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Who I AM
Who I AM
Hi there!
My name is Damian R. Corrales, A.K.A Damianatical on Kick, If you don't know how to say that, think of it like saying "DAMIAN" and "RADICAL" put together, but take out the "R" and that's how you say my username.
"DAMIANATICAL"
I was born on September 18, 1999 in Fort Irwin, California. My father was in the US Army and my mother was living with him there at the time, but we would eventually move to Tucson, Arizona shortly after I was born since that is where the majority of our family was. I would also become the oldest out for 4 children.
Growing up in Tucson, there really wasn't too much to do around town as a kid. If I wasn't glued in front of the TV playing video games, I was outside riding my bike exploring my neighborhood, or hanging out with friends. That is if we weren't going to a family function about every other week.
It wasn't until middle school where I would become interested in art. I started out drawing my favorite character from comics, anime, TV, and video games, along with the occasional random doodles (left). It became clear to me that I was meant to be an artist, and wanted to pursue artistry as a career, but I wasn't sure where to begin or what I could even do. I just knew that I wanted to keep making art no matter what medium it was. While in 8th grade, I took a tour of Tucson High Magnet School and found out about their graphic design courses. I had expressed to my tour guide that I wanted to take art courses, but also wanted to shift from sketch art to digital art. That when we directed me to Tucson High's graphic design class. My tour guide explained that these classes were considered the backbone of the schools merchandising and marketing and was well renowed across the state. Almost everything from homecoming shirts, to school flyers and banners were designed and printed in these classes by students.
Seeing all of this open my eyes to a whole other side of art that I never considered before. I saw students making complex designs and having them printed all over the school. I immediately fell in love and knew that this was what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to come to this school and that I wanted be a graphic designer. When I entered my freshman year, I had to take an introductory class before I could go into the graphic design classes. This was a simple class that got me familiar with the Adobe Creative Suite. The follwing year is when I was finally able to dip my hand into the world of graphic deisgn.
I didn't stop sketching while in high school. In fact some of my sketches became the inspiration for some of my art. I'd sketch out a character or scene that I liked in full detail, and would take the drawing and render it using Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Illustrator was my favorite software to use, because it was very easy for me to learn and is still the main software I use today.
While I had always loved comics and cartoons growing up, I found myself diving into anime while in middle school, and become a full on fan in high school. My favorite anime at the time was a show called Fairy Tail. To give a quick synopsis of the story: It takes place in a fantasy world where magic and sorcery are everywhere, and the main character is a pinked haired orphan named Natsu Dragneel who was raised by a dragon and taught Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. He and his friends are apart of famous mercenary guild called Fairy Tail and go on action packed adventures together.
I made countless drawing of the show and it's characters and began using them as the first pieces I would render in Adobe Illustrator. Pieces like the one here (right top) were just one of many that I converted to a digital file and post all over my social media pages. My friends and family were so impressed and supportive of my talent. While I could definitely make improvements on in the design today while the knowledge and techniques I know now, I'm still very proud of this piece.
Later on I had the unique opportunity to have my work posted all around campus and even be used outside of school. A perfect example would be a Halloween PSA (right bottom) that I made for The City of Tucson. This was one of my first recognized pieces of work. The City of Tucson wanted a friendly PSA made for kids and their parents to help them be safe during trick or treating on Halloween. They approached my class and asked us to come up with some concepts and ideas for a flyer/poster they could print and upload to their site. After going through everybody's designs, mine was chosen and used by the city to ensure everyone was safe during Halloween.
After gaining more confidence in my abilities and further developing my skills, my work would begin to utilized more and more often by the school. One of my favorite designs was this sweater design I made for my senior homecoming (left top). At the time I was a member of student council and had originally pitched the design to the council as the main design for our homecoming shirts. Student council always designed and sold the "official" homecoming shirts at the homecoming football game, and with theme being based on the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming a couple months prior, I felt it was a fitting design. My design would end up being rejected, however, in favor for another council members design (right). While somewhat disappointed, I was not too disheartened and moved on rather easily. That would be until I was approached by my graphic design teacher who wanted my permission to use my design for the Tucson High Red Army Graphic Design Clubs homecoming sweater design. Without hesitation, I said yes. While only handful of sweaters were made, not only did they almost immediately sell out at the game, but i got to keep one for myself which i still have to this day (left bottom).
While I did received a lot praise from fellow students and faculty for my design. I did encounter some grievances with some members of student council, who felt I acted in retaliation to being initially rejected. I told the council that was not the case and explained to them the situation. Since it was my personal design and not student councils, I saw no issue allowing the graphic design club to use my design. Most of the council saw no harm as well and were satisfied with my explanation. This meeting would only make me even more confident in my skills, to the point that I would take it one step further and be even bolder with my designs.
Towards beginning of my senior year, my fellow student council members announced the "official" senior shirt design (right) and began marketing it around school to starting selling them as quickly as possible. While I did not agree with the design choice, the decision was put to a vote and this design was chosen. Once this design was seen, it did created a massive outrage amongst the student body about the confusing theme, spelling, and overall design. After the success of my homecoming sweater designs and the large amount of attention I received, many students began asking and inquiring if student council would consider a redesign for the senior shirts. Even though I was apart of student council, the vote was already passed, and hundreds of the shirts were already made. But, that gave me with the idea to make my own senior shirt design.
During my sophomore year, I designed my own custom senior shirt (left) for my graduating class as a fun "what if" concept. At first, the only people who knew about this design where my teachers, and some close friends. However, after the succuss of my homecoming sweaters and the outrage caused by the current senior shirt design, I decided to create an opportunity for myself and print and sell my custom designed senior shirts. After tweaking the design a bit, I uploaded my design and a small advertisement to the schools Snapchat story and almost instantly became overwhelmed with the amount of requests and orders for this shirt design. I would end up selling over 100 of these shirts and make over $2,000 from those sales. While some people felt that I was being somewhat selfish, I felt I was giving my classmates what they wanted and created a lasting memento for them to cherish after they graduated. I would use that money to purchase a laptop for college and would even be offered a grant from the University of Arizona for this situation and my other works.
Once I reached college I began doing actual freelance work. One of my first clients was the University of Arizona's Arizona Volunteers Abroad Club (left). They wanted a modern update for their club logo that encapsulated their mission to invite and recruit students studying abroad to engage in volunteer work. After that I received another inquiry from a student that wanted me to make him a personal logo for his start-up economics business (right). These would be my first paid clients ever, and I was excited beyond belief.
After working with those two clients, I made this site to help future clients find my work and build a reputable portfolio for future employers and fans to look upon. Since creating this site in 2018, I have worked with about 40 different clients ranging anywhere from personal design requests, local businesses, to even creating logo for a joint program between the Tucson Boys and Girls Club and Tucson Medical Center about diabetes prevention (left). While it was easier to market myself to my classmates in high school, with my degree now in hand I have had to really push myself to be seen amongst a greater population and push myself even harder to be hired professionally.
One of the ways I do this is by streaming on Kick. I have been streaming since 2019 and it has provided another unique opportunity for me to have fun and be myself, while also having the potential to reach new fans around the world and spread my art and clientele. With this new opportunity, it also comes new challenges. If wasn't already competing with others to have my content seen, I definitely am now. But like other challenges, it only fuels my drive and my conviction even more. I have gone through about 4 different logo designs during the course of my streaming escapades, but my current logo (left) is the one I uses now for Kick, as well using it for my art work. This logo not only looks cool, but is also a reflection of my skills and my drive.
At the end of the day, my goal in life is to find a graphic design job that pushes my abilities and has me recognized as an artist throughout the world, or become a successful streamer with an amazing community that spreads good will and kindness amongst others. I will always push myself harder and harder to reach my goals, and make sure to continue creating art that leaves my audience in awe.
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