Model creates art on any canvas

Rylee Brown strikes a pose for the camera. Modeling photos by Studio 1 and submitted photos

By Tom Victoria

Rylee Brown creates art in front of the lens as well as on paper. He is an artist and model.

The California college student explained his passion for posing.

“The clothes.” he said. “I just love clothes in general. I always wanted to be a fashion illustrator, a designer to an extent. But I've realized I just like to wear them and put them together. I don't necessarily really need to be creating them, but I also love the practice of it.”

Rylee, an Idaho native who attends school in San Francisco, savors the entire process of a photo shoot.

“I love the team involved,” he said. “I love that you go in and you sit in a chair and you talk to a makeup artist and you get to know them, and then you stand in front of a camera and you get to know a photographer. Suddenly, you have this list of contacts of creative people. There's a whole team involved, and I love that aspect of it for sure.”

Rylee, 20, enjoys the unlimited options regarding contemporary style unlike the restrictive expectations of the past.

“I love to do that,” he said. “I love to redefine the norms when it does come to masculinity specifically. Fashion, like a pair of heels, it's how you feel when you wear them. Or nails or even makeup or just fashion in general, it's an extension of yourself, and it's beautiful and it feels good. If you love to wear a certain thing, I don't see why other people should have an issue with that at all. Especially in today's current culture and climate, it's definitely becoming more normal and those stereotypes and boundaries are getting blurred together a little bit.”

Many former fashion norms, such as only women wear lace, are passe — something Rylee appreciates.

“I love that androgyny,” he said. “I really do. I think it's fabulous.”

Rylee doesn’t find it difficult to express any particular emotion.

“I think of it as acting in a way,” he said. “I put myself to the side to a certain extent. What they're looking for also is personality, so you have to be yourself for sure. I get into this state of mind that's very fluid, very willing to look a certain way, to do a certain thing.”

Rylee focuses on the creative direction of the assignment.

“I allow to happen what's going to happen and take their advice,” he said. “That's what I love about it. A lot of people think you're going to get in front of the camera and then you have to just start doing it. But really, the photographer is giving you a lot of direction, because they have an image in their mind of what they want this to look like. It's really a lot of creative direction, and I'm always willing to take that. I always go into this very fluid state of mind.”

There are certain scenarios which Rylee avoids, though.

“I'm uncomfortable with certain things like being naked specifically,” he said.”I wouldn't go that far in a shoot, but maybe one day I'll become more comfortable with that and I'll do it.”

Rylee prefers working with photographers who want to utilize his creativity.

“The image that I have of myself is very androgynous with fashion and art and modeling specifically,” he said. “The ones that I wouldn't work with probably are the ones that assume me to be very masculine, put me in the suit and then don't really move your neck or your arms too much. Don't be too feminine, very stiff. Those are the photographers I would probably not work with again just because I didn't really feel like they saw me as the model I'm trying to present myself as. And the image I'm trying to create as well, which is not very binary at all. The ones that do recognize that and allow me to be more feminine specifically, I love. I think that that's wonderful.”

Rylee hopes to walk the runway someday.

“Editorial and runway specifically is what I'm shooting for,” he said. “I'm really in the early stages of my modeling career. I have gotten myself a portfolio. I've worked with a few photographers, but I'm trying to apply to agencies and get my name out there as much as possible.”

For Rylee, modeling is about making art.

“I think of myself as an artist,” he said. “My parents are both artists. I go to school for art. It's always been fine arts for me, theater, musicals, things like that. Fashion's a beautiful combination of those two things: theatrics and fashion, but also fine arts in a way.”

Rylee wants to be a top model someday.

“I'll take it as far as it will go,” he said. “I want to walk for big fashion houses. It's a privilege to be able to wear those clothes and represent that house. If it's to your morals and you like what they do and what they stand for, it's beautiful to be able to represent their clothes that they made. So that would be an honor for me to do and a privilege.”

Rylee wants to travel through modeling.

“Definitely Europe,” he said. “Milan, London, New York as well and Los Angeles. It's a great excuse to travel. Most of the time, they're willing to pay for your flights and stuff. It's a wonderful way to be able to travel wherever you would like or to a new place that you never thought you might want to go.”

Rylee said patience is a virtue in modeling.

“I've been able to recognize that it's not just my time,” he said. “Everybody's involved, so it's so much more than just about me waiting for this to happen. You have to be patient when you're doing that because it's about so many more other people and so many other things that are happening. I've always been pretty good at being patient in life.”

When younger, Rylee was impacted by the person who became one of the most famous drag queens and a television show host.

“Probably RuPaul,” he said. “He did a lot for me as a kid, being really little. I don't remember how old I was. I was very small, though. He was doing it all and fabulously. Not only that, when people would interview him and they had something negative to say, he always had a kind response that he wanted to open their mind up. Instead of being defensive about it, he wanted to help them change their perspective and understand why he does what he does.”

Rylee also was impressed by a designer.

“RuPaul and Alexander McQueen, the designer, before he passed away unfortunately,” he said. “He was brilliant. His visions were just fabulous and phenomenal and very profound. It was very avant garde.”

Rylee had butterflies before posing for the lens, but it still felt right.

“The less that I think about it, the better,” he said. “I've always been nervous about it, but I've never really taken the time to really consider why I'm nervous about it. And my first shoot, it felt really natural. I had a lot of direction from the photographer, which made it a lot easier. But it felt like I was supposed to be there and supposed to be doing that.”

“I love to do it. I love how it feels to just belt out and sing to your heart's content.

Ryan at 15, dressed for performing in a musical.

Rylee is enamored with every aspect of fashion.

“I would love to be a stylist one day,” he said. “That's a goal of mine. The whole realm of just creating creativity and fashion and design, the whole industry is so fascinating. It has a lot of stereotypes about it, and they're not always necessarily positive stereotypes. So I really want to wedge myself right into all of those crevices of that industry and rewrite it a little bit, the rhetoric.”

Rylee values the usefulness of social media for self-promotion.

“We might as well embrace it and use it to our advantage,” he said. “I've created an Instagram account for myself actually for that purpose, separate from my personal account just to focus on that. It's a great tool to have.”

Rylee works wonders with pencil, ink and charcoal. He said art runs in the family.

“It's always felt right,” he said. “I've done it my whole life. My dad actually made this piece that's sitting behind me. It's a barn from the town that we grew up in, but I've always been inspired by him. My mom paints. I'm not quite as comfortable with color. Not yet. I would love to start working with it, but drawing's always been my go-to, and I love to do it.”

Rylee’s drawing is linked to his other passion.  

“Fashion illustration for sure and figures are my two favorites,” he said. “But whenever I'm at a loss, I always look around the table and draw objects. It's great practice. I love to catch social situations with facial expression, what they're wearing, the items included. I take a lot of inspirations from the masters. Even people like Charles D. Gibson are fantastic artists because you could look at a piece and notice all of these really symbolic items and expressions, clothing, shoes. I love going into the detail of all of that, so probably people are my favorite thing to draw.”

Rylee is grateful to have the opportunity to pursue his passions.

“It's another privilege of mine to know what I'm doing is what I love to do and what I want to keep doing,” he said. “I haven't found yet something that I love more, so I'm really lucky in that regard. And to have parents that support me going to school to do art, that's another privilege. It's the starving artist story. No parent wants their kid to go make paintings and drawings all day, so I'm lucky.”

Rylee said the environment in art school cultivates creativity.

“A lot of the teachers that I've met so far and even artist residencies, that's how you make your connections, that's how you find your jobs afterwards,” he said. “Definitely the teachers, the peers that you get and the feedback that they give you on your work is so valuable. It's priceless.”

Rylee will always be an artist even if it doesn’t end up being his career.

“I'm not sure if I want to make a living off of my art,” he said. “I've watched my parents do it and it hasn't always been an easy lifestyle, but I'm going to take it with me throughout my entire life. I just know that in my heart it's something that I love to do and I'm going to keep working on it, keep getting better. I would love to be in exhibitions. I would love to make a body of art that's impactful for people that can be hung up and people can learn something from it. So as far as it'll go, it's like modeling. It's those opportunities that you don't know are always going to happen. Keep them open. Always.”

Rylee’s creativity extends to the stage with musical theater.

“I love to do it,” he said. “I love how it feels to just belt out and sing to your heart's content. Sun Valley, Idaho, is where I did most of my productions. I worked with a group called the St. Thomas Playhouse and Footlight Dance. Dance was also a big part of my foundation. I'm very grateful for all that experience that I have and have been given, but I haven't done it in a long time and I haven't really shared it with people for a long time.”

Rylee said repetition is essential to remember lines.

“You do it over and over and over again,” he said. “You drive in your car and you record yourself saying them and you listen to it over and over again and you don't let yourself get overwhelmed. Once you realize I'm on stage and I'm about to sing for 400 people, you're gonna lose everything you've just memorized.”

Rylee said performers need to tune out any stage fright.

“If you just stick to the script,” he said. “Imagine everybody out in the audience is butt naked, you know, it makes you feel better about it. And memorize, memorize, memorize. Over and over again. The brain is really interesting because it will remember that stuff whether you care to give yourself that credit or not.” 

Rylee prefers live perfomance to acting in front of the camera.

“I love the stage because you don't get any cuts,” he said. “You don't get to stop and then do it again or make changes. You just have to do it. Whatever it is, it is. The other beautiful part of stage work is improv, because there will be those instances where you forget your lines. In a movie behind a camera, they're going to cut that and they're going to start it over and give you another opportunity. On stage, you do not get that opportunity. You got to just keep the ball rolling.”

Rylee said it’s important to remain positive in any endeavor.

“That's a gift that was given to me from my mother specifically,” he said. “She's always taking that approach to life with people. They'll come up to her and say something really nasty, and she'll look at them and be like, are you okay? Is everything all right? I know you're not personally attacking me because of what I'm doing. I think it's more of what is going on with you. That was a gift for me, able to watch growing up. We don’t have enough time in our days and in our lives to be spreading hate and bringing other people down.”

Rylee is motivated by showing his mother what he’s doing and aspiring to be the person he wants to be.

“I love not telling her what I'm doing, and then after I do it, I just show her,” he said. “For me, that's really fun and fulfilling. Somebody told me this recently and it really changed my perspective. It was imagine who you want to be and start being that person now. That's a huge motivator for me every day just to be the person that I want to be right now.”

Rylee also is motivated by his father.

“He inspires me everyday to become a better person,” he said. “He had a much harder upbringing than I did and he blessed me with what he couldn’t have necessarily and I look up to him very much. He shows me how people can change positively and always be willing to change, which is something I think everyone should know how to do.”

Rylee said taking classes complements his artistic endeavors.

“I don't really think of it as a big trail of work,” he said. “When I'm in school, I get a break from modeling and art. When I'm doing art and modeling, it's a break from school. So they help me stay motivated together. I get to finish this and then go do this.”

Rylee would like to be remembered as an artist.

“It's so fundamental to me,” he said. “Just being compassionate and being kind and making work that people can relate to and see themselves in.”

Rylee dispensed advice to aspiring models.

“If it scares you and if it freaks you out, chase it, go straight into it with a blindfold on,” he said. “All of that experience is good experience. If you've never done it before and you really want to do it, the only thing that can hold you back from that is yourself. I always think to myself this is freaking me out. I'm really anxious about this. And then I chase that feeling and it always works out. You know, you just have to get the ball rolling.”

Rylee said models must maintain professionalism at all times even when the photographer isn’t doing so to preserve a good reputation with other photographers.

“If they're going to work with you and they know that you've worked with this person, they'll probably call them,” he said. “And ask them are they a good fit? How is their personality, their professionalism, all that? Just assume that your grandmother is right behind you watching your every move, and the next photographer you're going to work with is right over here.”

Rylee also recommended future models adopt his philosophy.

“Imagine who you want to be and then be that person,” he said. “Assume that confidence that comes with it right now and be compassionate and kind to the people who you surround yourself with.”

Rylee cited three traits for models.

“Kindness first of all for sure,” he said. “Patience. Persistence is also important. Those are the big three for me: patience, kindness and persistence.”

Rylee’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emerickbrowne/

Rylee’s website: https://ryleebrown.modelingfolio.com/

Rylee’s personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryieeee/