BRYAN'S BLOG
11/1/2025
A Halloween Greeting from the Past
Long before there was Aurelio, there was Rexx Ryan. Rexx was an original creation of mine that started in high school. At the time, I was passionate about Marvel comics and was teaching myself how to draw using the famous Marvel artists of the Silver Age (Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Buscema, etc.) as inspiration. Actually, let's throw Barry-Windsor Smith in there. He came a little later but was very influential.
Rexx was built like a superhero (Daredevil level) but had no super abilities whatsoever, aside from expertise in various martial arts. In that way he was loosely based on me (or at least my inflated self-image at the time.) In my junior and senior year of high school, I was creating comic books that starred Rexx Ryan and had various real-life friends and teachers as side characters. My tight little community of high school associates loved these primitive works. Rexx dealt with the typical teenage concerns of romance, social cliques, grades, tardiness, bullies, and beer. But he also found himself in quasi superhero circumstances that borrowed from the mystical, science fiction, and even horror genres.
When I went to college, Rexx came with me and starred in his own weekly comic strip (see my 9/15 blog entry.) At that time, he shed most of the high school concerns. However, he adopted politics--since, as we all know, artists often interject their world views into their works (which can be cringey, as personal world views are apt to change over time.)
After college, Rexx became less and less relevant until sometime in my mid-twenties he largely vanished. I still drew him from time to time, and that's what the above drawing represents: one of my last drawings of Rexx Ryan. This was from a Happy Halloween card I made for my wife Lori sometime in the early '90s.
What I like about this humble piece of art is that it showcases the use of an air brush. In the days before digital effects, one could use this hand-held device that used pressurized air blowing a mist of paint solution to make the cool effect you see in the ghostly bat image on the wall overlooking a somewhat nervous Rexx.
10/15/2025
A New Partnership
If you've found yourself reading this blog, you probably already know that I'm working on a graphic novel called Aurelio the Golden Axolotl. This project is taking much longer than I originally expected, and that's okay with me as long as the final product can be regarded as a work with decent quality.
And that's where collaboration comes in. I'm happy with the story I composed, which is equal parts fictional narrative and scientific or historical exposition in alternating chapters. I am also shamelessly proud of my drawing ability. But I have no skills whatsoever in digital coloring or lettering, so I really was hoping to find a fellow creative to take those roles in the project.
Fortunately, I'm a member of Kids Comics Unite (KCU), which is a large network of creative individuals from all over the world. One of the many benefits of belonging to this organization is that you can announce an artistic need you may have (in my case, a need for a colorist) and find someone. And that's where Sarah comes in. Sarah Steinberg is a fellow author and illustrator from Portland, Oregon and responded to my request with great enthusiasm. So, after looking over her website to see the quality of her coloring skills, I contacted her and we negotiated an agreement.
Thus, as of September16th, 2025, Sarah Steinberg and I became partners. I am extremely pleased with how she can bring to life my black and white drawings. Just take a look at a before-and-after treatment of the page below for example. I am very excited to see how the book will eventually look (hoping to have the artwork finished by March of '26) and I'm very grateful for KCU for having a platform that allowed for this partnership to come together.
10/1/2025
Ivory King Salmon
Recently Lori brought home a slab of unusual salmon called Ivory White salmon. It wasn’t literally white, but it was noticeably lighter than the typical salmon, which is red (if wild) or at least orange (if farmed.)
Here’s what it looked like, compared to a typical filet of king salmon on the right.
Now, I thought I knew all about salmon. In fact, I wrote the book on salmon. Okay, that’s going too far, let’s try it again. During Covid, I wrote a zine about salmon. This was one of those projects I had to do to preserve my sanity during a time of insanity. I was teaching Marine Biology at the time, and living in the Pacific Northwest where salmon migrate, so it made perfect sense. Here’s the cover illustration of that zine:
Turns out that there is a rare variety of king salmon that have flesh of a different color. How rare? About 5%. And you almost never see them in stores because the fishermen who catch them typically keep them for themselves. They are considered a delicacy, and their buttery meat is much milder and less “fishy.”
Their lack of redness comes from lacking the ability to process the pigments in the exoskeletons of the crustaceans they eat. Crabs and shrimp have carotenoids that give them their reddish colors, and these are passed onto the fish that eat them. Unless, I now know, you are the Ivory type which, because of a small mutation, lack the particular enzyme to process the red & orange carotenoids. They just pass through the digestive tract. This is in no way harmful to the fish, nor does it diminish the nutritious value of its flesh. If you consume it, you'll still get your precious Omega 3s.
So, a chance purchase allowed me to expand my knowledge of my beloved salmonids. My little zine contained a variety of topics including the harmfulness of salmon farms, the threats to migrating salmon in Lake Washington, the various uses of salmon skin for Native Americans, the life cycle of the Coho salmon, a tasty marinade, and even an original poem about salmon skeletons found in trees. All the entries are accompanied by my whimsical illustrations, like the one below displaying the five local species and their dual identities (and Spanish names as an added bonus.)
9/15/2025
Me and Steven Hillenburg
There was a recent post on the KCU (Kids Comics Unite) website announcing an upcoming workshop on creating zines. It used the idea of taking “baby steps” to begin pursuing your goals, and used an old, and now historical, zine created by Steven Hillenburg when he first began conceptualizing the odd characters that populate the surreal undersea realm of SpongeBob SquarePants. That zine represents Steven’s baby steps.
Now, I don’t usually engage in “name dropping”, but this circumstance provided me an opportunity I just couldn't resist. Steven and I both attended Humboldt State University (HSU back then) at the same time, and we both graduated in 1984. In fact, this adorable picture of him with his creation graced the cover of an issue of the Humboldt alumni quarterly magazine.
We both studied marine biology to some extent. One class, Invertebrate Zoology, covered groups of organisms that would eventually populate Bikini Bottom: Sponges, sea stars, cephalopods (like squid), crabs, and the little microcrustaceans that constitute zooplankton (one such critter, the copepod, is the basis for the malevolent character Plankton.)
Of course, we were also both artists. Steven was really into painting, and I was the cartoonist for the school paper: The Lumberjack. I produced a weekly comic called Rexx Ryan (no relation to the football coach.)
Here are a couple of my comic strips. The first one only hits home if you lived there, in an area where coastal redwood trees grew in what was just shy of being a temperate rain forest. The second one simply reflects some of us who just struggled with morning classes.
After graduating, we both worked in Southern California at separate marine facilities. Steven taught marine biology at the Orange County Marine Institute, and I worked with marine mammals at the now defunct Marineland of the Pacific. After a few years we changed directions. I became a high school science teacher, and Steven followed his artistic passions and soon created a tremendously popular television cartoon series.
Our paths never crossed again, but oh was I shocked, and thrilled, when I saw his name attached to that goofy and hilarious cartoon.
9/1/2025
To Revise or Not to Revise
Recently I saw a video clip on You Tube showing a hyena that caught a pangolin and was trying to pry it open. Using its powerful jaws and enormous teeth, it did manage to remove one or two scales.
This had a particular meaning to me because of Pascal's Problem, a children's book I started about a young pangolin. Here's what he looks like (from the book dummy.)
And here's another picture, a closeup of his cute face:
Later in the book, I describe how he has the ability to roll into a ball that makes him pretty much impervious to predators. Additionally, the text pretty much lets us know that predators find the ball of hard scales not worth tackling.
The predators think,
"Why bother?"
And even beyond that, I'd have sidebars detailing fun facts. Like most of my projects, this was the educational part. The side bars would usually be drawn in a more cartoony way but depict biological factoids that would enrich the overall book, but be presented in a way that didn't disrupt the flow of the narrative.
Pangolins can really frustrate lions. Not only are their scales like shields of armor, but they can twist in ways that cut the inside of a lion’s mouth.
And therein lies my problem. I wrote that section with the full conviction that pangolins were pretty much predator proof. But now I'm faced with the inconvenience of knowing that there are occasions in which pesky carnivores are able, somewhat, to get past the hard scales that protect the pangolins. So, do I alter my book, or keep the satisfying narrative as it is?
8/15/2025
One Frog of a Page
Last Friday, August 15th, was the first day of school here in Tulsa. Young students, awkward and silent, took their seats as unfamiliar adults greeted them for the first time. Most of them hoped their clothing would be considered cool by their peers. Are Nirvana shirts still “in”? I woke up casually. For the first time in FORTY YEARS, I didn’t have to be part of this annual ritual.
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I’m ecstatic that I’m not part of the back-to-school rat race. But on the other hand, I have legitimate concerns about sliding into a procrastination lifestyle. I am, by nature, a procrastinator. Fortunately, this tendency has been overcome by the professional demands of being a teacher. As such, I made a habit of being early, prepared, disciplined, and all those other qualities a teacher should exemplify. But now that I’m retired, there are no extrinsic forces to keep me accountable, and I can already feel myself slipping into a comfortable lifestyle of going to bed late, waking up whenever, and generally getting less out of my day.
Well, some of that is what retirement's all about, right? Actually, not what I envisioned. I loathe to find myself becoming sedentary, and I still have a strong desire to stay creative and productive. It was within this mindset that my sister bequeathed to me a little book called Eat That Frog! This is a self-help book centering on principles and practices to keep you successful. The titular practice of "eating a frog" is a metaphor for starting the day with centering on which task is the most important, and possibly the least enjoyable, and getting that done before anything else.
So, I decided to try that today. My "frog" was page 34 of the graphic novel I'm working on (Aurelio the Golden Axolotl.) This is a page that displays the colors and clutter of the canals of Xochimilco, the physical setting of the story. Here's what it looks like. The festive little boats are called trajineras, and their psychedelic paint-jobs, and sheer number, create a certain wonderful chaos that I wanted to capture.
Here's my first attempt, from my book dummy. It works fairly well, I think. But, of course, I wanted to make some adjustments for the final line art. But I find these types of pages, with all their details, NOT fun to draw.
And here's the final job, after numerous hours. I'm generally happy with it, but it was definitely the "frog" I had to eat.
8/1/2025
Chapi's Identity Crisis
In two months, the graphic novel-reading public will be introduced to a little aquatic character named Chapi. This will happen in the pages of an anthology called Let's Go! I wrote and illustrated a little six-page story for the anthology, and Chapi is a supporting character in the story. Here's what her first appearance will look like:
Notice that Chapi is identified as a Chapultepec splitfish. The name Chapultepec is from the Aztec language (Nahuatl) and literally means "at the grasshopper hill", which is a story unto itself. Let's just say that the name Chapultepec is associated with Mexico City, and if you ever go there, make sure to visit the wonderful Chapultepec Park. The real story here, however, is the name "splitfish", which I'll get to soon. In the meantime, here's another image of Chapi from this story, showing her colors and beautiful fins. This, of course, is before the word balloons were added:
Moving on, here's another image of Chapi from the book dummy of my "Big Book", Aurelio the Golden Axolotl. That's the full-size graphic novel that I've been working on for more years than I care to admit. I intend to be finished with it by next March. Notice how she looks a little different in this earlier stage:
Now take a look at a nice photograph of our fish by the photographer Juan Carlos Merino. This served as one of the main references to get Chapi to have an accurate appearance, resembling an actual species of fish that inhabits the environment in which the story takes place:
Finally, here's a semi-realistic image of Chapi that will be in the introduction of my graphic novel. Again, notice how she is called a Chapultepec splitfish.
So, what's the story here? The fact is that I've made a big mistake. Today, I decided to Google "fish of Xochimilco" to see what other piscine inhabitants resided in Lake Xochimilco, the environment of my stories, and I discovered that there's no such thing as a Chapultepec splitfish. There is, however, a Chapultipec splitfin. I GOT THE NAME WRONG. I let out an audible "D'Oh!" loud enough that it even aroused the curiosity of my 22-year-old who was sitting on the other side of the room looking down at his cell phone. When he asked, I explained my grave error. He commented that the only people that would notice, or even care, would either be ecologists studying the biodiversity of that body of water, or freshwater ichthyologists aware of this critically endangered species. He was right. But, my nitpicking biology teacher self needed to address this issue in the name of accuracy. Thus, because it's too late to change the anthology, Chapi will be a splitfish for a while, but turn into a splitfin for my graphic novel.
7/15/2025
Summerlyn: Fairy of Mischief
As I've been sorting through my unorganized archives, I came across this drawing I made of my daughter 20 years ago. At the time, she was nine years old and kinda identified as a fairy. She was also admittedly mischievous. So, I combined both characteristics into a portrait. The original was sold at a PTSA fundraising auction, but fortunately I did make a copy. Now, 20 years later, I scanned the picture and then printed it onto a sheet of 140 lb. 100% cotton watercolor paper. Then I spent a couple of hours with acrylic paints giving it a new life:
So here we are, 20 years later, visiting the Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa. My little fairy has transformed into a lovely young woman. I haven't changed too much though, haha.
7/1/2025
The Beautiful Banded Sea Krait
Now that I have officially retired from teaching, I am faced with the daunting task of sorting through 40 years of accumulated science teacher stuff: Specimens, supplies, binders full of lessons I’ll never use again, thumbdrives full of Power Points I’ll never show again. Some items get donated, some sold on eBay, some I’ll keep forever, and some are simply thrown away. This paper mache sea krait falls into the category of “take a picture, then close your eyes and toss it in the trash.” It was made by a former marine biology student but despite its overall cool appearance, it’s broken in two places and just not worth keeping.
Well, if you’re still reading this, you may be wondering what a sea krait is. The basic answer would be that they are a semiaquatic reptile that lives in tropical parts of the Indian & Pacific ocean, and despite their lovely appearance have a potentially lethal venom. But bites are very rare and reserved for the dummies that actually grab the non-aggressive serpents. They’re analogous to a friendly southerner with a conceal and carry permit and a loaded handgun. He/she will nod and smile, but try something threatening and you may face a sudden demise.
Most people who see them assume they are sea snakes, and this is a reasonable assumption since the animal is obviously a snake, and it spends most of its life in the ocean. There are, however, some differences between sea kraits and true sea snakes. Both of them have laterally flattened bodies which enable them to zip through the water with little resistance. But while the sea snakes body is flattened from stem to stern, the sea krait’s front half is cylindrical like its terrestrial cousins while the tail is flattened into a paddle. The bellies are also different, with the sea krait having the typical wide belly scales that enable it to move on land and the sea snakes having tiny scales. True sea snakes are thus so adapted to a marine existence that they can barely move on land.
I chose to deliver lessons such as these in an interactive way through what I’d call my Critter Spotlight exercises. These would consist of me leading my students through a drawing lesson using the document camera. Some of the kids loved these lessons, others protested with the standard “I can’t draw” complaints. Either way, I would do my best to guide them, step-by-step, to a semi-realistic illustration. The final product would be accompanied by a few Fun Facts. Here’s an example:
