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)