Funeral French Interview | Dragons & Dungeon

Join us as we interrogate the Dungeon Master himself, Funeral French, in celebration of our recent 'Dragons and Dungeon' collab.

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Following on from our recent 'Dragons and Dungeon' collab with the one and only Dungeon Gateway, we thought we'd chat to the brains behind the operation, Funeral French, to find out more about the inspiration behind the collab, his illustrious art career and more. It's been an absolute pleasure working with French on this collab and we couldn't be more hyped on how it's come out! Have a read below to check the interview and keep your eyes peeled for something extra special from French coming real soon...

Hey French, how’s it going?

Yeah alright mate, just got caught in a full on down pour on my bike and got soaked through to my undies.

First things first, we couldn’t help but notice some eerie similarities between Christian ‘Pirate Man’ Hart and yourself, is there any secret family connection we should know about?

Really? I hadn’t noticed. Maybe when I had long hair. I mean my brother lives in Newport so maybe there’s some family tie in with Pirate Man. Pirate Man is a well good name though, much better than French.

Wanna tell us a bit about the story behind the Dragons x Dungeon collab and how it came to be?

Well, I just got chatting with Jimo and said how I was stoked on CSC and how they support DUNGEON and I think he made a joke about 'DRAGONS and DUNGEON' and I just thought that’d be a rad idea. Also I had this idea for a DUNGEON gateway with a dragon's wings behind it for a little while, a bit Dio album cover style, and this was the perfect excuse to draw it.

You’ve done more than your fair share of wild collabs over the years - providing artwork for brands like Krom Kendamas, Uniqlo, Slayer and Lazy Oaf - how did some of these even come about? Does someone from the brand just drop you an email asking for something spooky or is there some kind of summoning ritual involved?

Those ones are more like being commissioned to make artwork for a project than a collab. The Slayer one was actually done through the sponsor of the tour and they asked me to make a special poster for the LA show that they could use and get printed to give away as prizes. It was pretty insane really, getting to make something for Slayer.

What does the process usually look like? Are you just given free rein?

Not usually, most of the time when working with a bigger brand / band there's a brief and a general idea of what the theme might be and what they’d like to be involved in the artwork. It’s a lot easier like that really, 'cos often when people say ‘do what you like’ they don’t like what I come up with 'cos that's not what they were imagining. When it’s DUNGEON stuff that's different cos that's my thing and I have an idea of what i want it to be and look like and what I really don’t want it to be or look like.

How does it compare working with brands like Heroin vs something like Lazy Oaf?

Working with different people is always different with each new job. With Fos, we’ve been friends so long now. The first board I drew for Heroin was in 2002 so I feel like i get what Fos likes and what would work. With Lazy Oaf, they had a brief and a mood board of things they were into for that project and I kinda talked it through and sketched a bunch of stuff out. Made some text stuff. With Heroin I more just have some ideas for what might be cool per rider and I put it to Fos and he either says what he thinks might work with that or just lets me get on with it.

Be honest, who’s more of a pain to work with: skate brands or non-skate brands?

Everyone is different. I’ve had people from all industries be amazing to work with and also people from all over terrible. I think it’s more down to the person than the industry.

Are there any collabs in particular that you were most hyped on? (Apart from this one, obviously)

The one I just did for Element was super fun cos I got to design everything, the shape and fabric of the clothes, the narrative around the artwork and the artwork itself. So it was totally my thing. Which I can’t believe they let me do. Also the Emerica range I designed was super fun. It was all just super fun artwork, Paul Kwon the footwear designer and me bunked off and went to skate the Soletec park as a work meeting. That's pretty crazy getting to have that as a job.

On the flipside, are there any brands or industries that you wouldn’t work with?

I don’t really know until someone asks. I once said no to designing a shirt for Linkin Park 'cos I hate nu metal. 

You incorporate a lot of different styles into your artwork, from classic metal aesthetics and gothic fantasy to more cyberpunk and vaporwave-esque imagery, where do you get your inspiration from and has it changed over the years?

I just get it from the world around me: skating, old books, music, comics, videos, I think it just gradually builds with you through your life. Like a big snowball, you collect aesthetics you like and it helps create what you make. A bit like a recipe that’s made from all the influences you’ve ever had until it comes out as a weird art hot pot that is your own thing.

At one point these things were pretty niche interests but it seems like things have changed recently with the whole metal aesthetic being co-opted by some mainstream brands and playing D&D becoming a bit more socially acceptable. Have you noticed this having an impact on your work at all?

I haven’t noticed it, cos I’ve always sort of done what I do and make new stuff and it gradually develops and changes as you do as a person. I mean if you look back at my work 15 years ago, the themes are pretty similar but the delivery is a little different. Fatter lines, more crazy colours, more old mobile phones and grids now. But I think I’m pretty consistent. I do like drawing new things, but there are definitely images I come back to all the time.

We heard you grew up reading the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ books, if you had to pick a favourite cover which one would it be?

I actually never read them, I couldn’t read very well so my brother, Tim, used to read them with me and we’d play them at the same time. I think perhaps ‘Creature of Havoc’ is the one i remember best and sticks in my mind. The gobin / demons on the back of his chair with the glowing eyes always freaked me out.

We were always big fans of Witchcraft, especially with Jake Collins being on the team. What happened with the brand in the end? Did Jake spend all the budget on cans?

I wanted to go skating and not make boards or deal with the stress of everything that goes with it. I was instantly happier when we stopped doing it and DUNGEON is so free and easy, not making boards and having total control over what I want to make or produce. And I get to ride Heroin boards again.

What’s your favourite memory from the Witchcraft years?

There’s so many rad times, it’s hard to pick one.

You seem to be doing things a bit differently with Dungeon, is there any reason you decided to step away from the usual team format?

DUNGEON isn’t a skateboard company, it’s anything it wants to be, it's a sticker brand, a patch brand, a cycling mudguard brand - there’s no rules. The so called ‘team’ is more like a crew of like-minded individuals who wanna hangout, go on trips, ride bikes, skate, have fun - do whatever. I just want to keep it light and not bog it down with weird external pressures that don’t mean anything or do anything positive. If you have a DUNGEON sticker and you wanna have fun, you’re in the right place.

Throwing things back a bit: we’ve always loved the Antiz section in The Big Push, what was it like being the special guest for those guys? Any particular memories or stories?

Bloody awful. 

What else have you been working on?

Just been making a new website for DUNGEON, made a ton of paintings to take to Laax for the team trouble event. Also trying to work on some other new paintings.

To say you’ve got your fingers in a lot of pies would be a bit of an understatement, how do you manage to stay inspired and not get burnt out?

Listen to Motörhead, draw everyday, ride my bike, skate things that are fun with fun people, hangout with my wife & my cat as much as I can, travel as much as possible and also stay on top of the iCal.

That's enough chit-chat though. Head to the shop to browse the full range of CSC and Dungeon Gateway clothing. Or, check out more skate interviews on the CSC Blog. Safe.