New Overheard - Recovery House

New overheard everyone - enjoy!

Antique Appreciators- New Overheard

Another Overheard done for the B Free Paper in Baltimore. This one overheard by John Irvine. Should be back to regular posting soon - more to come on the graphic novel progress as well as some other freelance I've been doing lately. Keep checking back, I'll do my best to have some new stuff up soon.

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New Overheard - Shore to Please

New Overheard below - this one heard in the workplace cafeteria. Enjoy!

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The Gantry - Album Artwork

Hello good friends. Though it has been a while since the last post, I think it is with good reason. I have recently been asked by my good friend Kevin Goldhahn to do some illustration for his band's album cover. My response? Of course.

Kevin is a guitarist and vocalist for the group The Gantry. You can check them out at www.thegantrymusic.com . You can also follow them on Facebook, and Twitter.

The project started out with some phone calls, discussions, and finally some concept sketches, which Kevin posted to get feedback on. These were the sketches as supplied.

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Kevin took the sketches back to show the band and told me that we'd be in touch after he got their feedback. Not a problem. A few days went by, and I assumed I'd be hearing from them soon. When I finally did, we had a couple of minor changes / adjustments to make, but I got the go-ahead from them for the full illustrations. They then asked if I wouldn't mind doing the layout for the packaging of the CD as well. Again, I said "no problem" and set to work. Here are the final illustrations for the front and back covers...

Pleased with how the illustrations turned out, I set to work on the laying out of the packaging. I know, I know, a HUGE risk considering the fact that I hadn't even gotten a final OK on the illustrations themselves. I like to live dangerously, what can I say? This roll of the dice paid off big; I sent Kevin my official "1st Proof" packet, and a text telling him "check your e-mail". Moments later, my phone was ringing, it was Kevin, and a fellow bandmate who apparently had just choked on a piece of sushi upon seeing the album art. They loved it.

So now it will be off to the printer with this one, with specs and proofs to approve, but in the meantime, here is a sneak peak at what Kevin saw that night. Remember, follow The Gantry on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date as far as release dates for the new CD! 

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside Left Cover

Inside Right Cover

Check back, I will be posting the final hardcopies here once I receive them!

Shirt Design - For Philadelphia Flugtag Champs!

Whoa, two days, two posts! Imagine that. 

A few weeks back, a buddy of mine from work had asked me if I would help him with an illustration for some shirts he needed done. Of course, I would have said "yes" anyway, but when he told me it was for his Flugtag team, how could I say no? He was participating in the Philadelphia Red Bull Flugtag competition, his team, The New Kids on the Dock. Their flying machine was a giant lobster, and they were going with the whole nautical theme. 

He had showed me the sketches he had come up with for their vessel, and had an idea for a promotional t-shirt to raise awareness of his team. I received his sketch on a post-it note, and he asked if I could "do my thing" on it. No problem... here is my version of what his vision was...

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He also informed me that they would probably be printed as white on a navy blue tee. Drawing on my previous experience working at a screen printing shop, I set to work creating an inverse version of this, and setting up the printer file for him...

After sending him the final artwork via e-mail, (I included the original ink-work) the reaction was priceless. Sheer and unbridled excitement, and plenty of words I can't use here later, it was apparent that I had nailed it. I was told I'd be getting one a few days later, and that he wanted to "reimburse me" for my efforts. I said, just give me a shirt, no worries about reimbursement, when you win, give me an autograph. We had a deal. And now, the final product:

But it gets better... Not only did he take part in Flugtag... HE WON!! So who knew I'd be designing the shirt for the Flugtag champs. Crazy how things work out. Now I scored one of the shirts, and an autographed Red Bull can from the New Kids on the Dock pilot himself. Awesome.

Overheard- Not Really A Problem

Yeah I know what you're thinking... "Where have you been!?"

Well, I have no excuse. I had been posting pretty consistently when I was putting bits of my graphic novel up, but now that I have my full "teaser" up, I let my blogging fall to the wayside. Am I back? No. By no means. I can't say that I will be posting consistently because I know I can not keep that promise.

However, I do have some new work I will be trying my best to get up here. In the meantime, here is another overheard for your enjoyment...this one heard by Benn Ray himself.

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Color Vision Test

Hey good people,

Last week a co-worker of mine passed a "color-vision test" along to me. Essentially you go through the bars and create a perfect spectrum, or at least see how close to it you are able to come. I was astounded by the stats of females scoring so much higher than men. I don't mean to point that out in a sexist way; (like "Oh men can see just as good as females blah blah blah") regardless of who scored higher, it was shocking to see that it was such a large gap. I took the test and thought, well this should be interesting, and probably embarrassing, but what the heck. I took it, and was surprisingly greeted by this screen:

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That's right. PERFECT COLOR VISION. Haha. That was my first try too. I took the tests again, and scored a 3. I took it a third time: 2. So at least I am able to say I have a record of staying under 10, and getting an "A" for color vision.

Okay, I know, "Shut up and hit us with the link". No problem, here it is, let me know how you do! http://www.reddit.com/tb/vptnc

Cleanup on Aisle 6 - A New Overheard

Here is a new Overheard done for the B, overheard by Benn Ray in a Giant Supermarket. Enjoy!

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Trains, Planes & Automobiles

Let's get one thing straight: I hate drawing cars. HATE them. And they are only one on a list of things I hate drawing. What else is on the list? Of course I can't think of any at the moment, but I can say that trees and plants aren't far behind.

But I do like to take on the challenge of drawing things I know I don't like, because eventually, I will have to draw them. Such was the case at work last month. I needed to draw up some concept pieces for a project we are doing here, which I can't elaborate on too much just yet, but let's just say that it will be available to the public for purchase. I needed to draw up a Mustang, Challenger, and Camaro. These drawings went through several rounds of changes, (more so the paint schemes) but this is what we finally ended up on.

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So there you have it. This post will have updates following, when I am able to divulge more about what you are looking at.

The moral of this post? My fellow artists, always draw everything. You never know when you will be called upon to take on something out of the blue that may not particularly be your strong suit. It would be much better to take the job than to have to decline, no?

From the Depths - Weathered Robo Munny

This will probably be the last one for the "From the Depths" bit for a little while.

This one is actually the first one I did, I'm sure that is obvious by its crude appearance. I'm pretty sure if you look closely enough you can see some fingerprints where I had picked it up before the paint was completely dry. It is a good thing I am not a fine artist or painter, because I certainly have no patience.

Haha, anyway, here was the first in my journey in the mini-munny world.

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Team Battle Flag

So yes, for  those of you who don't know, I have a full-time, 8-5 job, as a Senior Graphic Designer. At this job, there are about a dozen of us in the marketing department that are actually responsible for creative assets for the company.

Not too long back, the assistant VP thought it would be a neat idea to break us up into "teams"; pairing us off with someone else who they thought we would benefit and reach our peak creatively with. Now of course, it came to fruition that we would have team "names", which would then lead to logos, and eventually battle flags for the job tracker board. 

I was teamed up with Jerry who said we should be the "Zombies - Killer Creatives". We all kind of snickered and went about the meeting. But the wheels were already turning in the ol' noggin, and I had set to work making our flag...which turned out something like this:

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Yep. I figured, why not use my illustration prowess to gain the leg up on the competition?

Nothing wrong with that...right?

From the Depths...Scuba Munny!

Here is the Mini-Munny I had done the year before. This one definitely came "from the depths!"

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From the Depths - DIY Kidrobot Mini-Munny

Hey Good People,

I posted a piece about "portfolio cleanout" last week some time. Or maybe the week before. I had a few other pieces that are now in a sense, "from the depths", an ongoing bit I plan to do on here.


Atomic Books used to run a show entitled "Vinylmore"; in which various artists were contacted and asked to donate a piece. The only rules were that it had to be one of the DIY templates by Kidrobot. 

I had taken part in the show three years, and I thought it would be kind of cool to post my final pieces on here, since it will be much easier than finagling a "3-D" section of my website. Here was the last one I had done...


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From the Depths...

This past weekend I did some portfolio / hard drive clean up. I enjoy this task because it forces me to re-visit some past works. It reminds of ideas I had, past projects completed, as well as coming across the in progress, and never started. In a sense it could be depressing, but I figured by posting a find every once in a while, it will give me the motivation to resuscitate some ideas that have gone into stagnation.

Here was one I stumbled across - a "home page" idea I once had for ryanonorato.com, before I went with the sleek facade it has now. This one brought back memories of my skating youth; how we will stop at nothing to get to that secret skate sanctuary.

Who would have known, "stopping at nothing to reach that secret sanctuary" can be pretty symbolic. Hot damn...maybe this piece was ahead of it's time!
Enjoy.


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Graphic Novel - Page 12

Yep... another day, another page; although this will probably be the last one for a little while. I know, I mentioned that I had scanned 60 pages in, but I don't want to post the entire thing on here, then why would you want to buy it?

I'm sure I will be posting the occasional page, but it won't nearly be as quickly and as much as I've posted here already. Hopefully you've enjoyed what you've seen so far, it is more or less the intro for the book.

Stay posted!


Below the Approach Lights - Page 12

Graphic Novel - Page 11

Below the Approach Lights - Page 11

Graphic Novel - Update

Below the Approach Lights - Page 10 

Graphic Novel - Update

Below the Approach Lights - Page 9

Graphic Novel - Update

Below the Approach Lights - Page 8

Higher Education - A New Overheard

New Overheard everyone, this one hear by Benn Ray himself at the local Trader Joe's... enjoy!

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Graphic Novel - Page 7

Below the Approach Lights - Page 7

Graphic Novel - Page 6

Below the Approach Lights - Page 6 

Graphic Novel- Page 5

Below the Approach Lights -  Page 5

Graphic Novel Update - Page 4

Below the Approach Lights - Page 4

Graphic Novel Update

Below the Approach Lights - Page 3

Graphic Novel Update

Page 2. More to come...enjoy!

Below the Approach Lights - Page 2

Graphic Novel - Work In Progress

Of course, it was only a matter of time before I started posting "works in progress". I wanted to start to create a buzz about a graphic novel I've been working on for about the last year now, and I figured what better way to get the stir going than to post it here. I am currently 80 pages in, and have began the long scanning process...

Make no mistake; more pages will be following, but below is the inkwork for the first page. Now although this blog may only have 3 official "followers" the analytics say that there are many more of you taking a peek from time to time... I know you are out there...

Below the Approach Lights - Page 1

In Demand

So a friend of mine asked me about a T-rex mini comic I had done a while back, he was looking for a copy for his young son. I directed him to Atomic Books' website; as I figured they would be able to ship him one before I could get around to putting more together. He said they were out of stock, and when I visited the website I saw the following picture...

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Look at the "Availability" - OUT OF STOCK. That means Ryan Onorato is in demand people! Haha. Fear not, I am currently in the process of replenishing the dry well of Ryan Onorato mini-comic-ness. So stay tuned, and Atomic will have more T-Rex, How Do You Brush Your Teeth With Such Short Arms? again in the near future.

Thanks to all of those who purchased a copy, for the support, and for making this post possible!

Wash, Wax, Shine - Update

Yep. As I promised, here is a photo of the sign, as it appears, in the stores. Stop by a Pep Boys and check it out, it is much more impressive in person.
Carry on good people!

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Wash, Wax, Shine

For those who don't know, aside from my illustration, I am also Senior Graphic Designer for Pep Boys. Yep, this is indeed my full-time, 8-5 job. A little while back, I posted a bit about the illustrations I had done for the 2011 Holiday Campaign, and I thought that I'd share with you the work I've done for the Spring of 2012 set as well.

Spring time at Pep Boys, as well as our competitors, is a MAJOR time of year for sales in wash & wax products. As such, the marketing team started brainstorming...

We came up with all kinds of different approaches for what we wanted to do; but our Creative Director suggested a large "Car Wash" banner for the spring set. After kicking ideas around and different versions and revisions, it came down to the decision I was going to be in charge of this project. YIKES! A week or so trickled by, and this was the vision we decided to go with...first for web.

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It then decided, this would be an animated gif to be used in e-mail marketing. It was, however, so well received, that it was decided to be used the main Hanging Sign in all of Pep Boys stores! So now, this had to be converted from a 150px by 150px RGB Photoshop doc to a 56" x 48" CMYK Illustrator file. No problem.

After crafting the Ai file for about a week, it was finally ready to go. We had to go out for a press-check at our printer, and this is how the monstrosity looked in person...

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All looked good, and off to the stores they went. 
Now, I will try to get a photo from the store up here soon, but in the meantime, stop by your local Pep Boys and see it for yourself - and while you're there, load up on your car wash & wax accessories you need! 
(All images courtesy of The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack, copyright 2012. All design work shown above is property of The Pep Boys, as it was not done on a freelance basis with Ryan Onorato Illustration. All rights belong to The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack)

The Best of Times

Hey good people. As always Atomic Books gives away a SWEET Free Comic Book Day giveaway; entitled "Mutant". This year, be sure to stop by to pick up your copy of Mutant, featuring works by a list of select artistic talents. Obviously, I myself am featured in this year's edition. Here was my submission below...

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