#derrickdent

April 29, 2017

“BLACK LIVES MATTER”

By Birdcap and Derrick Dent

Six Story Tall Civil Rights Mural

Memphis Tennessee

Created by Michael Roy and concept design by Derrick Dent

South Main Mural-Memphis

Monday Mural

Derrick Dent  Freelance Illustrator and instructor at MCA

Derrick works as a freelance illustrator on his own time and teaches at Memphis College of Art. "Everyone knows each other in a small big town like Memphis TN. For better or worse we are all part of a creative population here". We discussed the retrospective show on Memphis artists in the Dixon Museum and Gardens last year. Memphis has a rich pocket of creativity and a long history. "The takeaway of that show is it opened up a dialog for all of us. We are a small community here and sometimes its counterproductive in terms that everyone knows each other and doesn't want to hurt other peoples feelings". 

Derrick sales licensing for his drawings and illustrations in bulk. He works for different clients. He states he has met a lot of other illustrators online. He has clients and personal commissions both locally and regionally. It's easier when the clients are local because he doesn't have to ship any of the work. Derrick spends time once a week to promote himself. He writes down a list every week of all the potential clients he could have and emails them. Sometimes they respond and sometimes they don't but a lot of time his clients are already following him on various social media sites. "If you're working alone, its really easy to fall into your own habits and not have someone check you on the stuff you're doing and methods you're using to get out further into the market". 

Getting representation and more exposure is always a challenge. Derrick has the bulk of his work up on his website. He says he has a lot of breakthroughs and often times revisits a genre or medium he has put down to be picked up again. He has a Facebook page and Tumblr blog linked up to his website. He says he has been good about keeping track and spending time writing and dedicating content to each site. He has had a few commission requests happen online. A lot of his illustration work is out of town and that's the type of work he wants to make more of. Most people are looking at his blog for content and he has a big audience.