Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew DeBakker.
Hi Drew, 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 grew up in Winter Park, a small ski town in Colorado. I’ve always had a passion for art, even from a young age. Dinosaurs were the thing that inspired me the most. I loved getting lost in Paleoart books and could spend hours looking at them, learning all about these incredible extinct creatures and the world they inhabited. I started drawing when I was very young, winning several art competitions, and doing what could technically be considered unpaid freelance work. I designed t-shirts and posters for my middle school, the local demolition derby, and more. As I got older, my dream of being a Paleoartist shifted to something a bit more broad as I became infatuated with films and video games that expanded my mind and enveloped me in their incredible fabricated realities.
I studied Fine Art at the University of Colorado, Boulder but as time went on, I realized that my true passion was in the entertainment industry. In 2010, made the move to Los Angeles to attend Art Center College of Design in Pasadena to study Illustration and Entertainment Art. Since then, I’ve worked on a dizzying number of projects. I’ve designed key art for films, illustrated album covers, animated multiple web series, created graphics for events, made storyboards for commercials, done concept art for video games, designed user interfaces for apps, hand-drawn menus for restaurants… There have been so many things, I’m starting to lose track! But there is so much more I want to do, and in many ways I feel like I’m just getting started.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’m very fortunate in many ways. I was encouraged to follow my passion at a young age and received positive reinforcement for doing the thing that I love, even though my parents knew it wouldn’t be an easy road. And I did struggle to get to where I am now. I barely had enough money to pay for my final semester at Art Center. At the time of graduation, I had no money in my bank account, no car, and next to nothing in terms of job prospects. My parents would be justified in thinking that maybe I had made a mistake. I just believed that if I kept pushing, I could make it through – shout out to the $5 Pollo Bowl Combo for getting me through some hard times. 10 years later, I’m happy to say that I’m lucky enough to be working in the entertainment industry and making art as my career, which is an incredible feeling. I try not to take it for granted.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Although I work in a variety of styles and media, my specialty (and the thing I enjoy the most) is hand-drawn and digital illustration. Perhaps as an evolution of my infatuation with Paleoart, I love drawing bizarre creatures and mysterious worlds. I’m a huge fan of horror, sci-fi and fantasy and I love to depict nether-realities that draw from all the things that I love. I like to explore the eerie beauty of the natural world in my work, as well as haunted, forgotten lands. I love to explore the language of color and how it shapes the way we react to an image. The most enjoyable parts of the process for me are sketching (because of the total freedom) and color, because it’s where you get to sculpt the feeling of the piece. When you finally land on a color combination that feels like it effectively conveys the atmosphere you had in mind, that’s really satisfying. The pieces I’m the most proud of are the ones where I feel like I nailed that part of it.
What’s next?
The biggest thing in my world right now is that I’m currently the lead artist on a video game, something that has been a dream of mine for a very long time! It’s called Song of Decay, and it’s an action-adventure game where you use music to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. It’s inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and has a bit in common with old-school Legend of Zelda, but with a hand-drawn art style. Our small-but-mighty team of four has been cracking away at it for about a year and we are planning to release it on Steam before the end of 2025. We’re very excited for people to check it out! Working on a game has been an incredible experience. It’s mind-bogglingly difficult and complex in many ways but so rewarding at the same time. When you are actually controlling a character that you designed, navigating in a world you constructed, it’s an unparalleled feeling. It’s definitely something I want to continue pursuing, and I’m already thinking about the next game on the horizon.
In addition to that, I’m launching a new online store where people will be able to buy prints and t-shirts featuring my illustrations. I want to keep working with amazing people and exploring new avenues that ignite my creativity. It would be awesome to work on wine and beer labels. I think getting into vinyl figure modeling would be cool. That’s why living in LA is so amazing, because if you can think of an artistic pursuit, it’s here and a bunch of insanely talented people are doing it. You just have to let your instinct guide you to where you’re meant to be. I’m so happy I took a chance on myself and moved to a city where I could follow that instinct and surround myself with so many incredible, creative people. I would highly recommend it – just like I would highly recommend that $5 Pollo Bowl Combo. It’s actually really good and still somehow only $5!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.drewdebakker.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pixels_and_dust/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dirtymidnighter
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-debakker-9a2a8120/
- Other: https://pnaser74.itch.io/song-of-decay
