Meet Daniel Garvin | Graphic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniel Garvin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, what do you attribute your success to?
I’ve collected things my entire life. Trading card games have almost always the object of my focus. So I’m actually surprised that it took until my late twenties to realize that I wanted to create my own trading card game. I’ve been an artist and writer as long as I can remember, and creating a tcg allowed me to be all the things I wanted to be all at once: a collector, illustrator, author and packaging designer. (I’ve always loved boxes too.)

I’ve always approached Booster Brat as an artist first, and it only became the full on project it is, complete with game devs, kickstarter, online store and social media after I was sure this was something it was worth sticking with with for a long time. Booster Brat, plain and simple, is the story of my life, in word, image and spirit. Each card has a function in the game, and a little bit of an ongoing narrative that follows me and my two brothers as we explore a dangerous world of collecting, bullies and experiences. As you collect all the cards, you complete the story and build stronger decks to beat your rivals. The more of it I complete and release, the more I understand myself. And that’s why it’s succeeded so far. Everything I put out I hold to a certain standard because it’s me that I’m selling.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve worked as a full time Graphic Designer for the last 10 years and I continue to now even as I work on Booster Brat well into the late hours of the night. I’ve created ads for a horror magazine. I’ve retouched photography for one of the largest musical instrument suppliers in the US. I’ve designed brands for a food and drug company. I’ve created packaging and displays for a fashion company. At each of these different jobs I’ve learned different design skills, and been exposed to so many varied brands and products. My experience as a designer is what has allowed me to create Booster Brat. My day jobs funded the early print runs for the brand, and supplied the skills in photoshop, illustration and packaging design I use every day to push it further.

Has it been easy? No. Not getting enough sleep is never fun. Working a full time job and then coming home to crank out my own ideas is mentally draining. Vending at conventions, shipping orders, talking to people are not easy for me, in fact they can feel like some of the hardest things in the world.

But is it hard? Also no. Because I love art, I love creating, and there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. So in some ways, making Booster Brat is the easiest thing in the world.

It all starts and ends with the art. I can’t release a new product until the art is done, and I can’t start a new set without first planning out the art. As I said earlier, I’ve collected trading cards my entire life, jumping around from Pokemon to Magic the Gathering to Star Wars to Harry Potter back to Pokemon, etc. So the inspiration for my art comes from many different games, but also from a lot of different experiences. Spark is the main character of Booster Brat, and he represents me: young, headstrong, insecure, and always wanting more. He is joined by his two brothers who act as both rivals and allies (as all siblings do). Together the 3 of them embark on a journey into the very meta world of trading card collecting. They capture creatures and ideas and items and stick them in literal trading card frames, fly around in 3 ring binders, and open booster packs to increase their power.

A lot of our own life events have made it into the art and story. I put a stack of cards through the washing machine as a kid, so there’s a collection eating washing machine card. There’s an older kid who tried to cheat us out of a card, and he shows up as a big bad wolf type villain in the game. I draw on experiences from my childhood try to make the story as accessible and relatable as possible to anyone who had a childhood like mine, or years to experience one in the modern day. It’s all about finding the audience. Some people are looking for something new, some for nostalgia, some for an artistic outlet. I tried to build the community of Booster Brat to welcome any and all seekers of anything. Come for the art, stay for the people, come for the cards, stay for the community.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Los Angeles, and by extension, graffiti, served as the inspiration for a number of the pieces and cards I created for this game. Tag, murals and daring splashes of word art cover this city, and If I wanted to show someone the best time ever, I’d drive through the streets and point that graffiti out to them. There’s graffiti everywhere, so to see it all, you’d have to go everywhere. And man is there a lot to see in the everywhere of LA. Murals, stores, theaters, gardens. I think the best way to experience LA is to just head out and go where the wind and your google skills take you. You can hit up the tourist traps if you life, Griffith Observatory, Disneyland, Santa Monica are all famous for good reason. But the best experience in LA really varies on a person to person basis. There’s a perfect LA for everyone out there. Foodies, artists, concert goers, movie buffs, dog lovers. And the Graffiti runs through it all, like a multicolored bloodstream.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are 3 people I could not have done this without: my mom, dad and partner. My parents supported my artistic dreams by sticking me in art classes, proofreading my awful early novels, attending conventions, etc. My partner has stuck by me through the lows and highs, always encouraging, always telling me I have something special here. Take any of these 3 out and the jenga tower that is Booster Brat would have toppled.

Website: https://www.boosterbrat.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boosterbrat

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-garvin-63923741

Other: https://linktr.ee/boosterbrat