We were lucky to catch up with Ronald Martin recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ronald , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
At the age of 4 years old I was fascinated with superheroes and so my love for superheroes is what introduced me me to the arts. Because when I was old enough to comprehend and realize that actual people make these characters and stories then that’s when I knew I wanted to do the same. My first character I was ever exposed to was Spider-Man and from there I was being biten by the comic book art bug, pun intended.
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
My name is Ronald Martin Jr. my artist handle is Ronny Creates. As a child I was always drawing, sometimes to my detriment. Whether it was when I was in my 4th grade math class or church I always doing what loved when I wasn’t suppose to. I kept my passion alive so in a sense I kept my inner child alive with the way that I self expressed myself, even when some people tried to discourage me.
What led me to drawing comics was simply my love for superheroes. What they stood for, their costumes, and cool powers are what drawn me to them as a kid. Now as I’ve gotten older I’ve perfected my style like I want it so that I can tell the stories that I want to tell. So then at that point I realized that it was time for me to make my own character, one that I could continue to tell stories about until however long.
The type of work that I do specifically is with the medium that I’ve been using for the past few years which is the digital software procreate but for most of my life I’ve always been a traditional artists using paint, markers and etc. Using digital software has helped me tremendously and has helped me accomplish my dreams of making a comic book a lot easier
As of now I am a sophomore in college and I’ve made my first graphic novel. I was a senior in high school when I decided to flesh out my story and characters it took me 3 years to write, illustrate, and color my entire book by myself and that is something not a lot of people can say that they’ve done. This is something I am also extremely proud of as well because this is exactly the type of work I would’ve loved to do as a kid and I was able to make my childhood dream happen with hard work and consistency.
What I would want other artists to take away from me or just people in general is that if you have a dream and you’re truly passionate about it you will get it done if you use your passion and turn it into action. It may seem like an endless rabbit wheel and no type of progres at first but little by little things will fall into place. The important thing is to remain patient and to be consistent and to have faith in your dream no matter how delusional it may seem.
The name of my publication is called Radical Komics/ RK universe. My first character introduced is named All-Star and he is a disabled veteran, husband, and father until one day a loved one is killed by a police officer. Wanting Justice my main character is granted superpowers and uses his powers to protect his community and the world at large. All-Star is a Superman like character with godlike abilities and uses his pain as a motivation to protect the weak and vulnerable so that no one else loses a loved one like he has. I have more characters in store in the future with stories and designs already pre-written and drawn. But I am currently at level 1 with my universe.
My graphic novel can be found on the website publishing website called Lulu in their bookstore. Due to the subject matter or racial discrimination in my story it is deemed mature so there is an age verification when purchasing my comic. My personal social media as well as my official business page for my comic book publishing is @RadicalKomics and @Ronnycreates where you can see my work there.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Developing my story and my book for the first time was definitely a daunting task because I had no prior experience with creating a comic book let alone a graphic novel the hard part was just starting, self doubt began to fill my mind because it was my first time ever doing something like this and I was learning as I went. But after the first few pages things began to get easier for me. So the easiest part was developing the story and drawing the characters. The hardest part of creating a graphic novel is the marketing and business aspect of it all. As an artist I am a natural introvert and I generally let my art speak for me. I like to my cool stuff and that’s it, but I was forced to promote myself if I wanted this to work and I had to get behind the camera do so as well. I even had an unsuccessful kicker starter due to my poor marketing skills which was was also difficult because I was trying to reach a certain amount of backers to support my dream. After making the book it was a totally new world that I was being exposed to, but I didn’t it stop me from figuring out an alternative to getting my book out. So those were some things that challenged my resilience.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspects about being an artist is just being able to express yourself and people praise you it. In way you’re putting yourself out there for people to criticize and to critique but when people are true fans of your work it feels great to know that your hard work is being appreciated by someone. I also love being about to tap into my creative side, which brings back the inner child in me and lets me be free with work. Lastly, getting paid to do what you love to do is also great as well because no many can say that they are getting paid to do their passion. Those are all very rewarding and freeing as a creative.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-martin-jr/all-star-book-1-protect-and-serve/paperback/product-vp2mzr.html?q=All-Star+book+1%3A&fbclid=PAAaaeD8Zp7VpNAYaWmiK2wkhjtT8cRgluZLlgd4ow_X1X94mtOo1K4m3UZTg&page=1&pageSize=4&mibextid=Zxz2cZ.com
- Instagram: @RonnyCreates @RadicalKomics
- Facebook: RonnyCreates
- Other: Artstation – Ronnycreates Email- Ronnyjmartinjr02@gmail.com