Product Design Defined with Richard Longhi

[00:00:00] diane: Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of Creatives Ignite and I, it’s a special Saturday episode, so within seven days we have three episodes, which I’m pretty excited about. So the reason Tim Baron was on was because of Richard and, um, Richard’s always so giving and he’s like, you should just have Tim on.

[00:00:22] And I was like, actually would like to have both of you on because Richard, um, Tim is doing all of his full-time. He [00:00:30] had full-time, was doing it as a side gig and Richard is doing it as a side gig, has full-time design position. I think, you know, sometimes that, um, I mean Richard, I’ve known you for a lot of years and you are amazing artist and untapped I think sometimes.

[00:00:47] Mm-hmm. But I also think you are like so many other people. They have this great talent. Um. They don’t really know how to either monetize it and, or they don’t really want to do a ton of freelance [00:01:00] while they’re working for someone else. They kind of just wanna do something that feeds their soul. And I think this stuff that we’re gonna be talking about is some of that.

[00:01:08] But one of the things that I love about you is, I mean, your, your drawings are. Off the chart. Amazing. You’re an incredible illustrator. Um, I can’t wait to talk about the process ’cause we’re gonna talk about that today. But I also love, um, that you go into some niche areas and you find things that [00:01:30] are resonating or maybe that resonate with you, but nobody else has kind of done something.

[00:01:34] So that’s, in a way, in the pro product design series, you’re kind of niching down on things and then you tend to have some success with some of the things that you’ve niched down on. And, but it’s like, I wanna understand how your brain finds these, these bits that you can do. So Richard, I’m, you’ve been on before me and you are a, I think we’re more than a day apart in age, but, um, we are a day apart.

[00:01:59] [00:02:00] Our birthdays are a day apart. So I always have this kindred connection with Richard. So Richard, tell him a little bit about who you are, uh, what you’ve done and what you do. On the side now. 

[00:02:13] Richard Longhi: Okay. Um, well, I’m Richard Longie and, um, well I’ve been doing design for 25 years. Yeah, it’s been a while. It’s been a, it’s been a haul.

[00:02:23] And 

[00:02:23] diane: you’ve done retail, it’s not like you haven’t done Oh, yeah. Mean trade show booths. You’ve done, and you’ve worked [00:02:30] in-house corporate for a long time and you’re doing in-house corporate now. Yeah. I mean, doing other things. How long, and you were in the, you were a Marine 

[00:02:41] Richard Longhi: Marines? Yeah, yeah. I was a combat photographer in the Marine Corps.

[00:02:44] Yeah. So it all started, I actually, yeah, it goes back to even that, like I, I joined the Marine Corps so that I could try to be a combat illustrator, which was actually a thing. And I just, um, yeah, unfortunately, like they decided to [00:03:00] phase that out while I was in bootcamp and so I found out I was being combat photographer like right at the end, and I was like, oh, wow.

[00:03:05] Like, I mean, I took photography classes in school and I knew that going forward, that. You know, taking, and it really doesn’t matter what the medium is. I love the degree. And so like, I was, I was okay with it. I was like, yeah, this is gonna help me grow, you know, and I was totally okay with that. Um, you know, I didn’t have like the means to go to college and, you know, we’ve talked about this in the last time we talked, but it’s, uh, you know, it, so it was one of those things where like, I knew I was starting from the [00:03:30] ground, but like it was an amazing way to start it and to get me all the experience I need, gimme the discipline that I needed, you know, as a young buck and, you know, trying to go through all that.

[00:03:38] So, but you’re a great 

[00:03:40] diane: illustrator just in, even in high school, I’ve always 

[00:03:42] Richard Longhi: illustrated just like kid tons 

[00:03:44] diane: of detail. Like there is a ton of concept in what you’re doing as well. Mm-hmm. You came, like, uh, you were just, I think God gifted you with a great, um, skill, and then you had these, um, you, you created [00:04:00] opportunities.

[00:04:00] You’re very, um, positive and you were always able to find opportunities to use your Oh yeah. 

[00:04:07] Richard Longhi: I’ve been very lucky actually. I mean, the, the opportunities I did find, like in the places I landed, just great people who helped build me up and get me to where I am now, you know? So it’s like, I definitely owe that to a lot of good people.

[00:04:19] Um, and also just myself, like, I remember staying up late, you know, nights like four in the morning, drawing and sketching or, you know, learning flash went back in that. Yes. Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah. All these programs [00:04:30] and doing that. Yeah, I was just constantly like learning new things and trying new things and then, um, you know, but, uh, yeah, w currently, I mean, yeah, I work from home.

[00:04:38] I’m, uh, you know, I work for an, uh, purely online agency and, uh, yeah, I get to work from my house and, you know, and. It’s still a, a, definitely a nine to five grind. I mean, I stay pretty busy, you know, it’s a pretty busy company, but in, and afterwards I still do freelance and, but I also try to make time for this and, and it’s the one thing that I definitely feel like, you [00:05:00] know, it’s, it’s an extension of me.

[00:05:01] It’s, it’s, I’m going to share what I love and, you know. Yeah, it is. And I feel like, you know. Especially when it got started. It all started because of the pandemic. I mean, and actually that’s where me and you know, Tim kind of share some stories is that that’s how I met him was during that weird, awkward time where we’re both trying to, you know, he went full time just into it and where I was doing it, but I was also freelancing and trying to keep, you know, everything afloat.

[00:05:25] ’cause you know, I was with Real Free for about 11 years before, right before the [00:05:30] pandemic. They let go of everybody and it was a big mess. And, um, and you had kids 

[00:05:35] diane: and you had, um, your No.

[00:05:40] Noah’s doing. Awesome. So yeah, he’s product and he’s graduated. I know. And he’s a product designer. How cool. Okay. So, so, but it’s still on the side doing these, these are the things that you make products of and sell are things that mm-hmm. You want or are interested in. And I know, uh, maybe, um, if, I don’t know if you [00:06:00] wanna keep filling us in on the history, but I know you have a deck too, so if you wanna pull anything up, just Oh, 

[00:06:05] Richard Longhi: yeah.

[00:06:05] I’ll just pull up b I’ll just pop the deck and then we’ll, yeah, we do that real quick, 

[00:06:10] diane: so I Okay. Your style. Um, and we’re gonna get into process. ’cause I think, I think process is really cool. And I also love hand skills, so I think having hand skills and sketching and doing stuff by hand helps your brain to process and mm-hmm.

[00:06:29] I know that [00:06:30] you also do sketching some by hand and then you do things on the computer as we all have to kind of, um, maybe that’s our final. Um, output or whatever. Um, oh yeah, I can’t, I can’t wait to see, um, some of the things and then talk, ask you some of the questions about 

[00:06:49] Richard Longhi: I could, I could serve myself a vector artist.

[00:06:51] You know, I do a lot of vector, but I of course, you know, sketch and I, I used to be purely, um, you know, pen and ink and, you know, pencil [00:07:00] and charcoals and you know, like, yeah. But it was just, um, uh, well it’s a funny, it’s a funny thing how that, like, what brought me to become a full vector illustrator and, and it’s just kind of a tragic story, but it was like, you know, me and my family, we had a fire and we lost everything.

[00:07:17] And that’s including my, when I was a kid, all my drawings, everything I had. And the one thing that made it through the fire was my computer’s core and the, you know, and the hard drive. And I was able to pull everything that I had off there and I was like, [00:07:30] you know, and I don’t know, it just got, you know, even back then, I mean, I was doing some stuff with Illustrator, but like, never to the level.

[00:07:37] But it, I, that kind of forced my handle, I felt a little like, yeah, I don’t know. And it just got me more excited about doing things in Illustrator and yeah. So then it went from taking, you know, like messy drawings like this, and then I can like how, how it up? Yeah. How 

[00:07:50] diane: big is that drawing? Like are you working small or are 

[00:07:53] Richard Longhi: you working like a and a half by 11 right there?

[00:07:55] Yeah, like it was, oh, okay. I have a little book and I scan the, scan it [00:08:00] in, I clean it up a little bit and then I start vectoring over the top. So, yeah. And so, I mean, you know, I, yeah, I just don’t find myself staying with the pencil drawings and stuff that I did in the past. And you’ll see like, and sometimes I even purely illustrate in, um.

[00:08:18] In Vector. So like I’ll, what I’ll do is I’ll kind of get the, the basically sketch it out in Vector. You know, I’ll show you guys in a little bit here. Like, you know how I do all that? Mm-hmm. And, uh, yeah, I mean, [00:08:30] it’s just something that I love doing this. ’cause I can now, once it’s done, I don’t have to sit and erase this and erase that and like, oh my God, this is all wrong.

[00:08:37] Right. I can literally, it’s so much easier for me to move things and control it in vector form. So, um, yeah. And I keep moving and playing around with it until I feel it’s where it wants, and then I just build off that. And, 

[00:08:48] diane: and size wise, you’re not limited. So sometimes people will sketch and then take it to Photoshop, but then you’re pixel bound and you’ve really, um, we were talking before, um, I was like, are you [00:09:00] drawing with the pen tool?

[00:09:00] And you were like, no pencil tool in Illustrator. Mm-hmm. Which, that’s awesome. 

[00:09:06] Richard Longhi: Yeah. And I, and I, I still use my, um, I don’t use a tablet or anything. I use my, my mouse still, which is like super, I. Old school, I guess. Yeah. You know, except, but that’s how I’ve always done it. And I tried going to, like, you getting a WCU tablet or like some other types of, you know, it just didn’t feel the same to me.

[00:09:23] Yeah. You know, I was using my mouse, so I, I, I still find myself doing that. And, um, you gotta do what works a little more what, right. [00:09:30] Yeah. No, yeah, definitely. And, um, it’s, it’s like a, kinda like, this one’s a little more like clean and a little more, uh, I don’t know, it’s not as detailed as some of my other, I have some illustrations that go insane detail, and I can show you that in a little bit.

[00:09:44] And then that stuff that’s very clean and, you know, I just, I just love that feel and it kind of become, you know, I mean, there’s a lot of vector artists out there, so it’s like, how do you differentiate, you know, I try to mix a little bit of the dirty, but a little bit of the clean and trying to, you know, you find your own voice and, [00:10:00] you know, as an artist and yeah.

[00:10:02] It’s, uh, do you feel like your 

[00:10:03] diane: voice is always adjusting or do you feel like you have it, you, everything kind of fits within that? Voice. Um, 

[00:10:13] Richard Longhi: and, you know, for the most part, I, yeah, I do have like, you know, like sometimes like a voice with it, like a, but I also like to surprise myself and do stuff that’s like way out there or do different things.

[00:10:23] Um, I’ll even, so like we’re talking about product design, like, so not just for myself, but even for clients and, [00:10:30] you know, some of the freelance people that I work with, like al. Step outside the box, or I’ll do some kind, you know, somebody will be like, Hey, can you illustrate this way? And I’m like, you know, obviously it is not my style, but I, and so I’ve done a lot of different styles and I, I think that’s one thing that’s been helpful to me is I’m very fluid, I guess.

[00:10:47] Mm-hmm. With like, picking up different styles or, you know, even like, um, you know, I have a very big background in like Japanese, um, you know, stylistically and also, you know, like history and, you know, so like, I, I [00:11:00] sometimes put that into my drawings and I give, give you like a little western eastern flare.

[00:11:04] Yeah. Um, but yeah, it’s just a different way to tell the story I guess. So, but hey, I can show some more I guess as we’re talking. So go 

[00:11:10] diane: back real quick. I just wanna talk about your logo real fast. Oh, okay. So, um, I, now I’m making you go backwards, but, um, no, that’s okay. Yeah. Um, what I love about, so it’s sometimes people are, um.

[00:11:27] Just really illustrators and they’re not, um, [00:11:30] lettering or they, their typography isn’t. Mm-hmm. Um, you can really tell. And so I love that you did the, I mean, you have your regular logo, which is you, your lettering, and then, um, that you’ve made it all drippy, bloody or inky or whatever it is. Um, and I, I just think that’s another bonus, uh, superpower for you, um, that you would just like, okay, for this time of year or, um, you [00:12:00] used this logo for this, which I just think is, um, I don’t know if you just did this recently or you always use this in the Halloween season.

[00:12:10] Well, 

[00:12:10] Richard Longhi: I mean, no, this, this, I’ve kind of. I, I don’t know. I can’t, I’m trying to remember like when I first created it, but it was like, uh, just say again. Like, I love having fun. I have different, I have a lot of different, I have like a, I have like this really crazy def metal type logo. I have a thrash version, which is in the presentation.

[00:12:27] I, I, I’ve thrown ’em in there. I, I like [00:12:30] having fun with it and playing around. It is something I did a lot to when I was at Realtree was like taking like, you know, their logo and the ANRs and doing different things with ’em and like, you know, being able to express the brand further, you know? Yeah. And yeah, play around with it and, you know, show some kind of a fun side, not just, you know, clean one dimensional, this is what it is.

[00:12:47] I mean, there’s a place for that, but not my place. I guess you Right, right, right. Yeah. It’s one of the things that I guess about me that, you know, I like to, you know, explore and try new things, even, even [00:13:00] with my own work, you know? So. Totally. 

[00:13:02] diane: Okay, now keep going. I’m sorry. 

[00:13:04] Richard Longhi: Oh, no, no worries. Um. So again, like this, I actually have a sticker of this.

[00:13:10] I’m a, you know, and again, going back to my Marine Corps heritage, uh, it’s uh, the Devil Dog, which is like, you know, uh, which is, um, which means devil dog, but it’s, uh, you know, back in during world, I, that’s what the does what determines used to call us is the d demon dogs. Like they were, they were worried that, you know, [00:13:30] they, they used to think that we would have to kill a parent, a family member in order to Yeah.

[00:13:34] In order to go to the battle. Like, you know, that was part of the, yeah. There was all these crazy things. Yeah. So there, there was a really fierce, you know, and it’s something that the Marine Corps, you know, we still hold onto is that type of stuff. You know, like, so like it was one of the things where I wanted to do my own version of it.

[00:13:48] Um. I was very lucky when I went through bootcamp. I got to do a lot of, I still got to illustrate a lot. Like, you know, we, I have drill instructors being like, oh wait, you know, making me like sit back and like, draw and do stuff like on. Yeah. [00:14:00] Yeah. So it was kind of fun. And, uh, yeah. So it, you know, every year for the Marine Corps birthday I was doing something different.

[00:14:05] And this was, you know, one I did and it’s been a, a pretty popular sticker. People love the sticker. Like, you know, I have a, right now, the one I have in my store is like a, uh. A holographic version of it. And yeah, it’s been pretty, pretty popular. And, uh, yeah. So, but at the same time, I gotta be careful ’cause, you know, the Marine Corps have, you know, certain things that have to be, you know, be so like, that’s why you don’t see like the, the USMC thing.

[00:14:27] Right. Unless I get sleep license, but, you know, [00:14:30] coming from a place that I was, right. Yeah. All that’s 

[00:14:34] diane: cool. That’s great. It’s a great illustration. Again, eight and a half by 11, is that what that Yeah, yeah. 

[00:14:38] Richard Longhi: It was eight and a half by 11. Yeah. Again, like just sketching and then pulling it in and then really, you know, you can see how it’s refined a lot more in Illustrator or more detail and stuff like that, that I would do 

[00:14:49] diane: historically.

[00:14:50] Is it normally a bulldog, like an English bulldog, or is that like your take on it? 

[00:14:56] Richard Longhi: Oh, no, no. Historically it is an English bulldog. Um, we even have [00:15:00] one, like, you go to Para Island, there’s a, you know, a little, um, I forgot which one there is now. ’cause they, they, they, they go through rank and everything.

[00:15:06] They even have a little uniform and, uh, yeah, they’re the official mascot, like, you know, the Marine Corps, you know? 

[00:15:11] diane: Yeah. Oh, cool. Okay. Yeah, it’s 

[00:15:13] Richard Longhi: pretty cool. So, and then, uh, let’s see. And then here’s an example of me doing with pen. And like I was, this was, I wasn’t even planning on doing anything. I was just like, I think in a meeting and sketching, you know, and just kind of playing around like, oh, this would be kind of fun to pull in the vector.

[00:15:29] And then of [00:15:30] course I went with the colors to kind of make it feel like, um, Skeletor, you know? Yeah. And something to my childhood. Um, I’m definitely an eighties, nineties kid, and, uh, 

[00:15:39] diane: that’s cool. The colors are great and it’s kind of unexpected, right? Sometimes you have these, um, pops over these, your color work is phenomenal.

[00:15:48] Richard Longhi: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. I, I love color and I love being able to experiment and play around with different things, especially things sometimes people aren’t, don’t associate or, yeah, yeah. Like thorn in pink and stuff. That’s not typical, you [00:16:00] know, but like, yeah, I think it works out really well.

[00:16:02] diane: So if you’re doing this in a meeting, is this like an hour meeting, a eight hour meeting, and then like. Like the drawing or is this like a quick thing? And then how long would it take you to do something? Like on the right, like, 

[00:16:15] Richard Longhi: um, well, on the right’s different? Yeah. On the left. Yeah. It was just a quick, like during a meeting I sketched it or whatever.

[00:16:21] And then on the right I actually have another version this, that has like, you know, the Skype and the hands holding, you know, there’s more to it. But I did this as a sticker [00:16:30] option, um, right off the bat. And then I expanded on it and made it like bigger and stuff like that. Um, but 

[00:16:36] diane: is this like a lot of hours work after or?

[00:16:39] Um, not, 

[00:16:39] Richard Longhi: I mean, not, I wouldn’t say tons of hours. Uh, a lot of work’s there when, you know, so like I can get through it pretty quickly. Mm-hmm. But, um, it depends, yeah, like on the actual thing, so maybe a couple hours of me playing around and, you know, drawing it out and then doing that. 

[00:16:54] diane: That’s cool. I just wondered how long kind of, um, it takes you and obviously [00:17:00] if you’ve done it for a long time, then it doesn’t take as long because.

[00:17:04] Um, you’re faster, right? 

[00:17:06] Richard Longhi: Yeah. I mean sometimes there’s that, but I guess, yeah. Like the next one I’ll show will show you one that’s way more detailed. It’s um, and it started as a vector sketch and then turned into something bigger. Yeah. 

[00:17:18] diane: So sometimes you just have an idea in your head, you’re not putting it on paper.

[00:17:22] Mm-hmm. You go straight to vector. Like, can you, you straight to the computer? 

[00:17:26] Richard Longhi: Okay. Yeah. And, and it is funny ’cause I, you can, you’ll see it ’cause it’s [00:17:30] like a left and right, you know, the left will be more of like the initial, like, I try to get the, I guess I get everything together, like how I want it to com compositionally look.

[00:17:40] And then, and then I, once I’m liking where it is, compositionally, I start going into the details and I’ll this show you a good example. So here’s as a dragon and SI, when I was a kid, I used to love drawing dragons and skulls and you know, typical, like, so 

[00:17:54] diane: this is just outta your head. You’re not looking at anything at this point.

[00:17:57] This is just from memory or from your [00:18:00] imagination. Oh yeah. 

[00:18:00] Richard Longhi: And this is, this was just like playing around with some ideas. And then once I started feeling where it was going, you can see where I started on the head a little more. But then when I show you like, yeah, like the difference, like I will literally go in and just start drawing all this and pulling these pieces together and like building the horns out and like, wow.

[00:18:20] So you can see that like, as it like progresses, I was trying to do like a. It was, it was definitely later than I was hoping, but I wanted to like do like, um, because it, it is not [00:18:30] very exciting to record myself doing these types of illustrations, you know? Right. Like a time lapse. Mm-hmm. Uh, yeah, so I, I started doing screen grabs and then I was maybe gonna do a time lapse based on the screen grabs, but it was like a lot, you know, it was like, it gotta the point where I just gave up on doing all the screen grabs ’cause I was just having too much fun drawing this, you know, like getting in there and like, you know.

[00:18:51] Yeah. I just love the Zoom. It’s tons of 

[00:18:53] diane: detail. 

[00:18:53] Richard Longhi: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get in there, so it’s a lot of fun. 

[00:18:57] diane: So are you, when you’re doing that, ’cause I find [00:19:00] sometimes details can be hard. Are you staying zoomed in and then, um, every few minutes you’re zooming back out? Or are you. Um, yeah, 

[00:19:10] Richard Longhi: if I’m focusing like for instance on the head, I will definitely be really zoomed in and just trying to draw it, you know, it is funny is like, you could see here, for instance, like all the shading and the light mm-hmm.

[00:19:20] And everything on these, but then down here I don’t have it yet. And so it’s like, you know, you kind of see almost where I’m moving around and like going into these different pieces [00:19:30] and uh, but then yeah, but eventually I’ll back out and, you know, if I’m doing this for too long and I’ll start, you know, like defining the clouds or Right.

[00:19:37] You know, how am I gonna do the rest of the body and you know, let me start getting some hands going, you know, and that kind of thing. I was, well, I mean, 

[00:19:43] diane: from the left to the right for the claw, it’s like, yeah. Whoa. So Shari says, um, I love the claw shadows in the cloud. So are those things that you’re, when you are kind of zooming out, are those things that you’re doing intentionally or is that just like, oh, I didn’t even [00:20:00] realize it was making that shadow shape that looked like a claw or.

[00:20:04] Richard Longhi: Oh no, I, I intentionally go in and start building Yeah. Doing these things and like, um, yeah. ’cause I mean like this stays that way. Yeah. Like it, if you look at all the different version, it’s kind of funny. It moves a little here and there, and none of these things happen. But like, eventually I get in there and start, you know, like, this one didn’t even finish, you know, doing like the, the detail.

[00:20:24] Mm-hmm. But you can see like in here Oh yeah. Where I start going in there and doing that. Yeah. It’s, um, 

[00:20:29] diane: [00:20:30] so this could be many, you’re coming back to this over time. Mm-hmm. And continuing to, um, but this just started as an idea out of your head, um, because you like dragons. 

[00:20:42] Richard Longhi: Yeah. Yeah. And it also was one of those ones where like.

[00:20:46] I was just having a rough time, a a rough go with just things, you know? And when I want to kind of clear my head mm, it’s just so easy for me to illustrate something that I like and enjoy. There’s no qualms, there’s no pressure, there’s no nothing. Like I, I had no [00:21:00] plans with this yet, you know, I just wanted to do it.

[00:21:02] And so I started doing it just to kind of, yeah, get, keep clear my head out and start thinking about what else, you know, I gotta do it later. So, yeah. It, it’s 

[00:21:10] diane: part of your, um, mental health then, right? 

[00:21:13] Richard Longhi: It is, yeah. 

[00:21:14] diane: That’s cool. And, but Arch has always been like that for you, or illustrating has always been like that for you?

[00:21:20] Richard Longhi: Um, no, probably not. I mean, it depends. Um, I feel like, you know. Yeah, I guess maybe like hand drawing and stuff like that. I used to do it all [00:21:30] the time, like, and it, I feel like, but, but with Vector it became more of, yeah. I feel like it fell into more of that kind of like, I found myself like just getting lost in it.

[00:21:40] I’ll put some music on. Yeah. And start doing it and, you know, just, it just feels good. And I was like, oh, I just caught on to doing that. Yeah. 

[00:21:49] diane: So that’s cool. So when did you start this piece then? Is it like years ago? Oh, no, 

[00:21:54] Richard Longhi: no, it was this year. 

[00:21:55] diane: Oh, it’s this year. Wow. Yeah, 

[00:21:57] Richard Longhi: I’m trying to remember like, because it has been a [00:22:00] while.

[00:22:00] Like, I, I go on and off with it and, um, ’cause of course I got, you know, the every other thing work and freelance and everything. Right? Yeah, exactly. So it’s just a fun thing to do and go back to. And, um, 

[00:22:13] diane: so how big I, I mean if you’re, if it’s vector, it doesn’t really matter, but like, how big are you starting?

[00:22:19] Is this 

[00:22:20] Richard Longhi: like this? Is a, I wanna say it started as 18 by 24. 

[00:22:25] diane: Oh, okay. So 

[00:22:26] Richard Longhi: yeah, 

[00:22:27] diane: computer wise you have to, to your [00:22:30] computer better be pretty, um, mighty to be able to handle all those, all 

[00:22:37] Richard Longhi: the pixels. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

[00:22:39] diane: All the points for sure. 

[00:22:41] Richard Longhi: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:22:42] diane: So, coming up with this, I, idea wise, I don’t know where you’re, um, gonna go, but this is one of the things that I think is just amazing about, this isn’t really how I work, so I’m just in awe of this.

[00:22:53] But you seem to be able to like, I don’t know if the skull, if you were looking at anything when you were drawing that, but [00:23:00] like with this, I know, I mean, there may be some lizards that sort of have this look, but you’re really drawing this out of your head. It seems to be that it’s just you’re doing it for fun and you’re getting lost and it’s just, um, something like, I might go mo and you’re gonna, um, draw, um, in.

[00:23:20] It’s just to, it’s like a escape and you’re listening to music or a podcast or whatever it is. Um, and you don’t have like a deadline for this [00:23:30] because it’s yours, but you have a idea of when, 

[00:23:34] Richard Longhi: sorry, what? The water went down the wrong way. Oh, 

[00:23:37] diane: I was like, is it funny? I don’t think I said anything funny. I was like, oh, keep drinking then.

[00:23:42] Drink your water. I’m getting 

[00:23:43] Richard Longhi: over a cold still. So please, please cough. Please just cough. Yeah, thank you. 

[00:23:48] diane: Um, but I am, I mean like the, even just the clouds, like where you started them and then how they are right now is so amazing. [00:24:00] 

[00:24:00] Richard Longhi: Oh, well, thank you. 

[00:24:01] diane: So, okay, so something you, you would just say, I’m gonna start this.

[00:24:05] Mm-hmm. Normally when you have something or something that’s gonna be turned into a poster, like 18 by 24. Mm-hmm. Um, was that. Um, you’re just drawing it for you. You don’t really have an idea that this might be a poster or anything at this point. 

[00:24:21] Richard Longhi: Yeah, I mean, that’s the thing, a lot of the stuff that I’ve, you know, even now to this stage where like some were intention to, to make it a [00:24:30] product, to make it into something, and then other times, yes, the stuff that I’ve been doing for fun, you know?

[00:24:35] Mm-hmm. Like, um, just, uh, you know, yeah. I mean, stuff that interests me and, you know, it originally started that way, but, um, eventually, yeah, it went, it, it leaned into becoming a product or it was definitely something where I, you know, thought like, oh, this will, you know, lay me down the road. I’ll do something with this.

[00:24:55] Um, yeah. And so definitely there’s always intention, I guess, but like, uh, you [00:25:00] know, at the time, sometimes just, just because I like something, I love something I want to, you know, share that love. And I was, I use my Instagram as kind of a jumping point for that, and like a testing too. Yeah, for, you know, like, I love to hear what people have to say.

[00:25:15] Like, some, some stuff gets more love and care or like, oh, oh, I’d love to see us as something, you know. But sometimes too, it’s like, um, you know, it’s feeling it out because like, I’ve also had some stuff where like people, we had really good res positive response [00:25:30] and then, um, it just didn’t pan out. You know, like me and, uh, Jason Carn actually did this one thing where we had like a, we worked together, created this patch set that we were gonna do, and, you know, he has a bigger audience than me and we thought, well, we will get, you know, and we had a lot of buzz at first when he posted it.

[00:25:47] So we’re like, oh, well maybe this is something we should try to make some patches. And, but yeah. But we couldn’t get enough people to, to pay for it, you know, so it was like, okay, maybe it’s not the time or Right. Just not, we haven’t found the right audience or at the moment, so we kind [00:26:00] of set it aside, but.

[00:26:02] One day it may come back and, you know, well, so I 

[00:26:04] diane: think that’s good for people to know when they’re thinking about selling things, that you may have some ideas, you may test them. Um, and if you don’t have enough, it’s not that it’s a bad idea. It maybe it wasn’t the right time or the right time of year or 

[00:26:17] Richard Longhi: Yeah, don’t give up.

[00:26:18] That’s, that’s, that’s the key thing is like, yeah. Honestly, like it was one of those places where I actually felt myself. Like I had originally when I built a store, I built it with like big cartel and I was trying to be like, [00:26:30] you know, you know, show that, oh, I had this and whatever, and I wasn’t using anything like Etsy or whatever, and I.

[00:26:36] Eventually I was like, well, maybe I’ll try Etsy and just have both going. But I was still getting orders through my store because of my social media and everything else. Mm-hmm. So I just thought it is not gonna worth it. And there’s literally the day I was gonna cancel it. Um, I got a couple orders and I’m like, oh my God.

[00:26:52] From Etsy, almost like I read my mind and so I was like, well, I’ll leave it going. But literally it went, it just took off. And I think there’s, you [00:27:00] know, obviously algorithms and again, having certain posters or designs or, you know, it just eventually me getting that audience, those people saw it. They found it.

[00:27:09] And once they do, Asie takes notice of that. And the next thing you know, you’re getting at any time somebody looks for it, they find you. And, uh, that’s what kind of happened with that. And, and so I eventually just shut down the big cartel because they’re like, oh, the only way I could feed that was like having to constantly be on, um.

[00:27:27] Instagram. And it was one of those things where like, once I got my [00:27:30] job and everything else, I was on Instagram way less. But back when I was freelancing and you know, I practically lived on there, it was like a second, you know, uh, way to get out to people and stuff. But I still post there and I still try to keep, you know, that going.

[00:27:43] But, um, I definitely found a new audience and found the audience that, you know, I guess found me looking for what they’re, you know, that niche that I’m kind of filling. So. Yeah. 

[00:27:53] diane: Well, and I think it’s good ’cause Etsy already has, um, like there’s trust there, so people are [00:28:00] trusting that people are gonna be doing it.

[00:28:01] So, and it’s not that much cost to you for each product, but maybe it’s not as much as for you to have to. Timewise, it was a cost for you to always having to be posting on, um, Instagram for everything. Mm-hmm. And so Etsy’s, once you’ve been consistent, they see you, you’re getting sales, now they know how to feed your stuff to the people who are already coming there for that.

[00:28:27] So you’re kind of able to use that algorithm [00:28:30] to, for your, um, for your benefit. 

[00:28:33] Richard Longhi: Yeah. I mean, you still need to do both. And I feel like I, I, I, unfortunately I wasn’t able to see Tim’s talk, but Tim is one who, like, he promotes a lot and he gets it out there. And his story is definitely, I’m sure doing all way better than mine because people, you talk about the effort there.

[00:28:48] Yeah. You know, if you really wanna make a lot of sales. And for me it’s not as much about that. You know, like, um, basically I get a sale and I’ll text my wife and say, Hey, I sold something, you know, and she’ll put, put it together while I’m working. And then [00:29:00] that next morning I bring everything to the post office, you know, before work, right.

[00:29:04] Stuff like that. So, um, it works a little easier. I’m not like. Yeah, if it, I think if I put too much in, then I would definitely be reeling from all of it and then trying to balance a lot and so, uh, yeah, do it as manageable. 

[00:29:17] diane: Yeah. Uh, Shari has a question. Is the Etsy shop print on demand? I may have been distracted, she said.

[00:29:23] Oh, 

[00:29:23] Richard Longhi: no, no. Oh, so that’s another thing, like, so you can do on demand, on demand printing, but like for me, I choose not to [00:29:30] like, um, so, so much quality’s really important for you, right? Oh, I love qual. Yeah. Oh my God. So like, yeah, that kind of falls into my whole story, I guess, right? Like, so originally, keep going.

[00:29:40] Then way back in the day I started following Mondo, the poster company, and um, yeah, I started collecting posters. I mean, that’s. Kind of what got me into it was the fact that, you know, I love posters, I love movies, I love films. And so whenever I saw like, oh, they’re doing this really amazing poster with an artist I love, [00:30:00] and you know, that’s most surrounded by, I’m surrounded by a lot of those posters.

[00:30:02] I got a, you know, a Friday 15th one here and full metal jacket and uh, this is Us Seventh Samurai, which is like my favorite film and you know, but yeah. But all these amazing artists, you know, had done these, you know, posters with Mondo. And of course at this point it is like, if one goes for sale, you got like 10 seconds to purchase it.

[00:30:22] It’s crazy. But, um, back in the day when it wasn’t as, as harrowing, you know, just to get a poster. Um, but yeah, but I fell in love [00:30:30] with you get that poster and you could smell the ink and it’s just, you know, on really quality stock and it just, you know, yeah, there’s a lot of love put into all of it. And yeah, so I choose to kind of keep it that way.

[00:30:41] Of course, it’s more expensive up front for me, so like I don’t get to do as many as I’d like to do, but, um. But yeah, I, you know, like I team up with other, uh, you know, production houses or whatever, and we’ll do a poster together and then, um, I’ll put it up there and, or sometimes I do gly, but if I do that kind of thing, it’s, uh, [00:31:00] I’m still, I’m still concerned about quality, so I still, I mean, it almost looks like a, a, a, when it’s done, it’s still on hard stock and it looks nice and it, it feels, but it’s not, to me, it’s not the same.

[00:31:10] But like I still try to get the good quality so that I can get as many. Things I love out there, you know, and Right. Yeah. I 

[00:31:18] diane: mean, but so that’s also something that we haven’t talked about yet with the product designers. We’ve talked about it a little bit, but not so much is figuring out where, and sometimes it’s you talk to [00:31:30] people and see, wow, where did you get this printed?

[00:31:32] This is a really great quality. Right? And then you’re like, okay, well I can use that too. Or then you find different printers. Different printers. Some printers go out of business and then you have to find new ones. So what kind of, um, vetting do you do with companies that are either printing stickers or printing your posters?

[00:31:49] ’cause I know you’ve done some that are screen printed, but screen printing is just so expensive, right? 

[00:31:55] Richard Longhi: Oh, yeah. Especially when I use a lot. Like if I use a lot of color, all, that’s why I have to sometimes go the [00:32:00] other route. Um, so I have actually some of the prints that are, I can, I can, I’ll, I’ll turn my computer so you can see a little bit.

[00:32:06] I have some prints right up there on my, that, on my wall that I did. And I had, um. I, you know, just had other artists like, or not artists, but other print shops, you know, like I, I’ll get, get a print back if I like it, then maybe I’ll go with ’em for it. Um, 

[00:32:20] diane: so you’ll test by getting one print made? 

[00:32:23] Richard Longhi: Yeah. But yeah, if they allow that some, you know, again, if not screen printers, screen printers, you’re not gonna get that.

[00:32:28] No, no. Right. There’s a lot of green [00:32:30] screen print screen prints out there. Just do the research and find out a, if you, you know, who’s doing the big ones for the ones you know, for something you like, or, um, yeah, go to, go to like Creative Self, you know, go to all these like, you know, uh, design, uh, conferences and stuff where you can see a lot of, you know, Hey, where’d you get your printers posted?

[00:32:48] And, you know, that kind of thing. Or 

[00:32:50] diane: posters printed. We 

[00:32:51] Richard Longhi: knew what you meant. Thank Yeah. 

[00:32:53] diane: You’ve been sick. I know what you meant. We knew. Oh my God. 

[00:32:55] Richard Longhi: Yeah. 

[00:32:57] diane: But, so I think that that’s also something like, we don’t [00:33:00] think about, oh, I really, the illustration’s amazing, but if the print or the paper quality isn’t as good, it kind of can, um.

[00:33:08] People maybe don’t feel like, wow, was this really worth this? Right. So I feel like there’s, there’s something to be said about Yeah. Making, making sure You bet that I feel to that. 

[00:33:17] Richard Longhi: Yeah. And it’s hard for me just to give it to like, you know, well, some print house that’s gonna do it through Etsy and all of a sudden they get it three weeks later and they’re like, what is this?

[00:33:26] Does this sound regular paper? And like, yeah. They had expectations that weren’t [00:33:30] met and they thought you did that. And I, I just, I can’t live with that for myself. So like, I, I want people at least go, oh, this is really nice. I really like this and this is worth it. And you know, one of the things especially ’cause I, I don’t know why, but I have a lot of, I.

[00:33:44] Posters that I sell that like go overseas. And to me, um, that’s the biggest honor because they end up paying double ty Typically. It’s the shipping, how much the shipping is. Yeah. And I wish there was ways to make it cheaper. I tried other things and using pirate ship or other types of, [00:34:00] you know, um, things out there, but like it just never met up, you know?

[00:34:04] So like, unfortunately you have to go through some of that. And that’s something to keep in mind too if you, if you are doing this is, you know, you have to understand certain, certain processes and you know, and get that down. But you can build like, um, like little, uh. Like if you’re selling, like if I’m selling one to the uk, there’s like a VAT number and all these other things that go with it, and they have like ways you can actually set that up through like, um, Etsy and stuff like that.

[00:34:29] So it makes it [00:34:30] kind of easy once you start doing a couple of ’em, you know, to different countries and stuff. So. 

[00:34:33] diane: That’s cool. Okay, so keep going. Sorry. 

[00:34:36] Richard Longhi: Oh no, it’s, yeah, so it is just a shame that you have to pay that much though. I, I feel terrible that they do that, but, you know, that’s the, that’s the other side of it is, is that they’re, they’re paying that much money to get that print and you’d want it to be the best you could, so, right.

[00:34:50] Yeah. So, um, I’m trying to think. Like, should I, I can’t, I’m trying to remember what’s next in my, my process. 

[00:34:57] diane: Just go, go forward. We’ll, we’ll, I’ll just go forward. We’ll see what happens. [00:35:00] I can adjust. Yes. Yeah. 

[00:35:02] Richard Longhi: Oh, this was my, yeah, so like this was the, uh. I think when you’re going where I’m at or whatever, like, um, you know, all the different, the, you know, like my mm-hmm.

[00:35:10] Website, my Instagram, you know, my online shop, all that stuff is also connectable through my website. If you go there, you can, it has all the links and stuff, but, um, yeah. And there’s, there’s a other logo I talked about, like a more of a thrash type. Mm-hmm. I grew up in, you know, the eighties listening to thrash and hardcore and deaf metal and [00:35:30] just love music.

[00:35:31] So, um, but you 

[00:35:32] diane: also love type, ’cause it some people Oh yeah. Might have loved that too, but they didn’t make their own, um, logo out in that way. Like, so you have this love for lettering as well, I think. Oh, 

[00:35:44] Richard Longhi: yeah. And that all be honest with you, that all came from Creative South. Like, uh, I didn’t do a lot of my own lettering back in the day with my design world, you know, but like, when I started getting more involved with it, again, it, to me it’s just another form of illustration, you know, like absolutely just, uh, you know, with letters [00:36:00] and yeah.

[00:36:00] I love it. I absolutely love trying new types of styles and things and. Playing around with that, so yeah. 

[00:36:07] diane: Love that. Okay. So, um, are there certain times during the year that you have more retail sales? Have you seen trends? 

[00:36:18] Richard Longhi: Hmm, yeah. No, I definitely do see trends and a lot of it’s the holidays. I mean, I’ll be honest, like, like October to December, kind of, um, yeah, more November to December for me at least.

[00:36:28] Okay. I’ve seen it is like, yeah, [00:36:30] there’s a lot of that. Um. Yeah, I mean, I, there’s also been like, I wanna say it’s like July-ish, you know, back then, June, July, I’ve seen some trends of like, you know, like sales coming. And then also in the beginning of like, it is usually like Christmas and then even after Christmas there’s still like, you know, a little bit of like, you know, people coming, I think they’re looking mostly for sales, you know what I mean?

[00:36:53] Right. Like that, that’s the only thing I haven’t done much of is like a ton of sales or like, you know, Tim definitely has that stuff down. He’s got [00:37:00] coupons and this and that, and he’s always like, you know, going to like, uh, shows and bringing stuff along with him. Um, and that’s something I definitely want to do more of, I guess, is like, you know, be able to do that.

[00:37:10] Um, but, uh, yeah, so no, I mean, it’s one of those things like, yeah, I haven’t been that, that invested yet into the production side of this. So, yeah. 

[00:37:19] diane: And I’ll, uh, all those links will be listed at the top. What if you’re watching on YouTube, they’re right underneath. They’re at the very top of the thing. All those links [00:37:30] are there, so 

[00:37:31] Richard Longhi: yeah.

[00:37:33] And then, uh, well, I think the next thing I had was actually one of my, one of the big posters. I did. It’s one of the favorite things that, you know. Oh, so 

[00:37:40] diane: I asked a question of, yeah, what has been your favorite product that you’ve created so far? And I think there’s a story with this one, right? 

[00:37:49] Richard Longhi: Yeah. I mean, yeah, I feel like, yeah, I have a couple stories coming up that, uh, I can go and I’d love to go into anything else if they would like to hear it, but, uh, yeah.

[00:37:56] So yeah, this one right here is, um, I dunno if [00:38:00] anybody’s familiar with like, uh, big Trouble Little China. It’s, uh, is a favorite movie of mine growing up. And, um, it’s, uh, you know, uh, what’s his name? Uh, listen to me now, John Carpenter, you know, who did like Halloween and you know, the thing again, more favorite movies of mine.

[00:38:14] And, um, yeah, so it just, I happened to see him recently. He was doing like some, uh. Promotion with like a skateboard company and some other things. And actually Tim had designed a board with a for company of him. Oh. And so, and I was like, wow, there’s a lot of people doing a lot of [00:38:30] work with this guy. So I just reached out to him just to see like if you, Hey, I would love to do something with you.

[00:38:35] And I mean like, 

[00:38:36] diane: reach out on Instagram or did you? Yeah, it’s Instagram. They’re on Instagram. 

[00:38:39] Richard Longhi: I just decided I’ll write ’em. I mean, you know, what are the chances? I thought honestly, like who, yeah, who, who’s this gonna reach back out? But he literally did like right then and there and was like, oh hey, you know, listen, let’s do something together and you know, I’d love to see what you come up with.

[00:38:54] And I shared some stuff. I even sent him one of my posters that I had and like, we kinda went back and forth and then we [00:39:00] actually kind of formed a little friendship, you know, over the pandemic and talking about film and, you know, talking about like, you know, this project. And I even did a different design that, that I really wanted to tie it into, because the first one I did was more about him.

[00:39:14] He’s an amazing martial artist. He’s known as the, the, the. Man of many weapons because he is actually designed weapons, you know, for martial arts and Oh wow. He, uh, in this movie, he’s actually known as the, the, the man of the Golden Guns. That’s why I put that little, yeah, yeah. He’s sitting there shooting away.

[00:39:29] And, um, [00:39:30] yeah. So, uh, I eventually did come up with this design and we designed it and it’s available in my store and I, I sent the design to him and he signed all the posters and then I came back and I signed and numbered them. And then we had our, you know, been available on my start now, so 

[00:39:45] diane: That’s cool.

[00:39:46] Yeah, 

[00:39:46] Richard Longhi: yeah. So, and he’s, well, he also did, that was one of the things I’m gonna share. He did a lot of promotion for me. Like, you know, he, and he made these videos. I’m gonna share one. Oh, here’s the video. I dunno if you can hear it, but go. [00:40:00] I 

[00:40:00] diane: think so, yeah. 

[00:40:03] Richard Longhi: Yeah.

[00:40:08] He, yeah, he sent me a bunch of videos like that. They were hysterical. And so I started sharing ’em on social media. And then he also shares ’em, and yeah, he’s, he, the people he works with has been, it’s been amazing. He, she promotes her materials. He, you know, really goes all out there to like, you know, show showcase and stuff and, yeah.

[00:40:26] So, 

[00:40:26] diane: but it started with something you loved as a kid, and then [00:40:30] again, you had the guts to reach out to him. ’cause who would’ve thought you would’ve, I mean, you saw he was doing some partnerships with people and you’re like, well, maybe he’s doing it with other people. Why not me? I think sometimes we hold ourselves back from doing things sometimes.

[00:40:46] Oh, yeah. And the, so I love that. That’s an awesome story. 

[00:40:50] Richard Longhi: Yeah. And so, and then this one actually leads into another project. It’s something that, well, I’ll, I’ll hold up and then we will, um, whoops. Wrong way. All right. [00:41:00] And here we go. Okay. So then I saw that you put this like right up front. So I was like, I need to tell, talk about this story, I guess is, um, okay, so, well this is back when Logan, the movie first came out.

[00:41:13] Um, let me see here. Where’s the annotate tools? Here we, okay, so this gentleman right here? Mm-hmm. That’s my friend Aaron. Um, he was, uh, he’s a stu stunt coordinator guy, and he’s, you know, I just accidentally drew again. Yeah. But he’s, he’s been in the, uh, movie [00:41:30] industry for a while. He does stunts and stuff like that.

[00:41:31] And he acts sometimes, you know, and so he was in the movie and he was like, he, um, he actually came through and, um, was like, uh, dude, I would really love you to do all of our stunt t-shirts for the, you know, they, so at the end of, you know, the, of the production, they do the, these shirts and they get like, kinda like, you know, commemorative thing.

[00:41:48] And so I was tasked to do the, um, t-shirts for the stunt team, which was pretty amazing. I was like, are you kidding me? And so, like, the, the cool thing was, is like I got the, you know, I didn’t have, oh [00:42:00] man, I keep, I keep drawing. I’m sorry. I’m gonna, oh, it’s 

[00:42:01] diane: okay. I’ll just keep erasing them. 

[00:42:04] Richard Longhi: Thank you. Anyways, um, so.

[00:42:09] Yeah, so it was kind of cool ’cause I got to see some of the behind the scenes stuff, you know, but they were, you know, and I had to be super quiet and be careful about what I posted, did anything. And, um, I wasn’t able to until, I think it was a week after it came out because I, you know, like I had to wait.

[00:42:25] ’cause like the scene represents the, they called it, um, Logan’s [00:42:30] run. It’s near the end of the movies, run through the woods. He start, he’s lashing up everybody and he’s trying to get to her. And so I did like a little scene of that and, um, for the, for the shirts and stuff and, uh, yeah. And so, um, you know, I did that a long time ago and that’s.

[00:42:44] The other girl is Risa Klar. She was the double for Daphne Ke, you know, the X 23, you know, and so she’s been, she was, she was like one of my biggest like supporters. She’s wearing it all the time and, you know, and, uh, seeing pictures of her, you know, on her social media or like, whatever. [00:43:00] And so like, yeah.

[00:43:00] You know, so it was just amazing to be a part of a movie that I found. Like, I was like, yeah, I mean, this was right at my alley. I was so. Happy to be a part of this project. And so, um, yeah, so what I’m gonna do is I’m going to go back and print some t-shirts of the actual design and, uh, not t-shirts, but uh, posters of the T-shirts.

[00:43:21] Hmm. So that’s why it’s black. It’s more aiming towards my other designs I’ve done. That’s another thing I guess about some of the work I do. I try to keep things [00:43:30] like where it would all look good together. Yeah. Like, so a lot of posters I have, it’s kind of funny, they all have like themes, like there’s more lot of red in it, there’s a lot of this, there’s a lot of that.

[00:43:38] So, you know, like I have a whole bunch of my living room. My wife is very particular, you know, like, so it’s like, yeah, she, it, I definitely end up being careful of the selection that they put out there, you know, and, um, yeah. So we would just, uh, kind of feel, feel out the different kinds in the movies and like the things we wanted and then we, I would get ’em in that.

[00:43:56] And so I felt like I like having some of my posters, like [00:44:00] looking nice next to each other. Mm-hmm. You know, where you’re thinking about 

[00:44:03] diane: as a collection Yeah. For somebody. I love that. 

[00:44:06] Richard Longhi: Mm-hmm. 

[00:44:07] diane: Instead of just a one off, um, you’re really looking at it because that’s how I think you’ve collected the things that are, you have there is this, this is why they work together.

[00:44:18] I think that’s really smart. Yeah. And 

[00:44:21] Richard Longhi: so I can go, because like I think after this it’s good. It’s basically gonna be more, um, designs like, you know, I think some of these ones you [00:44:30] shared and um, I love this. Thank you. Um, yeah, so these also have stories behind them, you know. Um, and one of the left is in Kube, so like I’m really big into like Japanese culture and yoka and monsters and folklore and, and, um, my wife loves that.

[00:44:50] It’s funny and, but she keeps me on base. Like my wife’s always helped me with like the Japanese and making sure that I get everything culturally right and doing the right thing. Um, besides me [00:45:00] just doing all the research that I do. Right, because you 

[00:45:02] diane: like that, I mean that’s something you’ve always enjoyed that part of history.

[00:45:06] Richard Longhi: Oh yeah, definitely. And so, yeah, so each one of these are just like really special designs that mean a lot to me. Um, the, the Ki CAE is a, another big one. That’s the one in the middle. Um, it’s basically, it’s like, uh, the Japanese, uh, like translation, ki cae is kinda like wake from deaf and return to life, but it means like, kinda like, uh, [00:45:30] you know, uh, it’s something that I know for myself and, and what I found was other people who like the saying, you know, because it’s kind of like, uh, it doesn’t mean just like, you know, undead or coming back to life kind of thing, but it’s more like, um.

[00:45:44] Coming out of a desperate situation and then making a complete return in like one burst. You know, like, and I’ve had a lot of that on my life and it was something I always wanted to do illustration too, and do something fun with. And so I chose this way. And [00:46:00] um, the fun thing about this too was I didn’t realize there was more like, like if you do a search for ki say for instance, I’m the first one to come up, which I thought was totally strange.

[00:46:10] I had a friend of mine, James, he had reached out to me and he was like, dude, did you know that if you do a search for this, it pops straight up? And I was wondering where I was getting, like, I was getting a lot of people finding it, um, via my website and then writing me and be like, oh, you got, you should have a poster to this and you should do this and that.

[00:46:26] And I was like, where are they getting this? And then, you know, that kind of put eight a, [00:46:30] I was like, oh, like it made sense. So I was like, I had no idea. But um. That was happening, you know, like, and people were finding it that way and it was a really cool thing to find out. So it’s definitely on my radar of like things I want to get out there.

[00:46:42] You know, I’ve had a lot of people, I said like, it’s been a, I meant something to them. Have the, whether they’ve gotten over cancer or, I mean, there’s been some incredible stories and I, seeing how that resonated with them as well, and then finding it through this, it was, yeah, it just, it feels [00:47:00] amazing, you know, like it’s everything that I hoped for and, um, yeah, so, um, that’s where a lot of my work comes from is like, you know, at least the ones I wanna put out there to the world something that a will mean something to somebody and not just, uh mm-hmm.

[00:47:13] You know, not just something that sometimes yeah, it is like the Jason one over on the right. Like, yeah. I mean, I’m sure other people like Friday 13th, but I definitely have like an affinity to it and, you know, yeah. I mean, it’s, sometimes those things are for me, but if anybody else is a fan or it can connect to it.[00:47:30] 

[00:47:30] Beautiful. I mean that’s, I mean, it’s like, as people, I feel like finding connection and finding, you know, value and just, it’s just, um, you know, I guess like it’s part of life, you know, it’s like, you know, so it’s just keeps me going, you know? 

[00:47:48] diane: Yeah, for sure. Well, I love that it, the one in the middle, the mm-hmm.

[00:47:53] It’s about hope. It’s, there wasn’t anything out there. Um, maybe, um, and, [00:48:00] but you were just like, okay, I’m doing this because this means something to me, and then you post it and then it kind of turned into something. So you got some, um, um, people when they were searching, they were finding this, and I don’t know if they found it, and then you made a poster, or they, you had this illustration and it wasn’t a poster yet, but you kept seeing all these people were finding it, and it was meaning something to someone.

[00:48:29] Richard Longhi: Which, what was the 

[00:48:29] diane: [00:48:30] order on that? 

[00:48:31] Richard Longhi: Oh, the order was definitely, I did it first, you know, like I, for myself, I guess I just kind of created it and then put it out there. And then as a 

[00:48:38] diane: poster to sell? 

[00:48:40] Richard Longhi: No, no, originally it says art, like, so like if you go to my website, sometimes there’s a lot more probably I should make into posters.

[00:48:46] It’s like, I have a lot of different stuff I would love to do, but like, I’m kind of trying to focus as far as like what I’m seeing people resonate with. Mm-hmm. And that’s, so that’s kind of your 

[00:48:56] diane: testing ground. You, you see what people resonate [00:49:00] with and then you would decide whether this goes on a poster, a sticker, or something else, right?

[00:49:05] Exactly. 

[00:49:06] Richard Longhi: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was just, um, like how long 

[00:49:09] diane: do you te I’m sorry, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. No, no, no. Please. How long do you test something? Like how long did the art just live out there? And you’re like, why are people find out? Like it, was it six months? Was it six years? Was it was 

[00:49:24] Richard Longhi: and Yeah. Um. For this one, it’s been out there for a long time in different [00:49:30] forms.

[00:49:30] You know, like I’ve kind of evolved a little, but um. Yeah, it just kind of catching ground. Like I, yeah, I, I, it was definitely not the first one I came out with for a poster, but it’s one that I’ve always wanted to, and then as I said, like more recently, and I’m thinking that it has to do with the Google search maybe, but like, I had just gotten a lot of attention.

[00:49:51] Like, you know, people would write me on Instagram and be like, oh, I really don’t see this as a poster. And it just became more and more people saying it that I’m like, oh, it’s in the queue to, to become [00:50:00] something. And you know, and unfortunately that’s the thing is like, you know, the cost of, you know, doing that, it’s been like I, I’ve been having to be selective about how I create my posters or whatever.

[00:50:09] And also, yeah, again, finding the right people to do ’em and, uh, timing and stuff like that. But, um, but yeah, it’s all stuff I want to put into the, the queue and get going and have like a lot of things, you know, come out of it. And so 

[00:50:22] diane: I think that’s a great idea too, for everybody who’s thinking about products for themselves, that you don’t have to get ’em all done right at once.

[00:50:29] You just [00:50:30] see what’s resonating and, um. And then think, okay, well, when I have some extra money, then there’s an order of things that are coming around based on maybe something comes out with this and then you’re like, oh my gosh, this is, I’m gonna, we’re gonna do this now. And maybe they jump some things in the queue, or maybe they just stay, you know where they are and you just keep going.

[00:50:52] But I think we don’t have to have them all done right now and go in debt doing this, right? Mm-hmm. Especially if you’re doing it as like [00:51:00] this side thing. Um, you’re, you have the flexibility of time that you’re not rushed to try to get this stuff out, and I think that’s an important part of when you’re doing it as a side thing, right?

[00:51:13] Richard Longhi: Mm-hmm. Oh, definitely. Yeah. Um, yeah, definitely don’t go spend all your money and, right. You know, like, yeah. It’s that it’s a risk that doesn’t always pay out, and it’s not worth it, I don’t think, you know, um, I. 

[00:51:25] diane: So like when, if, if this is in the queue, it’s not there yet. [00:51:30] When does, like, what things have to be aligned to get it kind of in the queue?

[00:51:35] Like what? Um, not in the queue to get it from the queue to the print. Like is it like you do one poster a quarter or you do one poster a year or, um, 

[00:51:47] Richard Longhi: yeah. I, I, I don’t really, I, that’s the one thing is I don’t really have like a, uh, a schedule. Like I was wanting to have a schedule originally. Um, like for, so I had somebody who was doing the, uh, for instance, like the more [00:52:00] GK print.

[00:52:00] Mm-hmm. And that would be aimed towards something a lot more color, but like, um. Yeah. They kind of, it kind of fell through as a company. I was not pleased with ’em. And so like, I, uh, basically was starting to look for somebody else. Yeah. So I had all this money saved up to do all these. Mm-hmm. And then all of a sudden it was like, uh, yeah, I had to pull back.

[00:52:19] And then I’m like, I’m not gonna do it with them. I’m trying to find the right balance and the right poster printer for this now. But, um, you know, for instance, like the Logan one, I think I’m going, I am gonna go. It’s only like, [00:52:30] uh, how many color? It’s 1, 2, 3, 4. It is four color because it’s got you put a, a, a hit of white white on black paper.

[00:52:39] Yeah. And so, but um, I think I’m gonna go, uh, screen print with that and maybe go back to the original company who I used, which is, uh, Valhalla. They’re the ones that did it. Um, yeah, they’re outta Kansas City. They’re amazing. Cool. I recommend them. And, uh, yeah. So, um. Yeah, I, that’s the thing is like, I’m just trying to find a new printer [00:53:00] and, uh, I may even, like, I’ve been thinking like, you know, like I could always save up more money and do those later and maybe now I’ll start doing some more stickers or whatever.

[00:53:09] Right, right. Yeah, so, 

[00:53:10] diane: well that’s good. That’s, it’s just good to know what kind of the processes and things happen, you know? Um, either, um. I know a printer I use the, the quality isn’t great on one product, but it’s good on other products. But you have to test it and see like [00:53:30] mm-hmm. It’s not the color and it’s not this, so I don’t wanna do this.

[00:53:34] So I’m testing something with another printer. But again, you had, I had to order 26, which I’m like, Ooh. You know, like it’s a, um, it’s an investment, but it’s also a test. Um, and you have to try these other printers because you don’t know where it will be successful if you don’t ever try. But you have to have some money that you’re investing in, just trying, and then, you know, you can move them.

[00:53:59] Um, [00:54:00] but anyway, those are just, I think it’s always good to kind of know and. Things happen, like some printers get bought out or some just go outta business or some the quality changes or something. So, um, okay, so keep going. Sorry, I’m just making sure I’m getting all my questions. 

[00:54:18] Richard Longhi: So I’m just gonna go through, this is kind of like some of the stuff that I would like to do down the road.

[00:54:22] It’s like, um, so I did a series of, uh, I call it like a slasher series, but it’s like basically, you know, [00:54:30] all these iconic eighties, like slasher horror, you know, um, icons. And then I, I’ve been doing a lot of stuff in Italy and I had this, you know, so I ended up doing a, a bunch of illustrations of Italian bikes and lo and behold, I did.

[00:54:45] A killer per bike. It was kind of fun to do, just kind of matching up these killers with actual, you know, motorcycles and then like, kind of building around that. It was just fun for me to do, but it got, you know, again, like probably some of the biggest [00:55:00] attention I got on social media where, so of these, you know, like individual ones too, like the, the Jason one was like probably the most likely thing I’ve ever had.

[00:55:08] It’s insane. I’m like, how, but I somehow just reached out and got mm-hmm the right people and you know, it made me realize, yeah, I’d like to do something maybe with this. And I thought about doing prints and some wild colors and mm-hmm. So maybe do more like 12 by 12, which I’m a big fan of albums and album art anyways, and it’d be kind of fun to do that.

[00:55:25] Um, yeah, so I built this little series and then I did do some stickers based off the [00:55:30] heads of all these. And, um, they’re available, but I don’t have actual, you know, posters or prints of this yet, so it’s probably something I might do down the road. It’s in the 

[00:55:38] diane: queue. 

[00:55:39] Richard Longhi: In the queue. Yeah, it’s in the queue.

[00:55:41] And then these are more like, just, again, it’s just like a whole slew of like, you know, one-off illustrations. I’ve done some Marine Corps stuff, some um, some, yeah, just all, a whole bunch of different illustrations and designs that I’ve done throughout the years and I have more. It’s like, it is just, but I, you know, I just started pulling this stuff together and what [00:56:00] I do is, is like, um, I kind of set it up and then figure out Yeah, like the, your, the queue, but like, where in the queue will it fall?

[00:56:06] How do I want to do it? What, maybe I’ll do it in series. You know, I’ve been trying to, like you said, almost like going, um, like quarterly or whatever. Maybe what I’ll do is, is I’ll try to match it up per. Uh, quarter or something, and then, you know, do two every, you know, a few months or something and then like, you know, play with it that way.

[00:56:24] So, so 

[00:56:24] diane: like the middle one in, in the top row that looks like it could be based off of something [00:56:30] historical or in the, um, I don’t know if it, or if it is just totally out of your brain. That’s, that’s the question. Oh, no. Okay. 

[00:56:38] Richard Longhi: Yeah. So that, and the one in the middle, for instance is a qua manu, like it’s a Shihi dog.

[00:56:43] They have like a temples in Japan. Mm-hmm. Um, so like, some of these are definitely Japanese influenced. Um, and some of ’em are just like, you know, the cat one is like, you know, the Halloween cat, you know. Yeah, 

[00:56:54] diane: yeah, 

[00:56:55] Richard Longhi: yeah. In the bag, but that’s just outta your 

[00:56:56] diane: head. 

[00:56:57] Richard Longhi: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, uh, be I, well that [00:57:00] those are kind of based off the old school.

[00:57:02] Mm-hmm. Uh, what do you call it? Like decorations and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. But, but it is my version of it. Yeah. Right. So where, yeah. The other stuff is like, you know, masks. Um, the one in the top right is a, uh. Oh, what do you call it, Kappa? It’s a, it is a little imp like a little creature in Japanese culture.

[00:57:19] It stays by the water, you know, and we, for you to go by and eat, they like to eat cucumbers and it’s like, oh yeah, there’s a lot of, you know, interesting things about it. And so like each one of ’em has its own little thing, [00:57:30] um, story and stuff like that. But yeah. That’s cool. Mm-hmm. And so, yeah, as far as that, I mean that was, I believe all I had for visuals.

[00:57:41] Lemme see. Okay, 

[00:57:41] diane: cool. 

[00:57:42] Richard Longhi: Yeah, then like, well, 

[00:57:43] diane: alright, so this may be, I’ve tried to ask this question. Um, are you showing us a video? 

[00:57:50] Richard Longhi: Oh yeah, just a little. And at the end I had like a little animation I did. Oh, nice. Yeah, that’s something like, I don’t know, I try to play around with that too, like doing like [00:58:00] animation a little bit and, you know, that’s beautiful.

[00:58:03] Yikes. And that’s the original logo, the clean one. Yeah. 

[00:58:07] diane: But I, but I, I like both. I like that you had, and that also shows that you’re always learning new things. And we talked about this a little bit before, so just mm-hmm. Like to get it out, so, you know. Yeah. Some people would take, so you have your logo and then you would just draw the bloody thing and procreate, but you, you just go straight vector.

[00:58:27] You’re staying in Illustrator, you’re [00:58:30] drawing with the pencil tool. That’s, um, you’re not going into procreate to do this stuff. Yeah, 

[00:58:37] Richard Longhi: no, I mean, my daughter uses procreate pretty real initially, but like. I, I’ve never really used procreate, you know, I, I kind of thought about it, but again, like I love working in Vector and knowing that I could scale to like, the size of a building, you know, if I needed to.

[00:58:51] Yeah, it’s a little, it’s just, I’ve always had a love for how clean and like nice set looks. So, so 

[00:58:58] diane: animation wise, then, where are you doing [00:59:00] your animations? 

[00:59:01] Richard Longhi: Oh, so I, I’ve been using Adobe Anime, like, because Adobe Anime is basically Flash and I used to use Flash all the time back in the day. Um, I worked at a, you know, web company before I worked at Real Tree and like, you know, flash was something I used quite a bit.

[00:59:14] And um, yeah, it’s just, I used to animating that way, so I’ve, I’ve just do stuff like this and 

[00:59:22] diane: That’s cool. That’s a easy transition for you then. So this is a question I had on the sheet. You can stop sharing [00:59:30] if you want. Oh yeah. 

[00:59:31] Richard Longhi: Okay. 

[00:59:31] diane: You can do whatever. Um, but is there anything. I don’t know if you do any Black Friday or I, we kinda talked to, you don’t have sales or whatever, but like if you’re thinking about in the future or um, and maybe it’s not where you are now, but again, I don’t know if we are where you are now, but, so we are behind you.

[00:59:51] So thinking about what is next and about selling what to sell online, what not to sell online and then do [01:00:00] you do anything, any ads or anything for Black Friday or, or is that something that you would think about doing in the future or Cyber Monday? 

[01:00:08] Richard Longhi: Yeah, I think for this year I will be doing something like that.

[01:00:12] Like again talking to Tim and seeing how he’s been doing it. I definitely think it’d be behoove me to do something this year for the holidays. Um. So, yeah, I mean, I think I’ll probably end up making like, like a, you know, like a, oh, one of those, like, uh, just generate like a 20% off type code and [01:00:30] then send it out to everybody.

[01:00:31] Or, um, on my social media. Like I have done ads before, you know, but that was mostly to gain, you know, attention to some of the work I’ve done. Mm-hmm. But never like, you know, for, for like an actual advertisement. So aside from like the companies I work for. Right, right, right. Yeah. So like, um, yeah, I’d definitely be willing and wanting to do that.

[01:00:51] Yeah. I think I might do that. And yeah, 

[01:00:53] diane: because I think you can do some things, like some you can do $5, you know, or you could do something. I mean, there are some [01:01:00] lower stakes things, so, but one of the things you have to know is who’s your customer? And that was one of my, um, do you have some people who are repeat customers that you come out with something or you will send them, Hey, here’s the new thing.

[01:01:14] Hmm. And then do you have an idea of. Who that customer is. So if you were running an ad, you could be people who like this or people who like this, like are you targeting? 

[01:01:25] Richard Longhi: Yeah. I, I, no, I haven’t been able, I haven’t targeted anything, [01:01:30] but like, um, unless I’m doing like an Instagram ad, um, yeah, I mean I, I have a pretty good base on who my followers are, you know, and that’s been kind of nice.

[01:01:38] Um, I feel like that’s the one thing when I was on Instagram I wanted to do was make sure I, um. Gathering the types of followers that, um, resonate with me in my stuff and my work. And usually it’s the people who follow you, but like for the most part, yeah, you get those odd and end people that this might follow you or whatever.

[01:01:55] And, and that’s fine. I mean, you know, but like, but I definitely felt like I built, you [01:02:00] know, it’s like, you know, it’s a lot of people like me, you know, they’re in a metal or they’re, uh, tattoo artists and, um, you know, I have a lot of, um, martial artists who follow me because of, you know, some of the work I’ve done, you know, um, you know’s, like I’ve done a lot of different, different things all throughout and yeah, so like I, I just try to, uh, you know, track like minded people and, you know, make cool art and hopefully just, uh, keep that going.

[01:02:25] So, yeah, I 

[01:02:25] diane: think, well, I think. Um, it’s [01:02:30] important for us to remember, it’s not for everybody, right? Everything isn’t for everybody. But if you hone in on who it is, like the people who like slasher films or the people who like metal, or the people who like that detail. Yeah. Or even the people who have this, um, affinity to Japanese culture or um, to, um, martial arts.

[01:02:52] So I think that those are, those are things that if you’re running an ad, you can pick audiences or like audiences, which those [01:03:00] would help you because they’re mm-hmm. They’re already gonna be liking those things. Um, so this one of the last questions, but what, how much time, so you talked about the dragon, which you’ve done this year, but how much time per month, because you’re working, you’re a dad, you’re not, uh, and you’re a husband, you’re, you know, you don’t just, you have a full-time job.

[01:03:19] Mm-hmm. But how much time per month do you create art to sell or just even create art? 

[01:03:26] Richard Longhi: Yeah, just creating art. Um, I’d say it’s [01:03:30] still a lot of time. Like I, I, you know, it’s funny is like, I, I literally work it around my, my schedule, like the best way, you know, we didn’t know that. So yeah, the best way we can is like, um, it’s, it’s like you gotta make time for that kind of stuff and, you know, so like, I mean, there’ll be literally times like, you know, like, you know, my daughter’s gotta do some homework or whatever, and my wife is in the middle of making dinner, so I’m like, oh, hey guys, I got time.

[01:03:55] I’m gonna go in in the bedroom. If you guys need me, just call me. And I’m just sitting here illustrating and drawing [01:04:00] and, you know, playing around until it’s time to go to dinner. And like, so I, I try to find those little quiet moments to be able to do this kind of thing. And, and then sometimes too, like my family, like, oh, you know, like they, they allot me the time.

[01:04:10] I’m almost like, you know, Hey listen, we’re gonna be doing this. Why don’t you go do whatever you wanna do and draw and whatever. And I’ll come in here and do that. And it’s so nice to be able to have like my, like my little, uh, it’s so funny. It’s like I have this little tiny office, but it’s, um. It allows me to be me.

[01:04:27] You know? And it’s, that’s one of the things, even about [01:04:30] the current place I work, at least, you know? Yeah. They allow me to be myself. And I feel like that’s the most important thing, be you, be who you are, be true to yourself, and just, you know, I mean, that’s the best way to get you out to the world and like be able to do the things that you do.

[01:04:47] So like I just, you know, I, one of the things I’ve hated sometimes about corporate life was always having, you know, like a, I always had to dress up. I always had to, you know, I had to be, it’s, Hey, listen, it happens. We all gotta do it. And I did it, you know, in the military [01:05:00] and everything else. But I’m at this point in my life where like, I just want to be myself.

[01:05:03] I want to, you know, if I’m at my house and I’m working, I want to be working like me, like, you know, I’m wearing an iron main T-shirt and I’m sitting here and I’m drinking some water and just hanging out. Like, I, I, it, I just, you know, like you shouldn’t have to feel on edge at your own place, you know, and that’s what I try to keep this as is a place where.

[01:05:22] There is no edge to, you know, I get to be myself. I get to draw, and I’m surrounded by the things I love, so, yeah. 

[01:05:28] diane: Well, I, I love that [01:05:30] you’re drawing things that you love, that you’re connected to or that you, that you resonate with or that something that’s been fun for you to be a part of, or. Um, it’s been like a movie that you’ve watched hundreds of times and you’re just thinking about that one thing.

[01:05:47] Or it just, even like the dragon, you’re like, I love drawing dragons as a kid. I’m going to go back to drawing a dragon. And then you just kind of get lost in that and it does create that mental space of healing. And [01:06:00] sometimes when it so that you’re able to kind of like, okay, I’ve done all this yucky work, um, or work that is not like, uh, pouring into you and now you get to, this is work that is pouring into you.

[01:06:13] But one of the things I love is that you have this ability to hone in, um, to an audience that, and, um, the pieces of the movie or the statements or phrases or, um, the, and your just work [01:06:30] is incredible. So, um, but like even making weird combos with like, um. Motorcycles and then slasher characters, you know?

[01:06:40] Mm-hmm. I think that is, that’s like fun and joyful, you know? Like, you were like, oh my gosh, what bike can I put Chucky on? Or something, you know? Yeah. Like, um, and why did so and so get the Vespa or something, you know, like there’s all this like underlying humor that I think, um, sometimes we’re afraid to [01:07:00] show or we’re afraid to be that person, right?

[01:07:03] Mm-hmm. Who we are. And because we are trying to please too many people, so I love that you kind of have created this, you have your job, you have, um, you know, the thing that pays the bills, but then you have this other thing that you are working towards too, that is you and it for me. Your artwork is very you, and it’s, I mean, [01:07:30] incredible and.

[01:07:31] But I think you teach me about like, just go weird on your own, Diane. Just go be you. Don’t worry if there’s other people are gonna like the dragon, right? Like whatever the dragon is for me. I just need to keep doing that. And then you see other things that maybe resonate or maybe don’t. And then if you wanna make products for it, then you make products for it.

[01:07:55] Right? But it doesn’t mean that everything you draw has to be a product, I guess. 

[01:07:59] Richard Longhi: [01:08:00] Exactly. No. Yeah. I, you know, I think that that stuff comes with time, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, yeah. Eventually you’d be like, oh, this somebody, you know, everybody really likes this and you want to do that. But like, yeah, I think like, don’t put too much pressure on, you know, everything you do or like, you know, this has to be this or whatever.

[01:08:17] I, I feel like, you know, I think you said it pretty beautifully, like it’s, you know, I. Just being yourself. Like just finding a way to be happy and to do what you like. And not everybody’s gonna like it, but you know what? [01:08:30] It’s that one person who does that’ll hit you up and be like, Diane, what you did with this?

[01:08:34] I loved it. And yeah, like, it’s like I honestly, it’s like when me and you talk like you are that person to me, like you are always like, oh, you didn’t hold me high. And any, everybody I’ve seen you talk to, you know, and I feel like that’s important, you know? So not only do we, we doing this like this, but like for each other as well, like, you know, as designers and artists, I feel like hold that person up.

[01:08:54] You don’t know what anybody else is going through and you don’t know what they’re, what’s happening to ’em or why they’re making [01:09:00] some of the choices they’re making sometimes. But like, I feel like if you. Talking and having these conversations and showing interest and you know, just showing up. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s a great thing.

[01:09:10] So I, yeah, I mean it’s, I love what you do and I appreciate you doing it. Thank you for having me on the show. I mean, you know, 

[01:09:16] diane: abs. Absolutely. So I wanna make sure, I’m gonna read out all of your links so that people, and I’m gonna put it in the chat again, but, um, so they can get, do you have a newsletter?

[01:09:27] Is that something that you have or [01:09:30] how would somebody get to hear what you’re doing? Is it just really mainly following you on Instagram? 

[01:09:37] Richard Longhi: Yeah, Instagram is purely where, I mean, it’s the only place I post really. Okay. Nowadays. Yeah. Um. So, yeah, Instagram and then, um, yeah, I don’t have a newsletter like, uh, I think Tim does and, and that’s a good idea.

[01:09:51] But like, I just, I’m not there as far as product, you know, if I had more stuff in my store, maybe, or, you know, maybe I would be doing that, but like, you know, I’m not there yet, you know, but [01:10:00] hopefully what I, 

[01:10:00] diane: yeah. MailChimp is free for the first 500 people, just so you know. So to have a, like if you’re gonna send a news, uh, coupon code or, anyway, a little plug for MailChimp.

[01:10:12] I don’t use MailChimp, but I always like that they have that first 500. So for people who are trying to like, build up that audience, but you want, like, if you’re gonna start doing things quarterly, then people know, uh, on the. First month, the fourth month. The don’t make me [01:10:30] do the math. Whatever. The eighth what?

[01:10:32] Eighth month and the, uh, whatever, you know, we’re not math people. I’m not math people, but I, but that would be, so otherwise they can check your website, which is long. L-O-N-G-H-I design.com. It’s really easy. And then same thing at Etsy. So etsy.com/shop, that’s what everybody is slash mm-hmm. L-O-N-G-H-I design co.

[01:10:56] CO. And then Instagram it is [01:11:00] longie design. L-O-N-G-H-I-D-E-S-I-G-N. And all of those links are right at the top. I want people to, um, it’s just, I will always worry about the algorithm, you know, ’cause like I may not see something ’cause I’m not on there that much. Or, um, but maybe that’s something that we need to, um, make sure you have the people that you are following, um, that.

[01:11:25] Maybe they’re coming out with something or they’re doing something, you keep up with [01:11:30] them. I think you and I will talk more than once a year usually. Yeah. Just to kind of catch up and see what’s going on. And then when I did this, I was like, oh my gosh, I really want you to, um, do a pro. Because I think things on the side is where we start, right?

[01:11:45] Mm-hmm. Sometimes we don’t even have an idea, uh, or we don’t have as, we’re not as good of an artist or whatever, but we have an idea that maybe at one point we wanna have a store. And I think it’s good to see. I really do appreciate you connecting me with Tim, but I also [01:12:00] really appreciate you sharing your story.

[01:12:02] The time pressure is off because it’s not your full-time thing, so you can kind of percolate things a little bit. And I think when people are trying to see what works and what doesn’t work or what works for them, um, what resonates with other people, that’s the beauty of doing something on the side. And I appreciate you being.

[01:12:22] Able to share that. And um, and I just love your work so 

[01:12:27] Richard Longhi: well. Thank you. I appreciate it. You [01:12:30] know, it’s, as always, it’s a, it’s a pleasure, Diane. It is. And, uh, yeah, I mean, yeah, we’ve been knowing each other since the beginning of like, creative self. I mean, yeah, that’s where we first met and I, I’m grateful for it.

[01:12:42] And, you know, that’s the thing. So 

[01:12:44] diane: April 25th, April 26th, so it, we’ve got April down there at the end. Yeah. 

[01:12:49] Richard Longhi: Yeah, definitely. 

[01:12:50] diane: Um, well, I always try to say happy birthday to you and I usually make it, I think. Um, but yeah. Um, anyway, uh, I, one thing that [01:13:00] you kind of. Picked up on that. We’re gonna be talking about next Wednesday with my guest Ann Ford.

[01:13:06] She used, um, collage to heal. So you’re, you were talking about how just going and drawing gives you that mental space or you get in the zone, um, a flow state. Um, and it is, it is your happy place. Right? And I think that it’s, 

[01:13:22] Richard Longhi: yeah. 

[01:13:23] diane: Um, when we are stressed or we have, I don’t know, [01:13:30] family stress or sickness or whatever, um, we need, we need time to have time for healing.

[01:13:36] A lot of times, um, art can be a healer and that’s what we’re gonna talk about next Wednesday. So I hope you guys will join me on Wednesday and or if you’re watching in, in the queue and the regular queue, then it’ll be, the next episode is about that. So unintentionally even. ’cause Richard and I did not talk about that, but that was a really good plug for what we’re gonna be talking about [01:14:00] next.

[01:14:00] And that is. The healing power of art. So, um, Richard, thank you so much for giving me so much of your time today. And thank you guys for coming and I will see y’all next around Wednesday.