Today on Artist August, we talk to the writer/artist/creator of two of the most ridiculous and entertaining web comics out there – Blast Furnace and God Hates Astronauts. That man is Ryan Browne, and he is not just a man who comes up with brilliant and original ideas, but also someone whose execution via his art escalates the quality of his books to even higher levels than most readers could hope for.
Check out after the jump to find out what studying under legendary artist David Mazzucchelli did for his art, the tale of the tape on a match-up between two of his web-comic characters, whether or not he would want to work for the Big Two, and more.
Was there a single moment you can look back on that made you want to work in comics? Or was it more of a natural progression that led you here?
Ryan Browne: There was a moment in art school where I had to decide between painting or illustration as a major. That’s really when I made the decision to make my hobby my profession. Up until that point, I was doing a lot of more serious, traditional fine art as my main focus and my sketchbook was really the place for me to cartoon and tell jokes. I guess it was the whole, I want to do what I do for fun, for a living.
Who or what has influenced the development of your art?
RB: I studied with David Mazzucchelli in art school for two semesters which was a big turning point for me. I’ve never been the master draftsmen that I want to be, but studying with him he put all of the focus on comics as storytelling. I think that’s really when I started to find my own voice. Up until then, I used to just struggle to make the most bad ass drawings that I could… to lackluster effect.
Recently it’s been a lot of new friends in the industry that have helped encourage me and keep me positive about my work… most notably Chris Burnham, Zander Cannon, Tim Seeley and Mike Norton. Those guys have taught me a lot about the industry and given me a lot of guidance about where to go with my work. I couldn’t have had the mild GHA following and success without them. I’ve actually been on the brink of quitting for a couple years due to utter frustration with the comics industry and my complete inability to get publishers interested in my work. Thank god for web-comics, they really helped me figure out that I wasn’t totally crazy and that there is an audience for my type of work.
You have a background in design and art study at the renowned Rhode Island School of Design. Amidst the insanity of your two current major projects, how does that more classical training continue to influence your work?
RB: As I said before, Mazzucchelli’s instruction still lives with me and has been essentially to my development as a storyteller. Other then that, I have RISD to thank for my intense work ethic and flat out self destructive love for impossible projects, I.E. “Blast Furnace”. Also that “Classical training” helps me to understand color, shape, form and flat out how to put an image together. Not sure I always do it to well but at least I can recognize when it is done well and that helps.
Your primary works so far have been two totally DIY projects: God Hates Astronauts and Blast Furnace. Why did you decide to produce comics by yourself for the web? Was there ever a point where you wanted to look to the comic “mainstream” for work?
RB: I have always wanted to work in the mainstream world. As I said before, my web-comic work is born out of necessity. I have wasted a ton of time in my life on samples and submissions that were put in a packet, looked at by almost no one, and then forgotten. At some point I came to the decision that if I loved making comics, I needed to just make my own. I think the mainstream companies give a lot of false hope and waste a lot of young artists time with their “breaking into comics” panels and discussions. It’s like showing up to casting calls for a multi-million dollar film without having any experience and a two minute demo tape. The odds are completely stacked against you. At some point I’d love to have a chance working on a book for the heavy hitters, I just don’t see it as much of a possibility. I’ve spent my whole career having publishers tell me they don’t know what to do with my style of art. Maybe some day though… you never know 🙂
Continued belowBoth Blast Furnace and God Hates Astronauts are…well, completely insane but in the best way possible. What are your brainstorming methods? Does it involve watching lots of overly dramatic B-Movies and a bottle of whiskey with a notepad, or is that for afterwards?
RB: My work is best when I just go for it. God Hates Astronauts actually started as a 24 hour comic, which is an exercise in immediate, stream of consciousness story telling. Blast Furnace is done in this way but in long form. Instead of a 24 hour comic, it’s a 260 hour comic… give or take. What I put in my comics is born out of what I want to see in comics. I truly am just making comics that I want to read and then I just hope that someone else has the same sense of humor. I’m always writing to make myself laugh… I never have the agenda to make something as intentionally outrageous and weird as possible and I hope it comes off that way. I’m not a big fan of comedy that yells into your face “look how weird this is! Isn’t it weird!!???”
Also most of my work is referential in nature. I’m a huge fan of film, 70s and 80s horror and action films especially and I think that has a lot of influence on where my stories go. Frequently, and again, I don’t ever consider myself an actual writer, I will come up with a joke or a scene that I think is funny and then I try to find a way to get the narrative to a point where I can make that joke work. I’m going to go ahead and guess that’s not how actually writers work.
Do either Blast Furnace or God Hates Astronauts have an end-game you have in mind, or would having something of that sort defeat the purpose of the entire exercise?
RB: I’ve had plans for about six issues worth of GHA. At present, I know my ending of issue three which wraps of all of the current story lines. Issues 4-6 are just broad outlines of where the story is gonna go.
Blast Furnace is intentionally misguided and unfocused. The most that I am planning ahead in that comic is about five pages. That’s part of the fun of the book, not sweating the small stuff. I’m sure once I get to around page 230, I’ll have to really start figuring out how this is all going to wrap up in the end.
Have you come up with any ideas so far where you thought you might have gone too far?
RB: Not really. I’ve certainly come up with ideas that aren’t funny at all and it takes me a while to let go of them. I think my humor is offensive in the way that it can be so R-rated but not offensive in that it tries to offend peoples opinions or beliefs. The one slight thing that I still worry about is the name “God Hates Astronauts”. It was supposed to be snarky and sarcastic and not really say anything about religion but I think at times it’s not really seen that way. I came up with the title for the book when I was living on the east coast and in that liberal climate it really didn’t seem like a big deal to me… now that I live back in the midwest I’m learning that people either love it or are slightly offended by it, even if they don’t know why. Whoops?
In that same vein, have you come up with any concepts that you were in love with and then realized you had absolutely no idea how to bring that to life with your art?
RB: Yeah there are a few things that still are in development in my head that will probably never see the light of day. Not sure if I’ve ever really thought that my art would limit them rather then the time involved that would keep me from realizing it. I also have plenty of ideas that I really like that really don’t go anywhere. If anything limits me, it’s my inability to write anything with depth or seriousness. I always just feel really pretentious or self important when I try to make anything with a lot of meaning. Backlash from my days of being a painter I guess.
Continued belowWhen are we going to see more God Hates Astronauts?
RB: Not for a while sadly. I’ve started getting a good deal of paying work from the success of GHA and that is keeping the labor intensive web-comic work on hold for now. Blast Furnace is my way of having a quick and dirty outlet for my comic making that I can do around these larger paying projects. If I found a good way to make any money on GHA or find a good publishing solution I would be all over finishing it off.
In the header of Blast Furnace, you say that you’ve done zero planning. How little planning is zero planning? Are you coming up with your new story beats on the spot when you have a new issue due?
RB: Yeah as I said before, I’m really thinking about five pages ahead, sometimes less. I never sat down to planning any of it, I just designed a character and a brief idea of who he was and then I started on page one.
In Blast Furnace, I’ve read ahead a bit but we are now in I think our fifth layer of flashbacks. Is there such a thing as too many flashbacks, or are you on a quest to find that barrier and then cross the living hell out of it?
RB: I thought it would be fun to celebrate the unfocused nature of my comic making. I also have 260 pages to fill and so I’ve decided to follow the story where ever I think it needs to go. If I put a little joke in there about, say, an owl, and it gets the wheels turning in my mind about where a backstory for the owl could go, I’m going to go there. Why not? I’ve got like a billion pages to fill.
Who wins in a fight: a Bear Wizard or Blast Furnace?
RB: Blast Furnace for sure! That guys tough as nails… he has a flaming tie for christ’s sake! Also those bears in GHA do nothing but get the shit kicked out of them all day. I don’t think their hearts are really into the evil villain kind of stuff.
In the digital age, new tools are available to artists of all types. How does that affect and expand your work?
RB: I’m starting to stream line my process using various computer tips and tricks from other artists. My big complaint with comics as a whole is how long they take to create. I also think that comics as a whole have become over polished and sterile artistically. So while I am using the computer more and more for time saving shortcuts, I still want my comics to show that they were made by a person who is only partially a robot.
Does feedback (both positive and negative) with fans and critics via social media push you as an artist? How does that aspect affect your art?
RB: It pushes and then immediately discourages. If I spend 12 to 14 hours doing a page of GHA and then I post it online to little or no fan fair it is completely discouraging. Since it is so easy to comment and interact with my readers, if I get no response, it’s like performing to no applause at the end. It’s pretty different then you creating a published book and then seeing the numbers and never really knowing if it was liked or not… just if people liked the concept and cover art enough to order copies.
Comics, even with increasing acceptance amongst the mainstream, are still a niche medium. With that in mind, have your friends and family always been supportive of your pursuit of a career in this field?
RB: Oh definitely. My parents have always been great supporters and have given me every opportunity that I have needed to get the training I need in the field. My friends of course have been essentially in giving me feedback and support and reminding me how fun comic making and reading is as a whole.
Desert Island question: one book, one album, one film and one comic. What do you take with you?
Continued belowRB: Book? Who has time to read?
Album? “Emergency and I” by the Dismembement Plan
Film? Die Hard… hands down.
One Comic? D.C. the New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
Who are your favorite artists working in comics today?
RB: Geoff Darrow, Mike Allred, Mike Mignola, Chris Samnee, John Paul Leon, Darwyn Cooke, Stuart Immonen, Zander Cannon, and Chris Ware
Besides putting together some of the most original and absurd web comics in the world, what else are you working on?
RB: I am currently working on an unannounced mini-series for IDW…actually it’s being announced at San Diego so it might be announced when you read this. I also recently did an 8 page story with B. Clay Moore for four star studios digital comic double feature. You can download it for 99 cents on the itunes store or at Four Star Studios.
I also have an 8 page story with Tim Seeley in the upcoming Graveslinger Anthology graphic novel for IDW.
