We were lucky to catch up with Dennis Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dennis , thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
In my opinion observation has been an essential skill to learning and honing my craft. Most of my art career has been spent experimenting or watching someone else us the tool I wish to master. Through observation I learned how to hold a brush and how to care for it. Observing other artist helped me to adopt may different methods. To accelerate my growth I wish I would have learned to practice more effectively. I spent many nights just jumping head first into pieces without the skills necessary to pull of the idea I saw in my head. My biggest obstacle has always been time. I’ve always done art part-time, not by choice but for financial reasons. If I had more time to learn and experiment I might have been further along in my creative journey.
Dennis , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Dennis Johnson aka DedlySweet. I’m a Baltimore based illustrator who loves to draw monsters, fighting foods, and other strange creatures. My goal is to challenge my audience to imagine with me. When someone views my work I want them to engage their inner child during a time when ideas had no limits. I became an illustrator because of my passion for video games and pop culture. I wanted to be that artist working on a AAA game or award winning cartoon. I started making comics to fulfill that need within myself.
My artwork has been highlighted on CD covers, shirts, nursery walls, on canvas and more. I provide my clients with comically colorful and unique ideas that embody playfulness. when I have free time, I volunteering and teaching character design and sequential art to k-12 students.
I’m proud of the place I am in my career. I managed to arrive in my life as a fulltime artist without a college degree. I had to learn everything from experimentation and fellow artists young and old. I pride myself on my ability to learn new process quickly while trying to infuse them with my very own talent.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In my early 20’s I was struggling to find feedback for my mini comic. I decided to start taking my portfolio of work to comic book conventions. My first portfolio review was an absolute disaster, the professionals basically told me I had no clue what I was doing and and I should quit while I was ahead. I remember walking off the stage with a huge grin on my face. I didn’t feel bad because I was just happy that a seasoned artist commented on my work. Now I had a thread to follow and I could begin to grow! I went home and got to work on my next mini comic that day!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
My life has been one pivot after another but the biggest pivot in my life was the switch from animation to illustration. I had always wanted to be an animator and work in California, but life got ahold of me. I didn’t come from a wealthy family so financing college was a tough pill for my parent to swallow. The same year that I was planning to transfer to the University of Art in Philadelphia my parent divorced and it threw my life into chaos. Suddenly I found myself withdrawing to deal with family issues. It broke my heart to not be able to be in academia. I remember crying over my acceptance letters and saying to myself that this wouldn’t be the end of my education. I decided I would try my hand at comics since they were easier, boy was I wrong! After that moment I committed myself to education and learning as much as possible from others. This mentality ultimately took me to spaces I never thought I would be in, absorbing the stories of so many amazing people.
Contact Info:
- Website: dedlysweet.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dedlysweet/?hl=en&__coig_restricted=1