor to be the first guest. To be a guest period, and then on top of that, to be the first. It’s quite the honor. So, I look forward to doing this again soon. On the microphone, not just in the house.

Hueviews: Thank you. Thanks for going to the other side of the house for this, because it would have been some even more difficult audio issues if not. But, thank you. See you in a few minutes. Probably less than that. Bye.