Deniz Ercelebi

Biography

I'm Deniz Ercelebi, the founder of Dnzsea Art in Richmond, VA. I've been in the tech industry for over 20 years designing digital products. My most recent experience has been in the fast-paced start-up world where I challenge myself every day to keep learning and creating intuitive user experiences.

Even though my education is in Industrial Design and my professional experience is in the product design field, art and illustration, specifically fashion illustration has always been a passion of mine. I love learning new tools and technologies for digital art as well as exploring the techniques for traditional mediums. I really enjoy creating digital art in Procreate where I can experiment with different visual styles quickly with the luxury of an undo button. I also love the artistic feeling you get from getting your hands dirty from water based mediums such as watercolours, ink and acrylics as well as dry mediums such as pastels, charcoal and graphite.

I sometimes combine mediums, starting traditionally and finishing off digitally.

I get my inspiration from fashion, pop culture, nature and architecture. Music also affects my work strongly. 

I am originally from Turkey but I am always a New Yorker at heart, where I lived for 7 years and met my husband. Today we have two children and are living in Richmond, VA. Our family also includes two cats and lots and lots of plans.

A few fun facts about me: Pescatarian, enjoys wine and food, sings only while driving, loves tea and coffee equally.