About Bryan
Bryan was born March 28, 1959 in Lincoln, Nebraska to Eugene and Betty Bustard. They moved the family to Atlanta, Georgia in 1968. When asked how he got started as an artist, he had this to say:
So far as I am concerned, my earliest inspiration for being an artist was my mom's undeveloped talent as a painter. Later my cousin Bill Stephens introduced me to comic books and at one time I wished to be a comic book artist until I realized how many drawings had to be produced for so little money. I also wanted to be an animator at one time, but then realized I simply wasn't fast enough. My favorite artists are illustrators such as N.C.Wyeth, J.C. Leyendecker, Frank Frazetta, Dave Stevens of Rocketeer fame, 60s underground artist Rick Griffin, and Drew Struzan (the #1 movie poster artist responsible for such posters as for the Indiana Jones movies and the re-releases of chapters IV, V, and VI of Star Wars.)
I studied at Bob Jones University and later graduated from Pensacola Christian College in the first class of artists to graduate from there. I hold several distinctions at PCC. During my first (sophomore) year there, a Frank Frazetta book was confiscated from my room because the deans thought it was vulgar. They wanted to expel me until I was able to point out that the art books in the college library as well as our textbooks also had nudity. Because of me, all those books have black magic marker over the "naughty bits," even covering the genitalia of infants! During my senior year there, one of the paintings I put in my senior art exhibit caused it to be shut down and earned me another expulsion threat. The offending painting was of Olivia Newton-John's smiling face with a kitten nuzzling her cheek! That year I made two dean's lists-for good grades and a disciplinary list. Oh the joys of a fundamentalist Christian school!
My experiences at PCC led me to saner Christian influences such as C.S. Lewis, Francis A. Schaeffer, J.R.R. Tolkien, G.K.Chesterton, and my friends at Wonder Magazine. But for good or ill, PCC also probably had something to do with my tendency toward figure studies and the need to keep them in good taste with humor no doubt came from the saner influences.
I have chosen not to do any more photography sessions for nude portraits, although I will work from tasteful photos by commission.
