Born in Manitoba, Canada, growing up in Winnipeg, illustrator Ryan Heshka was fueled by the long prairie winters, spending most of his childhood drawing, building cardboard cities, and making super 8 films.
Now based in Vancouver, B.C., Canada with his wife Marinda and cat Louis, his influences include antiquated comics and pulp magazines, natural history, graphic design, music, movies, and animation. Formally trained in interior design, he is self-taught as an artist, with his illustrations appearing in publications like Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Esquire, and the New York Times.
“I went from interior design to animation to illustration and ultimately into personal art,” he told Flaunt. “I have always drawn and created, and when I left interior design, I got the illustration bug. However, it took me about seven years to get my foot in the door (with illustration representative Kate Larkworthy (NY)). In the interim, I worked in animation doing character clean up and layouts (by hand). My interior design experience still plays a big role in my art in terms of special awareness and color usage.”
His career change proved to be right, he has shown at galleries across North America and Europe. He has also been selected to appear in American Illustration, Society of Illustrators, and Communication Arts.
Currently working on a picture book projects for children as well as adults, he admits that he still very much enjoys old comics, pulps, and film, but he doesn’t use those as a reference so much anymore. “It’s now filtered through an eye that takes in a wider range of sources and inspiration,” he says.
Take a look at some of his work in the gallery below:
