Artist Interview: Ryan Wheaton

When I think of cartoonist, comic artist, and illustrator Ryan Wheaton, I think of two things: Radicalness, and beards. If you combine these words together, you get bearadical. And if Bearadical was a verb, Ryan Wheaton would have his picture in the god damn dictionary. He is easily one of the coolest artists I’ve met in some time. Even if he didn’t have an awesome beard people would still fall in love with his personality and perspective on making art. I was stoked that he was able to take some time out of his busy work schedule to answer some of my questions about his artwork, as well as how he started his career, and how he is dealing with the success of his first successful Kickstarter campaign for his comic ‘Stronghold‘. This interview was a lot of fun for me, you will enjoy it too!

I’m looking to learn more about Stronghold! How are things going with your work?

My growth has slowed a little since I’ve been focusing so much on Stronghold. Finding out many more weaknesses in my work than strengths. But it’s brought a lot to my attention.

Pfft, your eyes are just getting better and faster than your hands, is all. Just keep churning out stuff, man. Your work is getting better and better daily, and it’s visibly expressive as hell and fun to look at! Your daily doodles are absolutely marvelous.

And I appreciate that. I’m pretty confident with my looser stuff. My struggle is my polish stages. When I finish Stronghold it will be back to the drawing board with a lot of stuff.

How many pages is Stronghold? And are you coloring it too?

20 pages, and yes I am. I really bit off more than I can chew. But I’ve always adhered to the “fake it til you make it” way of doing things.

That sounds brutal as hell, but doable. You can definitely pull that off! I’ve been following you for a little less than a year, and I feel I’ve seen your work ethic develop more and more each day.

When did you know that you were an artist? I’m eager to hear that. From what I gathered via meeting you last year, you are self-taught?

Honestly it was probably when I first started receiving positive attention for drawing. Throughout school I became “the art kid” and I really liked that.

Now if we’re going to be honest, I wasn’t a very good artist in high school. I lived in a small town and just so happened to be better than most. “Big fish in a little pond” situation.

It really skewed my perception on what it meant to be a “good” artist. I just kinda coasted and didn’t put in the time to really improve.

After high school I enrolled in a few different art schools, but due to an illness in the family and being terrified at the amount of debt that came with art school, I decided against it. I worked in a factory for a few years and it wasn’t until a few years ago that I started getting a little more serious about making art.

So was there a tipping point that set you on your path, or was it more of a snowball effect? Did you find yourself saying ‘ok, forget this factory job’ or were you secretly planning an art career all along?

Not really. It was an extremely slow process. I was drawing regularly in a sketchbook journal of sorts, and I was content with that for a long time. That, combined with the small town and my complacency.

Everything really took a turn when I started listening to podcasts. And especially when I found Art and Story and Big Illustration Party time. The way they conducted their shows was super informative, but made you feel like you were a part of the conversation. I began listening to everything I could in ’09-’10 and really started making a case for myself to pursue art a little more seriously.

I started using my social networks to surround myself with as many creatives as I could. It was hard not to want to push myself with the constant inspiration I saw every day.

When did you know that you wanted to work on comics? Or was that always in the back of your head?

It really wasn’t until I started reading indie and mini comics. It was super inspiring seeing so many different types of stories told through the medium.

Then, in February of last year I was approached by Seth at a show about doing all of the art for Stronghold.

So, briefly tell us more about Stronghold. What is it about, and what intrigued you about signing onto the project with Seth?

Basically, Stronghold is the story of a mysterious Chaplain that is brought in to talk to the first super villain on death row.
Honestly what initially intrigued me was that Seth approached me and was willing to pay…

Haha, fair enough. Then tell me, why do we want to read Stronghold? Aside from give you big piles of money, of course…

Well, I think the story is pretty compelling. If we lived in a world that had super villains, what would we do with them? Something a little more extreme has to take place. Obviously just imprisonment isn’t working. Just look at Arkham Asylum. So perhaps capital punishment is the way to go.

It is an interesting premise. How can you stop someone who legitimately can’t be stopped? Or, am I putting the cart before the horse here? Tell us, if you can, what kind of super villain is this person on death row? (i.e. is he more of a superhuman menace, or possibly a billionaire with a lot of resources?)

Exactly. Well I think the writer did a wonderful job describing him on the Kickstarter page. Here’s that excerpt: “Haas is the oldest inmate in Stronghold at the age of 91. During World War 2 he was known as Mind Trick and rose through the ranks of the SS. When word of Haas’ ability to control the minds of individuals reached Hitler’s inner circle, he was moved to a concentration camp to ‘practice’ on the prisoners. It was at the camps that Haas learned how to control more than one person at a time and also when he discovered that the key to his ability was line of sight. After the fall of Berlin, Albert Haas fled and found his way to America and began his life of crime. Constantly on the run, he was finally captured, tried and convicted all while wearing a black hood. The black hood was later considered cruel and unusual punishment, so in order to control him, prisons now sedate Haas with powerful anti-psychotics. He has been on these drugs for close to twenty-five years.”

Very cool concept indeed! And luckily for you, he is sedated so you have a face to draw! Haha. That’s a really clever concept for a super villain. Seth deserves his props for sure!

So, naturally, I have to ask: is there anything you can tell us about this Chaplain character? Is he basically there to act as an audience, or is there more to him?

There is a lot more to Chaplain, but there is not much I can say about him right now. He’s a mystery to everyone: the reader and the other characters in the story alike.

Smart man, making me wait!

So, slight change of subject here, but in regards to your daily drawings, do you get the inspiration for them on a day to day basis, or have you been thinking about doing some for a while?

Most of them are thought up when I sit to do them. I’ll scroll through Tumblr or Pinterest or flip through a magazine for inspiration. Originally I was going to work looser and do more journal-style entires, but instead I opted for pieces with a little more finish.

So, what inspired that Barista drawing? I’m hoping you ran into some super pretentious dude working at Starbucks or something.

It was. [My girlfriend] and I were at a local classic rock-themed coffee shop. I was joking around and asked If he could draw something crazy in my latte, to which he responded: “it’s called etching, and no.”

Kudos to him for having respect for his art.

I guess, haha. He proceeded to “etch” the same old shit fern thing everyone does.

Haha! Oh man, he just phoned in the etching too! Well, at least his bad attitude lead to a good drawing.

Haha, exactly.

So, back on track, was your funding of Stronghold your first Kickstarter experience? And again, congratulations on getting the funding!

Thanks! And as a creator yes, but I’ve been backing things for a few years.

I have no experience in the matter, but I’ve heard a lot about the after effects and some of the challenges that creators face after getting successful funding. Any unexpected surprises arise after your funding success?

This being my first full comic project, the amount of time that goes into production was surprising. I’m also in charge of screenprinting the shirts. So hitting the deadline will be interesting.

I’ll bet, but y’know what they say about no rest for the wicked? I am eager for you to get your much deserved rest soon! I’m looking forward to see the result of your work and I can’t wait to see what you bring to the table.

So, do you have any words of wisdom to say about running a successful Kickstarter? Did you have any doubts going in?

Haha exactly. And thanks I appreciate that. The biggest piece of advice I can offer is don’t ask for more than you need and don’t forget to figure in shipping cost into all of your rewards tiers.

What are some of the websites, artist blogs, workshops, or forums you’re checking out right now, and what artists or art-related websites do you think we should check out?

Honestly, with my current workload I haven’t had a lot of time to visit many forums or other sites. I’ve been fortunate enough to build a good core group on art buddies via Facebook and other social networks. I would, however, recommend you go and listen through the back catalogue of both the podcast Art and Story and Big illustration Party Time. Those guys have probably helped me as an artist more than anything else.

Are you scheduling any events, cons, or meet-ups anytime soon that you’d think we should drop by?

Well I just finished a little three week, three con tour. I was down in Branson, Little Rock, and finished in Kansas City at Planet Comicon. I don’t really have another event until June where I’ll be tabling at Cosplacon in Jefferson city.

Any advice or words of encouragement for your fellow artist starting out?