Hi!
I’m Ryan.
I make comics, images, and posts about things I’ve interested in. One of my favourite challenges is taking a very complex topic, and trying to make it simple, accessible, and visually appealing.
I’m dyslexic, which is perhaps why I’ve always been fascinated with using images to display complex information in simple and clear ways.
I make a lot of these images simply because nobody else has yet. I hate it when I’m trying to learn about a topic, but I can’t find any nice simple images, graphics or maps that summarise the information, and so I make my own. The ABCD Family Tree is a great example of one of these posts.
I’m interested in a lot of topics, so I expect I’ll be posting about a lot of random things in the future, but many of the posts on here so far are about my more recent obsessions:
Linguistics, especially dialectal differences and etymology. I’m fascinated by the way languages evolve change and influence each other. I love how language is something that brings people together, while also becoming an important part of distinct cultural identities.
History, especially the history of culture, language, ideas, and religion. I’m also interested in the history of my own home nation, Britain.
Often, the best way to show an idea is by using maps, and so I’ve made quite a few of those now.
And lets not forget all my funny little comics about my current home, Vietnam.
I’m also very interested in science and nature, and while I’ve been neglecting them recently, I’d love to post more sciency and ecology related posts in the future.
Some info about me:
I grew up in a isolated, strange little town hidden among the wild hills in the far north of England. My town is called Alston, and people there talk in a unique dialect, very far from standard English, which is probably why I’m so interested in different dialect. I spent most of my childhood exploring the valleys, hills, and forests around my hometown, which I still think is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I learnt the names of the stars, the birds, and the trees, and I have been super into science and nature since I was a kid.
When I finally left my town and ventured to the big city (Newcastle Upon Tyne), I studied Biochemistry. When I finished my degree though, I realised I didn’t want to spend my twenties in a lab, so I fled to Vietnam, and became an English teacher. Since then I have also taught English in Valencia, Spain, and in England, but eventually I ended up back here in Hanoi. I love teaching, and it gives me enough time to work on my little projects.
I hope you enjoy them, and learn from them, as I have enjoyed and learned from making them.
If you enjoy my posts, please do one thing for me in return: like my facebook pages, and, if you think your friends would enjoy my posts, share them! Right now I have no interest in making money from Starkey Comics: I just want to share my interests with everybody else who has the same interests.