Rising Stars: Meet Dehvin Banks of West Side of Detroit

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dehvin Banks

Hi Dehvin, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story is a bit double-sided. All my life, I’ve been an artist from the early days of tracing over pictures of Spider-man to sketching in my sketchbook during class. I never really took it seriously or made it a part of my identity, though. It was just something I did to keep myself busy.

What I really had a passion for was solving problems and helping people, so as I got older, I started to come across a dilemma. Do I focus on helping people or stick to becoming a great artist? By this point in my life (around 12- 17 years old), I had been pushed to do volunteer work within the youth development and community development space. I had a great time and met a lot of cool people, but the part that I was drawn to was the tangible impact that I felt I was leaving. I didn’t want to leave all that behind and do work that merely entertained people. So I thought, why not both?

Over the next several years, I worked at a few places doing one or the other but always trying to find a happy medium in how I performed. I worked as a designer for a child autism center, I tutored and mentored at a few after-school programs, and I’m currently a STEAM program coordinator for middle schoolers. In each role, I would add themes of art, creativity, and community-mindedness. After work, I would then moonlight, doing illustration and design commission work for small clients. Needless to say, I was all over the place but still living by a mission, I wanted to use my creative mind to help make the world a better place.

When we started The Vision Detroit, I had the same idea “use my creative mind to make the world a better place.” I noticed that I hated always creating at home. I would get into a rut and then in turn procrastinate on the things I wanted to do. To remedy this I would go to coffee shops or libraries. The thing is, while they’re great places to do something like computer work, they aren’t very conducive to the expressiveness of creative mediums. (Imagine someone bringing an easel and paint into a Starbucks) I saw the problem and went searching. All I found were creative events that were more party than a workspace, cliquey art groups where you can’t get in unless you know someone, or super expensive co-working spaces. After my first round of research, I asked my fellow artists if they would be interested in a space dedicated to creatives and I got a ton of positive feedback. I chatted with my friend Jai’La about my idea and she had a similar one for music artists and producers. After months of back and forth, we finally decided to merge our ideas together and create one organization. We brought on another friend of mine Layla and the rest is history.

Something I’m in the early stages of right now is developing my own creative studio, Studio Prolog. With this company, I aim to supply branding and design services to mission and community-driven companies and organizations. More on that coming soon…

To bring the story full circle, I finally feel like I’m using my creativity to make an impact and I’ve never felt so fulfilled in my life.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all and I’m kind of grateful for that. I’ve learned over the years that almost nothing good in this world comes easy. Ya know, I’ve faced the normal stuff like imposter syndrome and the feeling of not being ready. I’ve also dealt with money and time issues. Wanting to do all of these amazing things while working a full-time job is far from the easiest thing in the world, but it’s a necessary evil when you’re trying to build something from the ground up. Quitting my job and working on these projects would be nice but it just wasn’t feasible. Another thing is relationships. Relationships have always been hard for me because I tend to hyper fixate. If I have somethingI want or need to do, everything else fades away. I’m like a horse with blinders on, all I see is the destination. Because if this I tend to neglect my personal relationships. It’s taken years to learn how to create that balance and make time for the people that I love. This also includes myself. Putting aside time for myself is hard and I still struggle with it to this day.

There have been times that I’ve wanted to give up along the way. Many, many times but there are always two things I think about. The first is, if everything goes well, would you be happy with the result? If the answer is yes, power through. The second (and something a mentor of mine always repeats) is to pick your hard. This path is long, hard, and strenuous, but so is living a life of mediocrity. If you want to make your life and the lives of the people around you better, you have to work hard for it.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My creative life has always been a little weird. I’ve never really seen myself as a “real” artist, just someone who happens to draw. Over time, I’ve realized that my work spans two very different areas that sometimes overlap. Illustration and branding/design.

On the illustration side, I specialize in character design and comics, and I’m known for my clean, line-heavy character drawings. This is usually my personal work. I love drawing with thin, detailed lineart, whether digitally in Procreate or Photoshop, or traditionally with ballpoint or needlepoint pens.

I think what sets me apart is my approach and my background. I’m completely self-taught, and I see art as play. I don’t overthink it, stress about impostor syndrome, or worry about how my work will be perceived by randoms on social media. I create for the joy of it, and I think that shows up in my work for better or for worse.

Professionally, I focus on branding and design for mission-driven people and organizations, especially those working to improve their communities. I see branding as character design for real life people, companies and causes. I love the structure of branding projects and the clarity that comes from a strong creative brief. It gives my work purpose in a way that my personal illustration work doesn’t.

What I’m most proud of is being able to blend my passion for creativity with work that has a real-world impact. Real tangible impact is something really important to me. I love that my work isn’t usually about aesthetics; it’s about telling stories, building identities, and making connections.

How do you think about happiness?
I think what makes me happy is seeing people around me happy. I’ve always been some sort of a people pleaser so no success is good enough unless I can change something in someone else’s life. I believe that is why impact to so important to my identity.

Contact Info:

• Website: My personal portfolio – https://designedbydehvin.com/ The Vision Detroit – http://thevisiondetroit.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorzdraws/ and https://www.instagram.com/thevisiondetroit/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dehvin-banks-1ab3a2147/