Hope and the art of depression
A webcomic by Dave Van Etten. To support his work or just see more, visit patreon.com/vanettda or visit his Instagram site.
A webcomic by Dave Van Etten. To support his work or just see more, visit patreon.com/vanettda or visit his Instagram site.
A webcomic by Dave Van Etten. To support his work or just see more, visit patreon.com/vanettda or visit his Instagram site.
Dave Van Etten, an illustrator and a former graphic design instructor at North Idaho College, is working on his latest comic that deals with depression. He wants to promote open conversations about depression and its stigmas through his art and thereby help people find acceptance. He has had to face depression all his life. (Photos by ANDREAS BRAUNLICH for Coeur Voice)
Van Etten had back surgery to remove sections from seven of the vertebrae in his neck, to allow his spine to decompress. Prior to the procedure, he was wheelchair bound. “It is profound to have my drawing (ability) taken away and then given back,” said Van Etten. His surgery forced him to reexamine his life and simplify many aspects of it. He jokes that his motto is, “sometimes it helps to wear a silly hat.” However, today that means wearing bear paw slippers. (ANDREAS BRAUNLICH)
Dave Van Etten uses an iPad Pro, an Apple stylus and an app from Australia called Procreate to create his drawings and comics. He starts with rough sketches and methodically reworks each detail until he arrives at the finished piece. (ANDREAS BRAUNLICH)
Despite some setbacks, Dave Van Etten comes across as a content, gabby and likable guy.
He’s got art on his side.
For a man who’s mostly stuck in one spot, art is his great companion. And he shares beyond boundaries.
Once an instructor of illustration and artistic design at North Idaho College, a spinal injury slowly began to erode his stature, but not his character. It began in 2015 when the debilitating spinal condition was diagnosed.
His career faltered with his health. And so did his mental perspective. He fell into depression. But he found hope in art.
“At the end, it kinda took my ability to draw and even stand without an immense amount of pain. I couldn’t even sign my own name,” Van Etten says, matter-of-factly.
Doctors offered a grim prognosis.
The good news is that successful surgery was performed on Van Etten’s spine. It slowly decompressed the injury and he gradually regained his ability to walk.
And draw.
“I’m about 80 to 90 percent homebound,” says Van Etten, with a slight sound of melancholy, but a big impression of hope.
And hope is what he offers these days. In big doses. Even from bed.
“I spend my days now doing artwork,” Van Etten says. “I’m creative. That is part of dealing with depression.”
Van Etten, 56, Hayden, epitomizes a connection that seems implausible. A link that can give millions of Americans hope. Those demons of depression, he says, can actually have an upside. Even when you’re flat on your back.
“Creativity and crazy are linked together like fire and fuel,” he says. “The trick is to keep the fire burning … but not let it explode. It’s burning, but don’t let it explode.”
His website sums it up in a simple headline: “Happiness and the Art of Depression.”
“It’s kind of a webcomic, kind of a portfolio, kind of a repository of thought built upon the therapy of drawing,” he says, adding, “Isn’t a comic about depression kind of... depressing? Depression isn’t fun. In fact, sometimes it’s crippling.”
Openly honest, Van Etten realizes most creative people don’t share his diagnosis of depression.
“But it’s not uncommon for the two things to go together. What you can’t do is to let it be an excuse to not do things. I continue to do what I do,” he says.
Artistic flair and injury aside, Van Etten says simply he wants to give hope. To work a side mission of doing what he can to reduce the stigma of depression.
“Helping others...that’s a big deal,” he says. “I want to make it real for the other people who feel like I do most days—when you don’t want to get up. When you don’t want to go on. What I want from my work is to help others work through depression. To give them hope every day.”
That’s why he creates daily doodles. To relieve his own pressures of anxiety and depression. And along the way help others alleviate their own scary downward spiral.
Van Etten hopes people will support his cause by becoming an online patron of his work. But he’s realistic.
“Let’s face it. I’m going to draw and paint regardless. It’s not like if you don’t contribute to the effort I’m going to stop,” he says.
Visit patreon.com/vanettda or visit his Instagram site.