Taking an interest in art since he could hold his first crayon, Derek R. Anderson began his professional art career in 1989 doing background embellishments for several D.C. Comics issues. "It was quite a thrill to be doing real art for characters like Batman and comic titles like the Legion of Superheroes!" Derek recalls of his first professional art gig at the age of only 16. "I couldn't believe I was actually able to work side by side with seasoned professionals at such a young age!"
Derek's first professional art job was as a background embellisher on D.C. Comics "Starman", Issue #10, 1989.
In 1990, at the age of 17, Derek moved to Daytona Beach, Florida and enrolled in college with a major in Graphic Art and a minor in Astronomy. "Right after I started design college I obtained a full time job as an illustrator at a screen printing company. I was only 17 years old at the time and was already working full time in the field I wanted to be in!"
...and the rest is history.
Staying in the Screen Printing field and continuously working full time for the last 20 years, Derek R. Anderson has established himself as one of the leaders in the industry.
In 1995, Derek met Kris and a partnership was quickly formed. Together they opened their first company together Active Imagaination Art Studios, which would eventually become FreelanceArtDepartment™.
Active Imagination's Headquarters (circa 2000) in Orlando, Florida.
Active Imagination Art Studios provided commercial art services and art for screen printers, and eventually expanded to include Screen Printing and Embroidery. Derek and Kris eventually married and started a family and they devoted their business to artwork and stopped all printing. "We wanted to focus on our passion" Derek explains, "With the family growing larger, and our art services being in higher demand, it only seemed like the best course to take so we sold all of our printing and embroidery equipment and in the year 2000 began to focus exclusively on artwork with the official opening of the new Art Studio."
2001 was also the year Derek was informed that he was accepted into the International Who's Who of Entrepreneurs Society. "It was a great privilege!", Derek comments, "I felt like I was on the way to making some great accomplishments in my career and with the studio!"
In addition to his established career as a Screen Printing Artist, Derek is also a four time published author of G.I. Joe collectible books. his first book was released in 2004, books two and three were released in 2006, and book four, currently available on Amazon.com and at your local book stores, was released in the summer of 2009.
Shown above are an assortment of one of Derek's four published books on G.I. Joe Action Figure History and Collecting.
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