Struggling Artist Turns Fry Cook Job Into Successful Pancake Art Career – Design You Trust
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Struggling Artist Turns Fry Cook Job Into Successful Pancake Art Career

Today, Dan Drake, aka ‘Dancakes’, is known as one of the world’s most talented pancake artists, but few people know that he never planned, nor trained for this career. He was just a guy flipping fried foods at a diner to make ends meet, but his artistic talent catapulted him to international fame.

Dan had always had a talent for drawing, but never really considered turning it into a career. In high-school, he would doodle and draw comics in the back of the classroom out of boredom, and dreamed of becoming a renowned musician with his band, Psychedelic Psycho Nuts. While trying to get his musical career off the ground, Drake got a job as a fry cook at the Courtesy Diner, in his home city of St. Louis. Because he needed to earn his chops, he was placed on the slow shifts, which resulted in few tips but a lot of time on his hands. It was on one of these shifts that he got his feet wet in the world of pancake art.

More: Dan Cakes, Instagram h/t: odditycentral

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Breakfast, Board Games, Live Pancake Art, and a chance to try out Anthromancer, the coolest new game in the world?! Come check out “Breakfast & Board Games”, presented by @drdancake @illphonics and @anthromancy on Saturday, April 13th at The Fellowship (3453 S. Jefferson in St. Louis). . . Admission is $15, open to all ages, and the shindig starts at 11am! With admission, guests will receive a hot breakfast (with vegetarian options available), raffle tickets, pancake art from Dancakes, and a beverage or local beer from 4Hands brewing company. Plus: we’ll have a live DJ, a Smash Bros. Tournament, Tarot readings, and a chance to get your hands on Anthromancer before its kickstarter launches later this year. Come check it out! We’d love to have you!

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Please enjoy a Winter Dragon Pancake for National Appreciate a Dragon Day! ❄️🐉💕🥞 . We didn’t know this was a holiday either.. but Google tells us that January 16th is “a day to encourage the young and not so young to explore the cultural and creative significance of dragons throughout history, literature, and folklore”. Yeah ok, works for us 🐲💕 . Also, we had a timelapse video for this one, but despite Dana @nosketchbookneeded thinking up the design and making this original art all by herself, Instagram seems to think that this image is copyrighted by a another company. Oh well, keep an eye out for the timelapse for this one once we get all that figured out 🐉🤷🏼‍♀️ . . #appreciateadragonday #dragon #winter #pancakeart #edibleart #foodart #got #creaturedesign #illustration #fantasy #creative #pancake #pancakes #relaxing #satisfyingvideos #satisfying #dragonart

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Sagittarius Constellation Pancake Art 🌌 🐎 🏹 ♐️ (November 23rd-December 21st) The characteristics of someone born under the sign of Sagittarius are a strong sense of curiosity, an insatiable thirst for knowledge, open-mindedness, independence, and high motivation to act on their impulses. They are true wanderers, and their open mind and philosophical worldview motivates them to explore the world in search of the meaning of life. This makes them the most avid travelers of the Zodiac, as they are excited by change and value their freedom above all else. Unfortunately, this means that sometimes they can also lose their touch on reality, as their lofty goals, metaphysical quandaries, and tendency to stray from the pack can sometimes make them a touch distant. However, they are brutally honesty, and value brutal honesty in return, so don’t be afraid to be that friend who yanks them back down to Earth. Their colors are lush purples and deep blues, and their sign is fire 🔥 . Hey guys, sorry that we’re late to the game with this one! Dancakes has been insaaaaaaanely busy with travel and making other content, so much so that Dr Dan ( @danieljamesdrake ) actually had to make this one in Dana’s place! This was his first attempt at a horoscope pancake, and I think it came out beautifully! Let him know what you think of his constellation horse-man pancake in the comments 🌟 . . #pancakeart #pancake #archer #centaur #sagittarius #cosmos #astrology #astronomy #horoscope #horoscopes Sagittariushoroscope #november #december #artistic #zodiacs #constellation #stars #zodiac #zodiacsigns #galaxy #space #astronomer #dancakes

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Hank here, I can't believe it but 5 years ago to the day Dan appeared on NBC's The Today Show. SWIPE TO ALL PICS ➡️ . . Two days before Thanksgiving in 2013, Dan and myself flew out to New York City (both our first time) we got put up in a swanky hotel right in the center of Rockefeller plaza. It was about a stones throw away from The Today Show. It was pretty surreal, how did we get here?! About a couple weeks prior Dan had a photo of him making a Mario mushroom pancake go viral. At the time I had only been friends with Dan about 3 months and honestly had no idea he did pancake art, I knew he worked at a diner and made pancakes but not art. Next thing I know he's texting me and telling me his pancake art is viral on Reddit and the local news is doing a story on him. I was super psyched for my new found friend, so about a week later we go to watch another story done on him by another local news station in his apartment. After we watched it we kind of thought the 15 minutes of fame were up. Dan then mentions that an intern at the Today Show reached out to him and ask him to make the faces of their anchors. He said he made them in the middle of his diner shift and sent the photos but hadn't heard back. As soon as Dan said that his phone rings from a New York number and it's the producer for the Today Show and they want him on the show two days from now meaning he would have to fly out tomorrow morning. He was super psyched…. But nervous. I was super psyched and nervous for him. I casually asked if he needed someone to go with him. I could see the look in his eyes he was very thankful for me asking this question. He asked the producer if he could bring someone and the producer said "name them". The next day Dan and I flew out to New York City. We find ourselves walking on the set of a show that we've seen on TV many times. Dan did so well on the show that he was overwhelmed with calls from people wanting to see his pancake art in person. We teamed up started Dancakes and the rest is history. In the past 5 years done a lot of crazy things, met a lot of crazy people and added a handful of artists and couldn't be more grateful.

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