We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Darren Thompson Jr. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Darren below.

Hi Darren, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

One meaningful project I have been creating is greeting cards. It all started from seeing it as a free item from a Walgreens email offer to now creating genuine heartfelt emotions for people to receive. It really started as something I just wanted to try out. As I continued to work on the cards, I realized it was an outlet to express my creativity and connect with people through my artwork. All of my greeting cards feature my original artwork along with my own message as well. The making of the cards picked up earlier this year, as I created my first ever Valentine’s Day cards, which were a great success. The feedback was great, as people were saying the cards were unique and special. I really hit my stride when I made Mother’s Day and Graduation cards, which ultimately led me to do custom card designs as well. I was fully able to capture the positive emotions of my clients. Hearing that my artwork and own messages bring people to tears of joy means so much to me. As that is my ultimate goal as an artist is for my art to bring people joy.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Darren Thompson Jr and my artist/business name is Darren Designs. I’m a digital artist born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Specializing in photography and digital painting, my work focuses on color and how it relates to the image. My interest lies in the relationship between color, image and how it will convey visually to the viewer. For example, is the viewer more drawn to the color or the aesthetic of the image itself. The figurative fight for dominance between image and color is what intrigues me, but ultimately I strive to achieve balance between the two. Also, with my photography work, I capture photos of objects/surfaces that people overlook and turn them into works of art. Anything, with a unique texture or shape, my iPhone camera lens is on.

My art journey started at a very young age, around the age of 4, is the earliest I can remember but in my teen years I began to lose interest, only to regain my love for art in my freshman year of college. I graduated from Towson University with a B.F.A in Digital Art + Design. After graduating, I started my professional career in 2016 creating digital paintings in Photoshop. In 2018, I transitioned to capturing colorful and vibrant flower photography to ultimately, my bread and butter, abstract photography in 2019. I offer a variety of services and products. I do commission based work, including photography portraits, album covers, logo designs, business cards, flyers, and menu designs. My products include greeting cards, clothing, mugs, pillows and blankets. These products can be personally customized for clients as well.

For my clients, I help solve whatever mental blocks they may have with their ideas and bring more of a creative versatility to their vision. I feel what sets me apart from others is my vision, both literally and figuratively. Being able to see the uniqueness of certain objects or surroundings and having the ability of not having a clear direction of how the piece will turn out but knowing I am going to create a great piece. I like to think of my art as community or a sense of togetherness.
As people, we can achieve great accomplishments as individuals, but when we come together and work as one, we achieve even greater success. That’s the core concept behind my art when I combine different photos together to create one piece. I’m most proud of being able to share my gift of art with other people; being able to see children and adults enjoy my work and feel a sense of joy from it, is my main reason for creating.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The particular mission driving my creative journey is living out the gift/purpose God gave me. He gifted me with my unique creativity and passion for art for a reason. He entrusted me with this gift to help and inspire other people. It is my duty to him to make sure I carry out the purpose and vision he has for me. I will continue to be the best creative I can be for myself and for God. It is such a blessing, to know what you are put on this Earth to accomplish. No matter how hard or difficult the path, it is necessary to make you stronger and grow closer to God. Don’t give up, and keep going forward.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the ability to create something out of nowhere and bring someone else’s vision to life. The feeling of creating something is just an indescribable feeling and being able to see someone’s positive reaction is incredible. It can be either a smile or tears of joy, the positive emotions art can bring are astonishing. To create someone’s idea into reality, is one of the greatest feelings in the world. Also, seeing people’s positive reactions to your own artwork is an incredible feeling as well.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrendesigns19/?hl=en
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DarrenDesigns19
• Other: https://linktr.ee/darrendesigns https://www.tiktok.com/@darrendesigns19