CONTRIBUTOR SINCE: January 6, 2017
PRONOUNS: They/Them
Rye Hickman (previously published as Jen Hickman) is a visual storyteller based out of Denver. Past work includes The Harrowing, Bad Dream, Buzzing, and more. They get really excited about dystopian fiction, good coffee, and drawing hands.
COMICS
Blissverse
In the vastness of space, they’re jacking in and jacking off. Aboard the starship Red Queen, Ember and Pomona are…
Divination
A witch uses sex magick to get an answer to a very important question, and an ancient goddess answers as…
Field Test
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Long Haul
Fucking the border security agent to get drugs into the city is a task that Rider is happy to undertake,…
Triangle is the Strongest Shape, A
Nor’s girlfriend Eddie cheats on him with a dashing pilot the day after he tells her he loved her for…
Spotlight Interview originally published September 2024.
I’m Rye! I’m a nonbinary cartoonist living in Colorado. I created Field Test, Divination, Long Haul, and A Triangle Is the Strongest Shape at Filthy Figments, and I’ve drawn many other comics not at FF! When I’m not cartooning, I’m biking, hiking, or in the gym.
How long have you been creating comics?
I’ve been working in comics professionally since 2014, at which point I was a colorist. It’s been my full-time career since 2017.
What do you enjoy drawing most?
I adore drawing hands, as they can be incredibly emotive. I also really enjoy conveying complex emotional states through a character’s body language and expression. I guess I really just enjoy drawing feelings!
What are some of your biggest inspirations in your work?
Every couple of years I get the Sergio Toppi itch and try very hard to emulate his mark-making, and I usually fail. But it is inevitable. I also find a lot of inspiration in the films I watched obsessively and repeatedly as a teen- The Fifth Element, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Velvet Goldmine. Those last two, I think, do really fun things with pace and audience expectations. Also the aesthetics are so fun!
What do you like about erotica and/or drawing erotic comics?
I like that there is an overt goal to turn the reader on- it’s an imperative that doesn’t really come up in other kinds of storytelling. I grew up in a very conservative, religious environment, and so it took me a lot of hard work to claim my own sexuality and displace a lot of the negativity I had internalized around sex and erotica. Having done that work, there’s so much rich, human experience to explore in erotica that I don’t get to in other “genres” of comics.
What was your favorite project you’ve worked on for Filthy Figments thus far?
Easily A Triangle Is the Strongest Shape. There’s something about the dynamic of the three protagonists that really delighted me – they’re all so earnest and young and all their feelings are so big!
Recommend a few of your favorite Filthy Figments comics from the archive. Tells us WHY you love them.
My all-time favorite is Aud Koch’s Peppermint. The visuals are just so insightful and clever, and I find the hand-drawn illustrations extremely gorgeous.
I also found GC Houle’s The Devil’s Due to be visually striking and really fun. And funny!
Any personal projects you’d like to plug?
Not currently – I’m still in the creation-mines for a personal project that I don’t think I’ll even announce until 2025.
This year both The Harrowing (a young adult dark thriller) and Bad Dream (also young adult- coming of age but make it superpowered) were published. I’m terribly proud of them both!
Where else can readers find you online?
I’m on insta at ryehickmandraws, on bluesky @ryehickman, and on tumblr at ryehickman.
