We were lucky to catch up with Dakarai Akil recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dakarai, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I am a full-time artist. It took years and a ton of ups and downs to make it work but I’m grateful that it is working for me at this stage of my career. Prior to 2020 I was not completely ready to make a major step like this to work full-time as an artist. There were quite a few lessons I needed to learn before taking that leap to leave my previous job as an art program assistant. What gave me the courage to take the leap was the first New York Times project I received. The response from that was so good that it put me on a bunch of other art directors radars so I began doing those sort of projects regularly. One after another would come in making my portfolio look presentable enough to approach Handsome Frank seeking representation. I had been advised to reach out to them by the art director who first hired me for work on the New York Times illustrations I completed. I think everything was divine timing for me in regards to the process that led me to be in this position. Speeding the process up would leave me less prepared and unequipped for this type of work. The journey is very important to be able to maintain this kind of work.

Dakarai, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My primary medium is collage art. The work you will see the majority of the time coming from me is paper collage. I started with graphic design in high school when I discovered photoshop but later expanded to collage when I was growing bored of being a digital artist. I discovered collage when I was active on Tumblr in the early 2010s. There were a lot of really cool artists I would follow including a couple collage artists that made me curious about the art form. Up until then I had never seen collage practiced outside of mood boards or mosaics. At the time I was feeling uninspired by the work I was creating so I decided to give collage a try. After the first two I made I immediately fell in love. It seemed to match my personality more being that I am impatient when it comes to the amount of time it takes to see a finished project. Collage verses painting suits me better because a painting may take me anywhere from 3 days to 2 months to complete but a well executed collage could take 30min to 1-2hrs max.

The type of services I provide are illustrations for magazines and advertisements with the possibility to animate them using motion graphics software which is what I think sets me apart from others. Not a lot of collage artists can also add movement to their work.

At this point I am most proud of my work with Project Backboard. We collaborated on a design that was installed on a basketball court floor in a boys and girls club in my hometown, Cleveland, OH for NBA All-Star weekend 2022. It meant a lot to me to be part of a project that will live in my hometown for forever.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My end goal for my career as an artist is to one day have the space and resources to help other artists get their work sold and have a chance to make a living off of their craft. I personally went through a lot to get where I am today with my career and along the way I learned a ton of lessons that I know could be valuable to other aspiring artists.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The best thing society can do to support artists is to fund them and recognize the importance of the arts. This is something thats not a difficult concept to grasp but funding and respecting the craft is very important.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dakaraiart.com
• Instagram: dk1994, thisbookwas.art