Hey folks, I’m Darryl. Thanks for stopping by. I’m a graphic artist, illustrator, musician, and, most importantly, a father. I started my creative journey drawing comic books as a child, picked up the guitar as a teenager, and studied graphic design as an adult. I’ve done marketing design, book design, developed websites, created logos, and dabbled in Flash. I pay the bills as a book designer for the Kent State University Press. I’ve been involved in graphic arts for over 30 years now.
In all that time I’ve always wanted to produce children’s stories and illustrations. I remember my mom reading me tales of Anansi the Spider, Brer Rabbit, and John Henry. I loved the stories and didn’t realize I was also learning valuable life lessons from those characters. That, along with my comic books, instilled in me a love of fantasy, mythology, and storytelling. Financial realities and other interests kept me from fully pursuing that goal, however.
That changed with the birth of my daughter in 2011. She inspired me to create these stories now while she’s young enough to enjoy them. Understanding the power of words, images, animation, and film to influence and educate, I seek to add culturally relevant, educationally-based images and ideas to the media stream for the benefit of African American youth, their parents, and educators. My website is primarily focused on that goal. I do this in my “spare” time, after my day job.
Everything I do is digitally created using 3D software and image manipulation programs. No paintbrushes are harmed in the creation of this artwork… the pixels are taking a beating though, lol.