We also wanted to know if the artist had a comic he was proud of, and we thought it was only fair if he'd share his thoughts with us!
"It’s hard to pick a favorite comic. I’ve always liked the Buni comic where he’s imagining he’s riding a unicorn in the sky with rainbows, but he’s actually just riding a broken-down mechanical horse in a sketchy part of town in real life. It was one of my earliest Buni comics that kind of solidified the character for me and I used that comic on the first page of my book.
More recently I made a comic about sunflowers overpowering a tank to represent the Ukrainians overcoming the Russians. I put the design on shirts and I’m donating all my profits from the design to UNICEF, which helps kids around the world, including in Ukraine."
Artists go through a few art phases trying to find the art style they could call their own, however, it seems like Ryan is pretty settled in that area, however, that doesn't mean the artist wouldn't like to try something new.
"I would like to try a long-form comic like a graphic novel. I have an idea for one and have started working on the characters. I like short-form comics because you only commit a couple hours to them and then you’re already moving on to the next one so you can’t overthink it too much. I’m a little worried a graphic novel will be like trying to eat a giant elephant one bite at a time. But it might be nice to not start from scratch day after day and have a long-term project.
I’m also interested in magazine-style gag comics like the ones featured in The New Yorker. I’ve enjoyed reading those cartoons for years and I’d like to try to get one of my own cartoons published in the magazine some day."
Starting out with comics (or art in general) isn't easy, so we asked the artist if he had any tips to share.
"I usually tell people who are interested in comics to just start creating comics now. Because everybody has 100,000 bad drawings in them so the quicker they get them out of the way, the better their comics will be. You get better with each drawing. The same applies to writing. The more you write, the more you’ll find your voice and your unique style of humor. Take risks. Be weird. Make what you actually think is funny and not what you think other people will think is funny."
When it comes to people having opinions on his comics, here's what the artist thinks, "I hope that the three seconds that people spend reading my comic makes their day a little bit better. And maybe they like it enough to send it to a friend to help make their day a little bit better, and so on. And maybe they like it enough that they look forward to the new comics when they pop up on their social media feed.
I also hope that, even though my comics don’t have many words, they still get across some deeper themes people face, whether it’s love and rejection, or just weird stuff about our relationships with phones, food, and procrastination."
For some people, art is not only a hobby, but something way more, something that helps them to cope with whatever life might throw at them.
"I would probably draw comics even if I never showed them to anybody. I like the daily meditation of writing and drawing. So in that way, it helps me with my life. I’m a super chill person, and I think comics may have something to do with that.
I first started seriously drawing comics after I broke my elbow in eighth grade. I had time to practice drawing and making comics. After my arm healed, I still kept up the practice of drawing comics. So comics helped me get through that period, but breaking my arm may have been one of the best things for me since I focused more on comics."
