Cartoon Death Zone

nikoanesti:

I, as well as many others, have lost a great friend today. I first started following Ricky Garduno on Dumm Comics with his strip 1930 Nightmare Theatre in 2008. His personal comics were eye-opening and realistic alongside its humor. It was a comic that took off the rose-colored glasses of life and made you think. He knew what was going on. In addition to that, he worked on a number of cartoons in the industry, mainly storyboarding, from El Tigre to his most recent job on the highly-esteemed Family Guy. We became friends fairly quickly. And I don’t mean he was some guy that I spoke to on a few occasions for only a little bit. In fact, he approached me (if he hadn’t, I probably would have been too afraid to kick things off myself, so I’m glad he did). He was a real friend, a great one, not to mention very supportive, helpful, and an inspiration. He gave me a lot of advice on cartooning that has helped me and still sticks with me today, but more importantly, he was a person who would listen and give advice about life in general. We suffered depression in similar ways and he was always positive for me. I knew that lately he had been going through a very rough time, and I just wish I could have helped him more in the ways he helped me. It pains me to know that I will never get to meet him in person, but even just talking through the internet, he made a big impact. I’m still in shock; it hasn’t really hit me yet, but I can’t get it out of my head. For everyone who knew Ricky, this is a sad day. I wish he could know how much he changed my life. Rest in peace, buddy.