Ryan Reid Illustration + Design

Miscellany

Blog posts about making comics, creating zines, life, and everything.

Snack attack – new comic work in progress

Snack attack – new comic work in progress

November 9, 2024 | Miscellany

Got off my tushy and started a new comic. I even took a couple work in progress photos, so you could enjoy the mess. It’s been a while since I made a comic. All my pens needed fresh ink. One of my older brush pens I carry with me every day but never use had […]

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Office intrigue

Office intrigue

September 30, 2024 | Miscellany

I was bored and thirsty. Mug in hand I left my cubicle and pushed open the door to the hallway, interrupting two men having a very quiet, very private conversation. They stood suspiciously in front of elevator H. Were they going somewhere? Was that a good place to share secrets? There’s a janitor closet over […]

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In the beginning

In the beginning

August 20, 2024 | Miscellany

In the beginning there was nothing. Then there was something. Then more something. Etc. And nowit’s justreally reallycrowded.

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Maybe it’s somebody else’s frequency illusion

Maybe it’s somebody else’s frequency illusion

June 18, 2024 | Miscellany

The frequency illusion (also known as the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon) is a cognitive bias in which a person notices a specific concept, word, or product more frequently after recently becoming aware of it. Wikipedia We aren’t looking for a new car right now, but this always happens when we are looking for a new car. Also, I had a […]

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Charles Bukowski on work

Charles Bukowski on work

May 19, 2024 | Miscellany

We work too hard. We try too hard. Don’t try. Don’t work. It’s there. Looking right at us, aching to kick out of the closed womb. Charles Bukowski in a letter to friend William Packard See also: Do. Or do not. There is no try. Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

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Steve Martin on success

Steve Martin on success

April 6, 2024 | Miscellany

Nobody ever takes note of it because it’s not the answer they want to hear. What they want to hear is “Here’s how you get an agent…” or “Here’s how to write a script…”. But I always say “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” If somebody is thinking “How can I be really good?” […]

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Robot is stranded on a floating rock.

Floating

March 17, 2024 | Miscellany

The past couple weeks have been a blur of prioritizing other people over myself, and I’m exhausted. Of course this happens all the time as an adult, a parent, a husband, an employee. You strive for balance. It hasn’t felt very balanced. It was made worse of course by my complete failure to organize the […]

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Digital sketch of a cartoon frog in a space suit holding a laser gun.

Drawing, writing, drawing writing

March 2, 2024 | Miscellany

Lately I’ve been oscillating between writing a new comic story, experimenting with watercolour, and drawing an adventurous space frog. This is a sketch in Procreate, I’ll ink and colour it later. I’ve taken a break from drawing this frog to work on some title text for it in Affinity Designer. The comic writing is coming […]

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Crow chewing gum and blowing a big bubble.

Chew chew chew

February 11, 2024 | Miscellany

I was sick this week. Some mild flu I guess, nausea, muscle aches, chills. It wasn’t bad enough to keep me in bed, but I didn’t have enough energy to do anything. So I just sat around being bored and feeling like crap for 3 days. Then I slipped on some ice and hurt my […]

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Francis the sheep sitting on a rock enjoying a sandwich.

Enjoy a break now and then

February 3, 2024 | Miscellany

This watercolour drawing of Francis the sheep sitting on a rock eating a sandwich reminds of this discarded lyric from Fitter Happier by Radiohead: Fitter, healthier and more productiveA sheepOn a rockEating a sammich None of this is true. But! Fresh air and a walk is good for creative thought, and it’s generally free, so […]

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