Today on the podcast we have the one and only Roy Miles, a true Swiss Army Knife of an artist with a seemingly never-ending set of skills. For those in the back who have not heard of Roy, he is a puppeteer, musician, filmmaker, designer, and the list goes on.
Roy, AKA the Ghetto Gepetto, is the creator of the Biddies toys as well as the YouTube channel Hoodfoot, a central hub where his multitude of talents come together in one place through the medium of film. Roy joins us on the show today to shoot the breeze with Sourdough, touching on work, family, the pandemic, cryptocurrency, and everything in between.
“That’s why I spend so much of my time trying to learn the skills that I learned so that no matter what I am doing I am using those skills. I’ll work on your commercial because those are the exact same tools I am using to work on my stuff. I love that. That’s how I eat. It’s a rare and wonderful thing.” — Roy Miles [0:57:36]
We hear about the attitude of constant learning Roy applies to his work and how he is constantly trying to expand the items in his toolkit. He talks about his filmmaking process, sketching out his method for assembling ideas into multimedia sketches combining stop motion, cartoons, performance, music, and more.
Roy shares his ideas about NFTs, the plight of the artist, and what it means to be a good father, husband, and all-around human. We also get into the different artists he has worked with and how he likes to involve a crew of trusted friends in the many projects he works on. Tune in and join in with us as Roy blesses us with his intelligence and creativity.
Key Points From This Roy Miles Episode:
- Roy’s recent health scares and how he is changing his lifestyle as a result.
- What life as a dad is like for Roy and how he spent Father’s Day.
- Projects going down in Roy’s studio and his approach to building his YouTube channel.
- The constant learning Roy is always applying and how it has expanded his toolkit.
- Roy's approach to making content for social media shorts.
- The magic that happened in Ray Harryhausen’s garage and how he has influenced Roy.
- The nuts and bolts of making stop motions out of a garage and how much is possible.
- Roy’s thoughts on NFTs and the ethics around this apparent revolution.
- The double-edged sword of being an independent artist; jobs offering little pay.
- Lessons learned about the importance of family through the pandemic.
- How COVID thwarted Roy’s plans and the new creative process he developed as he pivoted.
- The collaborative approach Roy uses and how he likes to draw on his contemporaries’ skills.
- Roy’s love for and involvement in music and how it factors into the work he does.
- Discussing a possible Hoodfoot podcast and a few NRA shows hosted by Roy.
- The story of how Roy married his high school sweetheart and the contours of their relationship.
- A bunch of stories about Roy and Sourdough’s experiences in liquor stores.
- Roy’s method of jotting ideas down and how software aids the creative process.
- Being helpful and why Roy’s life philosophy revolves around being nice.
“I have spent the last two decades or more just trying to tell better stories and get better tools and do what I can to learn more things.” — Roy Miles [0:16:52]
“It doesn’t take a giant studio to make hella cool shit.” — Roy Miles [0:20:50]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
- Roy Miles on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/ghettogeppetto/
- Hoodland — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMnq1oDPMbyT0-_SmwnDQug
- Ray Harryhausen — http://cinemajam.com/mag/features/ray-harryhausen
- Not Real Art Grant — https://notrealart.com/grant/
- Man One — http://www.manone.com/
- Man One on Twitter — https://twitter.com/ManOneArt
- Scott “Sourdough” Power — https://www.instagram.com/sourdoughpower/
- Not Real Art Conference — https://www.notrealartconference.com/
- Not Real Art on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/notrealartworld/
“I like having a council of homeys that depending on what their skill is and what they do, I send work out to those cats all the time.” — Roy Miles [0:51:08]