My name is David Holderman and I am an illustrator specializing in concept and character design. I have worked on a variety of projects, both personal and professional. Since July of 2022, I have been regularly posting on TikTok and YouTube as part of a personal long-running world-building project based around viewer engagement. Essentially, I design fantasy characters based off of a name commented by a viewer, complete with appearance and backstory, which I tie into this same world I've been working on for nearly four years. This exercise has proven to be greatly beneficial to my own skill when it comes to creating and designing characters. Through this project, I have amassed in total around 30,000 followers between YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and regularly bring in tens of thousands of views per month, reaching as high as over 100,000 views. For my professional work, I have been working as a freelance illustrator and character designer for the online animation group Kissing Party LLC for several years now. I have contributed to many social media posts as well as some large scale projects. Some of the most prominent of these have been working on three different animated bumpers for Adult Swim, a short show under Adult Swim Smalls called Floor 999, and advertisements for Truly Hard Seltzer and the Mexican Olympics Team. Through all this, I have accumulated many skills beyond just character design, such as learning how to build off of critique and adjust my work to fit the artistic vision of the project lead. You can find my illustration portfolio featuring a breadth of my work, at davidgrayholderman.carrd.co I hope that you will consider me for your project!

David G Holderman

My name is David Holderman and I am an illustrator specializing in concept and character design. I have worked on a variety of projects, both personal and professional. Since July of 2022, I have been regularly posting on TikTok and YouTube as part of a personal long-running world-building project based around viewer engagement. Essentially, I design fantasy characters based off of a name commented by a viewer, complete with appearance and backstory, which I tie into this same world I've been working on for nearly four years. This exercise has proven to be greatly beneficial to my own skill when it comes to creating and designing characters. Through this project, I have amassed in total around 30,000 followers between YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and regularly bring in tens of thousands of views per month, reaching as high as over 100,000 views. For my professional work, I have been working as a freelance illustrator and character designer for the online animation group Kissing Party LLC for several years now. I have contributed to many social media posts as well as some large scale projects. Some of the most prominent of these have been working on three different animated bumpers for Adult Swim, a short show under Adult Swim Smalls called Floor 999, and advertisements for Truly Hard Seltzer and the Mexican Olympics Team. Through all this, I have accumulated many skills beyond just character design, such as learning how to build off of critique and adjust my work to fit the artistic vision of the project lead. You can find my illustration portfolio featuring a breadth of my work, at davidgrayholderman.carrd.co I hope that you will consider me for your project!

Available to hire

My name is David Holderman and I am an illustrator specializing in concept and character design. I have worked on a variety of projects, both personal and professional.

Since July of 2022, I have been regularly posting on TikTok and YouTube as part of a personal long-running world-building project based around viewer engagement. Essentially, I design fantasy characters based off of a name commented by a viewer, complete with appearance and backstory, which I tie into this same world I’ve been working on for nearly four years. This exercise has proven to be greatly beneficial to my own skill when it comes to creating and designing characters. Through this project, I have amassed in total around 30,000 followers between YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and regularly bring in tens of thousands of views per month, reaching as high as over 100,000 views.

For my professional work, I have been working as a freelance illustrator and character designer for the online animation group Kissing Party LLC for several years now. I have contributed to many social media posts as well as some large scale projects. Some of the most prominent of these have been working on three different animated bumpers for Adult Swim, a short show under Adult Swim Smalls called Floor 999, and advertisements for Truly Hard Seltzer and the Mexican Olympics Team. Through all this, I have accumulated many skills beyond just character design, such as learning how to build off of critique and adjust my work to fit the artistic vision of the project lead.

You can find my illustration portfolio featuring a breadth of my work, at davidgrayholderman.carrd.co

I hope that you will consider me for your project!

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Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Character/Poster & Lip-Sync Art Assets at Kissing Party LLC (Adult Swim Smalls Show “Floor 999 (2025)”)
February 1, 2025 - July 1, 2025
Created many assets using Procreate, including the show poster, final character designs with mouth poses for lip syncing, background shots, and close-up detail shots.
Animated Bumpers Contributor at Kissing Party LLC (Adult Swim Bumpers “June 2024”)
June 1, 2024 - August 1, 2024
Contributed to three separate animated bumpers using Procreate and Photoshop. Designed the leading character for all three, and created animation for one bumper.
Sole Artistic Contributor at Kissing Party LLC (Ad for the Mexican Olympics Team)
April 30, 2024 - May 31, 2024
Acted as a sole artistic contributor taking direction from the client and supervisor. Used time-lapse drawings in Procreate to tell the stories of six different athletes to promote a new uniform.
Freelance Illustrator at Kissing Party LLC
October 1, 2023 - Present
Brought a unique visual style to online comedic work as an illustrator for multiple projects. Provided illustration work including character designs, storyboard art, animation (including boiling/boiling work), and background designs. Worked on high-level industry projects for individuals and organizations such as Howie Mandel, Adult Swim, and the Mexican Olympics Team. Received direct direction and suggestions from a supervisor and became proficient at iterating artwork to match a broader vision.
Content Creator at YouTube and TikTok
June 30, 2022 - Present
Maintained a consistent online presence centered around art and character design. Created long-form educational videos detailing character design process and workflows based on viewer interaction using Adobe Premiere, Photoshop, and Procreate.

Education

Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Pictorial Art at San Jose State University
August 1, 2019 - May 1, 2025
Minor in Biological Sciences at San Jose State University
August 1, 2019 - May 1, 2025

Qualifications

Chosen for the cover of Reed Literary Magazine’s 2025 issue
January 1, 2025 - July 28, 2026
Runner-up for the 2025 Mary Blair Award for Art (First place in the 2025 Santa Clara County Fair Graphic Arts show)
January 1, 2025 - July 28, 2026
Graduated Summa Cum Laude
January 1, 2025 - July 28, 2026

Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment