Meet Derod Garrison

We recently connected with Derod Garrison and have shared our conversation below.

Derod, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

Keeping my creativity alive is nothing that is too hard for me. Being a person who was influenced by pop culture of the 80s 90s and early 2000s, I can always go back to those moments and pluck little pieces of info that can be used for inspiration. Growing up, I was always fascinated with how cartoons were drawn, how the stories were created, along with how character interaction’s build that story. I strive to bring that feeling toward the work that my team & I make today. We are fans of multiple genres. By being fans, we have the love and knowledge to bring forth incredible stories along with amazing artwork. Anyone can go outside take a look at some scenery and be able to make action pack scenes or look at a living beings and see the heartfelt love that someone can feel for another. Life is our creative canvas. We just exaggerate some points to make entertaining yet relatable stories for the audience.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

We at DI-E:RA LLC are a graphic novel/manga/comic book publishing company. We take customers literary books/writings and turn them into graphic illustrations. We also provide other graphical & literary options for customer’s. I focus on helping others achieve what they really want in live when it comes to creating books. The special thing about what I do, is seing someone’s imagination come to life through imagery. My flagship project is DinaZaurZ. It’s a 2-D graphic novel, which is categorized as a strain of multiple genres. It features a reimagining of a change Earth known as the “Re-Awakening” through the perception of alternating characters. Unlike the titles suggest multiple series will contain fused species of creatures, both known and unknown to the landing and skies. Using completely original character design along with real life experiences, create unique yet familiar scenarios. We have the digital 200 page copy of episode 1 available on our website, along with episode 2 during the year of 2025!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

As I look back on the three things that stand out the most to me when it comes to my skills, qualities or area of knowledge would be my artistic perspective, imagination along with how well I can communicate with others. I’m far from being the best artist in the world, but I’m skilled enough to properly draw out scenes for any artist to take to the next level. Hence the title of Story-boarder. Using my imagination allows for the ability to take literary work & help turn them into a form of illustrative art. Being able to communicate with others also allows me to develop unique relationships that gives even greater insight into any project that I’m working on. One piece of advice I can give,would be to under that it’s okay to not get something right the first time around. Never stop learning about your craft and know that you don’t know everything.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

The most impactful things that my parents have done were being my parents. I thank my mother for always being tough with me. Letting me know that I could do anything if I just put my mind to it. I was a hard headed kid so that constant educational backing gave me the knowledge to push through. She also kept me in Church every Sunday, There I gained the confidence to stand in front of a large group of people with my head held high. Those skills are still being used till this day. My Father had a giant part to play in developing me into a stand up man. He shown me how to protect myself and others. The reason why I love art and was influenced by the cartoons of old was because of him. Some of our Father/Son time was spend reading old comics that he collected in his youth along with drawing different character perspectives. He truly made me love making compelling stories that stimulate the imagination.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.di-e-ra.com
• Instagram: di.e.ra
• Facebook: DiEra
• Linkedin: Derod Garrison
• Twitter: DIERA_LLC
• Youtube: DI-E:RA LLC
• Other: TikTok is diera.llc