Ryan Woodward Visits RCAD

Ryan Woodward inspires students explaining his philosophy on sketchbooking.

Ryan Woodwards inspiring visit to Ringling just reassured me that I attend one of coolest schools in existence. So yeah, this was a rough day at Ringling... 9am call time at lido beach, 2.5 hours of figure drawing, plethora of shared knowledge, insight into observational technique and we all had the pleasure of meeting a most humble and prolific artist, Ryan Woodward.

Starting out Ryan discussed his philosophy on  using a sketchbook and obeservation of everyday life. He stressed the value of looking at the world around you and using your sketchbook as a tool to get your ideas out.  The idea of coming back to them later as references and inspiration makes a lot of sense. Woodward kept our full attention  for over 2 hours, it was really a one of a kind opportunity for everyone to hear Ryans words of wisdom.

Later that evening Woodward treated us to a presentation where he shared some of his process and showed us all some case study animatics from previous jobs. He stressed achieving a balance between feeding your creative beast within and paying the bills. He seems to have found this balance and has been able to maintain it for years.  He accredits it to his always keeping pet projects on the back burner, and never getting too attached to an idea on a job. As it the nature of film things can always change.
Its opportunities like this that make Ringling on of the best in my opinion. Above and beyond the everyday challenges put in place in academia, they strive to help students form a connection with working professionals and help us to find inspiration in just about anything.