Today, we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Gorman.
Hi Daniel, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I always had the ability to draw, even when I was very young. The legend is I could draw before I could talk. When I was 5-7 years old, I’d draw Garfield cartoons for my friends, and my teachers would have me create drawings for the other kids to color during the holidays. I knew early on I was going to have a career in art. I wanted to be a syndicated cartoonist at that time, and I took a night cartooning class at Akron University when I was 10. Needless to say, I was the youngest person in the class.
When I was 12, I fell in love with comic books and the storytelling opportunities that comic books provided. At that point I decided maybe being a comic book artist was what I wanted to do. I dreamed of being an Artist for DC and or Marvel and wanted to be a sequential artist desperately, but at the time, my childhood attempts at making comic books fell far short of my expectations, and I also began to learn just how much work drawing a comic book actually was. It’s no joke how much time it takes, and artists who can complete even a single book know exactly what I’m talking about.
I had an amazing art teacher in High School, Wayne Sheppard, who really recognized my ability and also got to know me as a friend. He recognized my interest in both art and science and suggested that I might want to pursue Medical Illustration as a career, but I had never heard of it. I attended some night drawing classes at The Cleveland Institute of Art with him and learned more about the major. It was an amazingly interesting thing to me, and I decided at that point I wanted to try it. Besides, who could draw a comic book character better than someone who knew human anatomy inside and out?
I ended up attending The Cleveland Institute of Art and majoring in Medical Illustration. At the time, CIA was a 5-year program with 2 years of foundation art training before you even sniffed your major, The Medical Illustration program required a commitment to Science based classes at Case Western Reserve University and taking Medical School level courses with the Graduate Students as an Undergrad. It was a grueling and demanding route to take, and many of the students who started didn’t finish. In May of 1999, I received my BFA in Medical Illustration from The Cleveland Institute of Art.
Within two months of graduating, I landed my first job out of school, which led to my second job at a Law Firm in Akron. But the path I was on wasn’t fulfilling. I was so far away from where I wanted to be. I was depressed and felt like all the decisions I had made up to that point were because I was making other people happy but neglecting myself. In 2012, my position at the Law Firm was eliminated, and it was a blessing. It set me free and let me finally choose my own road to travel.
In 2006 I started to appear at Comic Cons as an Artist Alley artist. I started traveling all over the country doing every convention I could get myself in. I started building a network of friends and colleagues, and after about four years of this, Harris Comics artist Louis Small Jr, recommended me for a Sketch Card job and I have been under a deadline as a Sketch Card artist ever since. This work opened me up to a world of opportunities and propelled my career forward very quickly.
By this time, I had somewhat of a brisk Freelance career going and thought maybe I could just freelance as an Illustrator for the rest of my life. I was penciling stories for AC Comics on a comic book called “FemForce.” I was creating Trading Card and Sketch Card work for major properties like AMC’s The Walking Dead, Star Wars, Star Trek, and MLB… just to name a few. But the financial and business end of a freelance career was actually way more work than I anticipated. You go to work and work an 8-hour day when you have a job, but when you run your own business, you work around the clock. 12-16 hour days are commonplace. And the work was not paying enough for the effort, so I knew something needed to change. So, for the next 10 years, I worked various Graphic Design jobs as a part-time employee and continued to freelance as an Illustrator.
2019 was a big year. An opportunity to manage a local comic book store, Rubber City Comics, became available, and it looked like the perfect part-time job I needed to allow me to both live and further my freelance career. That same year, the original owners of The Akron Comicon decided to sell the show. I, along with business partner and friend Jason Miller, purchased the show and we have been running it ever since.
COVID changed everything, When that happened, for a period of about 2-3 years the highest paying freelance work I did dried up over night. Keeping the store afloat during that time was a challenge unlike any other. We found ourselves working twice as hard, and ultimately, it took its toll on me. In 2022, an opportunity to work full-time as a Graphic Designer at an Akron Company became available, and for the first time in a decade, I was back at a full-time job and Freelancing at night. They say wherever you are is where you are supposed to be, and I believe that’s accurate.
Currently, I work full-time as a Graphic Designer, and I have more freelance work than I can handle. I’m drawing Comic Books for The Akron Rubber Ducks, working with celebrities on comic book projects like Goldie Hawn, William Perry, and more. I’m running a few major Akron Events like The Akron Comicon; I’m published and distributed globally by publishers like Dark Horse, Caliber Comics, Second Sight Publishing, Topps, Upper Deck, and many more. I have friends all through the comic book industry, and you might even see me on TV or in a movie or two. You never know. 🙂
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely was not a smooth road. A career in art, unless you are very lucky, can be tough. Getting the first job is the most difficult. Convincing someone to believe in you enough to put their property or business identity in your hands is not easy when you don’t have a reputation yet for being trustworthy, reliable, and able to do great work. But once you do find a way to break through, and it’s a different path for everyone, the floodgates can open for you. The financial end of a career in art is also not for the faint of heart. It’s not easy tracking down payments owed on projects. It takes a lot of time just running the business side of what you are doing. Sometimes, it feels like all you’re doing is sending emails and reminders, posting on social media, trying to convince people to give you work, and not actually creating the work. Being good is not enough. You have to be good, patient, and persistent to have a long career.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a trained Medical Illustrator. I freelance as a Medical Illustrator in the Medical Legal Field, creating Demonstrative Exhibits for courtroom presentations. I do a fair share of Patent Illustration work for U.S. Patent filings. I’m a Trading Card/Sketch Card artist for Trading Card publishers big and small. I draw Comic Books for The Akron Rubber Ducks and also design Bobbleheads for them. I am a Published Comic Book artist with over ten years of experience. I am a full-time Graphic Designer and have designed logos for various companies you have seen around Akron.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I’m personable, easy to work with and I always do what I say I’m going to do. I’m dependable and reliable. I treat people the way I want to be treated and I think clients appreciate how easy it is to work with me.
Pricing:
- Sketch Card Artist Proofs from various sets are available for between $50-$250 per card.
- Comic Book pages from published projects are available from $50-$500
- Cover paintings from published projects are available. Pricing varies.
Contact Info:
- Website: dangormanart.com
- Instagram: @gdanartist
- Facebook: faceboock.com/dangormanart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-gorman-31a27820/
- Twitter: @gdanartist
Image Credits
All Artwork Created by Dan Gorman Girl 2 Poster Copyright 2024 Vidaddle. LLC Star Trek Images
Copyright Paramount Pictures Star Wars Images Copyright Lucas Films/Topps Trading Card Company
