Ryan told Bored Panda that he’s inspired to keep drawing because he gets a satisfying feeling when he finishes something he likes. “It’s extra rewarding if my readership receives it well, too,” he added.
“I developed my style through a fondness of classic cartoons and MAD magazine. I’m also inspired by my peers in the animation industry and the webcomic world,” the illustrator revealed.
We were also interested to find out how Ryan and his friends met and founded ToonHole. “I met the other ToonHole guys in college and we bonded over a love of old cartoons and similar drawing sensibilities. It’s always a challenge to grow your audience consistently since media platforms are always evolving and moving the goalposts. It’s also a challenge to get big accounts and content aggregators to appropriately credit your shared work,” he shared some of the challenges that they as creators faced.
“Writing a good comic means I have to allow time for my mind to wander so I can capture an idea worth drawing,” Ryan told Bored Panda about his creative process. “A comic from start to finish is usually anywhere from 2 to 6 hours depending on complexity and style.”
Ryan added that he feels extremely grateful to have the readership and support that he’s amassed over the last 10 years. “I hope my work ushers a little more joy into the world because making these has surely given me immense pleasure.”
More than 99k people follow Ryan on Instagram and he has nearly 5.5k fans each on Facebook and on Twitter.
Ryan’s friend Chris previously told Bored Panda a bit about what inspiration is like for him personally and gave us some more insights into how the ToonHole squad looks at art and creativity.
For Chris, inspiration is like magic and can come from anywhere: “A conversation, a book, an overheard conversation, a misheard word, or seeing somebody trip on the sidewalk. There are no rules!”
The entire ToonHole gang of friends has different approaches to art and their creative processes. For example, Chris told us that he likes to mix it up and draws some comics digitally and some using analog materials like ink, watercolor, and colored pencil. For Chris, it takes him roughly 3 hours to finish a single comic starting from the thumbnail to the finished piece.
