We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ramon Gil. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ramon below.

Hi Ramon, thanks for joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Apparently, I’m what some people call a multi-potentialite. Meaning I have many varied interests. But another saying that resonates is “jack of all trades, master of none.” Being a master of none is a bit distressing but not so much from a skill standpoint but from an accomplishments perspective. I see friends having achieved so much, some are even retiring early, but I feel like I haven’t really made a lot of headway in any one direction. I did graphic design for almost 20 years but burned out and have been straddling adjunct teaching and making comics ever since. Both of which are hard to make a living in.

I just finished my MFA in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology but now I’m realizing that a full-time teaching position is not that easy to come by and that there’s a lot of politics and minutiae that comes with it.

As for comics, It also took me a few years to go through all the overanalyzing of the industry and going down the wrong avenues before I realized I just need to hunker down and make my stories. But first I needed to settle on why I’m doing it, for who and how best to do so. In that sense, graduate school helped with the how. And I’m finally focusing on one project that I plan to play a long-game with. (The Whiz Kids from DARPA)

While I do wish I had the steady income of a regular job, I know I’m happiest when I’m being creative or helping others be so.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’d always wanted to make comics as a kid so after college, I came to New York City to work as a comic book illustrator for Vortex Comics drawing NASCAR stories. But after a year of 16 hour days isolated in my apartment, no social life for $80 a page, I left for advertising when the industry tanked in 94.

In 2006, I started my own marketing design company and did that for decade before a client asked me to help him launch his start-up. Two more start-ups followed but I eventually went back to comics and started teaching. Then grad school.

Now I teach art and design at the university level (Yeshiva and FIT) and continue to make comics in my spare time. I’ve produced a few of my own books, organized a few anthologies and most recently did a middle-grade comics about superheroes, diversity and entrepreneurship for an educational publisher. I’m also launching my own web comics about teens going on S.T.E.M. based adventures.

Sometimes I get to combine education and comics like when I used to organize Diversity Comic Con for FIT and moderate panels at various comic cons. I also founded the Symposium on Comic Arts for my own online school The Comic Arts Workshop. The workshop itself is as much a community of supportive aspiring creators as well as a series of virtual classes and pre-recorded lessons.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

One of the intrinsic struggles I faced when I went back into comics was my need to make a bigger impact than just entertaining comic book readers with adventure stories. I’ve come to realize that I would only be happy if I was reaching a much wider audience than the folks who already read comics. This meant writing for genres beyond superheroes and science fiction, and making self-contained graphic novels rather than episodic single issue comics. Lastly, it meant going after younger readers, children, the largest growing segment of publishing.

There are a lot of messages I want to impress upon readers. The concepts of responsibility, gratitude and service. That relationships and experiences are the true secrets to happiness and fulfillment, not material things and status. That vulnerability, authenticity and touch are what we really need from each other.

I still want to write adventure stories with funny characters but these are the values and ideas I want them to convey.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of what I do are the discoveries I have to make in order to explore and write the stories I want to tell. I’ve always been a curious person. About people’s lives, about how things work and about what happens if… Getting to weave a tale out of these things that I’ve learned with characters I strive to make interesting and relatable is deliciously fun. Writing, drawing, coloring, lettering and production are all zones I find myself fully immersed in.
Plus, the classes I teach, the events I organize and the panels I moderate give me the thrill of connecting with fellow creatives and the joy of building communities. Engaging with people, next to creating, that’s what I love best.

Contact Info:

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

Image Credits
Hudson Valley Comic Con: Jane Haslam Diversity Con Cosplay: Ishmael Fernandez Graduate Show: Glenda Villajuan Lecturing@fanfaire: Ning Zhang The rest: Ramon Gil