Dana Woulfe
About: A footwear designer for Converse, Dana’s work in apparel, print and environmental media utilizes the combination of his background in graffiti and his training in design and fine arts.
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January 
Dana (www.illsideink.com) has been an artist since the days of finger paints and Saturday cartoons. He grew up in Rhode Island and studied illustration at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. While in Bean Town, Dana became entrenched in the local graffiti scene and was a founding member of Project SF, an international artist collective with its roots in street art and graffiti. His work with Project SF has graced the pages of magazines such as Under Pressure and Graphotism, and can be found throughout the northeast US and Canada.
Dana now lives and works in Boston, MA, where he ran his own design studio for several years. He’s now a footwear designer for Converse (www.converse.com), as well as a regularly exhibiting artist in Boston and beyond. In recent months, his work has appeared in various gallery shows and events in cities including New York and Montreal.
Dana’s work in apparel, print and environmental media utilizes the combination of his background in graffiti and his training in design and fine arts. The result is an exciting crossbreed of urban art and design.
He has been using Wacom products for several years in his artwork, and enjoys rendering hand-styles and various spray paint and brush effects because of the natural result derived from using a pen and tablet.
We’re excited to see how Dana brings his diverse background to this project.
I chose January because it symbolizes fresh starts and the anticipation that comes from a clean, blank slate. The highs and lows from the past year begin to fade and a feeling that anything is possible takes over. In New England, it is the start of a cold, snowy winter – a bright white canvas of possibility.
Looking through photos for reference material, I found some shots I took while snowboarding in Zermatt, Switzerland last March. I chose a few and combined them to create an interesting foundation and layer of texture. I then manipulated the color in the photos to reflect the cool blues that I associate with winter. With the background complete, I drew a series of hand-styles using the Wacom tablet and the chisel tip brush. I collaged these together with other shapes and letterforms drawn with my tablet in Illustrator and after some additional manipulation, I finalized ‘White Rider’.
Riding on the Matterhorn was an awesome experience and one that was creatively inspirational so I was happy to develop a collage that reflected the both the imagery and feeling of that time. This rendering of a rider sitting on a snowy mountain slope reflects the feeling of clarity and promise that a new year can bring.
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Tell us what you think. The artist, their work. We want your input.
thats cool i want 2 be able 2 own my own design studio too i still have alot of practice and learning ,college too
I admire the single-mindedness that has allowed Dana to recognize his talent and support it to reach his level of success.
Great looking work. Love the melding of graffiti and a more fine art sensibility.
Trying to figure out exactly where the piece of art is that is featured for the Wacom calendar…the sites are amazing, but isn’t there a specific piece of artwork?
That’s amazing! It’s so amazing, that’s all I can really say!
In response to Stephanie:
The featured artwork is at the top of the page. The Pink links to the bottom right of the main image bring up the calendar wallpaper.
A great piece of work. I really like what you did with your pictures. Great work!
The art was real cool! If the intent is to be used this as a calandar, the calandar part need to be bigger and more legible. The calandar need to be consistant between all 12 calandars.
Good Luck
Not until now did I ever consider Graffiti as art and am happy to say my eyes are finally open. Thanks Dana, your art is beautiful, creative and inspiring!
Nice works!
Very good your style!!!! 
Very nice and original work Dana, I find it refreshing and take a certain inspiration of the possibilities I haven’t yet considered for my own Wacom works. I spend most of my energy working my own photographs into something new and unlikely, using my Wacom Intuos 3. The WACOM has changed the the way I work so much over the past few years, that I’ve used my actual INTUOS 3 as a template for my personal web site. Feel free to check it out if ya like.
-Brian
A snowboard with your own design? iRResSiStiBle!
fresh art to starts 2008.
cool!!!
Dana, I really like your style. I only wish that you had more pictures that I could use as my desktop picture. Also, do you use a Mac?
I’m confused. You say “watch them create digital magic” but I can’t find any links. I’m using Firefox 2.0 if that makes a difference. I can see the thumbnails screen grabs of Dana’s workspace, but none of them are linked.
Ahhh…I just checked out “World Leaders” and there is a link to a video. But no video link is appearing here for Dana
Nice! Bug up Dana!
I love your style Dana. Great work and very talented.
Congrats!
Your fantastic art is become my desktop picture now.
Happy holidays to all!