June 12, 2019

Bryan Stone ′08 is a staff artist at the Peanuts Studio. He has been making comics for over a decade and particularly enjoys keeping an eye out for UFOs and cryptids. He did this brief interview with Angela Boyle ′16.

Who was your thesis advisor and why did you pick them?

My thesis advisor was Stan Sakai. He was great. He’s got a reputation for being one of the kindest people in comics which is spot-on. I had been a big fan of Usagi Yojimbo for years, so getting to work with him was an incredible opportunity. I sent him pages or a script each week while I was working on my thesis, and he would give me feedback. In retrospect, I think that learning about his process and spending time with him when he visited White River Junction had the most impact on me long-term. I have tons of admiration for him; working with him really changed the way I think about making comics. 

What are your responsibilities as a staff artist at Peanuts Studio?

My job here at Peanuts is a lot of fun. I’ve been lettering an upcoming graphic novel, reformatting strips for newspapers, and doing product approvals. 

How do you balance your work at Peanuts with your personal work?

I don’t! I’m terrible at finding that balance. I manage to chip away at a page or two each week. I’ve always had non-comics jobs in the past and done freelance stuff, and my own comics, on the side. It’s different here because my job is very creatively satisfying. In that way, it has taken a lot of pressure off my personal work. Also, I work with a great group of people at the studio and the work I’m doing during the day is helping me develop my craft in a way I was never able to before.

What are your favorite tools to draw with?

I prefer traditional media by far. I do find myself sometimes wishing Command+Z worked in the real world. That said, I don’t hate digital; I’ve used it a lot professionally. I just miss the tactile qualities of ink and paper when I’m drawing on a Wacom. Right now, for my personal work, I’m drawing on Strathmore 500 Series Bristol. My preferred tools are a .05 mechanical pencil (just about any kind will do), a Pentel Brush pen (which I empty and fill with Dr. Ph Martin’s Black Star matte ink and a little water to help it flow), and a Pilot G-2, .05 or .35, which can be bought at pretty much any place that sells pens. It’s a good pen; it always makes a nice crisp and solid line, it’s very portable, and it’s archival. The only problem is that it’s not waterproof, so if I’m doing anything with watercolor or ink wash I have to do that first and ink over it after it dries.   

What is your favorite cryptid?

Well, I’m a Sasquatch fan, but I think my favorite would have to be a local one from where I grew up in Alabama. It’s a creature with the head of a goat and the body of a person. A friend claims to have seen it standing on top of a barn when she was walking down a dirt road one night. You can read some pretty crazy stories about it on the internet. I’ve never seen a cryptid myself, but the search continues.