We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ryan Bear a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ryan , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

My best investment would definitely be when I purchased my 12.5 inch iPad Pro back in 2017. Back in 2016 I really got heavily into digital art. I originally did all my illustration work traditionally: watercolor, gauche, ink, colored pencils. Which I still really enjoy and slip back into on and off. I had made the big switch to digital back then cause it’s faster and the massive ability to undo/edit your work through out the process. You also don’t have to scan/photograph your work to post it online which is a huge time saver. At the time I was using photoshop, drawing on a wacom tablet on a laptop.

So back in 2017 I was getting ready to go to an art conference. My plan was to show my portfolio to professional artists to get feedback on what I needed to work on. I knew iPads were a thing and thought it would be convenient to just have that on hand to show my work instead of hauling around a portfolio case with my work printed in it. I went to the apple store with the intent of returning it the following week. After drawing on it for 10 minutes at the apple store I fell in love with it. The apple pencil felt and worked amazing. The Procreate drawing app on the ipad was super intuitive and stripped down just for drawing/painting. It also only costed $5 back then, its currently $13. You keep in forever with no monthly subscription, which is crazy affordable for what it can do. The portability of the ipad is also a big win, I could sketch and do art anywhere now.

I’m still using the same iPad Pro from back then to do professional work. I’m sure the newer models are better but mine still holds up to what I need. I love it.

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?

I’ve been drawing and doing art since I was little. Lots of animal stuff, then it turned into fantasy and fan art. I went to college for 3d animation which I loved but got brunt out by the time I graduated. I had always like drawing with pencils so I dove heavily into traditional art doing a ton of watercolor and ink stuff. After honing that a bit I did some gallery work as well as tons of family commissions. Eventually I transitioned back to digital art. Still doing family commissions but also some free lance work for little businesses. When the pandemic hit I dove back into learning animation but this time doing 2d animation. I did some commissions for businesses that were very motion graphics based. My interest in that eventually fizzled out but I had to try it. Animation is such a beautiful medium but very time intensive and consuming. Since then I still do freelance and commission work. My main focus right now is pictures books. It’s still a side thing but I’m hoping to make it my main thing. I have always really loved picture books and graphic novels. It’s something I always come back to and am very passionate about. I’ve dabbled with it doing it on and off over the years. I had a few big opportunities go south which was a little disheartening and caused me to step away from it for awhile. There’s a lot of stories I plan to tell. Currently I’m shopping around a book I wrote/ illustrated to publishers and agents. Fingers crossed!

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

For me it’s something I’ve always done in some capacity. Honestly if I don’t have some type of creative project on my plate, personal or paid I tend to feel depressed or lost. It’s something that keeps me inspired and feeling happy. It’s a channel to bring your imagination and ideas into the world. It can be a tool to vent emotions or reflect on life. When doing projects I have direction and something to work toward. My wife is also a creative so I find myself constantly inspired and learning new things from the mediums she works in and projects she puts out as well.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I think a big gap for illustrators and creatives in general is learning the business side and the not so fun money/marketing side of things you need to be successful. All stuff I feel like I’m still learning.

A huge resource I found was in all things Bobby Chiu- https://www.imaginismstudios.com/bobby-chiu/. He started as a freelancer, then built his own studio, started an online school, launced an art conference and an art app. He’s very iconic. His youtube channel has lots of insights into life as an artist, business tips as well as good habits. This was his original youtube- https://www.youtube.com/@BobbyChiu. More recently he released this youtube- https://www.youtube.com/@chiu-on-this.

The other big resource would be SVS(school of visual storytelling) https://www.svslearn.com/. This is more geared towards illustrators for picture books and graphic novels but a lot applies across the board. It’s an online school for illustrators with great classes on how to draw/paint make books but also all that important business stuff as well. The creators Jake Parker, Will Terry and Lee White also host a youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFOA1Lp_atU&list=PLJ4nQ9j1MAnYnE8ljn3wt8BC3Of4At_Dj where they do tons of interview and deep dives. It can be found on lots of podcast apps as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ryanbearart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanbearart/

Image Credits
All the images are credited to me, Ryan Bear