Today we’d like to introduce you to Ramon Gil

Hi Ramon, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.

Okay, but I can’t promise brief. I’d always liked to draw and I was pretty good at it. So much so that it became that thing that made me feel special as kid in school. Even won a couple of awards. My art talent became the star that I hung my self worth and self esteem on. By the time it was time to go to college, I didn’t think about doing anything else. In retrospect, I think I would have enjoyed some other fields of study.

Another interest that served as an aid in my younger years was comic books. It was escapist and creative. So I wanted to be a comic book artist. Within a year or so after graduating college, I was working as a comic book illustrator and, surprisingly, I found that I didn’t like it. The hours were long, the pay unlivable and the work was repetitive and isolating. What’s more, the comic book business was unstable. In 1994, the whole industry tanked. A lot of people lost their jobs. It was then that I went into advertising as a graphic designer.

Advertising was lucrative and collaborative. But being an immigrant and small in stature, I’d always had a bit of a Napoleon complex. I knew that if I wanted to not feel irrelevant I had to make sure I had personality and ambition. So I worked on them. I eventually made my way up to creative director and in 2006, launched my own shop.

Fresh Concentrate was a multicultural marketing design company. We grew quickly those first few years going from just myself to five employees. Even renting studio space from the great Milton Glaser. Then in 2008, the recession hit. I had to scale things back drastically. Laid people off and downsized the office space but I managed to keep it going for a few more years. Then in 2015, one of my clients asked me to help launch a start-up. It was intense. So in intense, that in 2017, health issues forced me to slow down and I’ve been taking it a little bit easier ever since. Nowadays I mainly teach university and help manage my wife’s daycare business. I also went back to school for my MFA in Illustration and have returned to making graphic novels.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

Not really smooth. The economy tends to dictate the advertising and graphic design fields. Plus I had those few health scares all dealing with my heart. It’s forced me to learn to manage my stress and just let things go. Luckily, I went through a self-actualization workshop that teaches you how to always better choose your emotional reactions and actions. It’s really made a difference in my life and my family’s life.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

While I still take on the occasional freelance project, the majority of my time is now taken up by teaching graphic design and visual storytelling at Yeshiva University and the Fashion Insitute of Technology, both in New York City. My latest book is a children’s graphic novel called THE WHIZ KIDS FROM DARPA. It’s about a diverse group of snarky teen scientists going on funny STEM-based adventures. So far the reviews have been good and more and more bookstores and libraries are carrying it.

How do you define success?

At this age, success is being able to have time to spend with my family and pursue my creative projects. Having the resources to travel, be entertained and eat well. But I have to admit, having a legacy (a best-selling book) would be nice.

Pricing:

• THE WHIZ KIDS FROM DARPA – $15.99
• * COMIC BOOKS VS GRAPHIC NOVELS – $20.00
• * BLACK STORIES MATTER – $7.94
• SCIFIES – 14.99

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.ramongilcomics.com
• Instagram: http://www.instgram.com/ramongilart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ramonsgil/