Life & Work with Ryan Oakley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Oakley.

Hi Ryan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story? 
I would say that I was always an artist. I loved being creative and making my own characters inspired by the cartoons I watched as a kid. I have fond memories trying to replicate my favorite characters, such as SpongeBob, Lizzie McGuire, and Spiderman. At that time, I had aspirations of becoming an animator and being a part-time scientist. My multifaceted interests never waned. In terms of being an artist, I think of myself as a later bloomer. I didn’t take many art classes during my primary education years. I took my first art class in high school as a Junior. Before then, I had mostly focused on music, math, and science. Art was a hobby; On the other hand, I did have a great resource to give me constructive criticism in my formative years. One of my mom’s former coworkers found out that I had an interest in art and that I was sketching images from magazines. Doris Linanne used to work as an art teacher and introduced me to a sketchbook. I mostly drew on computer paper, and if the drawing passed my scrutiny, then it was reallocated to a plastic protective sleeve that would be placed into a binder. This was my first portfolio, whether I knew it or not. With my new sketchbook, which was just an unused composition notebook, I would draw and sketch. Once I finished a couple of drawings, I would bug my mom about making sure my “sketchbook” made it into the hands of Doris. Doris gave me real critique on my elementary-level sketches. 

In high school, I excelled in math and science and enjoyed those subjects. Those were things you pursued if you wanted to be successful. Moving into college, I was premed but still majored in studio art. A couple of years after graduating college, I was still on the premed route. After being waitlisted, I took a step back and reevaluated what I wanted to do with my life. I had spent all this time and money on becoming a doctor, thinking that this career would bring me value. I left all of that behind and took a chance on myself. I got a retail job and started practicing my skills more. I would wake up early before my shifts to sketch and research about comic art. 

After taking the plunge into my art, I was able to get fanart in the back of the third issue of the comic Bitter Root. I was creating work for non-profits, such as Amplifier Art, Women’s March, and California Endowment of the Arts. Then in 2020, I was contacted by a producer for A&E Network. They wanted to feature underrepresented artists each month. We were tasked to produce 4 portraits of impactful women of color in our society. This project allowed me to be commissioned by Adobe for the Adobe Fresco team to create an illustration and a tutorial for their newest application, Adobe Fresco. Now I am working mostly in the comics world and have produced 2 zines of my own work, which have been a success at the local zine fest that I have attended. This year I will have a short story featured in the Trina Robbins-led anthology “Won’t Back Down.” I drew and colored the 4-page comic, and I am excited for everyone else to see the work I put into this project. The anthology will have a preview panel during San Diego Comic-Con 2023. I’m looking forward to growing as an artist and, specifically a comic artist. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In high school, I excelled in math and science and enjoyed those subjects. Those were things you pursued if you wanted to be successful. Moving into college, I was premed but still majored in studio art. A couple of years after graduating college, I was still on the premed route. After being waitlisted, I took a step back and reevaluated what I wanted to do with my life. I had spent all this time and money on becoming a doctor, thinking that this career would bring me value. I left all of that behind and took a chance on myself. I got a retail job and started practicing my skills more. I would wake up early before my shifts to sketch and research about comic art. 

During this time, it felt like people were thinking that I had thrown my life away. I was dealing with a lot of outside opinions. They ultimately did not see my vision, so there was a lot of doubt. Whether or not it was being vocalized to me directly, I could feel it. I would never change my experiences and my path. My experiences from being premed and pursuing medicine shaped me into the artist I am today. However, there definitely was a period of mourning for me. I was letting go of this part of me so that I fully create the new world that had been longing to come out. 

We put certain paths and careers on pedestal that have a created a culture of looking down on the arts. Your career or how much money you make doesn’t make you better than the next person. All of that could go away so easily, and then what are left with? An inflated ego? But I digress. This was definitely difficult time for me mentally that I don’t talk about a lot. No one talks about the isolation that comes with going against outside pressure and the status quo. It was an incredibly lonely experience carving my path and trying to get others to see what I could see in my work. I eventually started focusing on me and creating the art that I wanted to create. I look back, and I am so happy that I took a chance on myself when others chose not to. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an artist and a business owner. I create all of my works and then, by night, figure out the logistics and business side of being an artist. These days you can’t just be an artist. You have to be an entrepreneur, and I have become one through trial and error. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t if I would call it luck in terms of my journey. However, I made sure that I did all that I could do to get my name out there. That included anywhere from making sure my name and contact information was on Black artist directories to applying everything that I had interest in. That process led me to getting commission by Lifetime TV and Adobe. However, I guess you could say that luck allowed me to be able to find these opportunities, and then the rest was up to me! 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://oakleyrlo16.wixsite.com/hartestudio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanoakleyart/?hl=en
• Other: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/ryanoakleyart/