My Background
My name is Daniel Longan, 42, I grew up in the Greater King County area of Washington state. While my first experience with incarceration was at the age of 20; I received my current sentence of 40 years at the age of 27 and have remained incarcerated since.
In that time, I have found various ways to work on myself as well as try to give back in a positive manner. I have found joy I training dogs in the Freedom Tails Program which takes dogs from kill shelters and trains them in obedience and as companion animals. I've also participated in the Build-A-Bear Program which donates the bears built to be handed out to children in need who are experiencing crisis situations. I've also worked closely as a Tier Representative for fellow prisoners, mentoring individuals to help them navigate the carceral system in a positive and productive manner. I am continuously taking various self-help classes and college courses, many of which are geared towards self-change and victims awareness through accountability of the harm I've caused in the past. Such classes include: Redemption and Bridges to Life. Both focus on restorative justice practices and each has opened my eyes, in their own ways, toward the issues victims experience from the harm I had caused in the past.
I found art at a young age and dabbled in it throughout my life. I have used it as a way to express the things I enjoy and find peace. I have worked in the pen and ink medium, mixing in markers as well as colored pencils, but graphite and pencil is the medium I enjoy to work with most. I am a fan of all forms of art, but portrait work is what I most enjoy.
Some of my works of art have been displayed at the LeMay Auto Museum in Tacoma, Washington, as an accompanying piece to a custom automobile, by Leonard Journet, commemorating and memorializing an Army Soldier, my nephew Devante Journet. I recently discovered freelance illustration as a way to be productive and have a voice in prison reform. I have had work published in several places: JSTOR, The Kitchn, Type Media, and many more.
I was first introduced to using my art in freelance journalism in 2022. Christopher Blackwell; a friend, mentor and prolific journalist, introduced me to the possibilities of using my art as a way to support the changes I wanted to see within the carceral system.
My mission is to educate people using my art as my voice to show them that we all deserve to live as we choose, and that we should be able to do so free of judgement. It's also important to me that I show society that just because someone is in prison that doesn't mean they have nothing left to contribute, or should be discarded and exiled as an outcast. We are ALL more than our worst mistakes.
Medium
My medium for most of my art is various kinds of pencils, from charcoal to graphite. I work in all gradients of pen and ink to include markers too. I have done colored pencil work as well as mixed media with paint, pencil, and ink too. I do work in all sizes from smaller pieces in 9x12 and 9x18, to bigger works such as 12x18, 18 1/2x23, or 18x23 1/2. I do commission work and freelance illustrations for publications upon request. I use high quality supplies and work in a timely manner. I work on everything from Bristol vellum and Bristol smooth to illustration boards.