Today we’d like to introduce you to Denzel Allen.
Denzel, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was raised in the greater northwest side of Houston, Texas outside of 610. It was my academic career at the University of Houston that would bring me to every affordable studio apartment in and around the loop. Entering my junior year in the graphics department, my journey would come to a brief halt due to some health issues. At the time, I was told I was having lupus flares but would later discover it was less dire. It was honestly the best thing to happen to me. I was forced to stop everything and rethink how I approached my goals. I made my mind up that I was done wasting time on anything I’m not passionate about. So, I stopped attending UofH, enrolled in all online classes at the University of Phoenix, and had the audacity to apply for a career in graphic design with no degree. The results? I graduated in 2015 with a year and a half of experience under my belt and three stamps in my passport.
During my coursework at the University of Phoenix, I worked several internships before landing a remote design job at 757 MediaGroup, an advertising firm based in Hampton, VA that focused on music and local businesses. I often ended up filling in for roles other than pure graphics. I would make magazine layouts, posters, and logos. Then sometimes, I would pick up HTML on the fly to update a webpage, sit in on marketing meetings to better help clients, I even got the chance to interview some interesting people like Sunny & Gabe and the Grammy-nominated D.R.A.M. It was during this processed that I realized that I’m more than just a graphic designer. Being in that environment forced me to do things I was unfamiliar with, and in its success showed I had more options than I thought. I immediately sought after a way to get paid for my ideas instead of my labor.
While I was discovering this change in scope in my career, I was also taking advantage of not having to report to an office five days a week. working remotely meant my office could be a coffee shop on Westheimer and Dunlavy or my friends’ kitchen in Birmingham, Alabama. I stuffed my life with as much travel as possible including a 10-day voyage in Japan. This perk would keep me at 757 MediaGroup longer than I should have, but life soon gave me another harsh reminder that I didn’t have time to waste.
When hurricane Harvey hit, my home received 28 inches of water. After a few months of living with friends, I would decide to pack my bags to Austin, Texas where I now work as a marketing consultant for a third-party sales and marketing firm. My clients are worldwide and services wide ranging from gas and electric suppliers in Houston to food catering services in Silicon Valley. I direct the branding and marketing strategy for other companies through the use of email campaigns, UX design, SEO, print collateral, social media post, and web design. I plan on opening my own creative hub for DIY crafting, events, and workshops that’ll double as a small design firm in the near future. Being a consultant allows me to experiment with building a brand and running a company without exhausting my own resources.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I have a deep love for animation. Aaron Mcgruder, Lesean Thomas, Hiyao Miyazaki, Takeshi Koike, and Mamoru Hasoda were heavily idolized in childhood and the driving force of me saving my money for a Wacom tablet at the age of 16. Every art form I would learn just became an outlet to get that storytelling out. Instead of studying like I should have, I often found myself using that time to draw webcomics that I would later throw on Facebook in my early college days (to my own detriment). In this storytelling, I try to be a loudspeaker for those I feel don’t have a voice. Anything I’ve done illustration wise I try to include people of color, in particular, women of color. If some 14-year-old girl comes across a poster, I made and feels a sense of inclusion because there’s a brown girl wearing a hijab in it that looks just like her, then I’ve done my job.
This same attitude transitioned over to my marketing, which is really just a very commercial form of storytelling. Chewse is one of my clients which is one of the rare companies that has a woman as a CEO. She has made great strides to address the topic of inclusion and level the playing field. Only 25% of the entire nations senior roles are held by women, compared to women occupying 58% of senior roles at Chewse. I’ve shifted from trying to tell stories for people who don’t really have a voice to finding these people and using my skills to help them tell their own stories.
Have things improved for artists? What should cities do to empower artists?
That’s a layered question. Like with everything, technology has changed the way we do things. It is easier than ever to get your artwork seen by as many people as possible at no cost. It’s also because of this over-saturation of high-quality imagery that the craft has lost its value a little. No one wants to pay someone to just do graphics anymore, or at least not pay them well. If you’re looking to fill a photo-journalist spot, companies would rather hire someone with a strong creative writing portfolio versus a photography one. Photography is now seen as something anyone can learn with a little effort while those writing skills are looked at with a much higher learning curve. The same goes for design, you can’t walk into an interview without being asked about your HTML skills. The days of only having to be good at one skill are over. Social media has made the entire world care a lot more about the way things look, and in that art became very commercialized.
With this said, I can honestly say it has never been easier for an artist to successfully launch their own business. Can you imagine if Andy Warhol had an Etsy account? So long as you’re constantly looking ahead of the curve to foresee skills that will be valued in the future and applying that to your passion, you’ll be just fine.
As far as what the city can do to help art thrive, I’d say host as many events as possible. Even if it’s just an artist talk, where you invite an artist to open discussion in some small venue you rented out. If you post to your Eventbrite and social media accounts, people will show. The more events the city throws, the more beautiful things you’ll see spur off from the networking it created.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My website would be the best place. It can be annoying at times because most of my work is client based I often have to wait months before I’m able to upload any of the things I’m working on due to disclosure agreements. My Instagram has a few things, but in all honesty, for a millennial, I’m pretty horrible at social media.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://iamdenzel.me
- Email: iamdenzel@me.com
- Instagram: @iamspazz
Image Credit:
FirstSouth Magazine
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