Ryan Vella

Peter Wilson (00:10):
Hello everyone. Welcome to Sunday Spotlight with me, Peter Wilson with me manning the buttons and the tech sider thing. Fearless founder of X, the sizzle special guest tonight. I’m very excited about this one. I’ve been a fan for years. When I think indie comics, I think this man Ryan Vela. Hello sir.

Ryan Vella (00:31):
Hello to everybody out there.

Peter Wilson (00:33):
How you doing this evening?

Ryan Vella (00:35):
I’m good. I’m good. Thanks. Yeah, chill out. Explain

Peter Wilson (00:38):
To the good people what you do in comics. What’s your bag?

Ryan Vella (00:43):
Oh wow. I just draw comics, I suppose. Every project I think of something has been something slightly different. After everything I do, I want to do some slightly different than before, I suppose so. Awesome. I like all sorts of genres, every genre really. So yeah, maybe that might You draw,

Peter Wilson (01:09):
Draw and write your stuff, is that right?

Ryan Vella (01:12):
Yeah, mostly I like working with other people, but mainly I started drawing just cause I didn’t have no one else. I had no one else to work with. I always had the write motor stuff and

Peter Wilson (01:23):
That’s awesome, man.

Ryan Vella (01:24):
At a necessity basically. But it’s fun. I think about ideas and yeah, eventually get it down and do it.

Peter Wilson (01:32):
That’s wicked, man. All right. How about some warmup questions? Let’s limber up.

Ryan Vella (01:36):
All right.

Peter Wilson (01:38):
All right. These can be anything and everything. Mm-hmm. What’s the worst food to put in a salad?

Ryan Vella (01:45):
Ooh, salad. That’s a tough one. Anchovies I don’t likes, so yeah,

Peter Wilson (01:54):
That would suck. They’re good on a pizza look. What do you want the title of your memoir to be?

Ryan Vella (02:03):
Oh no. Yeah, back that. Oh no. Geez,

Sizzle (02:08):
. That’s good.

Peter Wilson (02:10):
You’re going on a long hike. You’re in the middle of the bush. Bigfoot jumps out. How do you pacify Bigfoot?

Ryan Vella (02:21):
Soothing. Soothing music thing to it. I dunno.

Peter Wilson (02:27):
Oh good. That leads to my next question, which is aliens make first contact with you and they want to hear one song of your choosing to represent mankind. What’s the song you pick?

Sizzle (02:38):
.

Ryan Vella (02:40):
It’s the end of the world as we know it. How about that? That pops my head away then. Rm. Yeah, that’ll be,

Peter Wilson (02:47):
That was good.

Ryan Vella (02:49):
Probably would be. Yeah.

Peter Wilson (02:52):
Do you reckon you could take on take 50 goldfish size sharks or one shark size goldfish?

Ryan Vella (03:08):
I’d take I all the little ones I’d take on the small ones. I think

Peter Wilson (03:12):
I would too. Oh,

Ryan Vella (03:13):
Sharks. Yeah. It kick them I suppose.

Peter Wilson (03:16):
Oh, it’s not, I wouldn’t feel good about it, but that’s how I’d do it.

Ryan Vella (03:21):
Yeah. Big one would get, yeah, I reckon Big goldfish, they just swallow

Peter Wilson (03:25):
Gold. Goldfish are waiting for the chance to get one back at humans, so yeah, for sure.

Ryan Vella (03:29):
Oh absolutely. Yeah. I had a pick goldfish once. Yeah.

Peter Wilson (03:33):
Yeah. I think we all did grim stuff.

Ryan Vella (03:35):
It was

Peter Wilson (03:36):
. Okay, good. Let’s get into comics.

Ryan Vella (03:40):
Oh,

Peter Wilson (03:41):
Enough. Tom Foolery. Have you always been been the creative type ever since you

Ryan Vella (03:47):
Were a kid? Yeah, always. Yeah. Even from one, I was really little. I’d always be drawing and scribbling something or always watching cartoons and monster movies and I’ve always just loved that sort of stuff. Always toys.

Peter Wilson (04:01):
That’s cool. Were you always a big comic reader?

Ryan Vella (04:07):
I saw a few when I was really young from my older brothers. Had some those Marvel annuals that were hardcover. Yeah. We had one of them in the house and they had an X-Men story captain America story Submariner. They were really old stuff. I think it was a Kirby story and that there so I got into ’em in the mid eighties, 85 through toys. I think a lot of that, transformers and I saw a Transformers comic and then I saw these other comics there. I knew who they all were and I just brought someone that was just instantly addicted.

Peter Wilson (04:46):
Yeah, cool.

Ryan Vella (04:47):
Yeah.

Peter Wilson (04:49):
Do you remember the time? Was there a specific moment where you sort of transitioned from sort of oddly scribbling and just doing it for laughs to really getting serious and on a project or really wanting to pursue it?

Ryan Vella (05:02):
I, I always loved comics, but I didn’t want to actually do them until, from my last year of school I think I just, okay. I started doing muck around Little, I’ve still got the very first thing I did, I was in school one day. I just drew a one page silly comics story, just borrow on Phil’s cat paper.

Peter Wilson (05:24):
Yeah, cool.

Ryan Vella (05:26):
And I just kept doing it. Then I just didn’t stop basically. And then I discovered image around then and I was just, all that was happening then early nineties and I was just into it. You wanted to be

Peter Wilson (05:39):
Whatnot,

Ryan Vella (05:40):
All that Savage Dragons spawn, they were the big ones. And just all sorts of random mother image things. And Marvel also buying Marvel and that in 2000 ad, all those things. Yeah. Yeah. It’s got way into it again. Withdraw. That’s cool. Sos

Peter Wilson (06:00):
Do you still read them today? Do you still collect or

Ryan Vella (06:04):
Not really? I buy reprints of all things.

Peter Wilson (06:08):
Yeah. Cool.

Ryan Vella (06:11):
Occasionally I’ll get something new, but it’s so rare by two things a year if that. Yeah, right. But I get my Aussie stuff now. I like the Aussie stuff, so that’s sort of,

Peter Wilson (06:24):
Yeah.

Ryan Vella (06:25):
Yeah. The Aussie comics I get though, so I don’t know.

Peter Wilson (06:29):
So I kind of pivoted that way too.

Ryan Vella (06:32):
Yeah.

Peter Wilson (06:33):
Do you have any formal training?

Ryan Vella (06:38):
I’m mostly self-taught. I did do in the nineties, I like a diploma and cartooning course by correspondence thing. Oh cool. There’s been 97. I did that, but I’d already sort of done underground stuff for a few years. Then I’ve done TAFE art courses and in some little art sort of stuff. Cause I like doing fine art stuff, painting and out as well. So I used to do, I was into that before I wanted to do comics, so

Peter Wilson (07:07):
Cool.

Ryan Vella (07:08):
I used to did those sort of things and that’s why I employ a lot of that now. All those mixed media sort of stuff.

Peter Wilson (07:14):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s cool. Yeah. So if you had to, how would you define a creative person? Would you say there’s requirements to being a creator or is it really just let your freak flag fly?

Ryan Vella (07:31):
Everyone’s creative. I think to a degree. Look, everyone, they might create something small, but some people might dedicate their whole life to creating whatever. So I think everyone’s a sort of creator

Peter Wilson (07:47):
That’s causes welcome aboard everyone.

Ryan Vella (07:50):
Whatever they create, they might be the weaving or whatever. I don’t know. There’s so many different things you be creative at, so obviously a lot of ’em crossover too, so

Peter Wilson (08:03):
That’s cool. How would you describe your style to people?

Ryan Vella (08:09):
Lots of lines. Lots of detail. I suppose. That’s always the most obvious thing. Scratchy. I try to be expressive my drawing. So

Peter Wilson (08:24):
To me your style is the quintessential underground look. That’s what I think of.

Ryan Vella (08:30):
Yeah. Well it’s got that sort of, I definitely always underground. I like underground style of art. I really love underground art. But what I rate mainly is mainstream comics sort of. And I love when that mixes together when I don’t really clean art that much, really I do. But I like unique artists I suppose for whatever style they’re into really. That really don’t copy other people and they really,

Peter Wilson (09:00):
Yeah, for sure

Ryan Vella (09:01):
Got the right thing I suppose.

Peter Wilson (09:04):
That’s always cool to say.

Ryan Vella (09:06):
Yeah.

Peter Wilson (09:07):
And deceptively hard to achieve too, but you definitely have so when you’re just sitting about and you’re absentmindedly doodling when you’re supposed to be concentrating on something else, what’s the one thing you tend to draw?

Ryan Vella (09:23):
Weird figures. People like monster figure. Yeah, always. It’s always a figure. It’s always. Or a head. Okay. Face I suppose. The face or a figure often the face. Yeah. Weird. Ugly. Ugly face.

Peter Wilson (09:40):
mine or mine’s usually faces when I do it. So we’ve talked about your sort of comic inspirations or have you got any artistic inspirations, role models outside of comics? Are they a big influence on I suppose it all merges together.

Ryan Vella (10:03):
I like a few painters. Yeah. I could do a Picasso, that type of stuff is abstracty stuff. And Francis Bacon Brett Whiteley Aussie guy. Yeah. Cool. That type of really twisted painting. I really love that sort of stuff. Bass weight that’s why for painting Wise could play sort of painters.

Peter Wilson (10:27):
Yeah

Ryan Vella (10:28):
There’s probably heaps more I can’t think of. Yes Shaun? Well I suppose I like music in a lot of movies, so maybe that probably all mixes through animation. I like a lot of old cartoons that’s somebody blends in I suppose.

Peter Wilson (10:49):
That’s cool. What type of cartoons

Ryan Vella (10:51):
That Oh Jesus stuff. Little Astro Boy and Star Blazers and Oh man, all the Xmen and nineties Marvel cartoons, X-Men and Spider-Man and Hulk. What else is there? Jesus Eman, all that stuff. I love lots of old cartoons, star blazers. Oh what’s it called? Battle Planets.

Peter Wilson (11:18):
Oh yeah. That’s cool man.

Ryan Vella (11:22):
Robo tech. I just love all that stuff. That’s cool. I still do, I still love it all now I watch it all on, it’s all on YouTube, so I just it all the time. But I’m drawing. I put it in the background. Yeah. Have it nonstop in the background.

Peter Wilson (11:35):
Great background stuff. I agree.

Ryan Vella (11:37):
It is. I always got to have something in the background. Just something, anything like that. So

Peter Wilson (11:44):
That’s cool. So when you are creating, starting a new project, are you very strict? Is it script first layouts, drawing? Or is it kind of a free for all? Do you sort of a bit of scribble here? Some notes here.

Ryan Vella (12:00):
I’ll write point ideas down. Yeah. Oh, okay. So this is battery hand script.

Peter Wilson (12:06):
Oh wow. Oh wow.

Ryan Vella (12:07):
That’s how I kind of write. And then a change page. It’s all upside down and I just, that’s the whole book I’m trying to transfer. That’s cool. That’s the whole book basically. I’m trying to make that into a script now to go with the artwork. So I kind of do it point form. If I think of any major bits of dialogue, I’ll write it down if I can. Thinking of it. Just get the, that’s kind of marble style in a way. I would do it. Marbles style. Yeah. Right. Really? Yeah for my own stuff. So that’s what I’ve been mucking around with today.

Peter Wilson (12:42):
Oh, the note side of things.

Ryan Vella (12:45):
Just trying to add, transfer that to spend it out and fill it. Fill the pages up. Oh, that’s cool. Yeah, the whole book. So

Peter Wilson (12:59):
Has it changed much over the years, the way you approach creating comics?

Ryan Vella (13:03):
Not really. Just, I’ve changed size. I used to do everything a four size, cause I used do mini comics, but in the last two years I’ve gone to standard size. So I drive in a K three. Yeah. On a three paper. And I use better paper instead of just whatever paper I can find. So that’s the only thing different really. I do it very raw. I don’t do anything digital. I just find a quicker to do it by hand. Yeah, yeah.

Peter Wilson (13:41):
We’ve had a lot of traditional artists on this show almost as much as digital. I thought it’d be more skewing towards digital. But Neil Blandon last week said the same.

Ryan Vella (13:49):
Yeah. Digital, whatever. It’s all, that’s it. Whatever works everyone.

Peter Wilson (13:54):
Oh absolutely. Yeah. I’m always impressed by traditional. I can only really do digital to get it out and I’m in awe of traditional artists.

Ryan Vella (14:05):
I think it’s just a bit more cleaning up. But I smudge stuff all the time, just when I’m doing it. So I’ve always got to put white out everywhere just to clean up the mess. Yeah.

Sizzle (14:19):
Oh yeah.

Peter Wilson (14:22):
So I’m curious, tell us a bit about Battery Hand. Where did that start? Who? Neil

Ryan Vella (14:30):
Ohne. A few years back I created, I did this silly book called Man Panda, which was a fake series. It had fake front covers. And one of the covers was Man Panda fight in a carriage called Battery Hen, which is like a middle-aged housewife with a cricket bat. And I always liked that idea. And I’ve sort of few years back, I kind of wanted to do a battery hand book and I penciled it and I didn’t like it and I destroyed it. But then when I started comics again, now I used the basis of that story for the comic eight page battery hand story. Oh yeah. Make bit of that, turn into that. And I made her younger. I got rid of the cricket bat cause there’s so many people with cricket bats and I added the taser bit to her and the logo of the thing on her shirt and just sort of brought the character get together more. I just like the name, the whole battery hand. A female with a bat. Yeah, it’s a good still silly pun. And I said I’ve really wanted to do something with that. Cause it’s a bit more, cause all the stuff I’ve done in the past is pretty offensive and . It’s not commercial. I want to do something which is a bit more mainstream without swearing at all. So that’s battery hen. So, oh wow.

Peter Wilson (15:48):
I may, and an embarrassing amount of time trying to find a place where I could buy a man pander comics before realizing it was a fake series. Oh.

Ryan Vella (16:01):
I kind of wish it was real when I was drawing those covers, I’m like, I wish I could actually draw all these books because they were just me going stupid. And

Peter Wilson (16:10):
I think it’s a cool concept, creating fake covers for it or coat covers for a fake series. I thought,

Ryan Vella (16:19):
I think I’ve seen people do it before online. I, I won’t reprint that book. Make copies. Yeah,

Peter Wilson (16:24):
That’d be cool.

Ryan Vella (16:26):
It’s a bit rude. Some of them though. A bit of fit. Do unp some of those covers so

Peter Wilson (16:32):
You’ll find the audience for it. That doesn’t matter.

Ryan Vella (16:35):
I know. I don’t care. I don’t care about that stuff in, I can’t get canceled. I don’t do anything. So

Peter Wilson (16:41):
, go for it. That’s the rock and roll spirit I was hoping to find. So tell us about your workspace when you’re drawing. Are we seeing it now? Do you have a designated spot?

Ryan Vella (16:55):
No, this is it. This is it. Draw here at my crummy desk.

Peter Wilson (17:02):
Cool. Yes. Oh cool. I love it when we get tours

Ryan Vella (17:06):
I have to get, see that angles or backwards. Yeah, it’s just little crummy desk there. There’s some dodgy lamps

Peter Wilson (17:14):
That’s cool.

Ryan Vella (17:16):
In a lounge room so I can watch TV and everything. What’s that? Some horrible stuff on tv. See Married her first sight or something. So yeah, I do everything here. The window here.

Peter Wilson (17:32):
So when you sat down for a session to do some drawing or some writing, do you have any sort of weird rituals or do you have to have some coffee nearby? Or does cleaning have to be done first?

Ryan Vella (17:47):
Yeah coffee. Sometimes I listen to music depends or I just have something in the background basically. Usually not always. Do

Peter Wilson (18:04):
You have any tools of the tray you always stick with? Or do you have a favorite set of pens or pencils?

Ryan Vella (18:16):
I like the what are these? The pen brand, I use them a lot. They’re

Peter Wilson (18:20):
Very popular. Yeah.

Ryan Vella (18:23):
So we

Peter Wilson (18:23):
Should really get them to,

Ryan Vella (18:25):
I use the brush ones.

Peter Wilson (18:27):
Cool, cool. A lot.

Ryan Vella (18:30):
If not, I’ll just, sometimes I will use this ink with just a little dodgy brush.

Peter Wilson (18:36):
I hope that’s same brush

Ryan Vella (18:38):
And my dodgy little ink container. I just use whatever ink that is. I don’t care what the ink I use, whatever that is.

Peter Wilson (18:44):
Yeah. Mad

Ryan Vella (18:46):
For the art shop that’s lasting me have eight, is it? And oh my white out 10. I use the white out tens. Where are they? I use that a lot. Heat those ones.

Peter Wilson (18:59):
Oh yeah.

Ryan Vella (19:01):
So yeah, I guess. But lately I’ve used everything known to man that I can possibly is with . So I’ve used watercolor, acrylic and collage and charcoal and pencil and

Peter Wilson (19:20):
Wow, that’s really impressive.

Ryan Vella (19:23):
Paint and just thick. Just anything really. So just have fun with us. Onet. Really have fun. I’ve always wanted to try a book like that.

Peter Wilson (19:32):
Yeah,

Ryan Vella (19:33):
Cool. Just doing mixed media and doing a full color. Since I don’t do digital color, it’s the only way I can color it. Anyway. Yeah. So that’s how I’ve done it. Rare really.

Peter Wilson (19:43):
Cause Is there a medium you’re not fond of?

Ryan Vella (19:47):
I don’t use oil. I’ve never used oil paints. No. That’d

Peter Wilson (19:50):
Be tricky.

Ryan Vella (19:51):
I guess. So I’ve done a little bit of this stuff from digital, so I just don’t

Peter Wilson (19:57):
Yeah, you just don’t gravitate towards it. Yeah.

Ryan Vella (19:59):
Yeah. It’s just easier to sit here and make color with pens and paint or whatever. So

Peter Wilson (20:06):
Do you ever experience creative blocks that often and how do you over

Ryan Vella (20:12):
Oh, all the time. I find don’t fight it. If I don’t feel like I can’t feel, I’m not drawing one day. I don’t fight it anymore. Don’t draw. Yeah, I don’t push it really. If it starts to extend out for a couple weeks and you’ve got a deadline or something, then I’ve got . But that’s, that’s probably drawing some art. Follow the script. But if it was creative. Oh no, it’s different like that. I don’t know. Get out and about, don’t read other comics.

Peter Wilson (20:49):
Yeah. Usually a sign. It’s usually a sign. You have to absorb something new.

Ryan Vella (20:53):
Yeah. Don’t look at comics to get ideas for comics though. Yeah, just,

Peter Wilson (20:56):
Yeah, very true.

Ryan Vella (20:58):
And it doesn’t matter what, there’s so many things out there you can look at nowadays. So news, I watch news a lot and I get lots of ideas from news. Okay. Yeah. Watching

Peter Wilson (21:07):
That’s interesting.

Ryan Vella (21:08):
Crap on the news makes me angry and I Right. Add something about that.

Peter Wilson (21:15):
Lately I found what helps me draw is really dodgy looking. Obviously amateur made documentaries on things like UFOs and

Ryan Vella (21:25):
Oh

Peter Wilson (21:25):
I was possessed by spirit. That really gets me in the headset to write photos for some reason. I don’t know why, but they’re perfect to have on.

Ryan Vella (21:34):
Yeah, I love all those dodgy bigfoot docos and all that stuff. Yeah. I can’t get enough of it. Lockes monster. I, but it’s, I like watching it.

Peter Wilson (21:46):
There’s very definition of a passion project because you have to be obsessed and love the topic to make it Sure. In the back of your mind, you’re probably not going to find Bigfoot, but my God, they go for it.

Ryan Vella (21:58):
Yes. You would’ve heard about it on the news or something. If they did, you’d think so.

Peter Wilson (22:06):
They came back from they trek and all and it was on the news that Bigfoot had been found in another forest two feet away or something.

Ryan Vella (22:12):
Yeah, they did.

Peter Wilson (22:15):
It would be very cool.

Ryan Vella (22:18):
No, I like that stuff. Crypto creature stuff is always fun to watch. So

Peter Wilson (22:26):
Ever since I was a kid, I’m still obsessed with watching them. Even though I don’t believe in them, I still enjoy

Ryan Vella (22:30):
It. Same here, it’s from watching as a kid. Yeah. There’s heap of tacos on it. Back then I just

Peter Wilson (22:35):
Unsolved mysteries and

Ryan Vella (22:38):
Yeah, there was so many of them when I was young. What was they called? Oh, I can’t think of the names of ’em now. That’s incredible. That was one of those shows.

Peter Wilson (22:46):
Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Vella (22:48):
That’s stuff like that. The ghost stories and things.

Peter Wilson (22:53):
So is there a particular time of day or a space where a lot of ideas come to you? Or could it just be anywhere?

Ryan Vella (23:03):
It’s always where I can’t write. It’s always everyone in a shower or driving or something usually. Oh

Peter Wilson (23:09):
Really?

Ryan Vella (23:10):
I’m like, oh I can’t driving or I’m in a shower. I think of so much stuff and I just,

Peter Wilson (23:16):
always in the fog. Always

Ryan Vella (23:20):
To keep in my head. I’m not sure That’s for basic ideas. It’s always late at night too. It’s always really late at night. I think of the basic idea. End up mucking with rages usually. That seems

Peter Wilson (23:38):
To be, nearly everyone I’ve spoken to has said late at night or as they’re drifting off to sleep. It’s quite interesting.

Ryan Vella (23:43):
And I want, then I want to stay awake and work on it. But it’s like I’ve got to go to bed because I’ve got to work. So

Peter Wilson (23:51):
Yeah. For sure. So you are also a musician. That’s right, isn’t it?

Ryan Vella (23:57):
Yep.

Peter Wilson (23:58):
The Viper Syndicate.

Ryan Vella (24:00):
Yeah. Viper Syndicate. Yeah. The band I’ve been in for what, 16 years or so now. Wow. That’s cool. Long time. Long time. Is there

Peter Wilson (24:10):
Quite a difference in your approach to creating a song versus creating a comic?

Ryan Vella (24:23):
It’s similar. Oh, it is similar in a way. You kind of think of the basic idea and you’re just kind of working on it in a way. I guess the music would be the artwork in a way. And then maybe the lyrics are like the script. Yeah, I guess that’s cool. And refine it. And you can change things along the way. They’re kind of similar in a way since I kind of do both a bit. So

Sizzle (24:50):
I’m

Peter Wilson (24:53):
Always pleased when I ask a question and it gets that thinking reaction of, ooh, hang on. What I know.

Ryan Vella (24:59):
And there’s no right or wrong way to do either. Whatever works.

Peter Wilson (25:03):
Very true.

Ryan Vella (25:04):
Sometimes a wrong song will just happen or the whole thing will write itself. Sometimes they’re working up for ages and have to go back to it and stuff with it. And plus the collaboration thing. Some songs I’ll do the whole thing myself and some things are, other people will co-write the lyrics and the music and yeah. Cool. That’s exactly the same with comics too. So they’re very similar. And I like the DIY aspect. I really love that.

Peter Wilson (25:28):
Yeah. Okay. Let me consult my notes here. Where are we up to? Sorry, hang on. Over the years, what’s been the best bit of encouragement or criticism you’ve ever gotten?

Ryan Vella (25:54):
There’s always nice from anyone. Getting a compliment is always so nice. That’s what makes it all worthwhile for me. And I appreciate it. Compliments from any person, from some just random person to someone who’s been around for a long time. What was the other part of the question?

Peter Wilson (26:16):
Encourage best criticism or encouragement?

Ryan Vella (26:18):
Criticism. I love criticisms and I always take them on board. It’s even tiny things that got mentioned to me in the nineties. I still think of just with honest details about making things neater and layouts and I really take that on board and still use it. Yeah, no and it doesn’t work. If someone said, oh I hate your art, its shit. It wouldn’t bother me at all. Cool. It’s not that lash so cool each their own but it’s all good. I take all of it on board. Yeah, I know a good idea. Dave

Sizzle (26:59):
.

Peter Wilson (27:01):
Dave

Sizzle (27:08):
.

Peter Wilson (27:10):
I’m curious about one thing. One my favorite thing I’ve read of yours is he died with a falafel in his hand. The graphic novel adaptation of that. How was working with that writer? Cause it was a novel, right? And then a graphic novel.

Ryan Vella (27:27):
It was originally a novel then it was a stage play, then it was a movie. And then the next one was my one graphic novel version. Cause I met him at an art exhibition that I had stuff in Mackay where I’m at. The anniversary was coming up for the 10th anniversary, I think. I said to him initially we were both drunk to and I said to him, oh, do you want to collaborate on something? Because he is a famous cool writer and he mentioned the anniversary and he said they always thought it’d be cool to have a comic version of it. And he’s like, draw the comic. And I just said, yeah, I’ll go for it. I’ll adapt this novel. Which I had read and I hadn’t seen the movie in that. And he had it basically, he just left me to myself. I had no, it was just me. I could do whatever I wanted. Wow. I just got sent, I

Peter Wilson (28:23):
Assume to be very hands on.

Ryan Vella (28:25):
No, not at all. You didn’t even tell me what to do or anything. It was just like, okay, what do I do? So I got the book, I reread it heap of times and high highlighted all the bits I really wanted to, cause it’s such a big book and it’s all is, it’s not chronologically in order.

Peter Wilson (28:49):
Yeah.

Ryan Vella (28:50):
But I want to kind of make it in order. I think. Yeah. I did that by I didn’t want to change any words cause it’s his words. So I just sort of put pictures to the words and just started. Wow. Basically. Cool. Then I sent them, I think halfway through. I sent them cop photocopies of the pencils I think. And they said, yeah, cool. Keep going. Yeah, I think I did 120 pages and I’d finished it. I sent it to ’em and then they said, can you make it 40 pages longer? Oh wow. I went back into the book and pulled more bits out of it and extended it. Man. That’s

Peter Wilson (29:39):
A

Ryan Vella (29:39):
Huge hundred 68 pages.

Peter Wilson (29:43):
Wow. Is that the longest project you’ve ever done?

Ryan Vella (29:46):
Yeah, I know. I did it in six months.

Peter Wilson (29:49):
That’s amazing. That would take years.

Ryan Vella (29:52):
I dunno how the heck I did it. That’s like, that’s a lot of pages.

Peter Wilson (29:56):
So you are a work horse. You can turn around stuff pretty quick though.

Ryan Vella (30:01):
Yeah, I think so. I don’t know. I think I just spend a lot of time on it. I’m not sure.

Peter Wilson (30:06):
It definitely gets quicker the more you do it, but yeah, I’m always impressed by

Ryan Vella (30:09):
That does. So I don’t know if I spend a lot of time, but I do. But I know I’m quicker than some people. So I don’t know.

Peter Wilson (30:20):
, the bit of go-to piece of advice you give to any aspire and creators out there.

Ryan Vella (30:33):
Just follow your own path. Just do what you might think your idea is stupid or dumb or whatever you do is not that good. Keep doing it. Cause you’ll find in the future you’ll look back at that and go, I was doing something unique then. For sure. Don’t think, because if you are doing something, no one or my art doesn’t look like anyone else. You might be under something. Really. You know the next thing. Yeah, do it. Keep doing it. You don’t, don’t know.

Peter Wilson (31:06):
So that’s great. Yeah,

Ryan Vella (31:07):
Yeah. Do it. Just

Peter Wilson (31:11):
.

Ryan Vella (31:12):
Have fun. Have fun. That’s the main thing too. Have fun. Oh yes, you got to. It’s got to be fun.

Peter Wilson (31:18):
That is key. Absolutely

Ryan Vella (31:20):
Is. It really is. Like, yeah. Cause you need the motor. The hard thing of comics is the motivation to keep it doing it. Cause it takes a lot of time. Comics and slow. It’s

Peter Wilson (31:32):
Could be

Ryan Vella (31:32):
A grind. Fun. Make it fun. Fun, fun, fun. Yeah.

Peter Wilson (31:36):
Especially when you do every aspect of the comic. You do the lettering, the writing covers. Yeah. It adds up. It’s a workload does.

Ryan Vella (31:48):
It does. So have a break when you want a break. Have a break.

Peter Wilson (31:54):
Yeah. Shane, I’m taking a break. Cool man. So we’ve got a book coming out soon. We’ve both got stories in citrus perceptions issue one. You start that little story. It’s an awesome little read.

Ryan Vella (32:16):
Well that was fun that because Shane said, just with the basic thing of the story. Oh, can I give away the end of the story? But that’s given away the end. What you told me is basically little idea with the story where I had pretty much freedom to do what I want with this story without giving away the end. And with those, you can’t go. You can do you want. So I just pick things that I really like drawing.

Peter Wilson (32:42):
It was very generous though. I got a very similar brief. It was very nice.

Ryan Vella (32:46):
So it’s just like, I like drawing those things. I draw a bit of that. I draw a bit of that. I draw a bit of that. I fit three main things in that story that I like drawing, I think.

Peter Wilson (32:54):
Awesome. Is there a white whale project you’d love to do? A character you’ve always adored that you’d love to do for the big boys? Or maybe a 2000 ad cover?

Ryan Vella (33:09):
Oh, for for Marvel. That’d be Spidey. Just for, yeah. Something. I’m spidey. Just for sentimental. There’s even video of me. Grade four preschool Fancy dress dressed as Spider-Man outfit. Oh cool. I think it’s a a sentimental thing. It’s on Facebook somewhere. That video I love. 2000 ad Australian dog would be the one to do for that. Something might be happening. I’m up with some Australian dog possibly in the future I think. Awesome. Soon. Anyway. So bit of bootleg action. So

Peter Wilson (33:51):
I do enjoy your bootlegs. They’re cool.

Ryan Vella (33:53):
Yeah, bootlegs are fun. Cause I don’t think, I’m not going to work for these big companies. Just, I’ll do the stories anyway. And bootlegs are very fashionable and becoming a bigger thing now, which is so cool.

Peter Wilson (34:05):
It, yeah.

Ryan Vella (34:06):
Everyone get out there and do a bootleg if you want. You know what I mean? And just give it away.

Peter Wilson (34:12):
It’s have fun. Bootlegs is a concept. Never occurred to me. So I saw you doing them and I thought, what a cool

Ryan Vella (34:18):
Thing I’ve seen. I’ve seen a couple of American people do it. There’s an American book called Guba Schema, which cartoon is Kfa was covered last week. I saw that years ago. Yes. I’d write up about it and what’s, what sparked me onto it. Awesome. That articles maybe, oh, I want to do a bootleg of Marvel. Cause you, I don’t know. I didn’t think about doing it either. Yeah. Yeah. I want to get a crazy marble story or whatever story. Those

Peter Wilson (34:49):
Real spontaneous projects are often the fun ones.

Ryan Vella (34:53):
They are, yeah. I had a blast on that. Those ones soon. I was just laughing the whole way doing it because I love Spiderman. I love Spider-Man. I’ve got so many Spider-Man comics. I love it. Like the old stuff. So yeah.

Peter Wilson (35:10):
So you seem to work pretty well. Both sort of. Oh, that’s awesome, Sean. That’s cool.

Ryan Vella (35:15):
Johnny? He made a sonic to Bootleg. Bootleg.

Peter Wilson (35:19):
Did he? Oh, okay.

Ryan Vella (35:20):
Hey Sonic. The hedgehogs. Sorry, I, yeah,

Peter Wilson (35:23):
The hedge. Want to read that Sean? Hit me up. I’ll get a copy. Yeah, it’s

Ryan Vella (35:26):
Cool. It’s cool. Full color. It’s full color.

Peter Wilson (35:29):
Really? That’s impressive.

Ryan Vella (35:32):
Oh,

Peter Wilson (35:33):
Inspir people.

Ryan Vella (35:34):
Awesome. Great stuff. More bootlegs it. Do it.

Peter Wilson (35:38):
Well keep me to that for sure.

Ryan Vella (35:41):
The Aussies down then

Peter Wilson (35:44):
I’ve seen Deshaun’s Batman. It’s incredible. I don’t know where DC have been.

Ryan Vella (35:49):
Exactly. Oh dude, I should,

Peter Wilson (35:55):
Well that’s awesome. That brings us more or less to the end. Are there any questions from the audience? Three? This is

Sizzle (36:04):
A part delay between us and them.

Peter Wilson (36:06):
Is

Ryan Vella (36:07):
There, it’s typing.

Peter Wilson (36:11):
Dave come from situations.

Ryan Vella (36:14):
Sean have a sneaky question. That was, yeah. Disgusting. It is it? That’s his most disgusting thing. Oh. Oh. Except for that story. You didn’t coffee. That’s pretty disgusting. But

Peter Wilson (36:29):
We’re all thirsty boys today.

Ryan Vella (36:31):
Yeah.

Sizzle (36:33):
Oh, we’re waiting. Hang on.

Peter Wilson (36:35):
Can I do a

Sizzle (36:37):
? ?

Ryan Vella (36:39):
Yes you can. That’d be awesome. Go

Peter Wilson (36:41):
For it. Boom. Commission. That’s Robbie Don we, he draws my comics in Spy’s MOUs series.

Ryan Vella (36:50):
Oh, awesome. I love MOUs books.

Peter Wilson (36:53):
They are great books. Yeah. And I’m not biased at all.

Sizzle (36:57):
Not at all.

Ryan Vella (36:58):
Actually. I, I’ve thought of doing some boot legs of Aussie comics and characters over the years. So

Peter Wilson (37:03):
That’s that.

Ryan Vella (37:04):
I always want to do a southern squadron. One for years Southern. That’s

Peter Wilson (37:08):
Fantastic.

Ryan Vella (37:11):
So I’ve got a story too. I’ve got a story I’ve had for a while. What to do? Just a stupid thing. Just to have them all fighting and having fun. It’s always fun to draw that stuff. So

Peter Wilson (37:21):
It is fun to draw two characters, just fighting for no reason. I can confirm that. Yes.

Sizzle (37:26):
Yes.

Ryan Vella (37:27):
A little bit of a reason. You got to make a bit of a reason. So

Peter Wilson (37:30):
Donut or something? Yeah,

Sizzle (37:32):
Donut. Yeah. That’s a good reason.

Ryan Vella (37:33):
Yeah. Donut. That’s not bad. I’ll steal that.

Peter Wilson (37:40):
Marvel

Ryan Vella (37:42):
For less Marvel books. You know what I mean?

Peter Wilson (37:44):
? Absolutely. Man.

Ryan Vella (37:45):
Really? Some of those old ones, geez,

Peter Wilson (37:49):
I remember one was about glue that was good. Some sort of glue formula and all the Avengers were involved.

Sizzle (37:55):
Ah. Oh wow.

Peter Wilson (37:58):
But I was young when I read that. I was only like 27.

Ryan Vella (38:03):
It’s okay Lynn. It’s okay.

Peter Wilson (38:05):
. Alright, that brings us to the end of the show. Shane. Should we do the quote?

Sizzle (38:11):
Yep. I’ll just bring it up.

Peter Wilson (38:13):
We like to end on a quote here from people smarter than myself. I tend to forget what I’m doing, will ever be read while I’m writing it and just get on with the task at hand. Garth Ennis, that could be good advice or great advice. He’s a very polarizing writer.

Ryan Vella (38:27):
He’s great.

Peter Wilson (38:28):
But I think it’s great.

Ryan Vella (38:30):
He’s great. Garth

Peter Wilson (38:32):
Big. You’ll never read another writer quite like, I can

Ryan Vella (38:35):
Promise that. Oh absolutely. I’ve got so many things written by him, so he’s one of the best one. My favorites. So

Peter Wilson (38:41):
Absolutely man. Is there anything you’d like to plug?

Ryan Vella (38:44):
Yeah coming

Peter Wilson (38:46):
Up me? Yeah.

Ryan Vella (38:49):
Battery hand will be my next thing. Oh, this stuff coming out before that. But that’s all through coms I think. Oh, I know things. I’m not sure when things are coming out. Battery handle will be coming out through coms this year sometime.

Peter Wilson (39:03):
Awesome, awesome.

Ryan Vella (39:04):
When I finish it, finish the script and get it all letter in that. Yeah, that’s the next thing. Look out for it. I’ve got, there’s the front cover there.

Sizzle (39:18):
Oh, awesome.

Ryan Vella (39:19):
That’s the original art.

Peter Wilson (39:21):
Yeah. That’s really cool.

Ryan Vella (39:26):
Now I’ve got all the art here. This is the pile. Oh wait, second.

Peter Wilson (39:30):
Do you sell your original art?

Ryan Vella (39:34):
Not really,

Peter Wilson (39:35):
No.

Ryan Vella (39:36):
Little bits here and there. So that’s the whole book? Yeah.

Peter Wilson (39:39):
Oh wow.

Sizzle (39:43):
That’s awesome.

Peter Wilson (39:44):
That’s exciting.

Ryan Vella (39:46):
So finally got that done and I’ll be out sort of whenever I get finished soon as possible.

Peter Wilson (39:55):
Shane. Oh, I got a question. I knew Dave would come. Good.

Ryan Vella (40:00):
Cons. I’m going to Mackay. There’s a con in Mackay here in June. That’s the only one I know I’m gone to. Really? I think you don’t doing that thing in April anymore, are you? This is all, are ya?

Sizzle (40:21):
We’re trying to organize something for Supernova in Brisbane. Yeah,

Ryan Vella (40:26):
Yeah. But the Mackay one in June, was that Yeah.

Sizzle (40:30):
Yeah. Brisbane one is November. It’s just a few days before my birthday actually.

Ryan Vella (40:34):
Oh, that’s right. It’s always November. So I’m not sure if I’m, I always play gigs around then. Possibly, so.

Sizzle (40:41):
Oh well, we’ll figure it

Ryan Vella (40:42):
Out. Festival time. So I’m not sure if I’m playing this year. So

Peter Wilson (40:49):
Anything you’d like to plug? Sizzle? I suspect there’s something.

Sizzle (40:53):
There is something, and it happens to do with Ryan. I’ll just use Ryan as my example. Art.

Peter Wilson (40:58):
Hell yeah.

Sizzle (41:00):
Sidra Perceptions.

Peter Wilson (41:01):
Awesome.

Sizzle (41:04):
First page of his story. So lot of fun.

Ryan Vella (41:09):
Lots of plants.

Sizzle (41:10):
. Lots of plants.

Peter Wilson (41:11):
Yes. Really good lead. It’s going to be a great book.

Sizzle (41:15):
Yeah, it’s going to be awesome. And actually while I’m here, I might as well put up the link. I was just going to say go to the X Shop link at, but if you want to go directly to the Cirus comic, that’s the link. cirus.com X studio

Peter Wilson (41:34):
At the moment.

Sizzle (41:35):
Yeah. Yes. 20% off while the campaign’s running. Once the campaign’s finished, it’ll go to normal price. So that’s the PDF or the physical comic or both? All three of those are 20% off.

Peter Wilson (41:50):
Awesome stuff, man. That’s going to be great. Mm-hmm , get yourself a copy. It’s going to be a great book. I don’t have much at the moment. Keep an eye out for fos. The expanded and collected edition. I’m working on that in looking at three pages of extra fights, plus about 12 expanded pages from the original presents run. So it’s going to be a whole new book. You’re going to love it. And that’s all from us guys. Are we good?

Sizzle (42:22):
We’re good.

Peter Wilson (42:23):
All right. Thanks everyone coming on and subscribe. Leave us comments, we’ll read ’em out next week’s show if you like.

Sizzle (42:30):
Yep.

Peter Wilson (42:31):
And get in touch. Don’t your strangers. Thanks everyone.

Sizzle (42:34):
Thanks everyone. Alright

Peter Wilson (42:36):
You,

Voice Over (42:45):
This show is sponsored by the Comics shop.