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The rise of Rock ‘n Roll heralded Dean’s arrival, September 21, 1964. Dean made his grand entrance in the sleepy Midwestern town of Goshen, Indiana, population 13,700. It was not an out-of-the ordinary occasion—intense labor, some loud yells no doubt, a few pushes (thanks Mom!)—and there was Dean.
School, church, and home were the circles of Dean’s life back then—just like about every other Midwestern kid. Dean’s family has always said that his artistic talent was evident while quite young and that Dean was drawing long before he could spell. While Dean’s contemporaries were sketching stick figures and square houses, Dean was taking a somewhat different approach. It could be said that Dean’s desire to create art unlike anyone had ever seen began germinating at an early age.
By the time Dean had reached high school he was using an airbrush to paint t-shirts and murals. During high school, Dean pursued two passions: art and skateboarding. With the latter, Dean was a semi-professional skater, sponsored by Gordon & Smith skateboards. Dean also attended a vocational school for commercial art, winning first place in a state contest and honorable mention in a national contest. Dean used many different types of media—automotive paint, watercolor, oils, etc. This passion—the pursuit of art no matter the media—propelled Dean to develop what he would eventually call his “Signature Style.”
Go West…Young Man
After graduation, Dean entered the “real world.” Dean climbed the professional ladder, eventually moving out of art and into management. Six years later, Dean heard the call of the road, loaded up his car and headed west. With California as the destination, Dean was able to pursue both of his passions—art & skateboarding—both, full time.
Dean found a niche while in Southern California and within two years time, Dean was getting a lot of illustration work from car show clients and some of the BIG firms. Hanna-Barbera, Universal Studios, Disney, Marvel Comics, and Wallace Green Studios all employed Dean for freelance airbrushing and layout work.
After a few years of constant sunshine and missing the rain, Dean moved back home to Indiana with a brand new concept and an abundance of ideas of how airbrushing and murals could be taken to a new level. He began purchasing the needed equipment and began his work in the basement of his home.
Flying Solo
After four years of spending time at a “real” job and then another 40-50 hours a week working in his basement, Dean decided it was time to go “solo.” Dean quickly earned a reputation for being very good and fast. As he began doing more and more custom paint work, Dean traveled wherever he was needed, including RV and boat manufacturers.
In 1997, Dean began doing more paint and design work on large off-shore race and pleasure boats.
Rise of TAOD (The Art of Design, Inc.)
The next few years saw Dean and his team doing custom painting and design work for many different companies and applications. Dean and Mark (Dean’s new business partner) struggled to stay small, but with their new shop and the help of their 17 employees, they were now creating some of the most outstanding murals, paintings and complete custom vehicle designs and graphics packages available in the world. The “Build it and they will come,” mentality took hold and soon customer experiences brought forth additional tag lines, “At 200 mph You Have No Friends,” “Looks Are Everything,” and “Can You Handle the Attention?” With each project came new opportunities to learn and a desire to “out-do” the previous job.
It may sound strange, but Dean and Mark believed they could come up with the chemistry to “steal time” by creating something so visually stimulating that people had to stop, look, and ask questions. They did not work all those long hours merely to do a “paint job.” They knew it was all for the art. They knew it took time to get the public to understand the time and effort that went into each project and that applications over a stretch of 40 feet are not easy. In doing so, customers would come to understand the time and costs associated with their project and that in the end; they would own something that no one else would have.
A New Path
It is sometimes difficult to separate Dean’s personal story from that of TAOD. A piece of Dean goes into each and every project. Breaking new ground is not just an occasional pleasure.
It was this philosophy that led Dean and his team to create the Dean Loucks Signature Series line of custom paints, which was developed in partnership with Akzo-Nobel. This line of paint not only performs superbly, but it is also supported by a complete program that helps other custom painters find the colors they want…quickly and easily.
Finding only a small handful of people in the world had the means to afford off-shore boats and his custom design & paint packages, and coupled the desire to make his artwork available to “everyone,” led Dean to create the Dean Loucks Fine Art Collection in the spring of 2009.
Color explodes from the board—each piece more different and more unique than the next. For collectors and aficionados, this artwork represents a lifetime of experiences—of lessons learned—and the desire to share those lessons and experiences with everyone! Dean knows all will enjoy his creations and that each piece of work will invoke emotions to the observer as unique as the paintings he creates!
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