‘A Bachelor’s in Art, a Master’s in Trout’

When Dawson Jordan ’16 was a graphic design student at Upstate, his schedule revolved around fishing. Classes were arranged to accommodate the best morning or afternoon times to be at the water.

These days Jordan still rises early to capture fish, but these varieties are digital. They spring from the tablet he uses to create outdoor recreation designs for his freelance business. Country singer Morgan Wallen and outdoor retailer Orvis have been clients.

Despite his skill and creativity in depicting outdoor activities, Jordan initially wanted to create art for a decidedly indoor pursuit – video games. “When I was in high school, I really got into comics and science fiction stuff,” he says. “I was like, oh, I’m gonna go to college and I’m going to be a video game designer.”

But Jordan’s brother discouraged him from the idea, noting the difficulty of getting into a niche field. He suggested Jordan consider something with broader appeal. Fishing seemed like an obvious choice.

“Gaming is more personal fun and there’s so much competition in there, and I feel like the outdoors relates to more people,” Jordan says.

Growing up in Dillon, South Carolina, Jordan learned to fish in the pond behind his family’s home. Outdoor activities were a big part of family life and in high school Jordan added hunting to his hobbies. It was at Upstate, however, where he got serious about fly fishing, traveling around the Carolinas to find good trout streams.

“I like to joke that I got a bachelor’s in art but a master’s in trout,” he says.

Though Upstate was conveniently located for outdoor escapes, Jordan chose the school for its strong graphic design program. He had been drawing almost as long as he’d been fishing, spending hours in his room sketching animals and people. Though he took some art classes as a teenager, he mostly developed his skills through practice.

Getting fish right was especially challenging. Jordan recalls meeting Guy Harvey, a marine wildlife artist he admired, and showing him a drawing. “He was like, ‘You need to actually see the fish and draw them from seeing them,’” Jordan recalls. While the critique stung a little, it also was helpful. Jordan began taking pictures of his catches and using them as models for his drawings.

But after graduating from Upstate, Jordan still seemed far from a career in outdoor clothing design. He worked at a printing plant in Spartanburg for awhile and made a failed attempt to launch his own design business on the side. “Every fisherman has a stage where they’re like, ‘I’m gonna come up with my own outdoor brand,’” Jordan says.

He joined the family business back in Dillon, the Herald Group, which includes a printing plant and office supply division. Jordan learned more about the printing process and applied his graphic design skills to magazines and brochures. For a time, he managed one of the family’s newspapers.

He also got back to drawing again. After he married his college sweetheart, Gisella ’18, she encouraged him to post his art on social media to give it more exposure. Jordan began rising before dawn to spend a few hours drawing before work. He’d take a picture of the art and upload it to a tablet, then trace over it with a pencil tool. When finished, he would upload the final image to Facebook and Instagram.

Just as his wife had predicted, people began noticing his work. He started getting offers to purchase his designs, then commissions for specific projects. Uncertain about pricing, Jordan initially undervalued his designs. “I charged $20 for my first commission,” he says. “I had no idea how much it was worth.”

As his experience grew, though, Jordan understood his art had real value. He became comfortable drawing directly on a tablet, without needing a paper version first, and explored different printing techniques. He also studied the work of other designers, taking note of the colors and materials they used that produced the best results for the artwork.

“As I charged more, I also learned more,” he says. “My customers got a lot more serious, too, and a lot of them would send giant spreadsheets with all the details of what they needed.”

Jordan eventually was getting enough commissions to keep him busy without needing another job. He also knew he was happiest when making art in those early morning hours, so, with his family’s support, he gave up his job in 2023 to focus full time on drawing.

Many of his commissions are for T-shirts, but hat patches are popular as well. The designs focus on hunting and fishing, though fish are still Jordan’s favorite subject to draw. Much harder are dogs and birds, mainly because both have passionate communities attached to them. More than once Jordan has had to correct the coloring on a bird to reflect its hunting season plumage or fix the details on a dog to more clearly identify it as a hunting breed.

Jordan still prefers mornings for drawing, though he’s made adjustments to spend time with his two toddlers. He takes a break at lunch and tries to wrap up by 4 so the rest of the day can be family time.

Jordan is open to one day trying again with his own outdoor brand, but he is willing to wait to find the right partner who can handle the business side of things.

In the meantime, he enjoys seeing where his designs turn up. “If I’m scrolling on Instagram getting inspiration and I see a guide in Montana wearing one of my shirts, I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty cool,’” he says. He even spotted a photo of country singer Chase Rice sporting one of his shirts at a concert in Oregon.

While cheap AI knockoff designs are everywhere on the market, Jordan isn’t worried they’ll be competition. His clients, and their customers, are people who care about getting the details right, he notes.

Between commissions and family, Jordan squeezes in as much fishing as he can. He admits he always tries to plan family outings somewhere near a good fishing spot. “The one vacation I’ve done with my wife where I did not have a fishing pole was our honeymoon,” he says.

For him, the appeal of fishing, much like drawing, is the focus it brings. “The only thing that I’m thinking about is looking at my line or watching what’s going on, and when I figure out what the fish are doing, it’s just awesome,” he says.

And just like nailing the details of a drawing after a few drafts, Jordan relishes the satisfaction when his patience and observation yield a fish on the line. “It makes me feel that I’ve connected with something in nature and beaten it.”