The idea of being a "self-taught" professional who "ruins art" doesn't necessarily sound like a life-changing career option.
Until you realize your idea of "ruining art" is a lot different than Dave Sherrill's.
Sherrill is a professional painter in Canton, Ohio, but with an interesting twist. He doesn't paint the majority of the actual canvas he works on. Instead, he resurrects thrift-store landscape art through the addition of cinematic sequences.
From "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" to "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween," Sherrill transports whatever he sees on the big screen to his canvas. And it has certainly paid off.
Sherill has more than 200,000 followers across his social-media channels, has been named to Cleveland's "Best Of" lists, and now even teaches art courses, both in person and online.
"I wanted to be some sort of an entertainer my whole life," Sherill said. "I did stand-up (comedy), I played in bands, and then I just started screwing around with painting, and it blew up."
But art was his original love.
When he was in grade school, Sherill wanted to be a painter, and continued the craft through high school, but after his senior year, he took a hiatus from painting.
"Art college was not in the books for me," Sherill said. "A, it was very expensive. B, I was a terrible student."
He dreamed of becoming the next Robert Crumb, who rose to fame in the 1960s as an underground sketch artist. And while he continued practicing his sketches, he and his wife owned and operated a vintage shop they purchased in 2014, Arrowhead Vintage and Handmade Goods.
There, thrifted paintings lined the walls, but rarely ever left the store.
"I thought they were cool," Sherrill said. "(But) nobody wanted them."
The store struggled, and it wasn't until Sherrill was down to "his last $5," which was what he paid for each of the paintings anyway, when he decided to get back into painting himself.
"If I'm going to throw this thing away," Sherrill said, "I'm just going to paint on it and see if it's cool."
A landscape painting of a thick forest was suddenly filled with AT-ST walkers roaming Endor or sandy beaches suddenly saw Captain Jack Sparrow wash ashore.
Quickly, Sherrill's inner circle obsessed over his new creations. And that spread to the rest of Canton. Locals were purchasing his paintings and even asking for prints.
"I'd never even considered making a print of anything before," Sherrill said. "I'd never sold a piece of art before."
Talk of Sherrill's work widened quickly, especially due to a local arts festival every first Friday of each month. Visitors would walk by Sherrill's paintings, thinking he was just an employee of Sherrill, and comment on them.
That's when he realized he might be onto something bigger.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Sherrill and his wife, Mel, closed their shop to the public, transitioning everything online. It was then Sherrill began developing his social media, posting videos of his paintings as well as the finished products across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Reddit.
Initially going by a standard handle related to his name, Sherrill quickly pivoted to a new moniker "daveruinsart."
He did so for two reasons. The first was people didn't understand he wasn't painting the entire canvas. For example, in the painting below, Sherill did not paint the mountains, trees and overall setting. He added Luke Skywalker, Grogu and R2-D2.
Second, he had so many people, especially on Reddit, saying he was ruining the art. So, changing his handle, he felt he could solve both problems in one move.
As people were stuck in their homes during quarantine, Sherrill's presence continued its upward trajectory, exploding in August 2021, when filmmaker James Gunn shared a TikTok video of one of Sherrill's paintings, featuring characters from his then-new movie "The Suicide Squad."
Sherrill was actually painting in the basement of the vintage shop when he heard the news.
"People started tagging me," Sherill said, because Gunn had actually shared a video that someone else had posted of Sherrill's art.
"I couldn't believe it. It was absolutely unreal."
Since then, Sherrill's work has been featured on NPR, FOX News and Newsweek, among others, but that led to a bit of worry.
"After I started blowing up ... I said to myself, like, 'OK, I seriously need to learn to paint, because at this point, it's going to be really embarrassing if I blow it,'" Sherill said.
So, teaching became the perfect opportunity to continue his own studies.
Three years ago, Sherrill was approached to teach art twice per week to developmentally disabled adults at a studio in downtown Canton, just a few blocks from his home.
Initially, he was reluctant.
"I said, 'Well, I can do that, but I don't really know art. I didn't go to college for it. I'm just learning,'" Sherrill said at the time.
"They said, 'Perfect. Just whatever you're learning at the time, just bring it in and teach it to us. If you just want to bring in your painting and work on your painting, and just let us see your process as a professional artist, we would love that, too.'"
So, Sherrill began teaching two nights per week, making lesson plans and quizzes. And as he dove into the world of teaching, he noticed his own skills refining.
"There's a philosopher, Seneca, who said, 'As you teach, you learn,'" Sherill said. "And I had no idea how much."
Sherrill enjoyed teaching so much he is now offering online courses. He just launched his first online course Wednesday night, which focuses on how to start acrylic painting. And he's already preparing his second course, which will teach people how to take thrifted paintings and make them their own.
While everyone might not be incorporating Gandalf or Darth Vader like he is, it's another way to hone one's skills as a painter, while also continuing the legacy of the painters whose art becomes a canvas.
"All of the art that I do is being dictated by choices that someone else made 40 years ago," Sherrill said. "My colors, my lighting, my perspective, everything has to fit what they have imagined."
Sherrill was even fortunate enough to meet a painter who created a piece Sherrill "ruined."
"I love that you're doing this for me," the artist told Sherill. "I love that you're continuing my art in some way."
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Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.