Dale Rawlings is a member of the local comics co-op DC Conspiracy, which regularly sets up at the Small Press Expo. He publishes his own minicomics and contributes in the Conspiracy’s anthology books and Magic Bullet newspaper. Rawlings is currently illustrating a story about the War of 1812 and the Decauter House for the upcoming anthology District Comics.
Washington City Paper: What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?
Dale Rawlings: I do minicomics, full-size comics, one-page strips, and soon an online comic strip. too.
WCP: How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?
DR: These days it is definitely a combo of the two. I traditionally use pen and ink. Or more specifically, brushes and ink.Then I scan it in and do some digital manipulation if the piece warrants it. I color my comics on the computer
DR: I was born in the D.C. area before the Summer of Love got in full swing.
WCP:
Why are you in Washington now? What neighborhood or area do you live in?DR: I lived in the D.C. area all my life. Currently I reside in Rockville.
WCP: What is your training and/or education in cartooning?
DR: I started to take cartooning classes when I was in junior high. I would do caricatures of certain notoriously bad teachers we had at school and passed them around much to the delight of the students in my class. This put me on a path of anti-social behavior that had me studying fine arts with a focus on Illustration in college after high school. Then I went back several years later and lto learn the various design software and dabbled in computer animation.
WCP: Who are your influences?
DR: When I was younger it was the Bronze Age artists like Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Gene Colan, and George Perez. In my twenties, I was influenced in some slight way by everything I read, watched, or listened to that moved me. Nowadays it is Alan Moore, Daniel Clowes, J.K.Williams III, Brian Bolland, and Darwyn Cooke to name a few off the top of my head.
WCP: If you could, what in your career would you do-over or change?
DR: I would have kept in better contact with some of the connections I made. Networking was not a skill I focused on when I was starting out.
DR: Depends on the book actually. For some it’s Down and Out On Planet Earth or Skidoo. To the gross out/ sick humor crowd, its Artichoke. To my family, it will always be The Disciplinarian.
WCP: What would you like to do or work on in the future?
DR: I would love to release all my comics in the future in full color. I would love the opportunity to write or draw a Batman story. Does this admission negate my indie standing now?
DR: Try and push through it with a few brainstorming exercises. If those don’t work I will go for a vigorous walk or go workout at the gym. If that still doesn’t work then I recharge the creative battery by reading or watching something.
DR: Definitely online content with downloadable apps eventually replacing monthly periodicals until the technology changes again and we can just beam the content directly into our brains.
WCP: Do you have a website or blog?
DR: I’m on Facebook, Twitter, and have a blog I update occasionally at dalerawlings.blogspot.com