Tough Chiefs loss propels Kansas City artist to launch winning business

Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by AltCap, an ally to underestimated entrepreneurs that offers financing to businesses and communities that traditional lenders do not serve.

The Kansas City Chiefs came up one win short of entering the Super Bowl when they lost by a field goal to the Cincinnati Bengals in January 2022.

But Kansas City, Missouri, artist Deante Howard won big even before the initial coin toss at Arrowhead Stadium.

Selling prints of his works featuring Chiefs and Bengals stars to tailgaters, Howard earned as much in a few hours as he would have made in a month in the health insurance sales job he had lost in a layoff several months prior.

When he returned home and informed his wife he was done submitting job applications to focus on making art his business, she dropped her initial skepticism when Howard told her he had sold all 25 of his prints and cleared $3,000 at the game.

Textbooks might call Howard’s art abstract expressionism mixed with realism. But he termed his style “elevated graffiti,” with broad, colorful strokes and shapes enveloping figures like the late Derrick Thomas, a Hall of Fame linebacker with the Chiefs.

“I feel like that’s a lot of how life is like,” Howard said. “Life can definitely surround you with chaos. You can look at the chaos or you can choose to focus on the important things and find beauty in that.”

A 35-year-old father of five, Howard is the product of a single-parent household on Kansas City’s east side. Living amidst gangs did not provide Howard with any role models to give life to his dream of turning his love of art into a career.

It was not until that Bengals-Chiefs championship game that it seemed art could be anything more than a side hustle. “I knew this could be it,” Howard said.

The expense of establishing himself as a professional artist, however, nearly scuttled his plans. That is until he learned about AltCap through AI Hub, an arts incubator in the River Market.

ICYMI: AI Hub’s art incubator is leaving River Market, taking over top floor of renovated PHKC space

AltCap’s ARTcap loan for creative entrepreneurs helped Howard purchase a display tent for art shows and equipment. He no longer works on his floor because he bought an easel, and he has used AltCap funding to pay the various fees required to enter and display at art fairs.

Deante Howard paints a piece using materials made possible by AltCap’s ARTcap loan for creative entrepreneurs; photo by Bobby Burch, AltCap

The AltCap funds also allowed Howard to purchase the special packaging collectors expect when they buy his sports cards. Howard has produced 6,000 trading-card-sized works featuring 30 athletes, and he will earn a $24,000 profit when he sells all of them.

In his other creative business, Howard designs and sells custom hoodies, jackets, shoes, and more via his Etsy store, Stacs on Deck. Featuring vibrant colors and eye-catching designs, Stacs on Deck has sold hundreds of custom clothing pieces around the world.

As most Kansas Citians know, the Chiefs rebounded from losing to the Bengals by winning back-to-back NFL championships. In football terms, Howard said his art business has taken him to the playoffs, and the Super Bowl is in his sights.

“I don’t believe I fail until I quit, and I don’t quit,” he said. “It will happen. It is just a matter of when.”

A painting featuring the likeness of Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes by artist Deante Howard; photo by Bobby Burch, AltCap