We recently connected with Richy Sánchez Ayala and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Richy, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Progressing in art is harder than it seems from the outside. Many people assume that good artwork is born from talent, and throughout my career as both a student and a professional I quickly learned that this is not the case. Art is a skill, much like being a Doctor or a mechanic, nobody (at least in my experience) is born with the tools to be successful. It takes studying, practice, dedication, and endless amounts of patience. There might be some aptitude towards your craft but talent has very little to do with it; practice and commitment are the only things that will ensure forward momentum in terms of quality.

When it comes to drawing it is very evident when the work is not good. Most people, even non artists, can look at an image and know that something is not quite right. This surface quality makes it so that people easily give up on the craft because the initial drawings are always ‘ugly’ and they assume they are just not cut out for this. It is a grueling and difficult process to become good at art because in the end it is in plain sight for everyone to see. I had a professor that had an amazing quote to describe the process of getting good at drawing that has stuck with me to this day: “You have to get all your bad drawings out before you get to the good ones”, meaning you have to repeat the process and make “horrible” work over and over for as long as it takes until suddenly things start to click.

People mistake art as something fun but at the end of the day it is just a job, much like any other. You grind day after day and you start to notice some results. You study the theory and apply it into practice. You slowly build your knowledge and then you commit to repeating an activity over and over again. The fun happens somewhere along the way.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Richy Sánchez Ayala. I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, half of an island in the Caribbean that I carry with me every where I go. I have always been passionate about aesthetics; they way things look. From clothing, to vegetation, to fauna and architecture, I have always loved the way things look and how different they can be. I have been making images ever since I was a child for this reason. I am also a huge fan of story, how a simple drawing can tell a whole novel. Art was a skill that combined these two passions and so it became my primary focus.

The soul of my work is embedded in a desire to represent the kid in me. The vast imagination and excitement that I felt growing up in the Caribbean is what drives me. I want my work to make my inner child happy. I want to represent my culture, my family, my upbringing, my whole story, so that others can learn about it and also see themselves in it. I aim to provide an original one of a kind product for my clients. A point of view that can only come out of me and my experiences. I believe that when something is genuine it speaks to other people regardless of how specific it is.

I have been making original art work, illustrating books and covers, and creating worlds with my concept art in order to maintain my imagination stimulated and ever growing. My brand is one with me; I am selling something no one else can sell.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I had a harrowing set of circumstances as an immigrant. Anyone that moves on from their home knows the feelings of fear and inadequacy that come with it. My family and my culture are so far away from me at all times, specially once I decided to make the west coast my permanent home. Resilience is a byproduct of this sustained struggle. I had to be strong because there was simply no other choice once I walked down this road. The idea was to give my family the power of choice, so that they can choose to go where they want and live where they want, something that was simply not possible had I stayed in my island. With a sense of duty and wonder as my armor I decided that the hardest path would yield the most beautiful results.

On top of the immigrant struggle there is the matter of Art as a business. As I mentioned previously this is an extremely tough profession. You always try to look at your work objectively and yet once you think you are improving, comparison to other creatives knocks you down a peg or two. Comparison is a double edged sword. You have to look at the best to be the best while also understanding that the comparison can be a heinous little creature that does more harm than good depending on how you use it. Art is nothing but perpetual repetition, and that fact in of itself requires resilience. It requires picking yourself up constantly and understanding that none of it is personal. When I received an offer to illustrate my first book the elation lasted for about five minutes until I realized that I needed to work on at least seven more to pay rent. One success is immediately replaced with the pursuit of the next one.

Lastly, perception, both from the public and from within ourselves, is another obstacle. The term ‘starving artist’ is my least favorite when it comes to my career because that is the perception a lot of people have. I don’t spend countless hours practicing and learning to ‘starve’. I didn’t leave my home and immigrate twice to the other side of globe to ‘starve’. This is an internal fight that every artist must lead; to understand that my work is deserving. The only way to arrive at that conclusion is to routinely reinforce our emotions and to constantly hone our craft, which to me is the literal definition of resilience.

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

For me, the most rewarding aspect of all this plight is to be able to say that I stuck it out. I have found such incredible pride in my journey. From no work, to one book, from one book to fifteen, from unstable freelance work to gainful employment; it is an eternal war between me and my craft. Art is the thing that I love the most but also I hate with a passion at times. I think my advice to those in the beginning of this journey is to understand that you chose to fight this unbeatable monster, but every now and then you and that monster become the best of friends and you go places that you never thought you would go to. I love that even as I struggled financially, I was doing so while designing an a cool post apocalyptic world, or while illustrating a book about a child of color in the Caribbean, something that doesn’t exist versus something I know all too well. This career allows us to suffer while we create beautiful imaginative things.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.richyart.com
• Instagram: @richy.s.ayala
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richy-sanchez-ayala-193b90108

Image Credits
All artwork made by Richy Sánchez Ayala