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ARTIST FINDS ‘BIGGER’ SUCCESS
BY ERIC LOPKIN ReminderNews
When Matt Ryan was a child, candy-filled packages from his grandmother would arrive in the mail. One package arrived with more than candy – it held a package of six comic books. Those comics immediately captured Ryan’s imagination, and an artist emerged.
“There was this kid who could draw Tyrannosaurus better than I could,” explained Ryan, now 35 and living in Granby. “So I went home and practiced, and before you knew it, I could draw a better-looking dinosaur than he could. It just went from there. That was how it started.”
Ryan’s focus on drawing launched him into an art career that spans the creative and the commercial. After earning an Associate’s Degree in Visual Fine Arts, he worked at Mark Lewis Creative Arts in East Granby. “I started as an intern doing grunt work for four or five months, and then Mark started giving me projects. It was cool, because we never did the same thing twice,” Ryan said. “It taught me a lot about deadlines and putting in a killer day to get a job done. It was a journeyman experience. Then he closed the studio in East Granby and moved out to California. He said that if I were to open a sister studio, he would still send me work. So I did. I opened up a studio in Simsbury with Steve [Kuster]. We were getting some jobs from the Internet, some from hitting the street and some from giving art lessons. Perry [Robbin] was our first student, and now he interns with us, so it has come full circle.”
That studio is Matt’s Mine Studio, but the initial location of that studio is now a tanning salon, complete with a mural painted for the salon by Ryan. While no longer in that building, Ryan kept the studio going, doing design work and teaching private art and cartooning lessons. He jovially refers to that period as “Matt Ryan’s Traveling Circus,” as he juggled the studio work with that of his next project, a mini-comic titled, “Bigger.”
“Bigger” chronicles the romantic misadventures of Willie Rison. “‘Bigger’ was fun,” Ryan said. “‘Bigger’ still is fun. We started it as a mini-comic. We would do four- or six-page chapters, go to conventions and use it as a business card with pages. We got great feedback from it.” To launch the project, Ryan brought in a ghostwriter. “I had no writing ability. I had a beginning, a middle and an end, but I didn’t know how to even start making it work.”
“Bigger” appeared as a one-shot comic, which led to a four-issue limited series. The success of “Bigger” continued and brought Matt’s Mine Studio to a new project, printable role playing game boards called “Dungeon Downloads.” Dungeon Downloads taxed the studio and pushed their skills to new levels. But to break the monotony of the project, Ryan drew new “Bigger” stories on the side.
The original “Bigger” has since been reprinted, and three “Bigger” paperbacks have already been published. Ryan’s comic work is exploding with a fourth “Bigger” book on the way and a fifth in the planning stages. Ryan also has work being published in Psychosis #3, published by Guildworks, and has been working on the comic book series “Unhappy Gran’ma” for Radbu Productions.
Aside from his own work, Ryan is bringing artwork to the next generation of artists, teaching students at the Farmington Valley Arts Center. “I’ve been teaching their cartooning classes and their drawing and painting for teens classes. It’s been great. Jim Brunelle, who is second-in-command over there, had me do what they call a creativity workout. They do this on the first Thursday of the month. He wanted to observe me and see how it went. I was doing a monster creation workshop, and it sold out. He’s been getting me work ever since then.”
The work he’s gotten from Farmington Valley, aside from teaching, includes a gallery showing at Farmington Valley’s Fisher Gallery and having his work displayed in the lobby of the Hartford Courant and The Shoppes at Farmington Valley.
Knowing how his early exposure to comic art influenced him, he’s also made Matt’s Mine Studio available for parties, hoping to bring art to more people and just maybe get one more kid to draw a better dinosaur.
COMICS FEATURING MATT'S WORK
BIGGER one shot Free Lunch Comics
VAMPIRE BED & BREAKFAST #1 Crazy Mama Productions
BIGGER: WRDC #1 - 4 Free Lunch Comics
PSYCHOSIS #1 & #3, Wulf Girls: Guild Works Productions
UNHAPPY GRANMA #1 & 2 Radbu Productions
ONLY IN WHISPERS #1: Entangled: Free Lunch Comics
PORK 'N BEANS #1 Free Lunch Comics
BIGGER: WORKING STIFF Free Lunch Comics
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Matt will have his self portrait on display at the J VALLEE BRUNELLE FINE ART AND FRAMING gallery for June. Call 860.844.0277
Matt's annual Art-nite is July 17th at the Farmington Valley Arts Center from 6 - 9. Click this link and get an exclusive invite to print and bring to the show for a chance at original art!
MATT WILL BE IN ARTISTS ALLEY AT WIZARD WORLD PHILADELPHIA! Visit him and Unhappy Granma creator, Tom Van Zandt!
Matt received 2 honors at the NY COMICON Indy After Party's CAG AWARDS. One , to be a presenter for a fellow FLC member, the other, to receive the award for PRODUCTION EXCELLENCE!
MATT WILL HOST THE NEXT CAG CT MEETING For more info, go to www.comicartguild.com or their Yahoo Group
MATT AND HIS ASSOCIATES FROM FREE LUNCH COMICS TO ATTEND comic/toy/collectible and sport card show in the Plainville, CT area. Comic and collectible shows are on the last Sunday of every month. All of these shows run at the Plainville V.F.W. Hall- 7 Northwest Dr. (Route 10) from 10 AM to 3 PM. http://www.comicspace.com/cliffs_cons/
Matt joins Tom Van Zandt and Markellus Ragans to bring you a #1 you'll never forget, Unhappy Gran'ma! Available Now from Radbu Productions!
Matt and Bob Soraro team up again to bring you a new tale to feature the popular "Wolf Girls" and will appear in Psychosis #3 from GWP.Available Now!
Comic Book Art Workshop with Matt Ryan
Advanced comic book drawing instruction will be taught including line value, perspective, shading and much more. Once you’ve learned the basics and collected your ideas, put it all together! You’ll layout and finish your own comic book pages.
DATES: JULY 12th and 19th, 2008
TIME: 9:30pm – 4:00pm
Check www.fvac.net for more info!
Cartooning & Comic Book Art with Matt Ryan
Comic book drawing instruction will be taught including line value, perspective, shading and much more. Once you’ve learned the basics and collected your ideas, put it all together! You’ll layout and finish your own comic book pages.
DATES: JULY 11th - AUG 15th
TIME: 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Check www.fvac.net for more info!
Drawing and Painting for Teens with Matt Ryan
Build on your portfolio in this class with lessons in composition, value, and more. Each session specializes in 2 main projects in 2 different mediums.
Session 1 DATES: In Progress
Session 2 DATES: JULY 2nd - AUG 20th
TIME: 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Check www.fvac.net for more info!
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