Dean Loucks knew early he wanted to be an artist.

For a grade-school project, Loucks drew a picture of himself painting on a large canvas. Beside the picture he wrote: “When I grow up I would like to be an artist because I like to droll.”

Note the spelling of the word, “droll.”

“They said I could draw before I could spell, which is probably still the case,” Loucks said.

Many years later, the 47-year-old Granger man is still drawing.

Well, sort of.

His artwork is difficult to describe, but easy to appreciate. His subjects range from cars, to fish, to city scenes, but none of his creations look how you would expect due to his signature style, which he calls “the art of removal.”

Loucks applies paint to a prepared surface that is laid flat. He uses reducer and thinner to manipulate the image before going to work with a paint gun and air brush.

The result is often something Loucks didn’t entirely envision.

“I want to do something that has energy behind it and emotion that can’t be duplicated,” he said. “It is being good at taking the paint off and moving it around. Most people want to apply the paint, but I don’t really care about how I get the paint on it. How it gets removed is when the neat stuff happens.”

Loucks, who began creating his art pieces about three years ago, didn’t have a place to display the art until opening Dean’s Place art gallery in January.

The gallery, 918 E. University Dr. in Granger, Ind., features Loucks’ paintings, custom-painted furniture, pedal cars, bombs and more.

“It is everything that I think is cool that other people should buy or come in and look at,” Loucks said.

Though his artwork is gaining popularity, Loucks is probably best known for his Elkhart, Ind., based company The Art of Design (TAOD).

Founded in 1990, TAOD, 104 Rush Ct. in Elkhart, does high-quality customized paint jobs for any and all vehicles, including million-dollar RVs, speed boats, exotic cars and helicopters.

Reach Loucks at (574) 241-0101.