Ryan started his career in animation in 1996 at the age of 21 working on 2D feature films using paper and pencil. He started at Turner Feature Animation on the film "Cats Don't Dance". He then moved onto Warner Bros. Feature Animation where his talents were featured on the films "Quest for Camelot" and "The Iron Giant". Next came Dreamworks Animation, where he worked on the films: "The Road to El Dorado", and "Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmaron".

In 2000, using Flash 4, Ryan started learning the Flash program on his own so that when fewer 2D films were being produced and jobs were scarce, Ryan could switch full-time to Flash animation while working at the popular children's website: Neopets.com. Just one year later, in 2001, Ryan was one of the winners of Klasky Csupo's animated Joke Contest flash-animated winning entry: "A Pirates Tale".

In 2002 Ryan began animating his own Star Wars Spoofs, using Flash, and posted them online for other Star Wars fans. The humorous spoofs were a huge success, bringing many inquiries for custom animation and illustration jobs from various companies. Of those companies, American Greetings asked Ryan to create animated e-cards for their website. Over the years, Ryan's e-cards have also appeared on the sister sites: Egreetings.com and Hatter Chatter.com.

In 2004 Ryan entered his Flash animated Star Wars spoof cartoon: Carbonite Confusion in the Lucasfilm Star Wars Fan Film competition, and took home the "Best Crossover Spoof" award. In 2005, Ryan's 30 second animated television commercial: "Shoot in Utah" was chosen as a top winner in the Utah Film Commission's commercial competition, where his winning animation was played during the Sundance Film Festival.