Sheydin Dew

Voice Over (00:00:05):
This show is sponsored by the ComX Shop. We hope you enjoy the show.

Leigh Chalker (00:00:28):
Good day. Welcome to episode 15 of Tuesday. So this evening our guest oh, I should say, let’s go back a little bit cuz it’s different for me as you’ll find out next Tuesday night Cuz. So it’s a Saturday afternoon for Shade The Night at the moment, and I’m a little bit thrown off. But anyway, I’m Lee Chalk, a creator of Battle for Bustle. So our guest this evening is Shade and J how are you mate?

Sheydin Dew (00:00:54):
I’m very well, thank you for asking. Thanks for having me on the show, Lee.

Leigh Chalker (00:00:58):
That’s okay mate. No problems at all. So for everyone watching at home, it likes to play the show. It’s based on six questions or prompting words. They are who, what, where, when, why, and how. And we talk about everything in between, whatever topics may come up. So I’m just gonna go straight into it. So mate, I always like straight off the bat who

Sheydin Dew (00:01:23):
My name is. I also go by the name online Shaded Art. I am a comic creator but also mainly just an illustrator. I’ve been working predominantly since 2016. That was in my second year of uni that I kind of started shaded art as an identity. And I’ve done everything from murals to children, books, illustrations, all the way through to comic creation. So little bit about me

Leigh Chalker (00:01:54):
<laugh>. Yeah. What was your first step into the world of art mate?

Sheydin Dew (00:02:00):
First step? Well, I mean essentially I’ve been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil. But I would say my first real step into the industry was when I was commissioned by my nana to illustrate a children’s book for her, which is called About a Arbery. And it’s centered around the history of the Adelaide Hills, which I reside in. And yeah, that was when I was in year 12, so that was way before I even stepped into university. But university was really where I kind of bloomed into doing art as a career really. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (00:02:41):
Yeah. That’s pretty cool that your though to commission you is that, was that a story that your Nan had always had and wanted to get it out? And Sha you’re the one,

Sheydin Dew (00:02:52):
She’s actually published about maybe five books now but back then she’s probably pushed out maybe two books and they’re all around horses cuz that’s what she was into. And then she did a lot of work in primary schools and whatnot as her career choice. And then into her retirement she decided to start writing books for children. And this about at the Arbery it touches on, or it’s based around the outdoor school that we have here and

Leigh Chalker (00:03:26):
The outdoor school.

Sheydin Dew (00:03:27):
Yeah. Yeah. So I actually went there when I was about nine years old. I remember a lot of schools go there for excursions, so they usually take two days and they take primary school children there and they learn about being eco-friendly and ways to help the environment and whatnot. So it was very centered around there. But my auntie actually works there and she has done for many years. And so her mom, my nana, she decided to base her story about that. And so the outdoor school is called Arbery Park. So about, yeah, it bases around the outdoor school, but it also touches on history within the Adelaide Hills, which I think was really cool. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:04:14):
Yeah, right. That’s cool. Well that’s an interesting start grade 12 when you get commissioned on something like that to cover the history in an outdoor school. Yeah,

Sheydin Dew (00:04:26):
Yeah. Especially as, I think I was 17 I think at the time that it came out. So that was pretty, it was a very humbling experience about a 17 year old. I was like, oh wow, this is amazing. I would never have thought kind of thing. But yeah, no, it’s kind of good to look back on, to think that that was kind of the first stepping stone, I would say.

Leigh Chalker (00:04:49):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s cool. So you’re artistic come from an artistic family? Members of

Sheydin Dew (00:04:56):
No are

Leigh Chalker (00:04:58):
One, are,

Sheydin Dew (00:04:58):
Yeah, kind of the black sheep of the family or I guess I did recently have a discussion with my mom and her side of the family are all from England so her dad migrated over and had her here. But unfortunately her mother passed away when she was about 20. So I never actually got to meet my grandmother on her site. But it was revealed to me recently that she did have a little bit of an artist streak in her. And she used to draw not so much people, which I’m kind of obsessed with. But yeah, she loved fashion specifically. So yeah, I didn’t know that up until maybe a couple weeks ago actually.

Leigh Chalker (00:05:44):
There you go.

Sheydin Dew (00:05:46):
Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:05:47):
No, that’s cool. Well, my granddad used to draw and paint and stuff.

Sheydin Dew (00:05:51):
Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:05:54):
He, my mom’s pretty good. She’s not too bad, but she doesn’t, I dunno, she doesn’t practice as often, but she was really good back in school when I was in school anyway, helping me out. He did charcoal sketches and he served on the kakoda track in World War II and Oh wow. Spent years over there. So in spare time in between battles I guess he would charcoal sketch other members of the soldiers that were sitting down by the beach and stuff like that. But hearts that jungles he had massive paintings of all the aircraft that flew in that time period as well, man. Beautiful paintings and yeah, I discovered that probably, I don’t know, maybe grade one or two upper tucked in on a cupboard cuz I always used to draw. Well what is this, Archie? He did them in the war, so yeah, the family still got them. I think so. And

Sheydin Dew (00:07:01):
You said your mum was a good drawer as well, or she liked drawing?

Leigh Chalker (00:07:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No mate, she’s pretty good. Yeah, no, she got me,

Sheydin Dew (00:07:08):
If you don’t mind me asking

Leigh Chalker (00:07:09):
She dabbles, she’s crafty mate. Wouldn’t say she sits down and draws nonstop, but she does, she’s always creating stuff, whether it’s paper or whether it’s painting something, it starts, finishes, spare time and stuff. So pretty.

Sheydin Dew (00:07:28):
Was it kind of cool growing up with a mom who was into drawing? Did she give you some guidance?

Leigh Chalker (00:07:33):
Yeah, she did. Yeah. But again, too busy working I guess at the time. So even though she guided me and said like, yeah, do it. Never ever didn’t encourage me. I was lucky through school and primary school, having art teachers that were very free and very do your thing, school projects, comic books, history stories turned into comic books and stuff. So I got lucky like that. So luck played a part in that man. And

Sheydin Dew (00:08:12):
I think that’s even more impressive that she was a working woman and you even got some guidance from her, I think. That’s awesome.

Leigh Chalker (00:08:18):
Yeah, no, she’s a cool lady mate. She’s my mum. <laugh> can’t get better than that.

Sheydin Dew (00:08:23):
Coolest lady.

Leigh Chalker (00:08:25):
<laugh>. Yeah. Yeah, very patient. Let me tell you. I’m very, very patient. So what was the first piece of artwork for you doing your grandma’s story and you’re becoming the artist on it, what was your next phase that obviously lit the spark? So yeah,

Sheydin Dew (00:08:47):
It did. Yeah, and I think the story was actually published around the time that I got my offer for university. So I got my first preference, which was really amazing. So for those who don’t know, I’ve got a bachelor in creative arts digital media with honors. So I did it essentially four years at university. It was a long stint I’m actually thinking of maybe possibly going back to uni sometime in the future and doing a bachelor in design. As much as I loved my digital media experience, I think it was fairly broad. So I did everything from film analysis to making films and editing films and doing sound production as well as 2d, 3D animation all the way through to character design, costume design and things were animation and gains. So it was very broad. And I also did things like e-commerce and marketing principles.

(00:09:41):
So it was super broad, which is great. But I think maybe in the future I’m gonna narrow down and focus more on design, so more integration with maybe apps for mobile devices and stuff like that. So I think that’s UX design and things like that. But anyway, when I was at uni, I went into university with three goals in mind as an 18 year old, fresh out of high school. And when I first did the open day, it was a guided tour. And I remember going through the courtyard that I had majority of my lessons in or was going to have my lessons in. And there was all these murals that I have no idea were painted for, they must have been there for yonks. And they were very interesting, very different styles and whatnot. And I remember thinking to myself like, oh my God, it’d be amazing if I could leave something like this for however long these paintings have been there for.

(00:10:39):
So that was goal number one, leave a mural or something like that. And then I also heard that there was a student magazine on the campus, so it was run by students. And then there was also the ability for students to publish articles, photography and artwork into the magazine. So then I made the next goal to be, I wanna publish illustrations consistently. And I actually did that through about five consecutive years. So I also was an alumni by the time I was still publishing artwork for magazine. And then my third goal was to finish my degree or achieve a degree, which I did with honors as well, which was unexpected. So I think the second thing that I went into, or that kind of sparked my journey in the creative industry was leaving a mural at Flinders University. So that was actually it was advertised as a job on the student board and it was organized by the student committee.

(00:11:41):
So I think was, the grant was $4,000 I think. And materials were covered as well. And I remember seeing it and my friend who was also doing the same degree as me he messaged me, said, have you seen this? I’m like, yeah, I actually, I’ve been thinking of doing it. He’s like, do you wanna partner up and propose a design for them? And so we did that and I remember walking into this big panel and it had, I think it was the vice chancellor and all these bigger high up people in the university as well as the student president there and everything. And he was really cool. He was really good. I think he’s got more of a design eye, whereas I’ve got maybe more of an illustrative eye <affirmative> for design I guess. But his proposal was done so well and so professionally. And so he took care of the logistics side of things and the budgeting cover that. And then I took care of the actual illustration designs and things that we were actually going to paint. So all up, it was about five walls, I think it was, and it was outdoor.

Leigh Chalker (00:12:55):
How big were these walls?

Sheydin Dew (00:12:59):
They were at least two and a half meters high. And they would’ve expanded. It was a dog leg shape cause it was an outdoor

Leigh Chalker (00:13:10):
Space.

Sheydin Dew (00:13:11):
So in 20 16, 15 when I started university, they actually knocked down the student hub that had the cafeteria and the student services and stuff like that because they were building a new one. And that wasn’t done until around end of 2016 from memory, I think. And so 2016, so where we were painting was called the Laneway, and that was where students went for their food. So it was a major area

Leigh Chalker (00:13:42):
The little restaurant was near where you were. So you had suits and that people would sit there and could come and basically

Sheydin Dew (00:13:52):
Would’ve

Leigh Chalker (00:13:53):
Been a bit nerve wracking.

Sheydin Dew (00:13:55):
Yeah, I was, yeah, 19, I think at the time, <laugh> and I’d never done any murals in my life as much as Aiden was the friend who I was working with, Aiden B he now works predominantly with design <affirmative> in the design industry but we both didn’t have any idea what we were doing, <laugh>. It was amazing that we even kind of scored, I think the job in the first place. I don’t know who we were up against, but yeah, it was amazing that we even got it in the first place, I think. But yeah, I think the length of the walls talking would’ve been maybe between 15 and 20 meters long if you were to join all the walls together.

Leigh Chalker (00:14:45):
So this is obviously not something that’s done over a weekend, <laugh>.

Sheydin Dew (00:14:50):
We were given a fortnight to do this. So I was in this little flat when I was in uni, and it’s about, for those who don’t live in South Australia, I live in Birdwood. And Flint’s University is down in Bedford Park, which is about an hour. However, Burwood’s pretty rural and most of the hour is taken up on a freeway, which is about 110 K. So you’re doing a long distance journey. So I ended up actually staying down at Aiden’s house with all his roommates as well. So it was a really full house just so that I could wake up and do this mural. And I think it was in mid-year break, I think. So the four week period that you get as a break. And he lived right around the corner from university, so he would just walk or whatever. That was a really cool experience. Unfortunately, we did not varnish or seal the walls correctly. We mainly use spray paint, never use spray paint at all. And to this day, I love using spray paint, so that was a really important little step for me. But yeah, we didn’t seal it very well. So it aged terribly <laugh>. Is it

Leigh Chalker (00:16:08):
A bit wear and tear or?

Sheydin Dew (00:16:11):
Well, actually I probably have to go, I think the last time I was there might have been 2019, I reckon. So it was three years ago and the last time I remember it was still there. But I do have a really funny story. I remember, I think it was maybe my fourth and final year, they were deciding, or someone was deciding on making a student club called the Art Club. And it’s, it for some reasons didn’t even have an art club while I was it. It wasn’t only until I decided to leave that they decided to make an art club. So I was very sad about that. But I went to the very first meeting and I wasn’t with any friends at the time. I was just like, oh, I just wanna see what they’re gonna do kind of thing, see what I’m missing out on. And I remember them brainstorming ideas of what to do around campus to bring a little bit of art in and whatnot. And I remember someone from across the room raising their hand and being like, why don’t we refurbish the laneway? That mural has aged terribly. I don’t know who made that mural kinda thing. <laugh>. And I just remember sitting there and being like, I mean, you’re not wrong, but at the same time, <laugh>. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (00:17:18):
So that was dagger in heart there. Thanks buddy. Yeah,

Sheydin Dew (00:17:22):
But I mean, I think it was really cool because even I think it was good that we didn’t actually seal it and that it aged terribly because if anything, it’s provided. Well, I hope provided a new opportunity for someone else to bring a little bit more a breath of fresh air into the space even though it’s not used as much as it is it was when we first painted it because the hub is now fully functioning and built and whatnot. Whatnot. It’s a very quiet zone now, I’d assume. Anyway. Gotcha. But yeah, I think it’s provided a good opportunity for someone else to maybe in someone who was, who’s now in the shoes that I was, I don’t know. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:18:04):
Well at least you got to tick the top one of your wishes off, mate.

Sheydin Dew (00:18:08):
Yeah, that’s all I really, really cared about was just getting those three goals ticked off my list. So yeah, it was a good experience in the fact that I still use spray paint with some of the projects that I did today is just even more amazing. I think it was a really important step in my journey as well. Yeah, I think that was rung of the ladder number two. I think so. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (00:18:34):
No, that’s cool, man. That’s good. It’s funny when you come across those happy accidents, I guess, Hey,

Sheydin Dew (00:18:41):
Yeah, yeah.

Leigh Chalker (00:18:42):
But set you off on a little path, but no, that’s cool. A mural ladder. Be daunting, man. I think. Yeah, I’m not really one for drawing and painting in front of people myself. That would’ve freaked me out. <laugh>.

Sheydin Dew (00:18:59):
That was a really funny time as well during, so I think 2016 was around the time that I broke up with my high school boyfriend. So we both enrolled in the same university and everything was peachy. We were 18 young, dumb in love. And then he broke up with me, I think the start of 2016. And I remember getting this, I was a bit spiteful back then, I’m not gonna lie. I remember getting the mural and I think it was across the road from the drama center, which he was doing his degree in drama <laugh>. I remember him coming out and getting his coffee and whatnot and me painting, and I was like, look at me <laugh>.

Leigh Chalker (00:19:49):
Well, young and dramatic, you know how it is. It’s like yeah, man came out in your artwork. So there you go, <laugh>. So hey, with comics and stuff, with no Man’s Land, let’s go from Mural and that spark in the fire a little bit more. What’s our journey to no Man’s land? And when did that first touch down and what’s your plans and thoughts behind that?

Sheydin Dew (00:20:20):
Yeah. Well no Man’s Land happened about two years later from the mural. To give you a little bit of context I remember actually as maybe a seven or eight year old I remember making this little tiny book, maybe something you would call a zine these days. And I stapled it and everything. And it was, for some reason I was very dramatic back then. But I sented this book around a girl called Gabby and her notorious Bad Luck. And so there was all these situations that this character there were all these situations that were just so bad. I don’t know why inflicted so much trauma on this character as an eight year old <laugh>. But I have vivid, I don’t have it anymore. Or maybe I do somewhere, but I just having this little handmade picture book about Gabby and her bad life, <laugh>, I can’t imagine what my parents must have thought about that.

(00:21:19):
But I, I remember doing that when I was very early on. And then I think in my honors degree however many years later we had to do a practice led based project alongside a thesis. And a lot of people in my class were doing movies, animation some people were even doing really high quality artwork for their portfolios to then go into the industry the next year which I thought was a really smooth, really smart idea. And I decided not to do that. I decided to do a comic and I’d never done one in my entire life. <laugh>. I think I just I had tried animation in the past and it didn’t gel with me. I really enjoyed doing storyboarding and figured, well I also storytelling, so why not join the two? And so no Man’s Land was kind of born from that. But the whole premise of No Man’s Land was kind of inspired when I bought a pair of kids’ size, mind you, roller skates. And I used to roll into my classes literally. So <laugh> I remember start semester. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:22:37):
Moon Walk into ours, man, cuz Michael Jackson was all doing his thing at the time. So

Sheydin Dew (00:22:42):
I can imagine you doing that as well. Yes. Oh yeah, very Lee kind of thing to do. I think <laugh>. Yeah. So I remember, I think it was maybe the second semester of my bachelor, so this was the third year, and there was a girl there who used to do figure skating and I thought she was the coolest thing. She was so eccentric, so cool, loved it. And in the summer months she used to just go rollerblading just to keep her practice up. And she used to roll into class with her roller skates on. And I remember thinking, wow, I can’t remember the last time I went rollerskating. And then somehow something just flipped in me and I was like, I want roller skate too. So I bought a pair of really crappy roller blades from Rebel and the adult sizes didn’t fit me cause I got really tiny little feet, but I saved a lot of money on a kid’s pair <laugh>.

(00:23:38):
And then I rolled into class and I was like, Hey Ga, which is what her name was I’ve got pair roll of blades too. So we started skating around and my class in that year for some reason finished at 9:00 PM at night. It was so late. And I was living here an hour away, but I didn’t actually drive my car in. So I used to catch a bus. I used to drive halfway catch a bus in, and this bus left at 9 45. So I had 45 minutes to kill in the city before my bus arrived. And so we used to just skate around after class down Rondel Mall, which is in the C, and we would just go everywhere. And then I remember in one of my really boring lectures in third year, and I was doodling and I created a character with two little space bums and I was like, wow, that’s really iconic, very rememberable kind of character.

(00:24:35):
And then into my honors year, I kind of carried that idea and I was like, well, what if I could make a story around rollerblading? And then that’s when I decided to make no men’s land to play on words because all the characters are female. And then I figured, why not center that all the characters around a different kind of view on feminism. So I know that the mainstream notion is women are as equal as to their men counterpart. But I also, I kind of wanted to go on a different narrative of that and really highlight that women need to build other women up. Sometimes it can be a bit toxic between women. So I really wanted to focus on that kind of notion which is what Noland is all about. So I did the very first edition, which looked, it looks very different to what it is now. So this was the very first one, which was printed and published in 2018.

Leigh Chalker (00:25:36):
And that was when you said you’d never done a comic book before? Was that one of those, once it’s finished the artwork and done everything, now I’m gonna get it printed. So you had to go down all that path by, oh my god, yeah, there’s all this involved to get this issue.

Sheydin Dew (00:25:55):
I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I just needed a practice led project. And at the time, some reason I was just really into real skating, so I was like, let’s just make a filming about real skating and going into it, it kept expanding the community in Adelaide, the comics community in Adelaide just kept expanding. And I got all this information, I was like, wow, this actually, I’m really glad that I decided to do this kind of thing. And I got all this information of where to get it printed and how to do it and stuff like that. The thesis was centered around traditionally printed comics and their digital counterpart and how they kind of compared. So I sold it at Supernova, which was towards the end of the year. And I also sold it on Comicology which I think in hindsight I probably would’ve done a little bit different.

(00:26:48):
Cause Comicology is just so saturated with the bigger titles. But it was good nonetheless. And I still got some sales and I was still able to compare and whatnot. But with the comic, it actually also kind of corresponds to that as well. So I decided to do a hybrid of both traditionally and digitally created kind of content. So it was traditionally inked. So I’ve still got the original pages that I created, which were a three size and then I then scanned them into my computer and I digitally colored them because from the get, I mean even from Arbery all the way through to the mural, through to No Men’s Land, my color palette has kind of stayed consistent. I really enjoy color. So I think that’s kind of maybe a brand trademark, if you will.

(00:27:39):
So that was a nice little Easter egg for people as well to say, oh well it corresponds to a thesis as well. But yeah, that year was really busy, really, really busy and a huge turning point I think for myself. Yes, in what I thought I was capable of <laugh> I mean the whole year, even though I had the idea in 2017 it was really fleshed out in 2018. So the characters, the storyline I was very passionate on making it a fully fledged story, but it was in the end it just turned out to be a prologue kind of thing cuz that’s all I could really manage for the whole year alongside everything else. But yeah, no, it was huge, huge turning point and such a big learning curve. I always say this to people if I’m at markets or whatever, I always tell them the backstory of new, but I also say the week that it all kind of happened was insane. So at the time I had a part-time job at a cafe and it also had a function room above it.

(00:28:50):
And so I did a book launch for it. So that was a Thursday night and that was insane cuz I had to make sure the books arrived and I was happy with them and stuff. I had them printed in Sydney. And so that was a really big moment for me opening the box and seeing what I created was actually in my hands. That was pretty cool. And then I think Friday I had another shift at the cafe and then I had to go set up at Supernova Supernova’s obviously over two days. And I was tabling the friend of mine so we could cut costs in half and whatnot. And then Sunday was the convention, Monday was at 12 p 12:00 AM sorry was when my thesis was due. So that was an insane leap <laugh>. So I had to check mean, it fell into place really well the way it happened. But it was very that was really

Leigh Chalker (00:29:47):
Hard. That would’ve taken some logistics are, did you give yourself a couple of months or did you just wake up Monday morning and go, oh my god, this is happening this week. I’ve gotta get this done in seven days and just hit it. How did you handle that?

Sheydin Dew (00:30:05):
Oh, I don’t know how I did it. The whole period was just so chaotic. But yeah, I mean obviously pack up Supernova, I stayed down at my friend’s house just so I didn’t have to commute every day, obviously being an hour away. And then I remember getting home on the Monday and obviously you write your thesis in stages and then you get it reviewed so that you don’t have to do the whole thing at the last minute, which was good. But I mean I still had a fair bit of a pretty big chunk of the sales comparison to do and I had to take that from Supernova, so it was do or die, I had to do it then kind of thing. So I even have a really funny recording of me submitting it because I submitted it a minute and 30 seconds late and I’ve got, I think it’s cold play fix you playing in the background when you try your best but you don’t <laugh>.

Leigh Chalker (00:31:06):
And

Sheydin Dew (00:31:07):
It’s like you’ve submitted it a minute and 30 seconds late. And I was like, oh crap, <laugh>. And it was midnight and I was just so exhausted by the entire week. Obviously the book launch, I mean it was a gallery exhibition in itself as well. So I actually

Leigh Chalker (00:31:23):
Was that a gallery? So that was all of your artwork and stuff or was it other people? It

Sheydin Dew (00:31:29):
Was so I didn’t even tell you. Yeah, so the book launch in itself was actually a pretty big event. Obviously I had a shift the day before and then after my shift I set up the gallery and it was an exhibition of all the original pages of No Men’s Land. And I set it up so that people would go around the room and they could read no Men’s Land and then by the time you get to the end, I’ve got a table set up with the actual comic that you can buy. And then my bosses are lovely enough to cater for the event. So they had alcohol and they had a shootery table presented and everything. That was really, I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it without them actually. Yeah. But yeah, I had a lot of friends and family turn up from far and wide, which was amazing. Yeah, right.

Leigh Chalker (00:32:18):
Packed house,

Sheydin Dew (00:32:20):
Sorry,

Leigh Chalker (00:32:21):
Packed house.

Sheydin Dew (00:32:22):
It was actually, I think we were probably at capacity considering it was a very small event space. So you can only allow, I had to tell my boss because they were asking how many people have be invited kind of thing. I’m like, oh well I’ve kind gone over cause I know that there’s gonna be people who pull out and a lot of people are very supportive of me and they all show <laugh>. I was like, oh crap. But

Leigh Chalker (00:32:46):
That must have filled you with some confidence though, having that turnout.

Sheydin Dew (00:32:51):
It really did actually. Yeah, that was really nice. It was actually a really cool night and I was lucky enough to have a friend who was doing videography at the time and he actually did a video for the night so I can remember it. So yeah, it was a really cool night. Really nice night.

Leigh Chalker (00:33:08):
Yeah. Well that would’ve given you a nice bit of momentum straight into your super over, you would’ve been feeling good and here it is. And how did that go? Did that have the highest as you your gallery exhibit?

Sheydin Dew (00:33:22):
Oh, it was different. It was much different to the actual night. I think the book launch night I think is something that I’m gonna remember for my entire life. That’s how special it was to me. But Supernova was special in a different way for me because I think that weekend was when I realized this is what I think I’m pretty good at and what I really enjoy doing. I mean, to sell your comic online is really great but it can have its challenges. But when you go to a market and you get to build a relationship with people who are gonna read your comic or hopefully read your comic, I think I enjoy that more. So I guess, I think this is why I really enjoy live streams through comics, the comics community. I think that’s really cool. But yeah, I think it was that weekend that I really enjoyed doing markets and it’s something that I still do to this day. I’ve actually got a comic on a market on tomorrow, so that just gives you context really. But yeah, no I actually dressed up as Gwen who was the main character of my comic. It was a bit of a marketing strategy strategy, obviously. Yeah, yeah.

(00:34:39):
People in super, no, they cosplay as their favorite character. And I had never cosplayed before <laugh> and I went to obviously

Leigh Chalker (00:34:49):
Neither have I <laugh>

Sheydin Dew (00:34:53):
Know what I was doing. I bought a very cheap wig. She’s got black short bob with two space buns. She’s obviously got the roller skates, which I had which I’ll get into a bit later cuz it was very against guidelines for Supernova. But anyway, you do what you have to <laugh> and she basically wears a school uniform. So I to went into pop shops all around the Adelaide Hills, trying to find the exact color skirt that I wanted and everything. And I pulled it all together and it was really, I think it was a really good strategy because a lot of people were like, oh my god, a, you’re in roller skates, how can you even do that? And B, who are you dressed as? And I was like, well see this <laugh> <laugh>, I think. Yeah. So it was really, and I didn’t stay behind the table as much. I kind of stood outside of it because I was in roller skate, so I was like, oh, this is fun kind of thing. And I kind of skated everywhere <laugh> until I was told off. But anyway <laugh>, you do what you have to <laugh> you

Leigh Chalker (00:35:54):
Fun police mate, come on, you can’t do that. It’s against health and safety. That’s it.

Sheydin Dew (00:36:01):
I don’t encourage anything like that. I don’t do that <laugh> but I did every time they came around the corner, people security or whatever, I would hide behind the table so they couldn’t see my feet. And then when they just did, I’d just repeat it with my skater <laugh>. Fair enough. So it was very naughty. I don’t do that anymore. But it was a good marketing kind of strategy for someone who a, had never had a comic before, never been to a convention before and never cosplayed before. So yeah, I think that was a good idea. So

Leigh Chalker (00:36:40):
<laugh>. Yeah, no, that sounds cool. Well you certainly had a baptism of fire mate from the sounds of it, you know what I mean? It’s like suddenly here’s my box of comic books, here’s my gallery opening with my comic book and the next day to hell with it, I’m going to Supernova for two days and then I’m dropping my thesises in like wow. Yeah, you would’ve definitely chilled out after that. You would’ve been like, oh,

Sheydin Dew (00:37:04):
Why

Leigh Chalker (00:37:04):
Did I that week’s over?

Sheydin Dew (00:37:07):
Yes. Yeah. I also remember earlier on in the week before the book launch, I felt really ill and I actually had to go to hospital cuz my mum thought that I might have had a appendicitis. Luckily it wasn’t. It was okay and it subsided a couple days later, but I remember being like, this can’t happen now. I have so much planned <laugh>. But I think it was because maybe I was pushing myself a little too hard and it was just the stress of everything that was going on. But yeah, I just remember that was not, now this can’t happen now. <laugh>.

Leigh Chalker (00:37:48):
Yeah, yeah mate. Stress will do funny things to you. And so God, even the quirkiest things that could possibly happen all seem to run back to stress levels and just peaking a bit too much. Yeah. That’s why you try and do your best to stay cool, at least <laugh>. It doesn’t hurt getting stressed, but you know, can’t help that sometimes.

Sheydin Dew (00:38:19):
How you say it is, I think I definitely learn a good, like saying was if you don’t take a break, your body will and it will probably be at a very inconvenient time, <laugh>. So I kinda learn that the hard way, but

Leigh Chalker (00:38:32):
Yeah. Yeah, I, I’ve done it. It too mate. Don’t worry about that. It lets you know, after a while it’s just like, it’s not working for me. Just a body shut board. Yes. Yeah. How many pages is your comic book? And you’ve still got it published in printing now?

Sheydin Dew (00:38:57):
It still

Leigh Chalker (00:38:57):
Going?

Sheydin Dew (00:38:59):
Yeah, so it’s hopefully going to be six volumes. Originally it was only going to be four but I changed that earlier this year when I decided to go full time into freelancing and I had a little bit more time while I I’m currently doing the third one. The first one was I think 24 pages from memory. The original one I think is like 22 pages. The remaster one, which I then did in 2019 after my uni career. 24 I think where I kind of changed a few things in the storyline. Volume two I think is around 50 or 60 pages from memory, which is this one here. So

Leigh Chalker (00:39:42):
A big jump up of pages. Big jump up of pages there. You got 24 is not enough. I’m going, I’m gonna go the half century <laugh>

Sheydin Dew (00:39:54):
It. Yeah, well I, like I said, the very first one due to the amount of time that I had it kind of just served as a prologue, which was all I needed really to really spark some interest in the story and the series. But number two is really where the action really starts throughout the series. I really wanna delve into each kind of team. For those who don’t know, there’s about six teams in this fiction world and they’re all fighting over a territory. So the way I like to pitch it to people in a nutshell is that it’s turf wars, but on roller skates. So number two is essentially where it all starts. I’m hoping once all the volumes are finished, I can then compile it into one big book. I think that would be a real fully fledged graphic novel. That would be awesome. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:40:49):
That is cool. So how many pages, you said six issues. So each of the oncoming issues gonna be issue or are you gonna follow the path to issue one to two and the six issue that comes out? It’ll be like the Lord of the Rings, <laugh>,

Sheydin Dew (00:41:06):
I mean, yeah, listen to these words. You’re probably famous last words. Yeah, I mean obviously nothing’s set in stone. I think a lot of things change even during the writing process or when I’m actually illustrating. Sometimes I’ll go up a little bit of my original script and be like, no, this would be better kind of thing. So it’s constantly changing. It’s extremely fluid process for me I think. But I would like to try and keep some consistency as I know that if I do get to the end of six volumes and they’re all kind of this size, it might be a little bit more manageable in instead of me kind of being volume four and me being like, I wanna get into the real nitty gritty stuff of this backstory and ending up being like this

Leigh Chalker (00:41:51):
Bitch. So yeah,

Sheydin Dew (00:41:52):
I think, yeah, I wanna hold a bit of balance to being consistent but also having a little bit of creative free reign. I think that’s how I work best.

Leigh Chalker (00:42:01):
Yeah, well world building with battle for bustle. I, I’m world building and I’m forever, oh I could do, this is a side story or I’d like to add this in, is this person’s backstory to give it more context. Then it’s like, man, I’ve got boxes of notes and stuff. But yeah, I could really

Sheydin Dew (00:42:24):
Do you tend to get overwhelm yourself sometimes, but you like

Leigh Chalker (00:42:28):
Oh absolutely you

Sheydin Dew (00:42:30):
Need it kinda thing.

Leigh Chalker (00:42:31):
<laugh>. Yeah, yeah. Really overwhelm myself sometimes. Sometimes it can cause me stress particularly when it’s all being put together cuz Tam and I write the script organically once the art’s done many years ago, I’ve done a script, but I storyboarded everything, so I’ve got hundreds, the whole comic book is done. And then when I first got published I was asked to add four pages to each of the issues. So I had to go back and rethink that and then that opened up. And now for some particular reason with issue five, I’ve decided to have an argument with myself that it should be 44 pages, I don’t know. And then I’ve sort of come back to the fact it’s gonna be 36 now. So <laugh>, I cemented on that. Yeah, and your mind wanders. I understand about the whole world building thing, man. Yeah. So

Sheydin Dew (00:43:40):
Would you say that you are fairly fluid in the creative process? Do you kind of write the script or maybe do all this planning and then when you’re actually doing the panels you’re like, oh actually maybe change this, change that during

Leigh Chalker (00:43:54):
It’s become more to do a lot of changing in the artwork now but yeah, Shane battle for bus has been a thing for me for over 20 years, mate. So there’s been lots of trying scripts and artwork to it and storyboarding and changing and just factors over time of just evolved into you know, just sit there and do a drawing one day and you think, oh yeah, that’s cool, I’ll work that in. And you just try and edit it in as best you can. And then that 20

Sheydin Dew (00:44:27):
Years, that is some dedication. I hope that I have the same kinda,

Leigh Chalker (00:44:31):
It’s probably stupidity and madness mate more than anything, but it’s like <laugh>

Sheydin Dew (00:44:36):
People know that though.

Leigh Chalker (00:44:39):
Oh yeah. No, but it’s, it’s had its ups and downs, but I just like drawing mate. So instead of drawing random things, I just decided that to focus on that and just enjoy the characters and stuff I’ve come up with. So fully invested now, there’s no way out. I’ve gotta finish the story now. So that’s why I understand where you are coming from with the whole, you’ve got your blocked story that you want to finish and you’re gonna try and get through it. I can definitely sympathize mate. It’s a journey. Don’t worry about that.

Sheydin Dew (00:45:15):
<laugh>. Yeah, I think that’s actually, but are you still there?

Leigh Chalker (00:45:22):
Yeah, I’m in. Yep. I just missed that out

Sheydin Dew (00:45:24):
For a little bit. It’s all good. My fourth goal I think is going to be the end of no Man’s land I think. So the third goal was finish my degree and my fourth goal I think I’ve now made is that I get to the end of this series and I make a compilation of all six volumes. But no, I think that’s super inspiring that you’ve dedicated yourself over 20 years to that series. I think that’s really cool man.

Leigh Chalker (00:45:53):
Yeah, people that know me might <laugh> disagree with you there. I think they think I’m mad, but yeah. Oh man, you just do what you gotta do. If you believe in a story enough, I guess you just sort of plug away at it. But it is what it is, man. But now are you still there or have you

Sheydin Dew (00:46:14):
Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (00:46:15):
Yeah, you’re here. That’s alright. As long as you’re here. Yes I am. Keep talking.

Sheydin Dew (00:46:20):
Cut out through your story <laugh>.

Leigh Chalker (00:46:23):
Don’t worry about it man. It’s all good. People can hear my laings every Tuesday night, mate, but they’re here to hear yours. So are the most important

Sheydin Dew (00:46:36):
<laugh> I am very interested though, with 20 years experience, do you have some advice as someone like me doing comics? Best piece of advice that you

Leigh Chalker (00:46:54):
Get it out a little get, if you’ve got a story and you believe in it, do it as quick in the best timeframe you can. Don’t drag it out or it’ll time will pass you by quicker than you think. So that’s what I would probably say to people. If you’re motivated and you can do it, do it. Because as you get older, responsibilities become more people, have families and jobs and in-laws, all these things and friends and stuff. So the top, while you’ve got the time, if you’re dedicated to it, have a go at it or yeah, time just passes you by. So that’s the advice that I’d give to anyone mate. Cuz if you got a story to tell it. So don’t waste time and get into it. Nice now with that’s for sure. Yeah. Well with your freelancing how’s that going? Cause you’re a pretty unique artist. I’d say that I do your art style. I’ve been on the Friday night drinking drawers with you and seen stuff on Instagram and things. Thank you. So what would you say is your primary interest you? Who were you motivated by to gets you into that sort of style?

Sheydin Dew (00:48:10):
First person that pops into mind is Lois Van Barley. She’s from the Netherlands but she goes by lo online <affirmative>. She had kind of a similar education to me where she did majority of animation and character design for film and games. I think her trademark is her understanding of light I and color as well. So I think that’s probably maybe where I’ve got my inspiration for color schemes from. But I’ve been following her since I started my digital art journey back in 2013, where my design teacher actually gave me this big book of all the digital artists of the time from around the world. And Lois really stood out to me. I think she’s got a really soft kind of style very stylized, but in her illustrations they’re super curved and really soft, but she plays around with shape even more so than she does with light and color.

(00:49:21):
So yeah, she was a huge inspiration for me, I think. But maybe if you were talking back when I started scribbling on walls and furniture and anything I can get my hands on I used to be super inspired by Shirley Barber who used to write a lot of children’s bedtime stories, so faires and things like that. And I remember doing what I now know is studies of her work. So I would open a book and I’d like, I like that picture, I really like it. And I’d sit down as a five, six year old while I had the CD Rom playing and it was reading the story at the time, <laugh>, I would be drawing her or as best as I could, her images and stuff like that. And I actually think I gained a little bit of a knowledge about anatomy even at that age, as basic as it was. I mean, I understood how to draw someone in a profile, so the nose and everything, not just drawing a circle and then attaching a little triangle to illustrate nose. It was all one fluid line kind of thing. So yeah, I think they’re the two main inspirations for me. I mean obviously I’ve got many more but they’re the two biggest ones I’d say. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (00:50:41):
So you reckon that they’re the two for you? Yeah, I

Sheydin Dew (00:50:45):
Think so. Yeah. Yeah. Ones for me. But yeah, I think,

Leigh Chalker (00:50:51):
Well you gotta mate it. It’s weird. It’s, it all comes from somewhere. It’s all relative to what a lot of my favorite influences granddad when I was a kid, forever be the first thing that sparked. That’s really cool. I’d like to do that. Yeah. Next question. Now the Adelaide community seems to be a bit of a thriving hub of creators down that way, mate, how would you describe it in that area?

Sheydin Dew (00:51:20):
It was a hidden gym.

Leigh Chalker (00:51:22):
Then the week previous to this, we’ve had another Adelaide creator Nick Cleary, is on the show. And I’m interested so far away cuz south at the

Sheydin Dew (00:51:36):
Moment. Yeah, well I had no idea up until 2018 when I started delving into the community a real hidden gem I think. And it kind of just started growing more and more and more. Or I became aware to more and more, I guess the first person that pops into my mind who is a real big superstar, I think in the community as much as she would deny it, she’s very modest is Georgina Chatterton. She also goes by George Re store, which is actually her name in roller derby. She does so much for the community. She was one of the first people that I touched base with. She actually came and saw me at Supernova and she gave me a free comic which was even more astounding to me because she was, someone really acted in the community, the comic community. And she was also in roller derby and I was just match made in heaven kind of thing. Yeah, <laugh>.

(00:52:33):
And she even to this day is a huge inspiration to me. And she’s someone who really helped guide me in my journey. She and her partner, Olin they not only do their own comics, they’ve hosted a lot of different communities. So comics with friends and strangers was a monthly get together for anyone. It was free. And I learned a lot there that we did monthly activities around comics and I got to network with a lot of people in the community and it just seemed to grow and grow and grow, which was really amazing under the same kind of brand, I guess. They then went on to organize in 2019 their first it was a festival over a week. They did galleries, they did talks they did workshops, and they also hosted a market free to everyone really, which was amazing. So that even kind of broadened more people or invited more people into the community to maybe not only just buy the comics, but also sell their own creations. So 2019 was pretty big. I kind of met more and more people in the community and it just kind of grew from there. But I think it’s growing more and more, but it’s really welcoming someone who had no idea about Western comics, maybe more about manga and Japanese culture. And I kind of dipped my toe into the western culture of comics and it was really welcoming, really, really welcoming.

Leigh Chalker (00:54:19):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s cool. So you, it’s still humming along there, hey and yeah, getting bigger by the day sort of stuff. Yes,

Sheydin Dew (00:54:29):
Definitely. Yes. Every market that I go to now, I know more and more people and it’s kind of like catching up with old friends more. And I think I, I haven’t gone into state and sold comics yet, hopefully one day, maybe goal number five. But I think Adelaide’s pretty unique in that aspect because Adelaide is so small. I mean the saying is Adelaide, everyone knows everyone really, which is kind of true, especially in the comic community <laugh>. But yeah, I think it’s more of a family. It’s a really nice little family and very welcoming to everyone.

Leigh Chalker (00:55:06):
Oh no, that’s great man. I love hearing positive stories about that. Anyone that’s watched the show knows I’m in very far north Queensland, so without these live streams, I guess people, I wouldn’t really have much of a community of people to talk to and learn things from either mate. So I think it’s great. And anyone that’s in South Australia or the Adelaide area, reach out to the guys out there and if you wanna make comic books or learn a little bit and find out, because there’s plenty of opportunities out there. And from the sounds of shaden here, the Adelaide community certainly sounds very welcoming and the more the merrier. So yes, I agree. Yeah, yeah, no that’s good. And that goes for every city. If there’s a little comic book community out there, just chuck your hat, go and say Goodday. You never know what happens with no man’s land Three, when are you thinking about that? Are you working on it or you are, right? So what are your plans with that? When are you thinking of the big release?

Sheydin Dew (00:56:21):
Well originally before I moved early this month I was hoping to have it out by Christmas, which had been a very good little strategy maybe. But yeah, hopefully ends of the year, maybe towards beginning of next year. Depends on how I go with everything. I have been telling a lot of people that number three for some reason has been the hardest to write. I have written it, scrapped it, rewritten it, scrapped it kind of thing. But I’m pretty sold on a storyline now. But yeah, I think there’s a lot to expect with number three. It kind of delves into, for those who have read it it delves into the backstory of the queens who are the eldest team in the town. So it really kind of goes into the whole backstory of why street skating was even invented or how it was invented. So it kind of takes place three years prior to the first story. So yeah, just something to look out for. <laugh>,

Leigh Chalker (00:57:25):
An exclusive almost mate, letting us know later this year early, like 2023, no man’s land really be available for people to read and stuff. No, that’s good.

Sheydin Dew (00:57:37):
I think 2023 for no Man’s Land three has a very good ring to it actually. But I mean hopefully I get it out sooner. That would be even better. But yeah, no, I think because it’s so challenging to write, I really hope that it’s going to be quite rewarding in the end. So fingers crossed.

Leigh Chalker (00:57:55):
Well, I guess with your challenges that you’ve spoken about, getting that box of finished comics when you open them will hopefully take you back to the excitement of the first one and the second one that you got. So on your journey, here’s one for you on your journey was one of the things you look back on the opening of your first box of printed published comic books, was that high on the list? Was that a wow, I really did this?

Sheydin Dew (00:58:29):
I think it was also sending the order was a big thing for me because obviously I triple checked the documents that I was sending, the files that I was sending, I was opening them double checking that they were the right files. I was sending guys thing. I think when I sent the email for the audit, that was a big thing because I essentially put the ball in their court and I had nothing else to do and I hate the waiting period, I hate it. So that was a big thing. But yes, opening that box, I’ve still got a video of me opening the box. I think I was at work when my mom messaged me and she said, oh you’ve got a box here on the veranda because I mean we’ve got a post box cuz we are rural. And she’s like, yeah, this guy just dropped off a box at the front door. What’s that about? And I was like, oh my god, that’s my comics. Please put them inside so they don’t get rained on. Yeah, yeah, that was a big moment. Yeah. And then I’ve got a video of me opening the box and taking the first one. This one was the actual first one out of the box.

Leigh Chalker (00:59:31):
Yeah, right. Ah, yep, yep, yep. No, it’s oddly enough, I’ve done the same too, mate. The first one outta the box of each issue is put aside. No one gets that. That’s my little things. I stick them in frames and stick them up on a shelf, mate. So I haven’t even read

Sheydin Dew (00:59:49):
Them. Yeah, I wanna know in the comment how many other people, any other creators who do that. So that’s my

Leigh Chalker (00:59:55):
Question. I don’t know. That’d be an interesting thing cuz I haven’t heard of anyone else doing it along the way other than you mate. So

Sheydin Dew (01:00:03):
No, there you go. Hopefully, but maybe there’s more people out there that do it and yeah, it’s just interesting.

Leigh Chalker (01:00:10):
No one was getting my first copy, I’d tell you that’s what, and I were like, no, we’re keeping the first copy. Yeah, you gotta keep that. You know what I mean? It’s like everyone else out, there’s got number twos and on goods mate, but the very one of all the ones I get my hands on outta the box are just there. But yeah, pretty exciting period man. But that anticipation sucks, mate. Like I hate the waiting. It’s like, cuz you never know what’s gonna happen. Lloyd, nearly my dog was going to pee on my box of clothes. I just got to the gate to stop him for it. So timing is everything. <laugh>.

(01:00:56):
Oh mate. Yeah. Cheeky bugger. But it is what it is. So I think we’ve covered the why you got, but I’m gonna ask you anyway again bugger it cuz we know how you got here and all that. And we know the why you’ve done it. We know the why as to this is a story that you want to tell me. Your comic books have got you, they’ve got the hook in you, so you enjoy the markets and everything. No stopping you, you’re gonna do whatever you can. Hell or high water to finish this story as best as you can, mate. So I guess brings us to another, why is it that you do it to yourself and put yourself through the creation process?

Sheydin Dew (01:01:50):
Well, I mean, as cliche as it probably sounds, it’s probably the purpose that I think it’s my purpose. I think I just really wanna leave something behind. I think it kind of correlates back to me leaving a mural behind at my university. But yeah, I just wanna leave something behind I guess. So yeah, I, that’s really it I think. And I guess being inspired by so many other books. I think by the end, a lot of the time when I finish a book, be it a novel or a comic book or maybe even a TV series or whatever, I’m always more astounded by the message that it gives, depending on the story than I am like, oh man, I’m gonna miss the characters and blah, blah, blah. The doom that you get when you finish a series and you’re like, no, no, what kind of thing? I’m more focused on the messages that are given throughout the stories. So I think that’s a huge focus for me. Leaving something behind, but something memorable I think is more important. So

Leigh Chalker (01:02:54):
Yeah. That’s cool. That’s an awesome answer. Good on you, man. You got a drive, a drive to purpose makes people

Sheydin Dew (01:03:04):
Happy.

Leigh Chalker (01:03:05):
<laugh>. Yeah, it’s happy doing it, mate. So that’s the main thing. That’s what particularly me and the comics community and all that, it’s about his happiness and in creation and comic books and stuff meant it’s my favorite medium. I love film and all that, and books and novels. I’ve got hundreds of them, but comics to me has always been my favorite. Medium. Perfect images, good story, compelling characters. You’ve done well and you want more. So

Sheydin Dew (01:03:37):
I think I really enjoy learning, which is another reason, maybe I’m thinking of going back to uni maybe sometime in the future but I’ve always really enjoyed learning. So I think if you can learn something from a story, from a message, I think that’s even more kind of empowering to me, I guess. So yeah, I’d say that as well.

Leigh Chalker (01:03:56):
Yeah, that’s cool. I’m gonna jump back quickly now. You mentioned before, and I forgot to follow up on this point now, manga, what’s you dabbled in that? What’s your quick favorites there mean, because it’s like

Sheydin Dew (01:04:11):
Quick favorites would be my ultimate favorite manga that I’ve read is called Orange. It is a sci-fi romance slice of life. It is about high school students who write a letter to their 15, 16 year old selves and try and save one of their friends. So it’s got some really deep and meaningful topics that it touches on, obviously in a Japanese culture which I think is super important. But yeah, I think the artwork in it is amazing. It’s got some posters in the actual, I’ve got volume one and volume two, which are super thick, and they’ve got some posters in there that actually dabble in watercolor, which I think is really cool to cross over the manga style with traditional watercolor. So

Leigh Chalker (01:04:57):
Yeah. Yeah, that is cool. Cause I just recently read Berserk, which <laugh> was, yeah, that I hadn’t read a Munger in a long time. Last one was Blade of the Immortal, which

Sheydin Dew (01:05:14):
Oh, did you have to wrap your head around reading it back to front again? <laugh> yes. Kinda second

Leigh Chalker (01:05:21):
New pages. As I was thinking about the story, I’d find myself drifting back into the habit of reading the other page and then having to, oh no, back you go. But it was, once you get that rhythm, you’re off and running, so it’s alright. Yeah I love that stuff too. Artwork’s fantastic.

Sheydin Dew (01:05:43):
Yes. Yeah.

Leigh Chalker (01:05:44):
Western Comic Book one you’re reading at the moment?

Sheydin Dew (01:05:50):
What I’m reading at the moment is actually, well I’m yet to read it. I’m currently reading another one. I’m terrible. I can only read one book at a time. But it is the Daughters of, yes, my Friends actually meant this to me. I think it’s around mermaids and mythological creatures from the sea and the artwork in it is just absolutely beautiful. I’ll show you just the middle pages and whatnot, but it’s got color and it’s pencil and it’s just really textured kind of illustrations. So I’m really excited to dive into that. But some comics that I have read, who that have inspired, no Man’s Land consist of Slam, which is a roller skating comic, probably one of the only roller skating comics I could get my hands on as well as, what else have I read? Paper Girls, obviously that was a huge inspiration with color. I really like to pull some of the color schemes from that book as well, which was really enjoyable. Enjoyable. And also watching it on TV now is really interesting to see the adapt adaptation there. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:06:59):
That’s cool. Sounds like you’ve got a wide arrangement, so good. Here’s a weird one. Do you, other forms of artwork, do you obviously spray painting and stuff? Do you Renaissance period painting, do you sculpture, that sort of a stuff? Is there anything outside of what we’ve spoken about this evening?

Sheydin Dew (01:07:21):
So I try to be as diverse as possible. I think a lot of artists try to be as consistent as possible in a style. I am not, and I think that’s probably my trademark. I like to experiment with different mediums and different styles and whatnot. Outside of digital arts and traditional art, I would say probably screen printing I’m getting into lately. So I’ve been screen printing my own designs on t-shirts, jackets tote bags and whatnot. So I’m slowly delving into that. I’m definitely a big appreciator of sculpture. Some of the old people who did the sculptures of David and stuff like that, the anatomy of that and what time periods they came from I think are astounding. Yeah, it’s

Leigh Chalker (01:08:10):
Crazy to think that was just a bloke there with a big block of marble and a chisel mate <laugh> that had an idea and just went at it.

Sheydin Dew (01:08:20):
Just went at it. And some of the sculptures, I can’t know the names of them unfortunately, but some of them that are wearing the veils to make a sculpture look, see-through is just astounding. Especially in that time period. It’s one thing to draw a body, but to actually render it in a 3D space I think is just even more astounding. That’s crazy. But yeah, no, I think for me at the moment is screen printing and lineo printing as well. So something that I never really touched base on in uni, but something that I’m becoming more and more passionate about outside of university.

Leigh Chalker (01:08:58):
Yeah, no, that’s cool. With your markets, do you just go to, for example, I’m just asking this purely because maybe someone out there has thought about it and you’ve obviously said some encouraging things about markets. So what sort of markets, are they just come orientated or are they your Sunday markets in the park? What are these markets that you go to?

Sheydin Dew (01:09:23):
I go to a few different ones. Like I said, I, I’m quite interested in marketing and branding as for a business and whatnot, I’m really quite interested in that. So the markets that I do, I choose for reasons <affirmative>. So for instance, tomorrow I’ll be attending the anime Go Festival here in Adelaide. A lot of my artwork is probably inspired by Japanese culture and Korean culture. So that’s one reason why I’ll be going there is to market my artwork towards that audience. <affirmative>. I also go to roller Adobe Bouts here in Adelaide. Obviously no Man’s land is based around roller skating. It’s a different kind of roller skating thing, but I mean nonetheless it’s wheels on your feet. So that’s another reason why I go there. And then obviously, yeah, you’ve got your comic and Toy Fairs paper Cuts Festival was an indie, exclusively indie comic creators, so that was a really, really good one.

(01:10:29):
It was probably my best one that I’ve ever been to back in 2019. And then obviously you’ve got your pop culture convention such as Supernova which do have artist allies and the indie press zones and stuff like that. So I do try to pick and choose where I go just try and have the best experience possible and try and get as many people to have a look at No man’s land. I think so, yeah. But I mean, I’m definitely not definitely open to experiencing more maybe general markets like Sunday markets and stuff like that. So maybe in the future. Yeah. Oh,

Leigh Chalker (01:11:04):
Well the reason I ask is cuz just from up in North Queensland when <laugh>, that sounds funny, but when people, this is the slightly backward, I guess, part of Townsville is when someone says markets, you know, automatically your mind wanders to a shopping center car park where people have chucked up their gazebos and stuff. <laugh> and it’s, you’re selling artwork and I like you sell an artwork. It’s someone selling squash and eggplant next to you for a dollar a bag. So <laugh>, why I just thought I’d ask. So

Sheydin Dew (01:11:40):
I have always wondered how I might go at markets like that. <laugh> markets. I mean, I live in a very rural town, so you wonder, but maybe, I don’t know, maybe one day I, I’ll try it out. See how, well,

Leigh Chalker (01:11:51):
The weird part is our comic shop that’s up here called the Comic Book Factory. There’s a shout out to ’em. They actually started, believe it or not, at our markets in a car park under the gazebos and stuff. And they would sell back issues of comic books and used to have spinner racks in news agents around Townsville and so comics. And lo and behold, this went on for about two years and these dudes work at a Caltech survey. Chef cooks work from midnight, they go from midnight to eight and then they started the comic book shop and this thing went from a little tiny, I guess bedroom size shop and now has expanded into massive shop over in one of our big shopping centers. So there you go. There’s a successful story of someone starting off comic books outta market. But I used to laugh, man, cuz they used to sell these real cheap knockoffs of Star Wars figurines and stuff, but they weren’t called Star Wars. They were called like, oh I can’t remember, star Mars or something. And you’d have the replica of a Luke Skywalk, but his name was something else and he looked not, he might have had a third as opposed to it was just funny man, but a

Sheydin Dew (01:13:23):
Bit boot leg. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:13:25):
<laugh>. Yeah. But dudes man. So success comes from different places, I guess.

Sheydin Dew (01:13:29):
And I think they are the best stories ever. Things that have come from almost nothing, I think are even more interesting stories

Leigh Chalker (01:13:40):
From big little things, big things grow, mate. That’s the old saying there. So it’s it sometimes you just gotta have a crack at it. Hey, it’s no right or wrong and these things mate, as long as you don’t give up too soon. And I guess just keep drive, keep the drive going mate. When you I guess lose that, that’s when you start falling into trouble. But yeah, success stories everywhere. And again, different people have different levels of success. Some people just want to get a comic book published and other people want world domination. There’s no right or wrong in that. What I reckon good luck to everyone, be happy, do whatever you wanna do. Just keep creating. So it’s all starts from within.

Sheydin Dew (01:14:25):
I agree. So

Leigh Chalker (01:14:26):
What last question I always like to ask everyone mate, is for the people, creators sitting in rural towns like the tropics, anywhere in the world that may catch this show and us having a yarn, what’s the one piece of advice, <laugh>, that you would give to someone that has never published a comic book but that wants to, or what are your thoughts, mate? What’s your advice?

Sheydin Dew (01:14:58):
Just make a start and do it and then stay consistent at it. I think for me, always has been, making a start is the hardest thing, but as soon as you do it, I mean you just get the ball rolling and then it’s kind of addictive really. So I think just make a start and I, I’d like to think that the things that you regret aren’t actually the things you’ve done, it’s the things you haven’t done. So I mean, I don’t wanna get to an older old age on my deathbed and think, oh man, I really wish I did that. So I think yeah, do it. Just do it. <laugh>, as Nike says,

Leigh Chalker (01:15:39):
<laugh> sounds like bloody good advice mate. So good on you. Thank you. Well Shane, thank you for coming onto the show mate and a pleasure to have you on Chinwag. So before we go, there’s just a few things that I always like to run through. Where can we find your work and no man’s land mate, where do people reach out to you?

Sheydin Dew (01:15:59):
You can find no man’s land on my website. It is shade art.com, which is the name Delo. I’m also on many different social media platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Patreon, YouTube all underneath the same names as well. So you can find all my artwork and yeah, no MAs in there.

Leigh Chalker (01:16:23):
Now do you sell some of your traditional artwork on those websites and that as well if anyone’s out there wants some piece of shade and artwork, it’s available.

Sheydin Dew (01:16:34):
Yes it is. So you can buy not only no men’s land on my online website you can also buy artwork apparel. There’s stationary stickers if you’re into that as well. I’ve also got a quiz that you can take if you have red, no Men’s Land, you’ll know there’s six different teams and you can take a quiz to know which team you would be in. So other than that there’s galleries as well as my design portfolio that you can find there. Yeah, pretty much everything under the sun that I’ve done. <laugh>.

Leigh Chalker (01:17:04):
Awesome mate, it sounds like you’ve been super productive and certainly with you. Well, with everything it’s it’s awesome. So alright everyone, now don’t forget to and subscribe. It’s important to help out the algorithms and the more members we get, the better it is for everyone cuz it’s nice to be around other artists and just people that are interested in comic books and things. So like and subscribe. Next week’s show is episode 16, if you can believe that time flies. So I’ve got a great contributor to the comics community and cartoons and comics in general. Mr. Peter Wilson will be on the show with me next week. So tune into that and have a yarned. Pete now always go to the comic shop who basically sponsors this show. And on the network there’s heaps and heaps of Australian creators, artists of all formats on there. So go out and buy a comic book, support Australian creatives and help him out a little bit. So yeah me little mate, Lloyd, here we go. He’s gonna poke his head in. So Lloyd and I and Shaden are gonna say goodbye for the evening. So create more comics, keep on rocking in the free world and community is unity. Thank you and see you next week.

Sheydin Dew (01:18:30):
Thanks Lee.

Leigh Chalker (01:18:32):
No worries mate.

Voice Over (01:18:34):
This show is sponsored by the come shop. Check out come.cx for all things Comex, and find out what come X is all about. We hope you enjoyed.