Agent Palmer

Episode 18 features Illustrator Ryan Lynn, who has worked with Miller Lite, the NFL, and many others.

We discuss those projects plus; graphic design, inspiration, illustration, balance, and of course process… 

During the episode we discuss:

• Creating the Agent Palmer Brand Identities
• From Art to Graphic Design
• Career Path
• Creative Process
• Being his own boss
• Working with Miller Lite
• Working with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers
• Learning new things
• Perspective
• Balance
• And much more.

Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode

RyanLynnDesign.com

Ryan’s Instagram @RyanLynnDesign

Ryan’s Dribbble

Agent Palmer’s original text interview with Ryan Lynn

Music created and provided by Henno Heitur of Monkey Tongue Productions.

–End Show Notes Transmission–

–Begin Transcript–

00:00:00:14 – 00:00:25:05
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent Palmer.com. I finished The Voyage of the Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks, reviewed Out of My Mind by Curtis Osman and previous guest Brian Jones, has me thinking about some larger projects. This is The Palmer Files episode 18 with graphic designer Ryan Lynn, who has worked with Miller Lite, the NFL and many others. We discussed those projects plus graphic design, inspiration, illustration, balance, and of course, process.

00:00:25:08 – 00:01:00:14
Agent Palmer
And did I mention he did my logo as well? Now you know, let’s do the show.

00:01:00:19 – 00:01:20:05
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to the Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic. Also known as Agent Palmer. And on this 18th episode is graphic designer Ryan Lynn. As an illustrator and graphic designer on his own, Ryan operates Ryan Lynn Design and Illustration, where his portfolio includes MillerCoors, the Carolina Panthers, and other NFL teams, plus CBS films and many more.

00:01:20:10 – 00:01:45:30
Agent Palmer
His noncommercial portfolio, full of inspiration from the unknown depths of the sea to the farthest reaches of the universe, is nothing to scoff at either. I first met Ryan when he was working at a design agency where he was the lead designer behind the creation of my current site, Agent palmer.com, and my logo. I know when I’m lucky by association, so it was guaranteed that Ryan was where I would and did turn to create the logo for this podcast you’re listening to right now.

00:01:45:35 – 00:02:06:11
Agent Palmer
And I told him then that one day he would be a guest on this show. Well, that day is today and I’m excited to share this episode with you. Ryan story is fascinating because it shows that burning the midnight oil on personal inspirations can pay large dividends, not just monetarily, but in the payoff that investing in yourself always yields.

00:02:06:15 – 00:02:30:50
Agent Palmer
Now, before I go on to the usual show notes thing that are usually optional at best, in this case, the podcast is only half of the story. The links contained in this week’s show notes include links to Ryan’s portfolio and his art and illustration. And while you may know what my logo looks like, that’s design. Ryan’s illustration are literally out of this world and need to be seen to be believed.

00:02:30:52 – 00:02:52:03
Agent Palmer
Also, maybe you’ll recognize some of his commercial work, but I’ve made it easy. All the links are available for you. All you have to do is listen and click. So if you want to discuss the episode as you listen or afterwards, you can tweet me at Agent Palmer. You can tweet the show at the Palmer Files, and you can tweet Ryan at Ryan Lynn Design.

00:02:52:03 – 00:03:19:17
Agent Palmer
That’s Ryan Ly and design. You can also see his website as well as his portfolio at Ryan Lin design.com, which also includes his shop. And you can follow him on Instagram also at Ryan Lin Design to see more of what he’s got going on right now from in-progress to finished pieces. Don’t forget, you can see all of my writings and rantings on Agent palmer.com, including an old text interview I did with Ryan years ago before he went solo.

00:03:19:18 – 00:03:33:00
Agent Palmer
And remember, all of these links and those mentioned in the show will be available in the show notes. So without further ado, let’s get into it.

00:03:33:05 – 00:03:38:12
Agent Palmer
Ryan, you are responsible for the Agent Palmer logo. This is.

00:03:38:13 – 00:03:39:30
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. And website.

00:03:39:30 – 00:03:45:14
Agent Palmer
And website. That’s right. You were. Which I still use. I will never change that.

00:03:45:18 – 00:03:48:40
Ryan Lynn
Well, that’s. That’s probably bad. Move. You know, you’re going to want to change it.

00:03:48:45 – 00:04:13:39
Agent Palmer
Well, there is a there is a mobile version. So it’s not like but I want to let the listeners know, the website prior was designed by me and I am by no means a graphic designer. So it was just kind of a very loose, rough notebook, like file folder, desktop thing. And I was using at the time.

00:04:13:39 – 00:04:36:52
Agent Palmer
Not my real face for Twitter. I was using the Michael Caine Ipcress File logo. And from those two things, which is and whatever I was writing, but you know, the content was a little I would presume is slightly irrelevant, like from Michael Caine and that crappy site I designed. You came up with that logo and that website.

00:04:36:57 – 00:04:37:31
Ryan Lynn
Yeah.

00:04:37:36 – 00:04:39:31
Agent Palmer
And it was your first. Right. Like it wasn’t.

00:04:39:46 – 00:04:54:38
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. As I recall, we didn’t have a ton of time to spend on it. You know, we had ours, but, you know, Yeah, I think it came out pretty good. You were just trying to capture everything you were about in one. Like, you know, we just took what you started and just made it just, you know, more polished.

00:04:54:43 – 00:05:16:59
Agent Palmer
Yeah, that’s. And I want to. So first of all, I still have yet to figure out what the difference is between, like you, you and I can create the same thing. And yours will look 100 times better. And I’ve always been trying to figure out like is it because like Ryan adds drop shadow. No it’s not just that.

00:05:16:59 – 00:05:33:54
Agent Palmer
Like he adds depth. It’s like I know there’s like little things that you go to. Even if we had the same design. But there are things that you do that put it to like that extra level. Is it practice? Is it do you just see it in your mind’s eye?

00:05:33:59 – 00:05:50:46
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, probably. Probably like just doing it because, you know, for so long. Because, you know, you, you drew a picture or draw a picture or design a website and that’s the first or maybe fifth time you’ve ever done that. But, you know, I’ve been drawing pictures and websites and whatever for like a decade. So, you know, I’ve just done it more.

00:05:50:46 – 00:06:10:49
Ryan Lynn
So like, you know, when I was getting into design and illustration, like my first drawings were bad, too. It’s just, you know, 12 years later, my first job, you know, my first crack at design or a website is just has 12 years of experience baked into it. So it’s I think that’s probably the difference why you look like you when I look like me when we do the same thing.

00:06:10:50 – 00:06:17:37
Agent Palmer
Was this you do graphic design for a living? Was this always the dream?

00:06:17:42 – 00:06:35:00
Ryan Lynn
You know, it’s funny because I always like, you know, loved art growing up. And we draw all the time. And all my classes, like all my notebooks in, in school, have all just drawings everywhere. And I always thought like, well, I’ll be an art teacher because when I was a kid, that’s the only thing I knew that like, was a job that in art was to teach it.

00:06:35:00 – 00:06:50:13
Ryan Lynn
So I thought, oh, I’ll do that. And then, like, as I got older, everybody that was kind of told me that, hey, like, our teachers don’t make a ton of money and there’s not a lot of them. Each school has maybe like two hour teachers maybe. So I was like, oh, okay. Like, well what? Well, how do I make money doing art?

00:06:50:13 – 00:07:09:25
Ryan Lynn
And then, somebody was like, oh, graphic design is a way to make money doing art. I was like, cool, I’ll go to school for that. Thinking like, you know, not even thinking like the next step or even a little further. It’s just like, oh, got there. There we go. That’s what I’ll do. And then, you know, as I was getting into it, it was like, you know, I, I really gravitated towards it.

00:07:09:30 – 00:07:20:16
Agent Palmer
So I mean, it was kind of, I guess, love at first sight, like, because you, you, you picked a path. I mean, is that what you went to, college for that?

00:07:20:20 – 00:07:21:22
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, I did,

00:07:21:27 – 00:07:28:52
Agent Palmer
So you started with a major, and you finished with that major, which makes you super rare.

00:07:28:57 – 00:07:44:44
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. That’s correct. I kind of framed it to my parents because my parents have no idea. They have no right. They had no idea what graphic design is. Or maybe it’s still really, don’t they? Just like, oh, he does something with computers, you know, so so I was just like, hey, this is like graphic design is a thing that you can go to school for.

00:07:44:44 – 00:08:02:45
Ryan Lynn
That’s a job when you get out. And it has to do with art. That’s what I’m going to go for. So my parents are like, okay, I guess that’s, you know, something that’s like, you know, it’s not, you know, some, some major where there’s not like a profession that’s, that has that as a title. So yeah, that’s kind of, you know, where I ended up.

00:08:02:45 – 00:08:24:18
Ryan Lynn
And yeah, it’s funny because a lot of my friends like went to school for art and then transferred into graphic design later because they realized like, oh, no, like, unless I’m an art teacher or, you know, I’m, I’m really good at being an illustrator, an artist. Like, there’s there’s no way I’m just going to be an artist, you know, I’m not going to graduate college and just be like, okay, here’s your art job.

00:08:24:20 – 00:08:34:08
Ryan Lynn
That just doesn’t, you know, I mean, which is funny because I do that. What I do now is not necessarily what I went to school for, but I had to go to school for graphic design to end up where I am now.

00:08:34:08 – 00:08:41:45
Agent Palmer
So before we get to where you are now, I want to talk about we’ve thrown the word art around a lot.

00:08:41:50 – 00:08:42:59
Ryan Lynn
Okay, so.

00:08:43:04 – 00:08:53:39
Agent Palmer
Before you go to college for graphic design, what what are the mediums right. Like is it charcoal paint? What are the mediums for you.

00:08:53:44 – 00:09:12:21
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. Like in high school. Like that’s what you learn. I went to, a high school that had a really good hour program, and we, we learned, like, charcoal and pastels and some, you know, painting and all that stuff, like the basics, so that, that’s like art, art. And then I kind of thought, like, oh, like, I kind of want to be an illustrator, maybe.

00:09:12:26 – 00:09:27:04
Ryan Lynn
But then my art teacher was like, well, you’re you’re drawing and painting skills need to be excellent to be a professional illustrator. And I thought, well, I’m not I’m not good at that. So I guess again, that’s where the graphic design came in. We’re like, well, this is like kind of art for the rest of us, I guess.

00:09:27:09 – 00:09:33:27
Ryan Lynn
Who are people who can’t draw so good? Or I just thought, like, I’ll never be a good enough to be a quote unquote illustrator.

00:09:33:32 – 00:09:38:21
Agent Palmer
What do you what do you have in mind when you say illustrator? Are you talking like comic books or like.

00:09:38:21 – 00:09:57:16
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, I like art, like all that. Like someone who just like comic books is like the the thing that comes to mind first because, you know, I can’t draw, you know, Batman very well. I mean, not like a guy who can just sit down, just bang out a Batman. Like I’m not that guy. But then you just kind of realize, like, as I went, there’s different kinds of illustrators.

00:09:57:16 – 00:10:09:15
Ryan Lynn
Like, you don’t have to be the guy who can bang out of Batman in ten minutes. You can be like, the guy who can, draw a building really well, and, like, that’s what you do. Like, there’s just different ways. I. I just didn’t realize that in high school, obviously. I wonder, like.

00:10:09:15 – 00:10:16:48
Agent Palmer
I just I think when you’re talking about what your teacher said, I just immediately think of peanuts, which is not necessarily like them, like.

00:10:16:48 – 00:10:17:17
Ryan Lynn
Oh yeah, yeah.

00:10:17:19 – 00:10:32:49
Agent Palmer
It’s not the pinnacle of design, but like, there’s an illustrator who’s doing it without being. I mean, I’m sure on some level it is unique, but at the same time, like, that’s not high art.

00:10:32:54 – 00:10:49:57
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. But I mean, it doesn’t have to. I mean, yeah, it doesn’t really have to be art. It’s just what, like, we can talk about an hour for just what we think art is, cause that’s like, anybody has their own definition of what that is. But, yeah, Charles Schulz, whoever does peanuts like. Yeah. Is is way good at his job.

00:10:50:01 – 00:11:07:33
Ryan Lynn
Doesn’t necessarily. But he couldn’t sit down draw Batman probably maybe you could I don’t know. But so I just, you know, you can’t just look at one part of, you know, art and be like, if you if you can’t do all these things, you’re not a good idea because you can. An art is going to be very, you know, specialized and just do one thing really well.

00:11:07:34 – 00:11:18:39
Agent Palmer
Do you still, I don’t know. I mean, I mean, you’re a graphic designer now, but, like, do you still, I don’t know, paint. Do you still get, like, brush from the old.

00:11:18:43 – 00:11:33:24
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. Like that. I actually consider myself more of an illustrator now, which is interesting because, now I am the illustrator that I always wanted to be in high school, but I didn’t actually end up going to school for. I just have always done it. And then now I just that’s my job now as I do more illustration projects than anything.

00:11:33:29 – 00:12:05:03
Ryan Lynn
But yeah, to your point, I did like I draw on a Wacom Cintiq, which is a like a screen you can draw on. It’s like a monitor or the pen, almost like a big iPad. It’s like a second monitor and that’s what I draw on. It’s like drawing on a piece of glass, which is like, okay, you get used to it, but it’s I did like for, just to kind of know, like I said, knock off the rust did go back to just, like, marker and pencil and ink and all that, just to kind of go back to what it feels like to actually draw a line with a marker and

00:12:05:03 – 00:12:23:21
Ryan Lynn
not be able just to hit command Z and, and erase it. And it’s funny because because now I draw on a Wacom digitally so often that I’ll be sketching and I’ll have my hand on my keyboard and I’ll sketch something into my sketchbook in real life, and then hit command Z on my keyboard, thinking like, you know, erase what I just did.

00:12:23:26 – 00:12:36:39
Ryan Lynn
I’m like, oh, this is a this is a notebook, you idiot. That on a computer. So, I do try to go back and do the physical stuff just just to, you know, I guess stay fresh by using old mediums.

00:12:36:44 – 00:13:02:58
Agent Palmer
So let’s let’s go to the let’s get back on the career path. Okay? You’re in college. You stay in college with the same major, which still I like. That will be like it’s amazing to me because I, I, I don’t know anyone who, like, went to school, maybe someone who was undecided and only had one major, but, so you get out and you like, what’s what’s there for you?

00:13:03:12 – 00:13:04:30
Agent Palmer
What’s taking.

00:13:04:35 – 00:13:29:45
Ryan Lynn
Well, I got, I got a, design job right out of college, which was awesome. At an agency down, near Philadelphia area, where that was a great place to start, because there we did websites and logos and brochures and all like stuff that you do in school. But this is like the real deal now. And so you get to learn how, like, you know, how to set up files for print and you know, the stuff that they teach you at school, but you don’t really, like use it a lot until you get in the real world.

00:13:29:45 – 00:13:47:32
Ryan Lynn
So so that’s where I started. I just started doing graphic design for, you know, boring stuff. Looking back on it, it was boring. It’s pretty boring stuff. But, you know, a lot of it is a lot of design stuff is just like, you know, we need this brochure by Friday and you just have to, figure out a way, make it look cool.

00:13:47:37 – 00:14:09:23
Agent Palmer
Is there? I mean, you get into the real world, the. Are we? I knew some art students. I don’t know if I ever knew a graphic design student when I was in school, but is there an equivalent of the pressure of schoolwork to the pressure of getting out in the real world and doing a client, or is it completely different?

00:14:09:28 – 00:14:35:43
Ryan Lynn
Good question. Well, it it’s completely different in that you have a certain amount of time and there’s no, there’s like the deadline is the deadline and there’s not as much gray area as maybe in college where you’re just like, oh, I need more time or I don’t know, or I need more help or something like that, or there’s people there to help you, but in, you know, in the real world, like quote unquote, you have art directors and you have the client.

00:14:35:43 – 00:14:55:53
Ryan Lynn
So it’s like in in college, you don’t necessarily have to make edits, from a person who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. So, like, in the real world, you’ll like show this design to like a client who doesn’t know how to do graphic design or anything about graphic design. But we’ll still tell you what they think and why they don’t like something.

00:14:55:53 – 00:15:10:45
Ryan Lynn
And then you have to go back and say, well, no, this is actually really good. You don’t know what you’re talking about. But I have to tell you that person in a way that doesn’t piss them off because they’re the ones who are paying for it. So whereas in college, it’s just the teacher is the only person you really have to like, please, I guess.

00:15:10:54 – 00:15:19:07
Agent Palmer
And obviously the teacher is someone who knows design, so they’re not going to be like, yeah, can can you make this black line red?

00:15:19:12 – 00:15:36:57
Ryan Lynn
Right. Like their suggestions are like good suggestions. Whereas a client could be like, oh, you know what? Even though I told you to make it blue, my son’s room is blue, and I just don’t like blue anymore. So it’s like, okay, well, I don’t I don’t I don’t know that, like, like what about, like, you told me, make a video.

00:15:36:57 – 00:15:44:47
Ryan Lynn
So, that’s the kind of stuff that you just don’t get in school because you just, you don’t deal with those kinds of people. And so you get the real world.

00:15:44:51 – 00:15:53:37
Agent Palmer
Okay? So first agency job. Then what? Just agency. The agency basically.

00:15:53:42 – 00:16:19:58
Ryan Lynn
Basically, I just, I was at the same place for like a long time because the work was it was a small place. So you got to do a lot of different things. So this one small agency, like bigger agencies will assign like a, like a category, I guess, to you. So like a smaller place, you have to do a lot of things because like you work on logos and websites and brochures, whereas the bigger place, you might just be the logo guy, or you might just be the brochure guy because there’s just so many people.

00:16:20:02 – 00:16:38:54
Ryan Lynn
But a small place lets you get good at everything. And I just worked there and just like, found the things I like to do the best. And then I would do them kind of on my own when I got home. So I got real into like gig posters and like illustrations and like screen printed posters and like that stuff we didn’t do at the agency I work at.

00:16:38:54 – 00:16:58:57
Ryan Lynn
Like, that’s not something that like typical agencies do. So but that’s what what I was really kind of missing and all the stuff I was interested in, like, that’s the work I wasn’t being able to do that I was really interested in. So when I got home, I would draw my own pictures and like, I just started kind of drawing my own, like, prints and I eventually started like getting into the screenprint world.

00:16:58:57 – 00:17:15:06
Ryan Lynn
And that’s kind of where I really thought, like, hey, maybe I better pick this illustration thing back up, because this is what I love to do. When I was in high school and and before that, and then I, I took a break to do graphic design and then like, why did I ever stop doing illustration? Like, I, you know, I should, I should do this.

00:17:15:11 – 00:17:28:01
Ryan Lynn
So I kind of, started doing that. And that’s kind of where I my direction then started to be like my graphic design start started to kind of reflect more violence. And, and so eventually my illustration just took over. And that’s what I do now.

00:17:28:06 – 00:17:38:45
Agent Palmer
When you’re at the agency and you’re doing other things like were you had you designed a website in college, like, I don’t want to date you, but like.

00:17:38:50 – 00:17:39:32
Ryan Lynn

00:17:39:37 – 00:17:41:20
Agent Palmer
At a certain point, yeah, that was.

00:17:41:21 – 00:17:52:03
Ryan Lynn
But they were in flash and, you know, but like back then like Macromedia was on flash and ActionScript two or whatever, so like that. So yes. But none of that applies now.

00:17:52:05 – 00:18:05:48
Agent Palmer
But you were at an agency through like the, the mobile first era too. So yeah, you basically had to relearn stuff that you as you went along. And yeah, it changes every year, right?

00:18:05:54 – 00:18:17:01
Ryan Lynn
For sure. Web design is like even even now. Like I haven’t designed a website, you know, a couple of years, even now, I’d have to go back into it and kind of relearn, like what everyone’s doing now just because it changes so often.

00:18:17:06 – 00:18:33:21
Agent Palmer
Now, I, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but I really do. Like what? Okay. What did you not like? We’ll get to the you like to illustrate like we’ll get to that part, but like what did you dislike like when when it came down the pike and it was like, all right, Ryan, you have to do this.

00:18:33:21 – 00:18:34:45
Agent Palmer
Like, what was the one thing.

00:18:34:45 – 00:18:51:58
Ryan Lynn
I was the oh, God like project? I don’t that’s a good question. It doesn’t. It’s not so much the project that was bad. It was like, whatever client, it’s like, oh, you have to do a travel brochure that’s like, oh, cool. Like that’s those are those are right. And that’s like for a bank that’s like, oh, got like a bank.

00:18:51:58 – 00:19:14:19
Ryan Lynn
It’s just I bet there’s just no room for like stock, like just a thought. There’s nothing. So it’s a little bit of a client and project. So like a travel brochure for like a brand or something, I don’t know. Would be really fun. Like, so you can’t go. Is that like, it’s. It’s mostly the client. And what they want, like, if they, you know, I don’t know, boring clients that usually want cool stuff, but sometimes.

00:19:14:19 – 00:19:15:15
Ryan Lynn
But not really.

00:19:15:20 – 00:19:31:32
Agent Palmer
So you now do graphic design full time? Yeah, but you were moonlighting at it for a while. So what tipped the balance that you were like, all right, like I can leave the agency and go full time with this.

00:19:31:37 – 00:20:01:23
Ryan Lynn
I mean, full time illustration like I do now. Yeah. Well, I, I was doing both a lot, so, like, you know, I would graphic design by day and then by night I’d come home and, you know, make my own, art prints and screen, get them screen printed and start selling them on my and I, you know, put a shop on my website, started selling them there, and people saw a binder and and that eventually led to, me getting noticed by some agency in Toronto that, has has, Miller Coors as a client, specifically Miller Lite, the brand.

00:20:01:28 – 00:20:35:29
Ryan Lynn
And they were like, hey, we saw your posters somewhere on the internet or whatever. Blogs, are you available to do this like illustration project? And I was like, yes, I am. So then I, accepted like that job and, and I, you know, worked on this like, cool, like Miller Lite illustration, at night, you know, design websites and stuff and logos and all that during the day, and then eventually, like the Miller Lite, where it got to be so much that I, they, you know, I just had to I had to quit the design job because, the illustration stuff was, was getting too much for me to do both.

00:20:35:34 – 00:20:53:51
Agent Palmer
Now, the Miller Lite campaign is what I’ll call it, and they will be there’ll be links to that stuff in the show notes like people will easily be able to click through. Yeah. Does that start as like one team or I mean you ended up doing it for the entire NFL?

00:20:53:56 – 00:21:13:23
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. Every NFL team that has a deal with Miller Lite. And so it wasn’t all 32 teams. It was like maybe like 18 teams or something. Which which is which is still a lot, but, yeah. No, actually, like before I got to the NFL, there was still a couple projects that I was, doing, like just just Miller Lite brand and one they weren’t team Ty and, illustrations.

00:21:13:23 – 00:21:30:26
Ryan Lynn
And then and then when they said, hey, we have these, like four NFL jobs. Do you want to do it? We want you to do it. That’s what I said. Okay, well, now I need to leave the job because there’s no way I’m going to pass up for NFL jobs. And then like, to work on, you know, I mean, my agency job was great.

00:21:30:26 – 00:21:49:30
Ryan Lynn
Like, I loved it. Like, I love the people. I still have them now. And like, but I always knew that if I ever if I could say no to the NFL stuff and then look back and I’ll always think like, oh man, I should have, I should have taken that job. So I thought I could always find another design job, but I might not necessarily ever be able to work as a fellow again.

00:21:49:30 – 00:22:01:33
Ryan Lynn
So I took those four NFL jobs, quit my agency job, and then that for NFL jobs led into the rest of the NFL job. So I was like, the guy who does NFL Miller Light illustrations, which was really cool.

00:22:01:42 – 00:22:11:50
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And then I only know this from like following your Instagram. Did it turn into like you getting NFL gigs through the teams aside from Miller Lite?

00:22:11:55 – 00:22:38:37
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. So that that’s exactly what happened. So so basically I did all these teams and then one day the Carolina Panthers needed, they wanted to do like a weekly illustration and, series. That would be a custom illustration that, like, made fun of, not made fun of, but like kind of threw shade a little bit at the team that they were about to play because that the, the voice, the social media voice of the Carolina Panthers is very unique and very kind of like playful and and fun.

00:22:38:52 – 00:22:55:07
Ryan Lynn
So they wanted like pictures that would kind of reflect that. And they were like Miller Lite tie ins, but they weren’t necessarily sponsored by Miller Lite. They were like the post were sponsored by Miller Lite, but they were Carolina Panthers pictures, which is kind of a weird gray area. But then so they were like, let’s just get the the Miller Lite guy.

00:22:55:12 – 00:23:11:28
Ryan Lynn
So they like found like, oh, this is the guy who did our Panthers picture that’s everywhere down in North Carolina, in South Carolina. Let’s, let’s get him. So then they called, they called me up or emailed me and said, like, hey, we need something by Sunday. And it was like Friday night. Do you think you can like, you know, we’re playing the Falcons or whoever.

00:23:11:41 – 00:23:25:35
Ryan Lynn
Do you think you can make a picture? And I was like, okay. And I was like at, you know, having dinner with my family. And then I was like, okay, well, I have to like, go now because I had to come up with this picture by Sunday. And then that turned into like, this is like week eight.

00:23:25:35 – 00:23:34:18
Ryan Lynn
So then like after that, I did like the rest of the season. And then that was two years ago. And then last year they had me back to do all 16 games.

00:23:34:20 – 00:23:43:04
Agent Palmer
Now after that first initial call, like, you have time, right? Like you can work out of the whole almost because you know what the schedule’s going to be.

00:23:43:09 – 00:24:02:49
Ryan Lynn
So you think so what? Well, it’s funny because when we did the whole year one, you know, I knew like in the summertime, hey, this this year you’re doing all 16 things. It’s like cool. What I’ll do is I’ll do like a chunk and we’ll just kind of try to stay ahead of it and, you know, we’ll do like a chunk of four at a time, maybe like because we know you’re right, we know what the schedule is.

00:24:02:54 – 00:24:19:34
Ryan Lynn
But we also like to kind of reference what had just happened, maybe like what’s going on in the week of the NFL. That’s kind of the beauty of it is that they’re so spontaneous. That’s like, you know, sometimes I’ll reference what you know. Christian McCaffrey, the running back for the Panthers had done the week before that was on Sportscenter top ten.

00:24:19:34 – 00:24:48:33
Ryan Lynn
It was like, oh, we jumped over this guy. Well then this this week I’ll do like him jumping over like the bridge. Outside of the Steelers stadium. So the whole thing, what we’ll do, we’ll get ahead of it lasted maybe like a week or two. And then after that it was like, we need to come up with this this week for this week so that it got it was a lot of work and it and and by the time the bye week came around, it was a, it was a vacation for me too, because I was like, oh, thank God we don’t need a picture this week, you know?

00:24:48:33 – 00:24:58:24
Ryan Lynn
And they didn’t make the playoffs. Which is a bummer because I would have liked to have done more. But but yeah, it got, we got lot behind, but it got real time real quick.

00:24:58:33 – 00:25:24:14
Agent Palmer
What, I mean, I guess, I mean, I saw them, but I didn’t see them when they were released. So let’s go to week ten, right? Like the game’s over. Whatever. Like what’s the process for coming up with week 11? So the Sunday week ten games over. Let’s, let’s just say the the Panthers win. So, like do you get to start on the design Monday.

00:25:24:14 – 00:25:30:17
Agent Palmer
Do you have a call with like their social media team. Like where is the process to get 11.

00:25:30:28 – 00:25:49:03
Ryan Lynn
To the next week? Yeah. Well, it’s not as involved as you’d think because basically by week 11, they pretty much trusted me. And like, pretty much the whole year, they kind of knew like they had very little edits, which is weird. Like, like they would be like I’d send them usually 2 or 3 ideas and they’d say option to go with it.

00:25:49:03 – 00:26:05:12
Ryan Lynn
And they were very rarely come back to say, hey, can you, can you move this? Can you make this bigger? Can you like, you know, draw this line thicker or whatever? Which was great because they pretty much just trusted me to be like, hey, you know what you’re doing by now, and we love it anyway, so we don’t really have a lot of edits.

00:26:05:12 – 00:26:26:35
Ryan Lynn
Plus, there’s not a lot of time to get it. So the process would be, it would be Monday. And I’d be like, okay, well, now I have I have to start thinking of they’re playing the Buccaneers, on on Sunday, so I have to come up with something, you know, maybe by by Wednesday. I’ll send them some sketches and then it’ll take them like a day or so to kind of circulate through their, their bosses.

00:26:26:35 – 00:26:42:26
Ryan Lynn
And then they’d come back. The social media team is excellent. They’re they’re so good they’d come back and say like, we like, you know, I like I said, option two, and I would say, great, I’ll, I’ll start rendering it and then I need to have it to the by Saturday because then it’s when they schedule their posts, and usually Saturday night is when it would be posted.

00:26:42:31 – 00:27:04:14
Ryan Lynn
And it’s cool because, it’s this was all, Instagram series or social media series. So I could immediately see people’s reaction to the illustration which, which is, which is like nothing that it’s ever happened before, like in my lifetime. Like, here’s a picture. It goes out to millions of people and I can right away see if they like it or hate it.

00:27:04:18 – 00:27:27:40
Ryan Lynn
And it and it generally it depended on what the Panthers schedule was, whether, whether or not their schedule, but what their record was. So if they were winning, everybody was loving these pictures. The lights were just the double taps were just flying in. But if if they weren’t winning, the comments would be like, sell the team. Like, like like we’re just not so.

00:27:27:45 – 00:27:45:14
Ryan Lynn
So it depends on how they did the week before, which is which was how the week for next week was received by the fans. And that very much went into like the process of, hey, what are we doing this week? Well, you know why? They kind of got their ass kicked last week. So maybe we don’t maybe we’re not as confident or as cocky.

00:27:45:18 – 00:28:01:01
Ryan Lynn
You know, this this time, or, you know, you know, last year, like, their quarterback was out for, like, the whole season. So, so as the as the year went on and the kind of realized that they weren’t making the playoffs, it was like we kind of had to kind of let up a little bit to be like, all right, like we get it.

00:28:01:06 – 00:28:17:31
Ryan Lynn
We just can’t like, let’s focus on the things that we do, right? And not necessarily like say, hey, we’re going to kick your ass, Aaron Rodgers because it’s like, well, that’s probably not not going to happen. Maybe I don’t know. So we kind of had to be a little bit more. But when the season started they were winning.

00:28:17:31 – 00:28:30:17
Ryan Lynn
It was like, hey hey Buccaneers, we’re coming to sink your ships or whatever. You know we did. So but yeah, as the year went all we kind of had to you know, be a little bit more mindful of what the fan reaction would be.

00:28:30:25 – 00:28:53:08
Agent Palmer
So you basically became, without the benefit of being on the field necessarily like you, you got the crunch time. Like, I can only imagine a Monday Night Football game for the Panthers set you back one day. A Thursday night game means you got to run all these things that, like the actual pros, deal with in terms of scheduling.

00:28:53:13 – 00:28:57:12
Agent Palmer
You’re not playing the game, but you feel those pressures, right?

00:28:57:12 – 00:29:12:44
Ryan Lynn
I don’t know, it’s it’s kind of stupid because it’s like I’m like, my job is nowhere near as hard as like an NFL. Like they’re out there like, you know, live in this and like, you know, getting beat up and all that. And I’m but but I still did kind of feel like a little part, like a little bit of part of the team.

00:29:12:44 – 00:29:29:47
Ryan Lynn
Because you’re right, it’s like Thursday. It’s like, oh shit, it’s a short week. Like I have, like, I have even less time to do this now. And, you know, and I’m just like the illustrator no one’s heard of, like, the team doesn’t know why. I’m like, the players don’t necessarily they don’t know. So but I kind of felt like, you know, hey, I’m hey, I’m here.

00:29:29:47 – 00:29:33:47
Ryan Lynn
Two guys like, I’m also here at midnight working. I’m just like you probably, I don’t know.

00:29:33:51 – 00:29:42:59
Agent Palmer
So do you have a deeper appreciation for what NFL athletes go through now because you’ve been down this cycle.

00:29:43:04 – 00:29:52:34
Ryan Lynn
So I mean like it’s not even on the same in the same universe. What I do versus when I for a player does. But like, yeah. I mean as far as scheduling wise, like I get it, I guess.

00:29:52:35 – 00:29:55:56
Agent Palmer
But you didn’t just do NFL teams either, though.

00:29:56:00 – 00:30:10:32
Ryan Lynn
No. Yeah, I like this social media thing was for the was for the Panthers and which is you know, I saw I was doing that weekly, but I also had work like other client work I had to do at the same time. I’m trying to like do 16 illustrations in 16 weeks. So yeah, well, that was going on.

00:30:10:32 – 00:30:35:04
Ryan Lynn
I was I did some other teams. I did like the the Lions, I did a few. Those are Miller Lite, Titans and the the Bengals. I did a few of them too. And the Bengals. Well, do you want to talk about fan reaction and how the how the, the record of the team was they were like one inch 15 and we’re trying to make a when a team is one and 15 and you’re like trying to come up with a picture that’s like not going to piss everybody off, but still be like, hey, we’re the Bengals.

00:30:35:09 – 00:30:50:29
Ryan Lynn
Like, that’s what I really had to be like, okay. Like how that was the those were the harder ones to do because like, I can’t be like, here’s a here’s a Bengals player just like spiking the football. And then, you know, after our touchdown because everybody would be like this. No, this never happens because the Bengals are one of their teams.

00:30:50:29 – 00:30:54:53
Agent Palmer
So do the Panthers know who your favorite team is?

00:30:54:57 – 00:31:08:07
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. Oh yeah I yeah I have a pretty good relationship with them. Like I you know on a personal level too because I would, you know, talk to these same people. And I actually ended up meeting I got to go down to a game and meet them and they had me down there. It was great. And they’re great.

00:31:08:07 – 00:31:36:48
Ryan Lynn
They’re like, the social media team is excellent. So. So yeah. Like, they they definitely knew who I like, which teams I liked, which team I like. But you know, it’s funny because I, you know, I’m a hardcore Eagles fan, like Ride or Die. But then, you know, I very like much became a Panthers fan too, like as this was all said and done, like because I’m, you know, working with them every day and just following like, you know, the team what’s going on and you know, and, you know, working with the actual like people behind the scenes, too.

00:31:36:48 – 00:31:54:34
Ryan Lynn
It’s like, it’s very hard not to like, become attached to it. So like, you know, I have a couple Panthers t shirts that I wear out, which is like weird. It was like, weird for me to like, put on a Panthers hat and be like, what? Like, this is, this is weird. Like, it’s it’s so weird because I’m not just an Eagles guy, like, my whole life, but, so yeah, I definitely became a little bit of a Panthers standard.

00:31:54:34 – 00:32:04:19
Ryan Lynn
So they’re my second. Like, I, I bought like NFL Sunday Ticket so I can like watch Panthers games too. So, I guess they’re like my number two team officially now.

00:32:04:24 – 00:32:08:16
Agent Palmer
You did other leagues though too, right? Like there are other sports.

00:32:08:21 – 00:32:23:48
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. And yeah, I did illustrations for like a lot of baseball teams that maybe like I think they nine of ten of them, which is not a lot I guess. But I think about it. But yeah, that like after the NFL series was done, Miller Lite was like, hey, now we want to do some baseball ones. So I was like, great.

00:32:23:53 – 00:32:44:06
Ryan Lynn
I didn’t have as much time to do those, so I had to do like do those a lot faster. But I had just done like 18 Miller Lite, NFL illustrations. So like, the baseball ones went a lot smoother because we, we kind of had the process down. And I did a couple basketball ones too. And then just a lot of a couple of, like, just brand specific ones that were about any team.

00:32:44:06 – 00:32:45:22
Ryan Lynn
They were just Miller Lite focused.

00:32:45:22 – 00:33:05:02
Agent Palmer
All of those are in the same style. So like as you did them, did it get easier to start to finish? Like I’m not saying like, oh, it went from four hours to two, but like, did it get easier? Yeah. Because you’re doing the same. You’re not you’re not having to recreate a new style every time.

00:33:05:12 – 00:33:27:10
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. It definitely got easier. I kind of help them establish like their style they have now. Like they, they already they had done some illustrated posters before they hired me. But like, you know, after the after I kind of work with them a lot. And like, we did our projects. I was kind of the reference then for other artists cause they work with other artists too, because there’s just so much work that they have.

00:33:27:10 – 00:33:51:50
Ryan Lynn
So, you know, I can’t do it all. So they have other people too, and they would be showing my illustrations to that, like in the briefs, like, hey, this is what this should look like. So I kind of was the guy who helped them establish their look and feel what it is today, which is really cool. So I did get easier, in that like other artists had to start adapting to what I was doing so I didn’t have to, you know, kind of go for out of my comfort zone with what we had established already.

00:33:51:50 – 00:33:54:21
Ryan Lynn
So it was, yeah, definitely got easier as I went.

00:33:54:34 – 00:34:19:55
Agent Palmer
Now, the style that you did for all of the Miller Lite things is not that far removed from your initial like, yeah, poster style for sure. In fact, I still have some of the astronaut stickers that you sent. I put one on my I, my iPad mini, and like, I’ve been saving them because I’m like, I don’t I only have a few left.

00:34:19:55 – 00:34:21:38
Agent Palmer
I don’t know where I want to put them, but.

00:34:21:38 – 00:34:27:04
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, the dilemma of stickers, you never want to actually stick them on something. You might want to move it.

00:34:27:09 – 00:34:45:59
Agent Palmer
Whatever you want to move. Yeah. But that initial run of moonlighting, basically, if we go back to when you were doing design work at the agency, I remember looking at the gallery when you showed it to me, and it was like a lot of outer space and underwater.

00:34:46:03 – 00:34:46:21
Ryan Lynn
Yeah.

00:34:46:36 – 00:35:00:44
Agent Palmer
Where does, like. I mean, you’re an illustrator. You can do anything. You know what I mean? Like, why underwater, an outer space? Why were those two captivating?

00:35:00:49 – 00:35:20:39
Ryan Lynn
I you know, it’s funny because you say that I could. I’m an illustrator. I could do anything. But, like, at the time, I. I didn’t think I could do anything. And you know, I still probably don’t necessarily think I could do anything, but, it was like, I just like the extremes of, like, exploration and, like, you know, going out to outer space, which is like, you know, who knows what’s out there.

00:35:20:44 – 00:35:43:05
Ryan Lynn
But then also the extreme of, like, just going underwater, like here on Earth, like we have to go to outer space to find weird, crazy shit. You could just go to the ocean. Yeah. So like that, like on our planet. So like that, that definitely like, I don’t know, was just a cool, like, just like a a thing that I just, like, captivated my imagination of, like, well, what what the hell’s down there?

00:35:43:11 – 00:35:56:13
Ryan Lynn
We don’t even know what’s down there. Just as much as we don’t know what’s out out there. So, you know, that’s kind of where that started it. And you talk about like, oh, you can do anything where it’s like, yeah, but but back then I was like, I want to do like a face because like faces and people are like hard to draw.

00:35:56:13 – 00:36:13:01
Ryan Lynn
So you know, and I’m, you know, I’m not a good illustrator, which is what I would think, you know, because I’ve always kind of thought, you know, you never an artist, there’s, you’re never going to talk to an artist who’s like, yeah, I’m great. Like there’s just that’s just not how it works as a no. I mean, in my experience, I’ve just never met an artist who thought they were awesome.

00:36:13:05 – 00:36:24:29
Ryan Lynn
So it’s like every artist doesn’t think they’re good. You know, even artists who are really good that, like, are famous. Still don’t think they’re good. You never get there. You never get to that. You never get to catch the dragon. That’s wrong. It’s like, well,

00:36:24:34 – 00:36:38:47
Agent Palmer
But but you know, I, I will flip it back. I will admit that is definitely most of the time. But there are also artists, some who do and some who don’t see the value in their own work.

00:36:38:52 – 00:36:39:25
Ryan Lynn

00:36:39:30 – 00:36:44:05
Agent Palmer
So, do you see value in your own work.

00:36:44:14 – 00:37:00:28
Ryan Lynn
Oh yeah. It’s hard to say that I don’t like the things I do. It’s just that if my, my kind of mindset is if I look back on a, on a picture and I think it’s, you know, from two years ago, I think, wow, that’s great. Like I wouldn’t do anything different today. Like then you would never get better as an artist or push yourself because you’re like, well, I made it.

00:37:00:28 – 00:37:20:22
Ryan Lynn
Like how I have made the perfect picture. So, you know, until that happens, like, I’m never going to think I’m like, you know, okay, I’m here. This is what I’m going to do now. Like, you’re always going to want to keep pushing yourself. And I think, you know, I’ll work on something that I like, you know, sent out last week and last week I thought it was awesome.

00:37:20:22 – 00:37:33:29
Ryan Lynn
And this week I still think it’s awesome, but like, oh man, if I just, you know, if I went back, I’d probably do this a little differently, which is just something that you kind of took away. And that’s, you know, the next project, you remember that and then you do that and then just get better and better helpful.

00:37:33:33 – 00:38:00:13
Agent Palmer
So because you’re illustrating now, you know, full time, I’m going to ask I’m gonna ask you a question, which is I created a video a year or two ago, year and a half, two years ago, something like that. And I’ve talked about it on this show, actually, about, you know, the process of doing that and learning to build a video.

00:38:00:17 – 00:38:12:26
Agent Palmer
And when I got to the end, I had gotten so good, not so good, but better than when I started that. When I watched it, the first half was shit and I had to go back and like, equaled the the quality level.

00:38:12:31 – 00:38:13:02
Ryan Lynn

00:38:13:07 – 00:38:40:29
Agent Palmer
Do you find that, like, is that still a thing that happens for you from project to project, or do you need more time to be able to figure out, like where those improvements can come from? Like, oh, I need to start highlighting this more or, you know, I should, you know, like, can it happen within a project or is it you know, you do so much of it so often, you need breaks and time to be able to figure those things out.

00:38:40:34 – 00:39:00:26
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, probably breaks in time because I it kind of happens where like every day, you know, say I’ll draw all day and it’ll be 5:00 or whatever. And I’m like, okay, well time to stop. And, you know, go out for dinner and then like, you know, the kids go to bed and I come back down at like 830 and like, you know, kind of keep working and I’ll open it up and be like, what the hell?

00:39:00:26 – 00:39:29:46
Ryan Lynn
What was I doing all day? Like, this is terrible. You know, just in that two hours of, like, not looking at it or whatever, you come back down and you’re like, oh boy. Like that. You know, I really need to, like, change this horse’s face or whatever. Because horses just look weird. So. Yeah, like, you definitely need a time to not look at it to kind of like, I guess, reset your brain so that when you open it up again, you you open up your Photoshop document and it pops up and it’s like you will immediately see something that you hadn’t seen all day.

00:39:29:51 – 00:39:47:48
Ryan Lynn
But for some reason, after not looking at it for two, you know, three hours, you come back down and it’s like, oh boy, or same thing on a on a weekend. So it’s like you do something Friday and you open it back up Monday. It kind of, you know, you know, my Photoshop icon is bouncing. You know, I’m at the bottom of my computer as it’s like opening this like, you know, you know, 600 megabyte file.

00:39:47:53 – 00:40:04:00
Ryan Lynn
And when it’s opening, I’m like, please, please be good. Please be good. Like, you know, if it’s been a weekend, please like it’s do this week. Please, please still like it when it opens. And then you open it and you think, oh thank God. Like I still like it. Which is like weird to think like that. But that’s how it works.

00:40:04:00 – 00:40:12:35
Ryan Lynn
It’s just like it’s like, you know, the person you were on Friday is like, not the person you are on Monday. And you’re like, you know, Monday. Ryan likes what Friday Ryan did.

00:40:12:40 – 00:40:20:16
Agent Palmer
What’s the process been like when I mean, agency life, I guess is 9 to 5. I mean, it’s not sometimes it’s more than that.

00:40:20:17 – 00:40:20:55
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. Yeah.

00:40:21:09 – 00:40:34:53
Agent Palmer
Well what was the transition like when you went you said goodbye to the agency and it was like, all right, well, I wake up in the morning, I, I don’t have a commute anymore. Yeah, but I’m responsible for myself now.

00:40:35:02 – 00:40:36:07
Ryan Lynn
Yeah.

00:40:36:12 – 00:40:43:20
Agent Palmer
Like that’s got to be. That’s not just. Hey, I’m working from home. That’s. Hey, I’m in charge of me now.

00:40:43:21 – 00:40:46:28
Ryan Lynn
Like. Right? Yep. No one, no one’s going to do it, you know.

00:40:46:39 – 00:41:01:19
Agent Palmer
What’s the process? Because that that can’t be like goodbye to everybody on Friday. Wake up Monday and I’m my own boss and all is good and right with the world. Like there’s a transition right?

00:41:01:24 – 00:41:16:09
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. I mean, I guess if I had, like, time to focus on the transition, maybe I would have an answer. But. But I was like, so busy. Like, like I said, we had like four NFL pictures, like, out of the gate. So I didn’t have time to be like, hey, what does my desk look like or what?

00:41:16:21 – 00:41:30:39
Ryan Lynn
Hey, what? Like, you know, what kind of pictures should I bring down to my my basement office here? Like, it was just like, oh, shit. I have to, like, start, right? Like, I don’t have any time. I can’t fuck around with, you know what, plant house plant to put in my office? I need to, like, start. So I didn’t I didn’t even have to.

00:41:30:39 – 00:41:46:39
Ryan Lynn
Like, I didn’t have time to, like, think of the transition because I was still busy with the work and I, I kind of just by the time I was done with all this work or I got to a stopping point, I kind of was already I had transitioned. I didn’t even know it. So, you know, now I’m just, down here all day, every day.

00:41:46:39 – 00:41:52:11
Ryan Lynn
And sometimes I get the mail every day. You know, every day at 3:00, I get the mail. That’s what I do.

00:41:52:16 – 00:42:01:37
Agent Palmer
So are you, you said you come back after dinner. Like, is that a common occurrence, or are you? For the most part. And so you’re not you’re not 9 to 5.

00:42:01:42 – 00:42:22:08
Ryan Lynn
No. Well, 9 to 5, actually, I am exactly 9 to 5 because, like, I’ll be down here by nine, 5:00, I, I hang it up for the day because, you know, I have two young kids, so I do need to, like, you know, you know, make sure they know who I am. So I go upstairs and, you know, you know, do the dad thing till, like, when they go to bed, like, 830, 9:00, and then I come back down.

00:42:22:08 – 00:42:38:25
Ryan Lynn
Usually I’ll try to be down again by 9 p.m., and then I’ll just do a just do a few more hours depending on where I’m at in a project. Like it depends on what phase I’m in. If I’m like at the sketch phase, like I don’t necessarily for the concept phase, I don’t necessarily need to do the the night shift when I call it.

00:42:38:30 – 00:42:58:46
Ryan Lynn
It’s like the night shift part happens closer to like when the project is due or so than like the beginning. So I’m not always down here till, till midnight every every night because I’ve been saying I want to treat myself, but like there are every project does have like a midnight phase where it’s like, okay, now, now it’s crunch time now, now it’s the night shift time.

00:42:58:46 – 00:43:13:04
Ryan Lynn
And, you know, I’m just so, kind of so used to it now. And it’s not that big of a deal anymore, really. It’s, you know, I can sit at home or upstairs and watch a movie on the couch, or I can just have that same movie on in the background while I like, you know, draw whatever the hell is I’m drawing a thing.

00:43:13:04 – 00:43:18:51
Ryan Lynn
So but trying to balance it down is definitely important. Do you know you’re quite I don’t I don’t forget what your question was, but whatever.

00:43:19:00 – 00:43:37:17
Agent Palmer
No, no, you got it. Do you still. I mean, work life balance is one thing, but do you still find a, a work pleasure balance as far as illustration? Like, do you still find time to do, you know, the astronauts and the underwater stuff?

00:43:37:22 – 00:43:54:09
Ryan Lynn
Oh, not as much as I’d like to, but, that’s okay. Like, I’m okay with that, because that means I’m busy and I’m making money, which is great. Yeah. There was a time where there was, like 2 or 3 weeks where I had finished, you know, a bunch of projects, and there wasn’t anything on the horizon.

00:43:54:11 – 00:44:08:23
Ryan Lynn
I was like, oh, God, this is it. I’m done. And I was like, you know, at first I was like, great, now I can like, draw that picture that I’ve always wanted, you know, I’ve had the back of my mind that I could have time to do, but I wasn’t able to enjoy it because I was too worried about not having more projects to work on.

00:44:08:23 – 00:44:27:10
Ryan Lynn
So, you know, then I got busy again, and then I didn’t get a chance to to to work on the fun stuff anymore. The personal stuff, I should say. But, you know, now, when I do have time, if I as long as I know I have a project, like, I’m able to enjoy that a lot more, because I don’t have to worry that, like, I should be out trying to find more jobs.

00:44:27:10 – 00:44:47:27
Ryan Lynn
It’s like, hey, like, I have a job starting in two weeks. So I got two weeks right now to draw. You know, football players in marker, which is like a fun thing to do that I don’t get to do very often. In market. So, yeah, I still find time to do that. But, you know, I always, I, you know, I’d want to do more of it, but I also don’t want to do more of it because then that means I’m not busy with client work.

00:44:47:31 – 00:44:56:24
Agent Palmer
Do you, do you have some, like, And I don’t want to discount family, but, like, do you have some downtime to,

00:44:56:29 – 00:45:13:54
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, like between projects. Like I said, if there’s, like, a project that’s not starting up till Monday and that, you know, I finish one the project I’m working on now. Yeah, it’s Wednesday, I’ll have, like, the rest of the week to do whatever. So yeah, there’s downtime. It is nice like being your own boss, because then I could be like, hey, you know what’s really nice out right now?

00:45:13:54 – 00:45:33:39
Ryan Lynn
And it’s 4:00 and, you know, I’m in a good spot with my sketch, so I, I’m going to just, quite tired now and just not come back downstairs till tomorrow. Flow. So. Yeah, it’s it’s there. It’s the flexibility is nice. You got to find that balance of like you’re busy and you have projects to work on, but you’re not like over busy that you don’t have any time for yourself.

00:45:33:44 – 00:45:51:05
Ryan Lynn
Because it’s really hard to say no when you’re your own illustrator. Freelance illustrator. Like, you don’t want to ever say no to a project because they might not come back again if you say no the first time. So, you just like. Yes, I can do it. Yes, I can do it. And then eventually, like, oh, no, like I said, yes so many times or, you know, I had it all planned.

00:45:51:07 – 00:46:08:42
Ryan Lynn
It all worked out on the schedule. This project would end now. This project starts when that project ends is perfect. But then that one project gets pushed back three days because, you know somebody, there’s some Canada has some weird holiday. You don’t know about called Queen’s Day or some shit because it’s like, I don’t even know Canada had a queen.

00:46:08:46 – 00:46:20:31
Ryan Lynn
Whatever. And then like that pushes the schedule back and and now there’s overlap. And now I have to start a new project when I’m still working on the old one. And so, yeah, you gotta find that balance. But, you know, it’s nice to be able to, to be in control of that balance.

00:46:20:31 – 00:46:27:15
Agent Palmer
So did you. I mean, you sound organized. Have you always been organized?

00:46:27:19 – 00:46:30:00
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, I guess, yeah, I would say yes.

00:46:30:08 – 00:46:33:50
Agent Palmer
Okay. I mean, if I, if I asked your friends and family, would they say.

00:46:33:50 – 00:46:44:15
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, probably. All right. Yeah. Like my desktop right now on my computer is like, I have like four folders and they’re all and I don’t have like, you know, icon salad on my desktop. I don’t know what your desktop looks like. Yeah.

00:46:44:17 – 00:46:46:14
Agent Palmer
Know I got I got icons.

00:46:46:27 – 00:46:49:48
Ryan Lynn
You got icons. Yeah. I just might look at that. Yeah. Like this is an icon sound kind of guy.

00:46:49:50 – 00:46:51:24
Agent Palmer
I mean, I do.

00:46:51:29 – 00:46:55:03
Ryan Lynn
Your website, it’s kind of like, you know, stuff everywhere, you know?

00:46:55:06 – 00:46:56:26
Agent Palmer
Yeah. I mean, it was on purpose.

00:46:56:26 – 00:47:00:00
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. Right. Exactly. So that’s your personality? I mean.

00:47:00:05 – 00:47:08:49
Agent Palmer
Once a month, I’ll select it all and put it in a folder called clean this up later. And then, you know, maybe once a year I go in and I clean out those folder.

00:47:08:54 – 00:47:22:18
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. I mean, I’m pretty organized. Well, you know, people who are listening to this can’t see this, but my computer, my my webcam is tilted slightly, so you can’t see what’s going on on behind me because it’s just.

00:47:22:23 – 00:47:29:13
Agent Palmer
No, but I get to see I get to see some, you know, are those full size NFL helmets or like those are so.

00:47:29:18 – 00:47:45:20
Ryan Lynn
Those are full size. And if I have a bunch of I bought about each like they’re like replica ones you can like they’re like the ones that they wear on the field. They’re like the really high, like the most expensive ones on, like the Riddell website or whatever. Like, it’s like these are the ones we ship to the NFL teams.

00:47:45:20 – 00:48:05:54
Ryan Lynn
You can like, you can buy them too. And I bought, one for each of the teams. I had done the social media stuff for, which was a tax write off, so whatever. But, I bought them because, for reference, because an NFL helmet is, like, deceptively hard to draw. Like, like, yeah, it’s just like a helmet in a facemask.

00:48:05:54 – 00:48:19:14
Ryan Lynn
But there’s a lot of curves and, like, it’s not just like a circle, like it’s a modern NFL helmet. It’s like, got a lot going on in it. But like, it’s like jagged. It kind of looks like a, like, you know, stealthy and, you know, some of their face masks are, are crazy. So I just bought some.

00:48:19:23 – 00:48:34:47
Ryan Lynn
So that way I could stop, like having to try to find the perfect helmet, you know, reference picture online. I just like, bought the helmet so I could literally put them on and then like, turn my head and like that, like, you know, and light it the way I wanted it to be lit. And then like, that’s my reference.

00:48:34:47 – 00:48:45:47
Ryan Lynn
So on my, on my like front row or whatever it’s called, the photo booth on my computer is just like bunches of pictures of me just standing there with an Eagles helmet on, like, you know, looking like an idiot for trying.

00:48:45:54 – 00:48:48:54
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah. You’re trying to dodge a tackler that’s not.

00:48:48:54 – 00:49:03:30
Ryan Lynn
There, right? Exactly. And it’s so much easier to, like, draw like a helmet that you like, set up perfectly to be the angle you wanted than to try to find one online to, to look at because it’s, you know, like I said, they’re really they’re really weird to look at because you’re all.

00:49:03:35 – 00:49:14:07
Agent Palmer
So what? Like what’s one kind of project you have never done that is like the next level like that you would love to do?

00:49:14:12 – 00:49:35:03
Ryan Lynn
It’s like a question, I’ve always wanted to do like a sports teams logo and brand. And I have done that for like, you know, smaller teams, but like a, like a, like an NFL team or an MLB team, like, that’d be so rad. But, you know, I think the days of just one guy doing that kind of stuff is over.

00:49:35:03 – 00:49:52:27
Ryan Lynn
It takes like a whole team of, like, people at Nike to come up with, like an NFL logo nowadays. But, that would be like the all time, like project. But, you know, it’s hard to it’s hard to think of that because I’ve already done like a picture for the Eagles, which is like the greatest thing that I’ll probably ever do.

00:49:52:32 – 00:50:09:57
Ryan Lynn
You know, that’s hanging up in the stadium right now. You could go to an Eagles game in like in the background in the stadium or a big billboard with like the Eagle Eye drew on it and it’s like on, billboards in the city on your way to the game. You see it? It’s outside in the, like banners on, like the light posts when you’re walking into the city, into the stadium.

00:50:09:57 – 00:50:25:07
Ryan Lynn
So, like, I’ve already done like the project that, like me out of college would have thought, well, there’s no other better project than that, you know? You know. Yeah. Young me would have, like, died if he knew that. Like, I get to draw a picture for the Eagles. Like, eventually.

00:50:25:12 – 00:50:32:59
Agent Palmer
What about. I mean, the only thing that comes to mind for me that I will toss your way is because you’ve got an Avengers poster behind you, like, oh.

00:50:33:12 – 00:50:33:21
Ryan Lynn
You.

00:50:33:21 – 00:50:35:24
Agent Palmer
Want to do a movie poster?

00:50:35:29 – 00:50:54:25
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, actually, I did do a movie poster already, but it was for like an indie, like back when I was doing like, screen printing posters. I did like, it was like a CVS movie or something, and it was like a horror movie. It was like it was okay. It was pretty. It was pretty good. But it was it was like a very indie production that like, they like, it’s not even on Netflix.

00:50:54:25 – 00:51:04:50
Ryan Lynn
But you think, why wouldn’t it be on Netflix? But, so I did do a movie poster then, but yeah, for like a big budget, like movie that people like, actually have seen. Like, that’d be awesome. Yeah. For sure.

00:51:04:54 – 00:51:17:14
Agent Palmer
I mean, it, I mean, I know, I know from artwork in the past that this could go either way, but like, pick a pick a superhero universe for your dream poster.

00:51:17:19 – 00:51:27:49
Ryan Lynn
Oh, man, let’s have to think about that so much. It’s like really anything like anything like like, are we talking like, know Marvel Universe or specifically Guardians of the Galaxy?

00:51:27:49 – 00:51:31:50
Agent Palmer
You know, I’m saying like pick Marvel or DC?

00:51:31:55 – 00:51:36:44
Ryan Lynn
Definitely Marvel. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I don’t know, there’s a lot more.

00:51:36:44 – 00:51:41:41
Agent Palmer
Does this go back to the fact that you said at the very beginning of this show that you couldn’t draw back, okay.

00:51:41:46 – 00:51:57:07
Ryan Lynn
I mean, I felt like I would, you know, I probably. Yeah, for sure, like, you would take, like, I’d have to like, you know, learn how to draw, like, I would, I could do it like where we talked about like when we first, when I first started, I was like, I don’t know how to draw anything else. I’ll draw an astronaut.

00:51:57:07 – 00:52:17:12
Ryan Lynn
But like, now, like, I don’t know what the PDF you know, is going to come through with the job. Reeves like, hey, we need you to draw a horse today. And it’s like, okay, well, you know, when I first started, I used to be like, oh, my God, I don’t, like, necessarily know how to draw a horse. Like, I’m not good at drawing horses or whatever, but it’s like, yeah, if I can learn how to draw a horse, you just have to do it like, like, well, I’ll say yes and then I’ll figure it out.

00:52:17:12 – 00:52:36:18
Ryan Lynn
And it’s like, you know, and then now that stigma of like, oh, I don’t know how to draw X is like gone because it’s like, well, you know, I don’t know how to draw Batman. Like, you know, like like a guy who draws Batman every day, but, you know, give me like a couple hours and I’ll. I’ll come up with a Batman for you, you know, like, we’ll figure it out.

00:52:36:23 – 00:52:41:28
Ryan Lynn
But, yeah. No, I couldn’t just bang on a Batman, like, right away as well as that, but, have a go with your question was.

00:52:41:41 – 00:52:45:46
Agent Palmer
Well, it was it was, you know, Marvel or DC basically have all these movie poster.

00:52:45:51 – 00:52:56:15
Ryan Lynn
I mean, I don’t really I don’t really follow DC as much. Like, I know, like I love all the Marvel characters and I love Batman, you know, but other than that, I don’t give a shit about Superman.

00:52:56:20 – 00:52:57:11
Agent Palmer
Okay?

00:52:57:16 – 00:53:01:58
Ryan Lynn
I don’t know. Or I’m having trouble even naming other DC characters.

00:53:02:04 – 00:53:12:06
Agent Palmer
I look forward to your Marvel work. Yeah, I mean, I’m sure this this podcast will definitely put you over the top. Oh, okay. I’m sure there’s people for marveled at. Listen, we’ll.

00:53:12:06 – 00:53:16:49
Ryan Lynn
Put it out into the universe that this guy who draws football players all day wants to all.

00:53:16:54 – 00:53:29:09
Agent Palmer
I mean, the, the the amount of difference between, say, a football player and a superhero. I mean, yeah, I mean, I’ve seen what you’ve done to Christian McCaffrey. All right.

00:53:29:09 – 00:53:30:48
Ryan Lynn
Like right. Yes.

00:53:30:48 – 00:53:32:58
Agent Palmer
You make him look like a superhero.

00:53:33:07 – 00:53:54:11
Ryan Lynn
Right. Well, he already kind of looks like a superhero. You know, like, you don’t have to do much. You just have to draw him because he’s, you know, unreal. Yeah. I guess there’s a lot of similarities between a football player and a superhero. Like, when you think about it. Yeah, both strong. Both wear, like, uniforms. Skintight pants.

00:53:54:16 – 00:54:20:18
Agent Palmer
So, if I get to tell you you have a month off, you don’t have to worry about projects, right? And this is just for you. Do you go back to doing posters? Do you do screen prints? Like you have to do something creative, but, like, whatever you want, and it’s a month, so obviously it’s not like, oh, you only have a week, like, right, you can do whatever you want creatively.

00:54:20:19 – 00:54:23:03
Agent Palmer
Like where do you go? What do you do?

00:54:23:08 – 00:54:47:37
Ryan Lynn
I probably would do more physical media stuff, so I’d go back to like pen and ink and markers and try to like, try to figure out like it, like what elements of that can I take and bring into like the work that I do mostly digitally because like, you know, a lot of people spend, they go right into digital and they spend a lot of time trying to recreate, a style that’s a physical medium.

00:54:47:37 – 00:55:02:38
Ryan Lynn
So it’s like, oh, like I have all these Photoshop brushes that look like they’re like a big, thick brush and like ink. It’s like. Or you could just, like, take a big, thick brush and draw it with ink, like in real life, like, so it’s like people spend so much time trying to make their digital picture look like they really did it in real life.

00:55:02:38 – 00:55:18:11
Ryan Lynn
Like just learn how to do it. Real life and then that’ll, you know, then you it, then you’ve done it. You don’t have to like, try to go back and make this like perfectly smooth, you know, picture you drew on a piece of glass, look like it was drawn on like paper, like just draw it on paper. So like, that’s where I’m at now.

00:55:18:11 – 00:55:35:30
Ryan Lynn
I’m trying to, like, bring in stuff that I’ve, you know, done physically, like, you know, with like, because, you know, a marker looks different, you know, on paper than it does if you drew did like a marker brush in Photoshop. So it’s like, you know, how do you bring that over to make it look more authentic? You know, is just scanning, you know, what I’ve been doing?

00:55:35:30 – 00:56:00:11
Ryan Lynn
It’s like kind of scanning in, like actual pictures and then like kind of doing digital stuff over top of it. So I’m kind of doing doing both works. You know, before I’ll just do just a do start on digital and end on digital. I don’t even like, you know, maybe I’ll do some sketches on my sketchbook, but like, you know, for a miller Lite project, it’s the first sketch is on the computer because then it’s just easy to send to them and it’s easy to make changes and, you know, have to like a race stuff and regional.

00:56:00:12 – 00:56:06:27
Ryan Lynn
And so it’s like I yeah. So I answer a question, I go back to more physical drawing stuff.

00:56:06:32 – 00:56:13:48
Agent Palmer
Is there a show like would you ever want to do like an actual art show, like take over, like a room in a gallery?

00:56:14:03 – 00:56:31:49
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, that’d be cool. Yeah, that I mean, I haven’t I’ve had stuff in art galleries before, but I never got to do a whole show because that’s what, like a fine artist has. That’s kind of what they do because they have like all the work is like them and their style. Whereas most of my stuff is like, you know, someone hired me to do it.

00:56:31:49 – 00:56:38:09
Ryan Lynn
So it’s it’s my style. Yeah, but it’s not, you know, I’m not going to hang a bunch of NFL pictures in a gallery.

00:56:38:09 – 00:56:40:58
Agent Palmer
But you’d hang you’d hang the eagle one, though, like, I feel.

00:56:40:58 – 00:56:54:25
Ryan Lynn
Like I like that. Go to that gallery. I’d be like, oh shit, like this is awesome. But like the, like a person who goes to art galleries is going to be like, what are all these beer posters doing here? Maybe, I don’t know, that’s what I think. But, you know, whereas, you know, I would love to see those because that’s what I mean to.

00:56:54:30 – 00:57:03:34
Ryan Lynn
But, as far as like an art gallery at like, like, yeah, I probably need a lot more than a month to do, like a full show for an art gallery, but that’d be cool.

00:57:03:39 – 00:57:17:52
Agent Palmer
Where do you draw inspiration now? Like, I mean, I’ve, I’ve talked to authors who read, you know, where do you go to, like, I don’t know, see other things and get inspired.

00:57:17:57 – 00:57:42:53
Ryan Lynn
Yeah. Well, I do a lot of, like surfing the internet for, like, I have, you know, a follow artist I like. And, you know, I have, like, a couple books here of stuff I like to go through, but, you know, as far as, like, like where do I go? It’s not so much about, like, I’m trying to find inspiration because, like, you know, when I work with this commercial stuff, I, I’m given the concept and like a very loose sketch.

00:57:42:53 – 00:58:01:37
Ryan Lynn
So I don’t really have to, like, be inspired to come up with, like, what it’s going to be. But I do have to be inspired to say, like, how am I going to show what they want? So it’s like, oh, we want a picture of this horse running and it’s horse race, so I don’t have to like, think of, okay, this is going to be a horse because they told me.

00:58:01:42 – 00:58:06:01
Agent Palmer
Yeah, you’re not you’re not going from the blank page. You’re starting with something. But now I.

00:58:06:01 – 00:58:23:58
Ryan Lynn
Have to be like, well, how do I show this horse in a dynamic way that will work on a cup? It will work on, a billboard or a poster or t shirt, whatever they end up doing with the stuff in a cool perspective, you know? And so. So what? I get inspired a lot more with, like how to execute something more more though.

00:58:23:58 – 00:58:41:35
Ryan Lynn
Then what is that thing going to be? So, I’ll look at, like artists who like, you know, do something that’s like, very simple and like, you know, a couple colors and I’ll be like, well, that’s a great way to like, do clouds. So look at that. Like those clouds look, that far away because they’re only a couple of colors or something like that.

00:58:41:35 – 00:58:51:02
Ryan Lynn
So I get inspired by that by, like, that little kind of stuff. More than, like, I’m just going to say, Leonardo DaVinci or something, you know what I mean? Like.

00:58:51:07 – 00:59:02:09
Agent Palmer
Does knowing a project is going to end up on a mug, a keychain, a poster, you know, an.

00:59:02:20 – 00:59:03:14
Ryan Lynn
Instagram account, like.

00:59:03:14 – 00:59:12:39
Agent Palmer
Everything, like just knowing it’s going to be used on multiple things and media, like, how much does that change what you do?

00:59:12:44 – 00:59:32:50
Ryan Lynn
It well, it it definitely makes it. Well, you can’t do everything you want because it does have to like, be able to be reproduced at small sizes and big sizes. So it’s like it has to be graphic enough that from like far away, you kind of like see what it is, but also when it’s blown up and put like on the side of a truck, like, like you’re not going to be like, oh man.

00:59:32:50 – 00:59:37:15
Ryan Lynn
Like now that you look into it real close like those are I that eagle looks pretty weird.

00:59:37:20 – 00:59:42:19
Agent Palmer
How do you do that? How do you do that? Like, how do you test for that in your house?

00:59:42:19 – 00:59:57:14
Ryan Lynn
Well, I’ll just like, zoom in, like for, like 2,000% or whatever, and like, you know, and when I was doing this, like the Eagles one, I just bring that one up. Just because that’s the one I see the most because it’s where I live. You know, like I remember like working on like the stadium in the background. It’s real.

00:59:57:21 – 01:00:14:16
Ryan Lynn
It’s like the Eagles in the foreground and background. There’s the stadium and the hash marks like, when I did like this, like this illustrator, like, filter to like, get like a perspective, like, messed up the hash marks that like, they came to a point instead of, like, rectangles or something because illustrator does it all the time.

01:00:14:21 – 01:00:30:53
Ryan Lynn
So I was like, why should I could zoom in a 3,000% where, like, I’m the only one who’s ever going to notice this? Or I can spend, like, all night drawing these hash marks, like the way of this field, which is like the size of a postage stamp when you see it in real life. But then I went, but I was like, you know what?

01:00:30:53 – 01:00:50:34
Ryan Lynn
But then I will know that they’re messed up. So I went in, did it, and then like later on that year, are like, I had gone to an Eagles game and like at the Xfinity Live Center, which is like this like bar kind of thing in the parking lot of the stadium, they had this big like wall of like the Eagle blown up really big like this, like DJ Booth where you can see those hash marks.

01:00:50:34 – 01:01:07:08
Ryan Lynn
And I was like, and that’s why you zoom in at 3,000% to do the hash marks, because you never know if your shit is going to be on like a DJ booth in a bar outside of the stadium. So yeah.

01:01:07:13 – 01:01:25:21
Agent Palmer
First things first, if you haven’t already looked up Ryan’s work on your own, go to the show notes and click around while I talk. Because listening to Ryan’s origin story is only the audible half of the story, you need to see what he has created, an experience, the visual have to understand the totality of everything that was discussed.

01:01:25:26 – 01:01:52:55
Agent Palmer
And speaking of what was discussed, Ryan mentioned during the episode that he went back to illustration and asked himself why he ever stopped, and in his case it was school and then job. The usual life stuff. But it makes me wonder, what is it that you or I have stopped that we should return to? In Ryan’s case, he saw it as an opportunity to do something he was passionate about, but he was lucky in that he didn’t get too far away from it.

01:01:52:55 – 01:02:12:26
Agent Palmer
Even with school and work, how many of us have strayed so far away? We don’t even know what we’re missing? Well, for me, I knew what it was. It was playing the guitar. Now, I didn’t really get rid of my guitars, so the reminder existed within wherever I was living. But they were out of sight and very much out of mind.

01:02:12:33 – 01:02:32:26
Agent Palmer
Now. Now I play guitar on a regular basis and I keep them on stands here in my office and a few other locations in my house. Yes, I have a guitar collection of sorts, but even still, I’ve had them for all these years, so I did get away from playing them for what was a very long time. But now I’m back at it.

01:02:32:31 – 01:02:52:29
Agent Palmer
What is it you’re missing? What should you get back to? While pondering that answer, another very important takeaway that I want to reiterate from this discussion is that perspective is important for seeing the whole picture, whether it is a design you haven’t seen in a few hours or days, or something that you’ve missed out on and just remembered.

01:02:52:34 – 01:03:12:03
Agent Palmer
Perspective is a powerful tool and it should be used with respect, because the whole rose colored glasses thing isn’t just for media like movies and music we liked back in the day that we admit isn’t that good or nearly as good as we remember, but still enjoy and defend it to this day. Perspective isn’t just about time, though it can be.

01:03:12:08 – 01:03:38:55
Agent Palmer
It can also be point of view or even just motivation. I feel like other episodes will probably cover this better, depending on topics and what happens, but it is worth noting that Ryan has great examples of perspective throughout this episode. But I’ll admit, time is the most pervasive one. And speaking of time, over the course of his getting back to illustration, Ryan went from I can’t draw something to I can draw anything.

01:03:39:10 – 01:04:01:10
Agent Palmer
It was in learning to do one and then another and then another that he realized and came to the belief that he can learn to draw anything. This is not limited to drawing. We can all learn to do anything and anything. We just have to be willing to admit that we don’t know something, and then go about filling in that gap with knowledge.

01:04:01:15 – 01:04:22:48
Agent Palmer
What do you want to do? Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 18. As a reminder, all links are available in the show notes. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays. If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can tweet me at Agent Palmer. You can tweet the show at The Palmer Files and Ryan at Ryan Lynn Design.

01:04:22:48 – 01:04:48:16
Agent Palmer
And that’s Ryan Life and Design. You can see his website as well as his portfolio on Ryan Lynn design.com, which also includes his shop and you can follow him on Instagram. Also at Ryan Lynn, designed to see more of what he’s got going on from in-progress to finished pieces. Plus, as always, don’t forget you can see all of my writings on Agent palmer.com, including a text interview I did with Ryan from years ago.

01:04:48:16 – 01:05:18:51
Agent Palmer
Remember, that site was designed by Ryan. If you’re on the desktop, the mobile is completely mobilized. And yeah, the show email is the Palmer files at gmail.com. If you have any feedback on this or any previous episode, or if there’s a guest or topic you’d like me to consider in the meantime, you can hear more of me on our liner notes, a musical conversation podcast with host Chris Maier and my other gig as co-host of the podcast digest with Dan Lizette.

01:05:18:56 – 01:05:32:24
Agent Palmer
You.

01:05:32:29 – 01:05:57:31
Agent Palmer
Be.

01:05:57:36 – 01:06:00:30
Agent Palmer
All right. Ryan, do you have one final question for me?

01:06:00:43 – 01:06:22:50
Ryan Lynn
I do, Mr. Palmer. Back when? Before you started this podcast and you were having me concept the logo for for the podcast, you were. You were worried that maybe you weren’t ready yet to start a podcast because you you hadn’t, don’t you know, you’ve done enough podcast with other people, like, like you’re a pro, but to do your own, you were you didn’t think you were ready yet.

01:06:22:50 – 01:06:39:40
Ryan Lynn
And I was kind of my advice to you was you’re never ready. You just have to start doing it. Do you feel now that you’re more ready now, or do you think like I thought you were ready, but like, do you think, hey, like this? I’m glad I started now because I never would have if I just kind of waited.

01:06:39:40 – 01:06:42:30
Ryan Lynn
I never would have been ready.

01:06:42:35 – 01:07:05:23
Agent Palmer
It’s twofold, really. I’m glad I started it when I did. And then after I started it, I kicked myself for not starting sooner. But I’m also aware that, like, it’s the same way I feel about the blog. The blog. I could have started five years before I did, and when I started it and got it going, I was like, man, imagine where I could be if I had started five years ago.

01:07:05:34 – 01:07:30:43
Agent Palmer
But it wouldn’t have been the same if I hadn’t started it when I started it. So the podcast is the same way where like, oh, I could be on episode 100 of this show, right? But I started it at the right time, and, I mean, I also know that, like, I like years before I started this, I was like, hey, Ryan, can you do a logo for me when it was time?

01:07:30:53 – 01:07:32:34
Agent Palmer
And you were like, well, what do you wait?

01:07:32:40 – 01:07:34:33
Ryan Lynn
Like, I just remember now that’s.

01:07:34:40 – 01:07:43:47
Agent Palmer
That’s exactly what you said that first. Come on. What what why haven’t you started it yet? And and so when I actually was like, all right. No, now I’m doing it.

01:07:43:52 – 01:07:44:06
Ryan Lynn

01:07:44:12 – 01:07:47:36
Agent Palmer
You were like, all right, well, it’s about time. Yeah.

01:07:47:40 – 01:08:05:43
Ryan Lynn
Like, the first ones are going to be rough, like, whatever. That’s part of it. Like. But you have to get those rough ones out of the way before you. You know, if you always just keep waiting for your, you know, the rough ones, they’re always going to be there. So you got to just do them to get them out of the way, because otherwise you’re never going to be like, you know, I just got to start the podcast and have it be excellent right away.

01:08:05:43 – 01:08:08:41
Ryan Lynn
It’s going to take a couple episodes to find your format and groove and all that.

01:08:08:41 – 01:08:24:54
Agent Palmer
And yeah, you are. I mean, I waited long enough to a point where, like, I was like, I don’t think I had to. I didn’t have to wait for my format to come to me. I mean, I had to wait for my, my style as a host to come to me. But like the format is probably always what it will be.

01:08:24:54 – 01:08:43:07
Agent Palmer
I mean, my first solo episode was, like a curveball, but, it’s it’s in planning this, I was like, nope, this is going to be exactly like the blog. I can do whatever the hell I want. And it was like, well, if I’m going to do that, like I have to set it up like I can’t go 52 episodes and then be like, here’s my first solo episode.

01:08:43:09 – 01:08:48:40
Agent Palmer
Like I was like, no, I have to, I have to break the seal on that right quick. Like, that’s right. That’s got to happen soon.

01:08:48:40 – 01:08:59:35
Ryan Lynn
It’s funny, you mentioned like, oh, your style and your interview style like this is essentially like having a phone call with you like this. Is that this is just me talking to just usual. This is like let me say so.

01:08:59:40 – 01:09:01:44
Agent Palmer
So yeah, if we go backwards.

01:09:01:44 – 01:09:02:43
Ryan Lynn
That’s do what you do.

01:09:02:56 – 01:09:16:19
Agent Palmer
For you. If we go backwards to when you were at the agency, like, I know I called a lot, but I also know like it was like, hey Ryan, how’s that design? Good. I did see the new Marvel movie like.

01:09:16:24 – 01:09:22:37
Ryan Lynn
Yeah, yeah, it’s like it’s the same. So it’s like, you could have been doing this the whole time, bro.

01:09:22:39 – 01:09:29:02
Agent Palmer
I mean, I should yeah, I could have recorded all those conversations and like, all the work stuff cut out. And then if you didn’t, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

–End Transcript–

This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).