Meet Count Debra | Multidisciplinary Artist, Creative, & Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Count Debra and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Count, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risks and risk taking play an essentially vital role in my creative endeavors, business, and overall flow of life! I have grown to love the factor of risk in my life. In a sense it’s brought me a sense of security; where through persistence and a chess like rhythm in life I’ve been able to build a system and streak of successes that are built on moves that might not work but with an undying fire most likely will. Being gravely aware of the risks I take and how close I truly am to where I began as a wee lad I’m able to wholly take on the anxieties begotten by a life where finances and activities of all ventures are born and executed completely independent of any corporate body or backing. Plainly said I feel knowing the value in my journey has been the tempering of my character, creativity, and soul; even if I were to regress to square one I’m empowered by the thought that I could conquer any obstacle twice that I have once. At the same time the risk factor allows my ambition and idealism to gleam it still definitely grounds me in self discipline and reasonability!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I guess I can take this time to officially introduce myself. I’m Debra! My friends call me Debbie, Avatar Debra, The Count, and most recently Debbie Dan Marino. Describing what I do is always such a strange task for me lolo! I spend most of my time, I’d like to say brainstorming, but really daydreaming and in turn doing my best to express what’s so abstracted into concepts and emotions from my heart into something defined as art (HOPEFULLY LMFAO) able to be strung all together by myself and experienced and picked apart by others. This most often manifests into paintings and drawings which is my most experienced means of expression and creation, having been drawing as long as I can remember and have been taking painting seriously since I was 15. The next easiest to explain is my ventures with music. Most of my lifelong friends also share a passion for and work with music in some form or fashion and this was the easiest gateway for me to break out of my shell and immerse myself into another form of creation I fell in love with over 5 years ago. I’ve been a fan of music my whole life and it’s probably the first example of art I experienced at a young age that compelled me and made me feel something so deep and untouchable I still can’t put a name to it. This feeling recognized first in music soon made me realize as a child that I wanted to create things that would invoke this same feeling in others as well as able to do so within myself. And it may be worth noting now that my purest definition of success is succeeding in creating works so potent to invoke that same feeling within myself as when experiencing creations of others…so I don’t know if I personally consider myself a success quite yet! Though my physical approach to their creation processes share many similarities in all of their variations, my relationship with my own music and visual arts are both very different. There are some things I feel I can most accurately express in one or the other. With painting and drawing I feel an intense sense of duty, an extreme aversion to selfishness in my creations and a need for anything I take on the often several month journey through completion to feel much bigger than me. However, in music I create much much more freely and with a lighter load of responsibility on my mind though just as heavy in my heart. Outside of being sonically pleasing it is only important that my music represent some form of the truth to me. That all starts and ends with me and anything grander spoken on is only a byproduct of who I am and what I’ve lived and thought through, whereas the same concept would be very purposeful in my visual art. Really and truly I’m a professional juggler. Painting/drawing and making music are really just two of the most plainly explained skills I practice, ironically enough as I’ve already gone on and on about both lmfao! Which I’m really grateful for the opportunity to even be doing right now! I have a voice and hand in several creative projects mostly all birthed and executed by long time friends who have found themselves imbedded in creative journeys somewhere along their growth. This includes the creation of a manga still in progress, the development of brands specializing in artist/musician outreach and services, aiding in the creation and launching of marketing campaigns, and an immense amount of connecting and introducing folks who will likely be able to operate in symbiosis and much much more! NOTHING along this journey has been easy! As I have always known what I wanted to do I found myself in extreme contemplation and doubt during my later high school years that my passion might not be my calling. This troubled me deeply as I never have been extremely decisive so being faced with this uncertainty towards one of the only things I have ever been truly certain of shook me at my core! Overcoming these inner obstacles definitely took being met with extreme obstacles outside of my head to strengthen and reinforce my mental fortitude. Dealing with troubles at home, having a family dynamic crumble in front of your face, sleeping on a friend’s couch for months with no utilities and literal hunger drove me to either snap or stand firm and honestly I don’t know that I chose one or the other, sometimes it feels like they couldn’t happen independently of each other. I also have to show extreme gratitude for the community of peers and creatives I’ve found myself nuzzled into. Having been on this journey for myself for well over a decade it was extremely surprising and invigorating to find those that I’ve had personal relationships with for at least half as long to find themselves gravitating toward the same field I’ve been imbedded in. Looking up from my struggles and realizing I have a number of professional peers and genuine friends that not only believe in and support me but also look to me to be a pillar of genuine human spirit as well as a force in our artistic community did wonders to clear the fog from my inner lens so to speak. I realized that this was a part of the reason I’ve been steadfast in my mission and that holding the position I do in my creative community and loved ones is definitely a checkpoint on the way to my personal declaration of success. I do not wish to be revered only to act as a fire that pushes and inspires those around me to test and surpass the limits of their own strengths, whether that be expressed creatively in any other fashion, I want the world to learn and know a lot about my art about the brands and projects I’m developing, though; I don’t think there is any more pertinent expression of my will that I wish to be widely felt than this. I wish to act as an infectious motivator, a hook and lure to the divine qualities in the spirits of man and a grindstone for those who experience me to sharpen themselves against. Simply, I am here.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
WHEW! You all caught me off guard with this one LMFAO! I’m not a homebody per say but I definitely don’t get as out and active as I should and would like to! Monday-Friday I spend 12-18 hours a day in the studio between building my newest collection of visual art, working on music, handling finances, and clerical work, I definitely do not give myself enough time for outside leisure. NONTHELESS I AM AN IDEALIST WITH AN IMAGINATION SO LESSSSGO! So lets say first day in town Monday Morning I’m usually awake by 2/3am and if I had a good friend or cousin coming to town I’d likely be too excited to sleep or wait much anyways! As soon as they get here I’ll probably give them a similar spiel about me not getting out much if they don’t know already so I’d let em know, “Today we’re gonna have it my way, the rest of week we’ll get active!” First and foremost we’d hit my studio for a bit of pre grubs recreation and then being in the south it’s only right that any visitor hits Waffle House with me (a true national spectacle and treasure for all of those who do not live in the south and are unfamiliar!) and fill up on chocolate chip waffles, bacon, OJ, and coffee, maybe some toast and grits if we getting a lil crazy, but I swear one Waffle House waffle is THRICE as filling as any other waffle in existence! Ok let me not ramble on about WH because I WILL! After the grubs it’s time for some post food recreation at the studio and prob wind down with some good ol’ comedy on Netflix, Hulu, or Youtube. Well actually, Monday mornings I usually catch the latest episodes of Boruto and My Hero so if my guest isn’t opposed to some anime then we’re running those! After that it’s all laughs! My sense of humor makes up like 35% of my existence so I love to watch stupid silly shows and ridiculous movies, both well thought out and ironically funny. My homeboy Logan will most likely pull up to the studio with his switch and I will make my guest run Super Smash Bros. with us and fight to the death! Soon it seems appropriate to doordash some more grubs and likely prepare to part ways till the morning as I try my best to protect quality time with my girlfriend who is currently pregnant with our child. With spending so much time at the studio I make sure to get uninterrupted time at home with my love everyday and most all day Saturday and Sunday. Anywhoo, Tuesday is where the true fun begins! I’m in Charlotte NC by the way and we’ve been experiencing a huge flare of culture and city life over the past 5/7 years especially giving sooo many new activities and vibes to enjoy out and about! First we’re hitting a crepe spot! I love crepes and I’ll use any excuse to go out and get some lmao! I have some friends who own a designer and couture resell and consignment store with exceptional quality good and prices called Street Commerce also housing Fine Britches, that we’d likely stop through, holla at the staff and prob do a little light shopping. Go karts after shopping sounds good right? Cuz I think that’s what we’d do! After go karting Im sure we’d be ready to eat and wind down again. Mid day grubs would prob be so street tacos from a Mexican food truck by my studio, the campechanos is my favorite style if you’re looking to try ;-)! Yup you guessed it right, time for some post grub recreation and then we’re winding down to some comedy!! And lets call tuesday a close. Wednesday and Thursday will likely be similar, maybe make moves to go fishing one morning, hit the gun range another, and there’s also these places that have popped up in charlotte recently that host axe throwing and archery that I’ve been kinda excited to try! And with my lady being pregnant she definitely is in no position to be throwing axes around or getting drinks lolo. Maybe weave the whitewater center in there somewhere as Charlotte has a pretty large one in its Mt. Holly area which has some dope rope courses too I just recently mustered up enough daringness to try out. Friday is here and our week is coming to a close so to me it only feels right to get as many of my close friends up to the studio as possible to let my guest feel the love I’m surrounded by and who I spend so much time with in my work and personal life. Chess will be played, Smash will be ran, smoke will be in the air and most notably enough there will definitely be laughs non stop!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Along my journey I’ve been supported immensely by my parents, siblings, family in whole, friends, clients and collaborators alike. In this way I feel very grateful and fortunate to have never lacked a support system in my passions and ambitions. Still in all the immense amount of support I receive from my loved-ones and community of peers there has been one person who has gone above and beyond to see me, hear me, and make me feel as if there really and truly may be no limit to the things I and WE can accomplish and attain. My girlfriend and the mother of my child, known affectionately amongst my peoples as Cilla Vanilla/ Auntie Cilla, has been my absolute rock, anchor, and sanity. We’ve shared our lives with one another since we were 15 and have supported each other through some unspeakably tough times that no person and child especially should be subject to and I’m confident in declaring she has been the most outstanding force preserving my sanity in times of immensely overwhelming stress. I have always had a tendency to veer off the edge of sensibility, floating off to a plane right outside of present possibilities (at least that’s how I feel in respect to what I receive from others). A radical dreamer to the most extreme sense I admittedly find myself overly apathetic toward many day to day happenings I probably should be more attentive towards and decisive about while more often obsessing and shooting through a mental rabbit whole of all things possible, within my power, above my consciousness, and beside my existence. I said all of this to say that when I fell in love I was young and not searching for anyone, though finding my person only. made so much sense, I was instantly grounded and no matter how far I flew and continue to venture through the stars I now know a sense of gravity to bring me home. Between the 4 jobs I’ve quit since graduating high school before declaring my last time quitting was my last day job ever, to moving into our first apartments together, to all the pics of works in progress she never even fakes understanding, and now to a WHOLE NEW human we’re bringing into the world; the limitless trust commitment and passion we share and that I feel invested into me… I’m Escanor at high noon with my baby in my heart. I can go 3 days, 2 outfits, 1 shower, half a meal, a wink of sleep, and countless paint stains and notorious odors and I may get a very deserving screw face and definitely getting told about myself but I know theres no where I belong more and no one Id rathe end my nights with and start my abusively early mornings with! Please put that in stone LMFAO I do not play about my baby!! (I do wanna give very deserving honorable mentions to my 2 sisters {my older which actually got me into drawing earlier than I can recount} and my mom who has always made sacrifices for and invested into my passion for the arts of all forms)

Website: www.debra.work

Instagram: @avatardebra

Twitter: @avatardebra

Other: shop.debra.work

Image Credits
ibshoots, JesusofBD, “Based” Daniel Vasquez, Rylie (Shwevs) Gallivan, Nick Riano