Rye Crothers is a Brisbane based freelance illustrator, indie comic creator and high school teacher. They received their Bachelor of Fine Art in 2016 with a major in Interdisciplinary Printmaking, and used their experience in art theory, history and fine arts to help inform their art practice.

 Inspired by Japanese media, video games, tabletop role playing games and their own personal journey through life, they tell stories centred on people who, against all odds, survive impossible trials and find happy endings. Many of their works contain themes of gender, sexuality, and mental health in various medieval/fantasy settings.

Their major comic project is Amalthea; Stories of a Herald. It follows the titular character, Amalthea, learning to cope with her own mental health issues, relationships and physical disabilities while leading armies and saving the world. Amalthea; Stories of a Herald currently has four volumes released with at least three more in the works, as well as its own untitled side story focussing on Amalthea’s daughter; Marie.

Rye also enjoys cosplay, fanart, illustrations for tabletop roleplay games, as well as drawing their characters interacting with friend’s original characters.