Ryan Cecil Smith

I was honored to make some drawings for one of my favorite newsletters on Substack, Link in Bio by Rachel Karten @milkkarten . She writes about marketing, especially online and in social media. It’s more than online trend reporting BUT it includes some of that and she always finds interesting creators or professionals who communicate online especially well, and asks the great questions. Anyway this piece is about the disturbing and real trend of managers and bosses losing their minds and falling in love with AI. And how this affects their work and their teams. Check out the piece (linked in my bio today), laugh at my cartoons, and READ THE COMMENTS!

Helloooo everyone! I would like to tell you that I am available for work, and am keenly interested to find a job in BG design, design leadership, story, or revisions. And you know what - if you think I’m a fit on your project in any capacity, please reach out! I am getting to the end of the Union health insurance soon, so any freelance or small job would be a big help. But! For some fun - let me show you an interesting old project: my very first assignment at Cartoon Network Studios. This was a 360º view of the inside of Mr. Gar’s Bodega. The strategy for OK KO’s environments - led by our amazing art director @superphamicom - was to create “key designs “ our animation studio could reference for main locations, so we wouldn’t have to draw the interior too many times every episode. It really paid off with time, and the first big location which we would use more than anything else, was the bodega where Enid & Rad & K.O. worked. What you can see here are the north, south, east, and west walls from end to end. We also included designs that laid out where the shelves are, and we included in our main model pack some sample/standard aisles of shelves. I learned a lot from doing this. One thing was: well, just sitting down and DOING it taught me how to organize the camera and perspective and lining elements up. Second: for a big environment like this, it’s best to use LESS detail. If we ever really needed more detail for an episode or a scene, we could totally do that. It was very smart of @superphamicom to keep insisting I don’t fill up the shelves with new complicated items. Another huge thing was: symmetry. There is no need to draw things twice. Copy and paste and reverse. It’s good to do that wherever you can. Obviously we make it interesting and the room isn’t literally symmetrical. But. We do what we can. I included one final slide with an example of a shelf that was way too complicated, which John had me redraw. This was good! It’s sort of vain of a designer to over-enhance everything. Ahem… I could keep go on! But — don’t YOU think the kind of BG designer who’s been working THIS smart AND hard is someone you need on YOUR team, now?!?! Hit me up!! <3

You all asked for it: my latest strip for Put This On is my take on “The New J. Press.” I would be happy if my son could understand this. He will for sure wear J. Press one day (from my collection!) You can read the comic and see my archive of strips at Put This On, at the link in my bio and stories today.

Hello everyone! I’m available for work, looking for any freelance or full-time work you might know your friend Ryan would be a good fit for! I’ve been out of work for too many months and have been able to work on some interesting small projects - but, well, the Union healthcare hours would make a big difference for us! I’ll keep sharing work here in the meanwhile!

The Strange Force. From my self published zine of science fiction stories, S.F. Shorts Folio #1 - available now!

I drew some more animated family portraits. They work as live backgrounds for an iPhone - so the subjects move whenever the screen turns on. Only a couple seconds of looping motion, and the drawings look nice in print by the way. Animating is FUN! I love making weird smears. Here are some pics from the process. Get in touch if you’d like to commission one of these.

Some pages without the black ink layer - no lineart, text, and black tone - from my very fun risographed personal science fiction anthology S.F. Shorts Folio #1 - available to order NOW at screentone.tv. (My online store, link in bio) Get in touch for wholesale orders!

Hello everyone! I will be meeting students at the @artcenteredu Maker’s Lab this Friday afternoon. If you’re a student at Art Center who’s interested in Risograph printing and/or comics and cartooning, I hope you’ll be able to attend. I will bring some recent prints and the digital files I worked from. And I hope you’ll bring YOUR recent or in-progress projects.

I drew my friends!!! From our wonderful awesome fun trip to Santa Barbara earlier in the year.

Hello! My science fiction anthology zine “S.F. Shorts Folio #1” is available to order on my web shop, Screentone.tv. You can find the link in my stories today or my IG bio. Tales of “living in society,” “helping,” “kindness,” and other speculative fantasy virtues. You might like reading them! Buy a physical copy and I’ll send it to you in the mail.

Here’s a little animated family portrait I made last year. These are fun!

“When the rain comes, I worry about it less…” It’s not a metaphor for dark times! It’s just me telling you that I love recommending good rain boots, a raincoat, and an umbrella. It doesn’t rain often in LA but when it does, it sucks. These really help! Practical clothes are worth investing in. My new strip can be found at putthison.com, or you can see the link in my bio and stories today.