We recently connected with Ry Hermann and have shared our conversation below.

Ry, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started sooner?

As I am still a college senior who has both a paid and unpaid internship I am not sure if I would really say my career as a creative has started yet. I have had multiple creative jobs and freelance clients but due to time constraints I really haven’t been able to put my all into my career. That is what my goal is this final semester. I want to work on projects that I think are worth continuing after school and start trying to build a consistent clientele. I often wish I had the opportunity to fully invest my time in creative work instead of work and school but a lot of those other experiences have informed where I want to go creatively so they were definitely well worth the time.

Ry, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Ry Hermann. I am from Baltimore, MD and now attend school at the Iovine and Young Academy at the University of Southern California. Growing up my education interests were always history, english, and politics. I enjoyed art, often asking my parents to take me to Washington DC to go to galleries and museums but I showed little artistic promise. I was not good at painting or drawing or any of the other types of art I tried in class and I was often frustrated and jealous of my peers who were talented. I had always looked up to artists and saw them as inspirations but for what I did not know yet. In 10th grade everything started to change for me. I took a web and digital design class where we would learn the basics of 2D digital design, branding and build a website using Wix. When we began to do Adobe Illustrator tutorials I quickly realized that they were much easier for me to do than my classmates and that I was genuinely enjoying the process. I started making Marvel movie posters in class or during lunch breaks using what little knowledge I had as I began to learn more techniques. After I had done a few I showed my teacher who told me I could not use them for the class portfolio project because I was breaking copyright law. While that doesn’t make any sense as we were in a 10th grade web design class and my work would never see the light of day I decided not to push against her and came up with a new idea. I started making album covers for my favorites artists and songs and that was when my creativity began to flourish. I found that not having direct references or imagery to pull from forced to make more frequent and intentional creative decisions. From there I continued on to portraits and would create hundreds of illustrations during the rest of high school.

In my second half of freshman year at USC I began to mess around with Photoshop. We had taken a class on it and Illustrator the previous semester but I really did not like or get much out of the professor’s teaching style leading me to believe it was much more difficult than it is. Since I was 15 I had been posting my work on instagram and I began to get a few clients for portraits, logos, posters, etc. Since then I have just kept a constant practice of learning and designing and have improved substantially. I really do any type of 2D design but I specialize in clothing graphics, album covers, and posters. I still do illustrations when I have time but they are no longer a focus. I mostly have clients in the fashion and music industry and do lots of work for them from designing artist logos to drafting clothing collections. I do not have the most consistent style yet as I am still trying out new things all the time but I would say I just work really hard. The one thing I do more than anyone I know is look at other peoples work. I think that seeing what others are doing and getting inspired is what truly unlocks your creativity other than just actually doing the work. I am very proud of a lot of my work but a few projects stand out. I was part of a Beats by Dre program called Beats Academy in their first year where I designed a pair of headphones for UCLA WBB star Kiki Rice. That was definitely my biggest opportunity and it turned out really well. I was very proud of myself for being prepared for the opportunity and to be able to just be myself while working for such a large corporation. The other thing I am most proud of is the first shirt I designed and had printed. People always ask me where I got it or say “cool shirt” and it’s really inspiring to see people do notice and think my work is interesting. I would say the thing I want people to know about my work is that I really care about the process. Not everything I post is equally as amazing but I’m making it all for a reason and I want to share everything. I rarely do long form projects (something I am aiming to fix) but sometimes I post work I think is just okay but I was trying out something new or I was just inspired by something. I think there is so much pressure for art to be perfect all the time that it can stifle the fun.

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

For me the most rewarding aspect is self expression and being to share it with others. I can share what I am thinking and feeling in such an engaging way and I also get to share my other interests through my work. I also love connecting with and befriending other creatives to see what techniques they use in their work.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think that I NEED to do this. Like I said I am just starting to put my full effort into this and I am certainly not doing this for the money. I have spent way more on assets for designs than anyone could consider reasonable because I truly love what I do. This is my job, hobby, and passion in one and it is pretty all consuming. I think that sometimes non-creatives people don’t understand that the irrationality is part of the enjoyment. I essentially can’t do anything else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ryhermann.design/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/its.not.rye/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ry-hermann-514892211