Limerick man Damien Quinn illustrating the world of sport
LIMERICK native Damien Quinn feels somewhat like he is living a double life!
Based in Sydney, Quinn is a graphic designer by day and a much sought after sports illustrator by night.
The US PGA, FIFA, a variety of soccer teams across Europe, American sports teams from the NFL and MLS all now use the talented Fedamore man for illustrations.
“It’s great to get paid for this work but if someone told me when I was a young fella that sports teams in America or the likes of Barcelona would want my work, you wouldn't believe it,” Quinn told the Limerick Leader this week.
“It’s a dream really, there are so many people doing stuff like me, so to see the teams that I am working with, I really do get an amazing buzz from people seeing my work. I’m a young fella that came from Fedamore and to have sports teams in America wanting my work, it just mad,” he laughed.
“One of the ones that kicked it all off and got me noticed would have been the illustration for the Limerick Leader for the 2018 All-Ireland final. One of my prouder ones still to this day, and the amount of people that wanted that print was incredible,” he said.
“You go through patches when there can be a lull but I am very busy at the moment so can’t complain. I’m like Batman with another job at night! I’m a graphic designer by trade - I studied in the Limerick School of Art and Design on Clare street - and then I do my illustration work at night time and weekends. Do they go hand-in-hand and are definitely linked. I have been working as a designer since I qualified in 2008, so that’s about 13 years or so and the illustration has really only been the last four years. I have always been into illustration all my life but got a bit lazy towards it and it was only the last four or five years that I got back into it - I can remember it was just one day I started back into it with an illustration of Roy Keane. It was literally just a hobby and I put a few online to see what people thought and a couple of people got in touch and liked what I was doing. I did a few bits for some League of Ireland clubs and it just grew from there,” he explained
“This year has been my biggest year. At the start of the year I did some stuff for the British and Irish Lions and FIFA. I do a lot of stuff in America. I’ve just worked with the PGA Seniors Tour where you have people like Darren Clarke from Ireland and then Bernhard Langer and Ernie Els. I got work from them because they had seen my work with the Atlanta Falcons - the NFL team - and I do an illustration for every game of their season. I do some work also for Atlanta United in the MLS, who share the same stadium,” outlined Quinn.
There is much debate about the positives and negatives of social media, but Twitter and Instagram that has helped Quinn promote his sports illustrations.
“It’s Twitter, more so for me. I started on Instagram but now I get more work from Twitter. Maybe the relevant people who work in communications departments or marketing departments are all on Twitter and see my work. I find it easier to tag people on Twitter and that’s how I get a lot of my work,” he said.
“If there is one sport I love more than anything, well that is hurling. Hurling and soccer would have been my sports growing up and the dream one day is to do some illustration work for Man Utd.”
He added: "You have to do a bit of research to pretend you know what you are talking about. Now I find myself following some of the relevant teams to see how they are getting on. A lot of time when I get a brief from a club they will have a fairly firm idea of what they want. I would add my own twist, which is great. I would do them over a couple of days. You would be talking about 12-hours and upwards. Could easily be double that depending on how much details in any one illustration. People will only look at an illustration for a couple of seconds, so you have to ensure that you grab their attention and get them to stop and look at everything that is going on".