Meet Adam Riches | Toy designer, illustrator, & comic book artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adam Riches and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adam, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I’m what I guess you’d call a VERY native Floridian! My grandfather was actually born and raised inside the literal oldest house in Miami, The Wagner Homestead, which is currently located in Lummus Park. Throughout the course of my life, I’ve either lived in, or spent significant time in, nearly every major city of Florida, with only a couple of brief stints living out of state, but Florida will always be home.

So it’s almost hard to say exactly where I’m “from”. I was born near Jacksonville, spent a good portion of my childhood in Miami, most of my adult life around the Tampa Bay Area, and went to college in Sarasota.

I’d say my background and upbringing have impacted who I am in a variety of ways, I’ve grown up around a lot of cultural diversity, I’ve traveled a lot, from an early age I met a lot of interesting people through my mom’s work and continue to now through my own work, so in some way I’m sure all of that has shaped who I am, and impacted the direction I’ve taken with my career, maybe even in some unquantifiable ways.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve been making art since before I can remember. I really couldn’t even tell you how or where the interest came from, all I know is it never waivered or fluctuated, it was my destiny to become an artist; there was/is no backup plan. I have many other interests, but I can’t imagine myself in a career far removed from the creative industry.

That said, a career in art, especially in commercial design and illustration is not for the faint of heart. It requires a tremendous amount of dedication and perseverance, extremely long hours, and a lot of sacrifice. In many ways, it’s also like having 3 jobs in one.

There’s the first job, which is acquiring the work. This is the part no one sees, the traveling, networking, phone calls, emails, and years of reputation building, just to even be in the discussion, because art is a highly competitive industry, now more than ever in a fully connected remote world, with a global economy.

The second job is the one people maybe kind of understand (but not really), and that’s producing the actual work. That’s the part where I spend countless hours on a computer, at a drawing table, or at an easel, actually producing the work that gets seen.

The third job, is what you’re reading right now, talking it up! Getting the work seen by as many eyes as possible, and growing an awareness for me/my brand/my work. If I’m honest, this has always been my least favorite part of the process, because while I enjoy knowing my work has brought many collectors happiness, it’s always felt kind of strange to have to be such a shameless self promoter. That said, if fans ever have any questions about my work, I’m always more than happy to answer them on social media.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
While I certainly think we all have personal accountability, and work hard towards becoming who we are, I very much subscribe to the line of thinking that no one is truly self made, or at least I’m definitely not!

Any success I’ve achieved in my life or career is very much built upon the love, support, and mentorship of so many people throughout my life, I could be here listing them off all day, but most importantly, by far, is my mom.

As a single parent, she did absolutely everything in her power to set the best possible example, and provide me with every opportunity to be successful. She’s my hero. 

Website: www.AdamRiches.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/adam.riches.100/

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/adamriches

Twitter: twitter.com/AdamRichesArt

Facebook: www.facebook.com/adam.riches.100

Image Credits
Legends of Lucha Libre figures are © Boss Fight Studio G.I. Joe © Hasbro Mansoor © WWE