When asked about the premise of his most recent comic, Rusty offered a glimpse into his quirky sense of humor: "My most recent note is about an ear of corn exacting revenge on the woman who ate her niblet corn children. It’s sad, silly, and includes a pun — a huge win, in my opinion." The absurdity of this scenario, along with its playful twist, is quintessentially Rusty—finding humor in the most unexpected of places, even in an ear of corn's vengeful mission.
Criticism is something every creator encounters, but the artist takes it with a dose of sarcasm. "If someone doesn’t like something you made, they believe it is their moral imperative to let you know in the most devastating way possible. They call that 'constructive criticism.' And nothing makes them madder than telling them you don’t care about their dumb opinion." Rather than being deterred, Rusty seems to revel in the chaos of online interactions, finding comedy in how seriously people take themselves when they dish out their feedback.
Creative slumps are inevitable for anyone in the art world, and Rusty isn’t immune. "I’ve found my motivation comes in short bursts. I’ll have days where I’ll finish five comics in a couple of hours, and then entire weeks where I’m unable to bring myself to work on anything at all. Everyone always says this, and it’s really true: The best way to feel more creative is to just force yourself to sit down and make something." His solution? Embrace the ebb and flow of creativity. Even on the days when inspiration is nowhere to be found, the act of sitting down and working is often the key to pushing through it.
As for where he draws his comedic material, Rusty finds no shortage of absurdity in the chaotic corners of Reddit. "Reddit is wild because it feels like everyone is always doing one of two things: Trying to be a comedian, or trying to fight. That’s obviously a chaotic dynamic that I love watching unfold." The platform's strange mix of humor and conflict is a never-ending source of inspiration for Rusty, where everything from meme battles to heated arguments becomes the raw material for his comics.
On Instagram, however, the artist noticed a shift in dynamics, one that's both entertaining and oddly revealing. "On Instagram, on the other hand, everyone needs you to know that they know more than you do. And even more than that, that they care more than you do. That’s such a fun dynamic to me, too, because it’s really the heart of social media: the idea that I’m sharing a version of myself for public consumption, and that persona I’ve created is better than you." The performance and self-presentation that dominate Instagram are equally rich sources of inspiration for Rusty, where users constantly compete to display their best, most “authentic” selves.
