It was, presumably, Dorian's interest in drawing, not vampires, that led him to attend the Columbus College of Art and Design. "I saw a lot of the work coming from students at CCAD and was impressed," he says. "At that point I figured that if I were ever crazy enough to drop tens of thousands of dollars on a college, CCAD would be the one. After high school I failed a few classes in community college while working full-time in a grocery store, and eventually decided to pursue a career in drawing at the one college I ever wanted to attend."
He has not regretted that choice and offered high praise for his alma mater, "CCAD has some extremely supportive and skilled faculty and alumni. I got the pleasure of studying directly under incredible artists that I look up to to this day, like Adam Osgood, Brian Ewing, Tam Peterson, CF Payne, Christopher Canyon, and so many more. My love for storytelling was cultivated by the excellent liberal arts professors, especially Robert Loss, Leslie Jenike, and Jessica Hey. From the very beginning, I expected to gain a lot of experience and knowledge in storytelling through art - and I wasn’t disappointed."
Dorian is a native and life long resident of Columbus, where, he says, "...if all goes well, I’ll live...until I die. It’s the perfect medium between bustling big city and cheap small town - and the arts scene is growing like crazy! Also, we have great food trucks."
A career in art wasn't exactly his first choice, however. As he told me, "During high school, I was pretty disenchanted with any career choice other than becoming a rock star." It's not hard to see where that ambition came from: "My dad is a guitarist, still playing gigs around Columbus, and he encouraged my growth as a musician and supplied an array of instruments throughout my life."
Both his parents, who split while Dorian was a baby, have, in his words, "... have been super supportive of my creative life in every way....My mom started collecting my drawings since I was in kindergarten, and she gave both financial and moral support as I attended CCAD."
Graduating from CCAD in the class of 2014, it hasn't taken Dorian long to make his mark on the local comics scene. #CCAD Comics is 60 page digital anthology of comics by students, faculty and alumni of the school. A print edition is in the works. "I’m working on it right now," he says. "I’m running into a couple issues with the print file not fitting the printer’s standards, but after working that out and approving a proof copy, it will be available as a nice big color paperback. Individual contributors will be selling copies, and I’m looking into making a big premier at SPACE 2015 and seeing if some stores in the Columbus area will stock a few copies."
I asked Dorian to explain the genesis of the project, as well as the criteria he used in deciding which stories to include in the book. "#CCADComics came out of the staggering realization that immensely talented comics creators came out of CCAD, yet there had been no formal recognition of any kind recognizing that talent. Several efforts have been made to celebrate comics, notably the MIX symposium directed by Robert Loss and the Crafting Your Hustle event held by Laurenn McCubbin. But when it came to collecting the comics work by students, either in a book or in a gallery setting, there was nothing. I had heard some stories of the director of exhibitions having a weird bias against comics and illustration, and all the pro-comics faculty and staff were super busy with other projects, so instead of waiting for permission I decided to make an anthology and self-publish it. DIY or die!
"Knowing I would need help, I asked my fellow comics creators Andrew Peña, Hannah Ploechl, Mike Laughead, and Colleen Clark to co-edit and spread the word. Without their help, I definitely would have ripped my own head off out of sheer stress! Submissions were open to all CCAD students, past and present (Peña made an especially awesome call-for-submissions poster). After collecting nearly 30 submissions, we read them all and picked the 21 strongest works (in our collective opinion) to include in the final book.
"Any and all submissions 10 pages in length or less were accepted, regardless of content or theme. I just asked people to not submit anything overtly pornographic or exploitative, and everyone seemed to understand that and respect it. There’s some harsh language and minor cartoon violence in the final book, but nothing too extreme."
I then asked if he had any plans for future editions of #CCAD Comics, and he told me, "My mind is already dancing around future anthology possibilities, but I want to open up future projects to the countless non-CCAD artists I have the pleasure of knowing. My hope is that some other CCAD student will carry the torch and make the next CCAD comics happen - so if you’re reading this and you’re interested, let’s talk!"
As to other future plans, such as whether he intends to pursue a career in comics or perhaps some other area of art, he's not so sure, "Honestly, I don’t know! I grew up reading Spawn and Bone and Dragon Ball manga, and my love for the visual arts was rekindled by Watchmen and Asterios Polyp and Love & Rockets. Comics have been a big presence in my life and a giant influence on my aesthetic sensibilities, and I think the medium is capable of telling an infinite number of compelling stories. At the same time, I would love to create album artwork or merchandise for bands I love, and I’ve been enjoying the animation work I’ve been doing with Rad Fortress lately. I’m too scatterbrained to stick with just one thing!
"After observing the strenuous lives of some moderately successful freelance and entrepreneurial illustrators, I realized that I enjoy life far more when I’m not worried about where my next paycheck is going to come from. I enjoy my day job, and while I plan on taking some odd art jobs and commissions here and there, the life of a full-time freelancer just isn’t for me. That said, I just graduated college a month ago, so who knows what the future holds?
"You can see some of the crazy stuff Rad Fortress is working on here:
http://radfortress.tumblr.com/"
Dorian is also a contributor to the recently released Weinland Park Storybook Project. Of his involvement in that project, he says, "Jean Pitman, head of the youth programs at the Wexner Center, had been involved with several community service projects in the Weinland Park area over the years and collected stories from the neighborhood’s residents. As further service to the community, she got a ton of local comics creators to illustrate these stories for a beautiful limited-release book available only to contributors and Weinland Park residents. The stories range from solemn to humorous, from both young and old members of the community.
"I was put in contact with Jean through my portfolio instructor at CCAD, and she had me illustrate two one-page stories from a couple teenage residents of Weinland Park. Jean’s enthusiasm and hard work unified the local comics community, and gave a voice to a marginalized neighborhood that had seen a wealth of untold stories. To top it all off, I’m now in a book with Julian Dassai, Michael Neno, Lora Innes, Sandy Plunkett, and other comics geniuses, and all of our work is in the permanent collection of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. This is, by far, the coolest creative project I have ever been a part of!
"You can read the whole book and get more info here:
http://wexarts.org/content/
I'd like to thank Dorian for taking the time to answer my questions. More information about #CCAD Comics can be found at http://ccadcomics.tumblr.com/
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