our art : DAVID DEGRAND
Comical Renderings Of David DeGrand
Living his life without a safety net
STORY AND PHOTOS BY CRYSTAL BROWN
MAY 2017 PARKER COUNTY experiments have proven people to be more successful
TODAYRecent
when they don ’ t have a backup plan as a safety net . Comic artist David DeGrand is a real-life example of this concept .
“ In the back of my mind I knew I could do it as a living ,” he said . “ I didn ’ t know how or when , and I never got discouraged enough to quit . Quitting was never an option .”
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DeGrand ’ s interest in drawing began in a fifth-grade art class when he was assigned to draw a comic strip . The teacher , impressed with his work , had it published in the school paper .
This positive first experience set him on his life ’ s path . While his classmates were playing sports , DeGrand was teaching himself to draw . As a student at Weatherford
High School he was part of the Grass Burr school newspaper as the staff cartoonist , and his efforts earned him several national awards for his editorial cartoons .
“ At that point , I ’ m thinking , ‘ I ’ m not awful at this ,’” he said .
DeGrand attended the University of Texas at Arlington where he earned a bachelor ’ s degree in art and continued his interest in edito-