My name is Ryan James and I created all the art for my children’s book on my computer. The pictures in The Tales of the Forest Guardian are scary because our folklore is scary. I didn’t want to pull any punches in my storytelling. I’m an only child, but my cousins were surrogate siblings. So I was exposed to the same love, support and merciless teasing anyone else with brothers and sisters would have had.
I was so small when we moved into the house I currently live in, I could practically say I was born in Westmoorings. Today, in my head, I live miles away. But, physically, for now, I’m in the same place. My father used to work for a hotel, which gave us crazy discounts on hotels. So we travelled a lot. Most places we went, I don’t even remember. I wish I was old enough to appreciate and remember that trip to London.
I went to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia USA). I’m hoping one day I can afford to go back to a school like Cal Arts for animation or game design for my masters. I’ve been to the US countless times on vacation, but only the states in the same area: Florida, Georgia, Alabama. That’s pretty sad when I say it like that. I’ve been to a bunch of Caribbean islands, Barbados, St Thomas, Puerto Rico. But a lot of them were just one day because they were stops on the cruise I was on.
I’ve never “travelled”—i.e., taken a public route taxi in Trinidad. I’ve never needed to. Both my parents had cars when I was smaller and, when I was old enough to drive I got mom’s old car, because she had gotten a brand new company car. So, yeah, I’m your typical Westmoorings kid, lol.
As a storyteller myself, I’ve come to realise that all religions are basically just stories that have been told over and over for many generations. But I think people who worry about whether the stories are true are missing the point. Take the lessons and apply them to your life, to be a good person. And that is probably why I still go to church. I seriously hope there’s an afterlife, a heaven, or reincarnation or anything like that. The idea of just switching off scares the crap out of me.
My favourite colour combination for painting is cerulean and orange. I’ll put those colours together every chance I get. I could play board games with my closest friends and have exactly the same amount of fun as if we were out drinking. Unless there’s pretty girls involved. One of my favourite comics is the Wolverine: Origin series. Such a beautiful and sad story. Then Hollywood butchered it; I haven’t fully gotten over that injustice yet.
Watching a horror movie with someone who laughs or jeers at the scary parts is right up there in my top five list of things that annoy me. Right below the Wolverine Origins movie. My favourite writer is Stephen King. He could write a story on toilet paper about Santa Claus and I’d probably buy it. I’ll never get tired of eating burgers. Fast food burgers, local street burgers, gourmet burgers that cost $80 up, all of ‘em.
If you can draw or paint and want to enter the art field, then just keep drawing or painting or whatever it is you do. Take art classes but practice on your own everyday. Eat, sleep and breathe practice. Enter competitions, send your work to art magazines, get a Web site, start a blog. What they taught us in college is: “It is not the talented ones who make it the furthest, it is the ones with the most passion!”
The best part of the job is drawing and making pictures for a living! It’s a paid hobby! The worst part is figuring out how to switch off. Even when I’m out socialising, I’m downloading images I see around me into my head. A close second worst thing is people thinking that, because you enjoy your work and it comes naturally, you deserve to be paid less.
A Trini is what you want to have at least one of in your car/boat/plane when seeking adventure. Everyone should have at least one Trini friend. Trinidad is what I take with me when I leave to go somewhere else. And its what I broadcast when I arrive there.