Falling in love with the 80’s and being original does not require a specific age, gender or generation. Ryan McDonagh is a young artist with amazing skills that looks to the 80s as an inspiration to draw her own path in arts and real life. Please join us in reading this amazing interview conducted with Ms. McDonagh as she teleports us into her own version of things.
Hi Ryan! please tell us a little bit about yourself.
A – My name is Ryan. I am 13 years old. My birthday is on Halloween, which I think is awesome! I like really like animals, and my mom works at an animal shelter. I have been drawing for a long time, and I have been getting better and better. I first picked up a marker when I was about 3 or 4. I have a lot of friends. My mom has a dog sitting business which I love. I have a Chihuahua lab mix named “Taco”; he is AWESOME!
I also have two cats and a hamster, and I enjoy spending time with them. When I’m not doing homework, I usually either play games, draw, or watch Star Trek. I also would like to mention that I so enjoy 80’s movies and music.
Q – I noticed that you have some amazing talents, like painting for example. Could you please tell us a little bit about that? How did you learn how to draw?
A – Well, the painting that I made the first time I worked with paint, I got a lot of help from my art teacher. I got my inspiration for drawing from watching artists on Youtube. It’s amazing what you can learn nowadays on the internet. The speed paint videos are very helpful for learning different techniques even though they are fast paced, because they are purposely sped up for time management.
I also got a lot of my inspirations from a web series called Eddsworld.
Q – What is Eddsworld?
A – Eddsworld is an animation series created by Edd Gould to entertain. However, it is currently being animated by other artists because the original creator died of cancer.
Q – What and who inspires you?
A – First and most of all, my parents are my greatest inspiration; they brought me into this world. For art, it’s Edd Gould, but in general I get a lot of inspiration from River Phoenix. River was born the 23th of august and died on my birthday, which I think is sad!
Q – What are some other activities that you enjoy?
A – Other than art, I usually like to dance or sing. I like making edits of eighties actors. Sometimes if I have nothing else to do, I will go on a movie watching binge. Some of my favorite movies are Stand By Me, the Revenant, Licence to Drive, and The Incredibles. I mostly watch eighties movies.
Q – Why do you like the 80’s movies?
A – The 80’s movies have a happier vibes that most current movies, and basically the same thing goes for the music too. Even break up songs have happy endings. And they sound more hopeful and cheery!
Q – What have been your greatest successes to date?
A – This might sound random, but my Instagram account is one of my biggest achievements. I like that I have the opportunity to communicate with the same people who have the same interests. Definitely my other achievement was my painting of River Phoenix. Here is the painting and I hope you like it:
Q – If anything was possible what would you wish for?
A – That’s really a hard question. Probably bring back the people I miss the most. Examples would be: my grandmom who I never met, my grand father (I met him but I don’t remember him), and River Phoenix because he could have done so much more in this world and made a difference!
Q – Do you have any funny stories you’d like to share?
A – The pool story!!!! It was at my friend Christina’s house and we weren’t allowed to get into the pool because my mom was supposed to pick me up n a few minutes. We dipped our feet in, and I decided to lean in a bit closer and then I yelled: “LOOK I AM A REBEL” and was surprised I fell into the pool by accident. With my clothes on!
Q – Lastly, what do you think of Human Diaries?
A – Human Diaries is very interesting and I like that they promote a positive environment and share people’s stories which are otherwise unreachable.
