Dean Rankine

Voice Over (00:06):
This show is sponsored by the Comics Shop. We hope you enjoy the show.

Leigh Chalker (00:28):
Good day. Welcome to Tuesday Chinwag, episode 29. Now for something a little different today, even though it’s broadcast on Tuesday, this is prerecorded on Saturday. It’s 1:00 PM and for absolutely the flock of letters. I’ve been getting that. Find out the weather reports in Townsville of late, which is zero. I’m going to tell you anyway. It’s about seven degrees at 1:00 PM Lovely weather, sun is out, so hopefully everyone’s disposition is the same. All sunny and happy. Now. My name’s Lee Chalker, creator of Battle for Bustle and Co-creator of Ring Around Rosie. And tonight is very, or today is a very special guest that I’ve been hanging to have a yarn to for a long time. And it’s Mr. Dean Rankin. So how are you, sir?

Dean Rankine (01:18):
Hey. Yeah, I’m really good. Yeah, it’s nice to finally be on. I appreciate it. So when you reached out to me, I was, yeah, I was pumped to be on the show, so thank you.

Leigh Chalker (01:27):
Yeah, no, that’s cool, man. It’s a pleasure to have you because you’re a bit of a rockstar, man. We just talking, you’re zipping around the place. You’re like, you’ll have your own jet soon, man. Yeah, you’re on the way. So for anyone that’s watching at home shows basically just with who, what, where, when, why, and how. Sometimes we get through ’em. Most of the time we don’t because we’re too busy chin wagging and talking about anything that comes up. So I’m just going to rip straight in with the big question, Dean, and that is who

Dean Rankine (02:08):
I think that’s probably the hardest question, isn’t it? Okay, I’ll just do the basics. Who am I for people who don’t know. So yes, my name is Dean Rankin and I’m sorry, I’m still worried about my screen. I’m popping off. Here we go. So yeah, my name is Dean Rankin and I’m a comic book artist and writer from down south of Melbourne in Victoria. I’ve been making comics for a really long time, and so I’ve worked on Simpsons comics, Futurama Rick and Morty, invaded Zim. I hate Fairyland of Illustrated books, Timmy Tick Pony. I’ve got a new book series out my little plug, death Metal Emo Elves, and the second book is coming out very soon. Death Metal, emo ELs, and the Magic Pick of Awesomeness. Can’t really see This. Sorry about my screen. And yeah, worked on Archie. I did a little bit of Hellboy. I’ve done a lot. Who am I though? The deeper question. I’m someone who likes to work, I like to draw, and if I’m not working, I get antsy, if you know what I mean. So I do tend to keep myself busy, particularly I’m super busy at the moment. In saying that though, as a freelancer, sometimes things are not busy, and so you have to grab these opportunities when you can. I think. Does that answer your question of who?

Leigh Chalker (03:55):
Yes, I believe it does. As long as you’re happy with the answer, man. It’s one of those quasi questions, I guess. Man, it’s funny that a lot of guests that I’ve had on these Chin wags, they do find that the who straight off the bat is a bit okay. A bit of a tough question. I don’t think I could answer it myself, Matt, so I’m glad I’m one asking. Yeah,

Dean Rankine (04:29):
Yeah. I think my answer to who has been is very external. I’m more than what I do for work, but it’s such a big part of my identity and who I am. I was told once that a good way to start an interview to get people make them feel comfortable is ask them their favourite Elvis Presley song. Gets them thinking,

Leigh Chalker (04:58):
What’s your favourite?

Dean Rankine (05:01):
I think Suspicious Minds I think is, and yours,

Leigh Chalker (05:10):
If I could Dream, I like that there’s a film clip of him and man, he peaks like the three quarter point, and he’s full on giving. He is doing that hand thing and reaching up and ah, pretty awesome, Matt. I love

Dean Rankine (05:29):
That. Yeah. Sorry, go on.

Leigh Chalker (05:31):
No, no, just saying, I like Elvis. He’s cool. Had moments.

Dean Rankine (05:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like the Fat Elvis when he is older and he wears the jumpsuits and he’s got the, are

Leigh Chalker (05:42):
He doing the Kungfu and all that sort of stuff? Yeah,

Dean Rankine (05:44):
He is. He’s on stage and he’s sweating profusely and you go, but he’s, I don’t know, belting out Battle Him of the Republic or something like that, and it’s pretty extraordinary.

Leigh Chalker (05:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He’s good to watch, man. A shame. See, because I was born in 1977, so there’s positives to that and there’s negatives. One positive as it was the year Star Wars came out so woo, but the negative Elvis left the building, yin and yang, man. Bit of balance there, sadly, I guess. But anyway, hey, like Elvis Star Wars. Okay. Joined

Dean Rankine (06:31):
Quite a year. Yeah, it’s weird just imagining Elvis and Star Wars sharing the same universe. So in some ways it makes sense to me, I think.

Leigh Chalker (06:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wonder where they would’ve gone with that story if he would’ve lived and they would’ve had some money and dropped him in there in as er, like Tarkin or something like that. Something like that would’ve be weird trip.

Dean Rankine (06:56):
Yeah, I thought it was really cool to see Jack Black doing a cameo in the Mandalorian relatively recently. I would like to think that they could have done the same with Elvis if you’ve lived longer.

Leigh Chalker (07:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You would’ve snuck in there somewhere, mate, you know? So are you a Star Wars fan, obviously? Yes.

Dean Rankine (07:16):
Yeah, yeah. I do like Star Wars. Yeah. Yeah. And also it’s not just the movies, I think it’s also the, it’s almost a representative of geek culture, if you know what I mean. It’s like to be a geek is Star Wars and Star Trek and that kind of thing. So it’s not just the things, not just the movies and the TV shows, but I think it says something about who you are, your tribe, if you know what I mean. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (07:49):
Yeah. No, I know what you mean. I’m a proud, I love Star Wars, man. I’ve got toys and stuff everywhere. I pick up little Diddies here and there when I can around the place and stuff. But I, I’m a very big Dune fan, so that sort of, a bit of both there, man. But the David Lynch version. Okay, so I grew up, just so you can get some context of where my mind goes, man, that was like Pinnacle Empire Strikes back one weekend, next weekend was David Lynch’s Dune mate. That’s some science fiction at its best. So man, let’s go to Little Dean. Little Dean. I know that’s not that far out of reach either. You do carry a little dean around, don’t you? Yeah,

Dean Rankine (08:39):
I have a little dean figurine that I take to conventions with me. But you’ve got that young dean when I was a kid, it feels like a long time ago, but getting here and doing what I do now is very much related to being a kid. I was an awkward kid. I talked funny, but I drew pictures and an absolute praise monkey. And what I found was when I drew pictures, I got the praise that I really was needing and wanting. So I was very much the kid who drew cartoons. It was kind of how I expressed myself. Words always tend to foul on me. I have an idea about in my head how they’re supposed to come out, and they don’t quite come out the way I want, but I guess pictures are kind of the same thing. But it was very much how I expressed myself. I always wanted to be a cartoonist or a comic artist. I didn’t exactly know what I wanted, whether it was going to be strip cartoons or even political cartoons, but I kind of fell into comics in some ways. And I liked the space that gives you to tell a story.

(10:15)
Looking back, I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do as a kid. As a kid, I wanted to be a professional artist. So I’m doing that. But in the same way, when you’re a kid, you have a version of things of how it’s going to be, and then as an adult you find out that it’s not like that at all, and that it’s a lot harder, I think, that I ever imagined it would be you have to work so much harder. I’m always working. So yeah, again, I like that. I like to work at the same time. You go, wow, wouldn’t it be, could you imagine having a weekend off or just stupid stuff like that. Yeah. So yeah, I think my past very much influences me now and what I’m doing now. So I’m very thankful for comics that it helps me to, it’s obviously a passion. I put all my energy into it, and also it gives me a sense of purpose and identity. So I like to think that it’s something that I would just continue doing throughout my life. So yeah, fingers crossed. Do

Leigh Chalker (11:36):
You find it, if you have a day off drawing, you get a bit antsy?

Dean Rankine (11:40):
Yeah, I do get a bit antsy. Yeah. It’s very much therapy for me. I wouldn’t say, oh yes, I’m drawing this line and thinking about my childhood, but it’s, by going through the process I think is really helpful for me because I could just focus on this one thing and other kind of things fall away behind me while I’m focusing on it. So yeah, I feel a bit lazy if I haven’t drawn anything. I, I’ve, I was saying before on camera that I’ve had a really busy year this year, sickly busy, so I wouldn’t mind a day off just to not feel, because I’m getting a little bit overwhelmed by work when last year as this is the life of a freelancer, I hardly had anything. I drew two books, actually, I think I drew a picture book as well, but that was not for publishers, that was just for me. Well, trying to get it published and then to have a year of working basically out of the gate has been good, but stressful at the same time.

Leigh Chalker (12:58):
I love the fact that your work ethic man already described by yourself, like I articulated, but just the fact that you said had a down year last year, just created two books and a picture book. I mean, that’s an internal

(13:19)
Engine burn that you’ve got to create. So you are not just definitely, obviously loving the art side of it, but you’re also, I like the idea of creativity being thought of as therapeutic because I find it the same way, mate. I like to take my time with things and like yourself, it gives me time to reflect on different things in life, man, and sort of I guess bring me into a little bit of balance and stuff. So yeah, I definitely would say to anyone out there that likes just dabbling or craft or anything that takes your mind off your troubles and stuff, just do a bit of creating. And creating can be anything, man. It can be cooking, it could be martial arts, it could be painting, fishing. It doesn’t have to creative.

Dean Rankine (14:11):
Yeah, I think it’s very much such a enhances the human experience of being us to be able to make things. And we’re not doing that. We’re denying ourselves a big part of it. I think in saying that, I do tend to focus on a payoff at the end, and I understand, I know it’s therapy. I’m happy when I draw. I actually have as a quote in my studio somewhere that I’m happier when I draw, but also I don’t tend to just draw for fun. It’s not like, I don’t know, you know how some people, oh, I’m really going to bust the watercolours out or something like that. If I’m watercoloring, it’s generally because I need to get better at something, or if you know what I mean? There’s always ultimately a purpose behind, even if I’m drawing fan art, there’s a purpose behind it. I don’t think I’m pure. I always have an angle. I feel like I’m always trying to work it somehow. So yeah, I’m always hustling.

Leigh Chalker (15:26):
Yeah. Oh, well, mate, that’s the game, isn’t it? As a freelancer, as you said, you’ve got to put all the basic essentials, man. You’ve got a family and stuff and a house.

Dean Rankine (15:39):
That balance is the hustle and the grind. And what I find it interesting about this life is at conventions, I do a lot of conventions and people come up to me and they’ll show me their portfolio of work, and I shoot you. Not everyone draws better than I do, but then it’s what you do with that to be a freelancer, I think you have to be brave. You have to put yourself out there, but also to deal with the rejections, you get rejected over and over again. And I think that sometimes people just don’t have the capacity to deal with that, or I certainly assumed that I would send stuff off to a publisher and then it will get published and it would be famous, and that would be the end of it.

(16:32)
But there’s so much work and so much rejection. So any kind of success, I think I’m a little bit philosophical about that. Oh, you worked on that? They go, yeah, I did work on that and that was great. Oh yeah, I worked on Oggie and the cockroaches. I’m drawing underdog, and that’s really cool. But then you look back at what I had to do to get it, or how badly I was paid for some of these gigs as well. So it is a little bit of, I don’t know, it’s not pure rainbows. You carry the baggage with you, I think, onto your gig in some ways.

Leigh Chalker (17:17):
Yeah, yeah. No, man, this is fantastic. I love it. To me, I’ve sort of, not in a freaky way, but you follow people on social medias and stuff. I’ve often seen that you, you’re very open to people about your experiences with your media, and I had noticed in the past that you have put up rejection letters from different publishers and stuff to put out there and show people that this does happen, man, awesome thing that you do, because a lot of people don’t realise the work that goes in behind the scenes, and even to get a little mini comic up and running, there’s things that come at you from everywhere that you never would’ve thought of. So I could only imagine with your successes that you would’ve had heaps of things, just, I never saw that coming. I never thought about that.

Dean Rankine (18:26):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right. And I try to be honest with this stuff because I think I’m being, it’s disingenuous to get up there and say, I’ve worked on this and this and this, and because it sets people up, because then, oh, well, what if, oh, I didn’t get that. Then I’m some way a failure or, yeah, it’s almost like all you can do is go through the process. That aa mantra of looking after your side of the street, I think is very much it. Okay, well, I can do my art, I can improve. I can tell a bit of stories, I can maybe get mentored or something, but that’s about all I can do. I can put myself out there because on the other side of the street, you’ve got editors who will not like your work or all this other stuff that’s going on.

(19:26)
So all you can do is keep plugging away on your side and just hope for the best. In some ways, it’s ultimately a numbers game that I will, I got a Rick and Morty cover, really proud of it. It was great shit, you not took me about three years to get it. And then the editor I had left, so then I’m trying again to get more work. So you have to be dogmatically stubborn, I think. So I don’t know where that comes from. I don’t think this necessarily really comes from a deep sense of self-belief, but I want to get over the line. I think, well, what else have I got to do? Whatever else am I do in my life. I live and die, so you might as well give things a red hot shot while you’re doing it. Yeah,

Leigh Chalker (20:22):
Mate, that’s a beautiful philosophy. It is. It’s courage, man. Just to think that, just give it a go because a lot of rejection out there in the world, man, and that stuff should stopped pushing on where you’re at now in the mind and stuff. And what you’re telling me is that would’ve come from starting at a fairly early age, though. You’ve got yourself out there.

Dean Rankine (20:52):
Yeah, look, I guess I was sending stuff off to magazines in my teens, so yeah, I think I was setting stuff off from when I was 15, 16, I tried to get on Jason, Paula sent me a very nice rejection letter, and maybe I was 20 or something, 19, 20 and said my style was too loose for hair, but the hippo. But yeah, it’s just something I wanted to do. And I think maybe a bit of naivety and stupidity has served me well that I didn’t really know how hard things were. So you just, oh, well, why not me? Why could I do it? And I look back at my old work, it’s pretty awful, and I understand why I got rejected. So you have to work on your stuff and get better, not just rejecting you for shits and giggles. So yeah, it’s been a process.

Leigh Chalker (22:02):
Yeah. Yeah. And I guess a little bit of steel would come into you with that sort of stuff too, and that man is a reflection of where you are now. It’s like your determination and your persistence mate, you know what I mean? Keep pushing on and getting better.

Dean Rankine (22:19):
Absolutely. A friend of mine and I, we sent some stuff off to a publisher. She wrote a story and I’ve added some illustrations to it, and we got rejected by a pretty big publisher recently, and she told me that she cried when she got heard the news. She won it so badly. And I think that part of me is dead now. I go, oh, really? You have emotions about that? Now, I’ll certainly feel disappointed, and I’ve got this list of mile along of places that, oh God, I just wish I’d got into this or worked on that property. But you kind of scrap yourself off and pat yourself off and I don’t know, get on with it. Not saying, I’m not trying to put in a false bravado. It hurts. It’s almost like death by a thousand cuts. And I would love it if it was easier than this, but it’s not easier than this. This is the reality. If you’re working in this kind of field or trying to work in this field, I think I’m coming off as depressing. I don’t mean to do that because

Leigh Chalker (23:23):
No, you’re not, mate, you’re not. Because obviously I love these conversations because chin wags for me for people to feel comfortable and give their opinion, because I guess when you do come into it, and I suffered this, there’s a romanticism to it, you know what I mean? Hi, I’ve got this and I’ll do this and I’ll do that. And then quickly, it’s like, chop, chop, chop. And you got to ooh, navigate and you’re like, oh, man. I love hearing people like yourself discuss that. It’s a hard thing, mate. And there is the hustle. It’s the getting yourself out there. There’s even conquering those fears, which man, you suffer a little bit of anxieties and stuff I’ve read. When you’re going and doing conventions and things like that, how do you overcome that? What’s ification? How come?

Dean Rankine (24:22):
It’s a really good question. I was saying before, as a kid, I would like to speak in the microphones or on videos. I just couldn’t handle my voice. I can’t handle it. So even just doing this would something that I don’t think about now would’ve been a huge issue for me. Huge conventions are a really interesting beast. They look fun and they are fun, and I love doing conventions because, oh, it just feeds my ego. Or people come up, they’ll want to autograph or something like that, and you go, oh, you worked on this. It’s really cool. And I love that. But particularly prior, I had this, so at conventions I draw people, they’re a Simpson’s character or draw their head in a jar like Futurama and Oh God, I just don’t want to screw the drawing up. So I look back and I just hate everything I’ve drawn.

(25:22)
So it’s hard because you’ve got someone in front of you, you’re trying to do your best you can to draw them. People are knocking your table, people are talking to you. It’s not like it’s a quiet studio. There’s some kind of karaoke machine going off. So it’s a really tough place, I think, to draw and be creative. So I’ve got that pressure. I don’t want to screw that up. And I have this thing that particularly if I’ve done a convention before, then they won’t. Like what was it that I did last time that people liked about me, right? Because now for the life of me, I can’t remember what I was doing. I would like to repeat that. I would like them to like me again, but I cannot really, I just can’t remember what it was. So trying to be, I don’t know. I’m trying to be something for everybody in some ways.

(26:18)
At the same time, trying to be reasonably genuine to myself and not wanting to mess things up. So I always wore a black T-shirt because I’m sweating so much, particularly on the first day when I’ve knocked out a commission. I generally feel like the first one, I feel better, but I do get very anxious. Prior, I think it was like a Superman already did just the start of the year, and I just saw this guy new from the sons of ib, one lights up, and he just calmed me seeing someone that I knew right from the start. So that was nice. I do get anxious also. I think that I try to acknowledge that this is just a process that I need to go through that yes, I get anxious. Yes, I get anxious. I’m driving in. Am I anxious? Yes, I’m anxious. Flying. Yes, I’m anxious, but this is kind of just my way of being.

(27:34)
I get into the rhythm of things and I always have a good time. And then afterwards though, I’m overstimulated. I’m really buzzing again, I think because I feel like I’m being rude to everybody. I’m trying to spread myself too thin, and I just curl up in a ball, introvert, Dean comes back. I just need to be able to deal with it. So yeah, I have no words or wisdom to impart on anybody who gets anxious before they go to a convention because I get anxious and I haven’t found a way to figure it out to be better, except for just accepting the fact that I get anxious.

Leigh Chalker (28:25):
Yep, yep.

Dean Rankine (28:26):
And I’ve rambled. Oh my God,

Leigh Chalker (28:28):
No, mate, you did not.

Dean Rankine (28:34):
I can do

Leigh Chalker (28:36):
Anxiety. It’s a gripping thing, mate. And any little can help. And you being a professional nature, I know people in the community that are afflicted by that man. It’s not anyone’s fault. It’s just you’ve got to try your best. And that’s part of the hustle too, isn’t it, Dean, you’ve had it,

Dean Rankine (28:59):
Again, putting this

Leigh Chalker (29:00):
And got to do this, but do you get real shaky at the start and then have to breathe and then it’s on?

Dean Rankine (29:16):
Yeah, I get hot and just, I don’t get handshakes, but there’s a lot of self-talk when I’m drawing these lines going, don’t fuck it up, Dean. Don’t fuck it up. This kind of thing. So it’s just, yeah, it’s how I am. Again, people probably wouldn’t notice, to be honest. They go, oh, Dean’s here. But I get my table, I put my table exactly how I do my table all the time. I sit here, take a deep breath, put my prints up. It’s always the same. So I feel like it’s kind of like an office. So I like to look after model space here. I try to be really aware when people come up to speak to me, if they’re feeling anxious as well. When I go up to people’s tables, I generally feel anxious if I don’t know them. Look, particularly if you go, oh shit, blah, blah, they’ve worked on this and this and this. That’s pretty cool. So I do try to be conscious of that when people come up to me at the table. So yeah,

Leigh Chalker (30:33):
That’s probably why you’re known as one of the nice guys of Australian comic books, mate.

(30:42)
Yeah, no, it’s good to hear, mate, that yourself dealing with these things too. It just encourages people, man. I find that if they can hear yourself be open about these sorts of things too. And that’s essentially what it is. It’s like open and communicate and everyone goes at it, mate. I’m going to dig into, there’s a property you worked on, and that’s pretty big property, the Simpsons. Where were you when you got that after all the toil and the letters, and what was your mindset when you, oh, I’ll just send this off and see how, what you feeling?

Dean Rankine (31:40):
So I was 38 before I got it, so 38. So I’d been at it for a long time. I’d been drawing for kids magazines, doing a lot of indie stuff. I’ve told this story a lot, so I always like to freshen up. Okay, I don’t want to just be verbatim, but I was drawing these kids magazines and worked dried up, and I went to my local Kohl’s and I picked up a Simpson’s comic, and I’m sorry if you’ve heard this story before. I’ve said it a thousand times, but so I picked up a Simpson’s comic and it all looked really good, but there was one page that was kind of off model, and it was, I don’t know who the artist was, it wasn’t bad, but it was a little bit odd compared to all the other ones, which always looked the same. And the reason I picked up the Simpsons particularly is because particularly I’m very cartoony.

(32:41)
If you know my work, I can’t draw Batman. I can’t draw kind of serious, it has to be cartoony, which is fine. That’s how I draw. I’m quite happy, I like the way I draw, but you have to work within that space, I think. So there’s one page that wasn’t as good as the others, and I thought I could just about draw that. I couldn’t draw the ones that were good, but I reckon I could just about get to the level that I could draw the one that wasn’t as good as the others. And at the time, bongo had an email that you could send stuff to. So I started drawing comics and send to them two pages, just backup ones.

(33:30)
And I reckon, no, I heard nothing back, nothing back, nothing. Maybe about the third one I heard back and they said that they liked it and they were going to use it, which is just think extraordinary. People don’t believe me, but they were awful. What I was sending was pretty bad. It wasn’t really on model. My first one particularly, it was a story with snake holding up the Quickie Mart with apu, and it does not look like the Simpsons at all, but they saw something in what I was doing and started to use my work. I remember the first one came up and go, oh, this is the best. I’m like, oh, but how bad would it be if this is the only one they ever use? What if they do? You even tell people if you’ve just had that, that’s all you get.

(34:29)
But yeah, fortunately they kept going. I do wonder, I’ll digress for one second. I do wonder about success. For instance, if I hadn’t sent that stuff off, if I had just kept going and doing my indie staff or found something else, would I have been a success because I’m just doing what I was doing before? Nothing has particularly changed. The only thing that changed was they said yes compared to other people who said no. So I find that really interesting. If it was a sliding doors moment, because for the reason I get to do conventions is because of Simpsons. The reason I get to do I’ve had other doors open for me is because I scored that and people believed I knew what I was doing. So I find that really interesting that it’s like, oh, you’re a success. You worked on this and I feel like I am, but if things were different, would I still not be a success? Because I was still doing what I’ve always done.

(35:37)
So they started using my work. It was great. And so that went on for about eight years. The comic went on, so I was mainly doing backup stories, but I’m still the only Australian to have ever worked on the Simpsons comic. And yeah, I would’ve just drawn it forever if I hadn’t stopped in some ways. Always going to be known as the Simpsons guy, I think, and I’m okay with that. It’s such a great property, and I’m just very thankful that they found something that they liked In saying that it wasn’t purely passive, I kept sending stuff off like a maniac, because once they opened that door just a little bit, I’m sending stuff off every week basically. And so yeah, I ended up having a lot of backup stories mainly, but a couple of main stories as well. I got a treehouse of horror issue with the best.

(36:38)
I do wish it had lasted a little bit longer. I wish I was here now. So I reckon I do a better job now. I did the best I could with the skills that I had at the time. I really tried to get on model, and my newer stuff was much more on model because I was thinking, well, that’s how I’m going to get work if I can be more on model. It helped me to draw better. If you ever saw my work beforehand, it’s very indie, like my anatomy mules all over the place. So that helped me to tighten my workup and I think helped me to just draw better in general. So it’s really cool, just really cool. So

Leigh Chalker (37:22):
Man, it is cool. I like the fact that, yeah, we’re talking about what is success, I guess success is different for everyone, you know what I mean? And what they want from things. Some people want to own a house, some people just want a dog mate. You know what I mean? But they’re still successful in their own way. And honestly, I would’ve love to have been a fly on the wall because I think you’re successful. I would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall because you were 38. You’ve obviously been doing, as you said, indie comics. You’re probably working full-time jobs, you’ve got family and stuff at the time. You’re still crafting away trying to get better and better. And then when you got that email, pretty sweet. Yeah. Oh man, that would’ve just been, what did you eat for that night, mate? You would’ve had something special. Come on. Yeah,

Dean Rankine (38:21):
No, this is a window into my being, though. I have no doubt. I would’ve said, oh, this is amazing. And I go, oh, fuck. How do I do my next one? How do I get better? And what if I screw it up? Oh God, what if I screw it up? I think I’m successful. And I look back at my life and I’m really happy. I can look back at what I’ve done in my life and go, you know what, kid Dean, you grew up and you did it. You made it right. But at the time, I’m always focusing on, oh, I hope I don’t screw it up, that it’s only after the fact. I can look, come back and have a sense of accomplishment in the moment. You just, shit, I’ve got to draw now. I’ve got to get this thing done.

Leigh Chalker (39:11):
Yeah, because I mean, you’re prolific, man. Not only when you, was it last year that they have a Masters of the Universe may or something, and it’s hanging out Masters of the Universe, characters every day. Well, obviously working on your elves books and stuff while you were,

Dean Rankine (39:32):
Yeah, yeah. I think I just felt like drawing Masters of the Universe. I was doing one every day, and the Elf book that I showed before was I had this idea, I think I’d written it a couple of years before, and I’d sent it off to all these publishers. Everybody said no, everybody said no. And I thought, fuck, I’m just going to draw it. I’m have to draw it. And then I’ll have pages to show people said, oh, you should self-publish it. I like to have a publisher. The reason I like that a publisher is that they can deal with the printing and all that kind of stuff in theory, promotion. So I drew a page of the Elves every day for some of like a hundred and something days prior to it actually being picked up by a publisher in the end. So yeah, so Redback Publisher Publishing is the company who got it.

(40:31)
I don’t know why they said yes. I’m just really thankful. They normally do educational books, come to Adelaide, Adelaide has a population of blah, blah, blah, that kind of thing. But yeah, they found something in it that they liked. So that was great. Also just legitimises to me like, oh, I can be a writer. People consider me as predominantly an artist, which is true. But all my Simpson stuff, I wrote the comics. So to have this was, yeah, that was kind of cool. Again, I tend to draw every day. And again, everything with an angle, there’s a purpose behind it. I’m definitely not St. Dean of the Altruism who I feel like those artists, they just draw for fun. I don’t work like that. I want something. I’m always, I’m the selfish. I want something, and I’m using art to get what I want.

Leigh Chalker (41:42):
Yeah, yeah. Well that’s called Drive Mate. Yeah. And Determination, which already you’re showing to me that you’ve got it in spades, mate. There’s truck fulls of that stuff in you. The realisation that you got the Simpsons and things, which led you on to other stuff, you would’ve just been, what I was saying before is I were getting to was you’re just constantly moving forward with your artwork, so you wouldn’t get a great deal of time to reflect. That’d be fairly fleeting moments because you’d just be like, there’s that thought it was great. Onto the next thing, as you said, I’ve got to get this done. Because for me, much respect for 110 pages in a row, not guaranteed a publisher, I mean that’s in itself is courage, man. You know what I mean? Because it’s like what kept you going? Did you just love the idea of that book so much that it just, I’m getting this sucker out, man?

Dean Rankine (43:03):
Yes, and yes. And also no, that you go, I think it’s okay. Again, it wasn’t like day 76, I remember posting, oh my God, am I just a dumb ass for doing this? But it’s like, I think this is okay, and I think it could be good, and I want it to be something. And once you start, there’s something really good about doing things in public that, because then things, you get embarrassed if you stop. I think that’s why people get married in front of other people because you kind of have to go, well, I’ve done it now.

(43:48)
So yeah, that was part of the motivation was if I stopped, then people will say, I’ve stopped. And then I was like a loser because I said I was going to do this thing and I stopped. So that was part of it, part it that I wanted to do it. Part of it was also was like I didn’t have any other work on at the time that, okay, well I might as well be, instead of just doing something for fun or some kind of fan out, again, I’ve got an angle, so I might as well pull this. This is what I should be doing. At least it moves towards something. I should never ever use sports analogies. I know nothing about sports, and I dunno, the guy’s name, he was a former coach of North Melbourne would just say, just keep chipping towards the goalpost. And I think that’s what I do. I’m just continuing to chip towards the goalposts that okay, I’m just keep moving, keep moving in that direction and hope for the best.

Leigh Chalker (44:51):
Yeah, yeah. No, man, perfect. I’m loving this story, but I think just personally, one of the great accomplishments that you’ve made, man, is Australian Comic book day. So talk to us about what was happening there. Yeah,

Dean Rankine (45:16):
Well, I don’t know if it is an accomplishment or whether it’s a big fail. I’m not sure. I dunno how you rate it. So I think they had just had Batman Day on something. So the comic bookshops had celebrated Batman Day. I thought, oh, that’s really cool. And I thought it’d be cool to have a day specifically for Australian comics that way then the shops could focus a focal point. Maybe the publishers might produce things at that time. So we’ve had two years now, so I just chose a day, well, why not? How do these things happen? I thought, well, I’m just going to make a day. Other people can do things. I’ll make a day. So Tuesday, a Saturday, I think it’s, remember now what it is. It’s in November. This is the day I’m choosing, just fucking going to go for it. So I chose a day, I drew a little logo, sent it off to all the comic book shops in Australia and said, this is, this is the inaugural Aussie comic book day, and a lot of people got behind it.

(46:27)
And so that was really nice. And each year, this year and last year, and this year again, I’ll do a reminder that it’s Aussie Comic book day. Let’s focus on Australian comics that we are telling stories in this country. Let’s celebrate it. Particularly with shops. I wanted to could look, I think I did it, it was still kind covid a bit the first year I did it. But the idea was then that you could get Australian creators in and they could plug their books while in store. I know some shops have gone, okay, we’re doing a discount on Australian comics. This is highlighting our special spot for Australian comics. So it’s something that in some ways has been successful. I’d like it to be bigger than it is. I’d like more people to get on board. Hey, if you want to take the reins, if you want to be in charge of Aussie comic book day, it’s all yours. Because I think it has value, if you know what I mean. Absolutely. I’m hoping that people will go, oh yeah, this is something that’s worthwhile promoting. Obviously we’re into Australian comics, this is why we’re here. We’re Australian, we make comics. But I just thought it’d be nice to have a day to celebrate it. Think so,

Leigh Chalker (47:50):
Mate. I think it’s a great day. I know I love seeing, even with the comics community, how everyone gets behind it. And I think to bring Australian comic books as we’re all part of it is to the fore for that day to get it from the back. Dark echelons of the comic bookshop out into the doorway is a really cool thing, man, because there’s a lot of good stuff out there, man. There’s a lot of creative, passionate people and there’s a lot of stories to tell and people should read them. There’s a lot of value in it. There’s a lot of work goes into it, man. Absolutely.

Dean Rankine (48:31):
God,

Leigh Chalker (48:33):
I really appreciated first hearing about that a couple of years ago. Yeah, you’re right. When Covid was on, and I remember having a very fun day with the laptop when I was drawing and did bits and pieces with comics, but you and a couple of dudes started off the day doing a live stream and you were for an hour just drawing. And I remember having a good old chuckle at the character you were drawing seeming to have a diuretic problem at that stage. And I dunno what it was, but that was for me, that was just a funny, laughing, good start to that day, man. So it ended up being really good and looking forward to this one, man. You would’ve told this story before, no doubt. But I haven’t heard a lot of these stories, so you’re telling me, so what was the Magda experience with those books? How did you get to that? How did that happen? Because that was another big one that really punched out into the came all those sorts of places, man, you walk into Target and there’s like, there’s those books on stands and stuff like that would’ve been terrific.

Dean Rankine (50:05):
Yeah, that was really cool. So I done some work for, I’d done bits and pieces for Scholastic before at the time, we have to go back a little bit. So a guy named Paul Dumble approached me about drawing his book series. He was getting a lot of work at Sky Stick at the time, which was amazing. And it was out of the blue. I don’t know how he found my work or anything. And I was like, oh shit, Scholastic. Yeah, great. So I did three of his books and I did a picture book and they approached me about, they said, we want you to draw some, it’s a pony, he’s famous, he’s a bit of a snot.

(50:52)
Can you draw that one? And then his stalker and his nemesis, and it’s written by this famous Australian. And I said, yeah, okay, this is the really stupid part for some, I don’t know why, but for some reason I thought, I bet it’s Kamal. I bet Kamal whispering Pony mate, it’s Kamal. He’s like the famous, maybe it’s how they word it, like the famous Australian entertainer or something like that. So if Kamal’s watching, I would like to work with you very much. I dunno. I was like, oh, bet’s Kamal. Anyway, so it wasn’t Kamal. So what happened, I drew these pictures, send them off, and I didn’t hear anything back for months.

(51:48)
And I thought, oh, they’ve got someone else. They must have got someone else. So they go back and said, well, that’s Mags a kin. I thought, oh shit, okay. Not Kamal. That’s really, really cool. Was struggling with the character design that I did. Can you send some more? And I don’t know how many ponies I did. It was a lot of ponies because what I didn’t realise at the time, Timmy, the tick off ponies kind of almost like a little alter ego of Magna. So if someone gave me 20 versions of myself, I think I probably would’ve rejected those as well.

(52:40)
So I drew it and then drew the script when that was approved, it’s quite a big book, 200 and something pages, and they said, oh, we want you to come up to Sydney Magda’s up here and want to have a meeting. And I thought, oh shit, I’ve really screwed this up. And so they flew me up and I had this meeting with her and she was a wonderful, just as you imagine that she would be very down to earth, but super intelligent and also very well versed in art. And then she basically read through the whole book in character, which was pretty amazing to be there for a number of notes.

(53:31)
And it was interesting because some things that she would want change and I kind of had to push back on some things. They go, I don’t think that would work. Hal Magda writes particularly is that it’s, it’s the haw, it’s the beat and then it’s the payoff. It’s that kind of classic comedic kind of thing. But you can’t always illustrate that because it’s not an animated thing. So in some ways you have to kind of choose which is it the payoff or is it the hook that you want me to draw, or do you want me to break this up? So that was an interesting process to be able to go through. And she was very kind to me, she was great. So we ended up doing four books. She’s taking a break at the moment, so I’m really hoping that she’ll come back to it because it’s kind of left on a cliffhanger and she has recommended me for other work at other places. So it was a really positive experience. I don’t want to give the impression that Mag Ky and I are best friends, but she’s very kind to me. She would call me and give me great feedback and it was a great experience. So yeah, I’ll do it again in a second.

Leigh Chalker (54:42):
Yeah, yeah. Well it sounds like you’re going to have to mate at some point if you left it on a cliffhanger, you don’t want to leave those poor readers out there. No.

Dean Rankine (54:52):
Right. It’s like one more book at least, just to finish it off.

Leigh Chalker (54:56):
Yeah,

Dean Rankine (54:58):
So that was really good. And earlier this year I got another gig from Scholastic. I’ve just drawn, it’s kind of like Wes Wally kind of book. So it’s an Easter bunny one. So I’ve been drawing a lot of rabbits. Yeah, I’ve seen

Leigh Chalker (55:12):
A couple of your pages with just rabbits and rabbits, rabbits,

Dean Rankine (55:17):
Rabbits, rabbit. So I finished that about a week and a half ago, and yeah, that’s been a journey. How many rabbits

Leigh Chalker (55:29):
Do you reckon you’ve drawn? How many rabbits? Yeah,

Dean Rankine (55:37):
I did one of the MCG with rabbits. They’re watching the footy and I reckon that spread. I did a thousand rabbits on that one. So yeah, so I’m over rabbits.

Leigh Chalker (55:53):
Yeah, I was going to say, you won’t be wanting to see a rabbit for a while. Yeah,

Dean Rankine (55:58):
Yeah, yeah, that’s right.

Leigh Chalker (55:59):
Yeah, until they send you the proof or something. Oh, that’s the rabbit.

Dean Rankine (56:03):
Yeah. Yeah. It was interesting. They said, oh, this is the gig that’s going. And there’s the samples of previous, they’ve had two previous artists work on this kind of series of Easter, Easter only books. And I was saying to them, look, I can do this, but it’s going to be really different. Have you seen my work? It won’t look like this. So I was very hesitant. So I definitely wanted to do a tryout page first. But yeah, I was very happy that they went for it. But yeah, it was a lot of work.

Leigh Chalker (56:38):
When you get a job like that, and like you were saying, that job comes up and you’re moving forward and you’re taking jobs, you’ve got family and house and that sort of stuff, so you’ve got to hustle. Do you get to a point where sometimes you, for whatever particular reasons, don’t go with a job and you may move to another one that’s more appealing? And if you do, what’s the process in your decision making to make that decision?

Dean Rankine (57:15):
If I start a job, I finish the job, it just doesn’t, I’ve never not done that. But there’s certainly gigs that come up and you go, I’ve certainly taken gigs that maybe I shouldn’t have done that don’t fit my style particularly well. Again, really cartoony style I think, oh, this is probably not for me, but I’ll do my best that I can. And I’ll say no to stuff. Particularly, I get a lot of people who go, oh, I’ve written this book, will you draw it for me? And it’s generally no, because I know how hard it is to get a publisher, and I don’t want to put that kind of work in if there’s no publisher attached to it. So I’ve done that a couple of times. I won’t do that again. So I think I wrote a little list, something like the three Ps, paid, passionate, public or I don’t know.

(58:15)
There’s certain criteria that I want to ultimately get paid money for it. I don’t want to do it for free unless it’s, I dunno, I drew a fearless the cat cover last year and I didn’t get paid for that, but it’s fearless, the cat, God, I want to draw that. So that kind of thing, I’ll take it here. If it’s a known ip, I like to work on those kinds of things. If it’s not a known ip, if I’m not getting paid or if I don’t think it’s going to hit where I want it to publicly, then I want to take it. And also sometimes I’m just busy. I won’t be able to do it. I would like to do more. Part of me would like to do more sort of India, Australian stuff because I get approached a bit about that. Oh, would you do that?

(59:14)
But it’s really hard to say yes to that when I’ve got bills to pay and I’ve got other things to do, if you know what I mean. Yeah. So that’s kind of the, anyway, am I getting paid? Is it something that I’m really passionate about? Is it a known ip? Possibly. Those are the things that I would say yes to. I’ve done storyboarding a couple of times a few years ago, and I’m a possible storyboarder. I’m not great with it. I’m okay. But what I found that it doesn’t scratch the itch that I want for it being up there. I said I was a kid, I was a praise monkey, and I still am that I want people to see my work, not just to be a background cog in the machine, if you know what I mean.

Leigh Chalker (01:00:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that’s fair enough. You’d also have that drive and mindset, I’m assuming, because as you said, doing indie comics and then getting to age 38 and getting the universe is boom, all joined and everything’s worked and you’re off and running, you would, I’m assuming, remember what it was like to have, so you don’t want to go back to that. Now you’re on,

Dean Rankine (01:00:28):
I have a clear memory of being at conventions in Artist Alley and nobody coming up to me or yeah, no one interested in what I had drawn. So yeah, when you, you’ve been in the trenches, you go, I dunno if I want to go back there now.

Leigh Chalker (01:00:41):
Yeah, yeah. No, fair. Cool, man. No, I mean this is the mindset of a successful artist man in this field. You’ve got to be driven and stuff like that.

Dean Rankine (01:00:53):
Absolutely. And I don’t want to be, I’m not trying to be an ars asshole with it. I don’t think I’d try to be mercenary, but I certainly know what I want and what’s important to me for moving forward.

Leigh Chalker (01:01:12):
The only thing I like about what you do man, is you’ve told us how busy you are with your art and your creativity and things, but you still manage to find time to duck out to schools and stuff and show kids, talk to ’em about comics and do some drawings and things. They’re probably paid gigs.

Dean Rankine (01:01:36):
I’ll really add that. Again,

Leigh Chalker (01:01:38):
Perfectly understandable.

Dean Rankine (01:01:40):
There’s no something coming my way, but I do actually, I’ve got to the stage that I really like doing that. So yeah, I run comic workshops for kids in 2017. I think I was doing two classes regularly, but ultimately did not enjoy that. I like the showy, you’ve got to come in, you’re the special guest, you come in, you do the thing for an hour and then you go. But I really dig it. It’s great to see what they come up with. I’m very passionate about the medium, and so I like to be able to show that. And I like to be paid. That’s part of it as well. I’ve got, so I’m doing a few things to keep my head above water. I’ll draw comics, I’ll illustrate books. I’ll write books in, illustrate them. I’ll do conventions and also run workshops. So it’s this nice kind of balance. And sometimes I’ll make more money by talking about comics than I will by making comics, which is sad indictment on our society. But it’s an integral part now of my general business plan. So this year I’ve had the more workshops than I have any time prior. So it’s great. It’s good. It’s good to do. So, yeah,

Leigh Chalker (01:03:17):
Good to get out and see some enthusiastic kids too, mate, because Yeah,

Dean Rankine (01:03:21):
Absolutely. Also, I just start with drawing stick figures when I started and because we’ve always got these hangups, I like it when the parent, if it’s at a library and the parents come and join in as well, particularly adults, we have this thing about, oh no, I can’t draw. I can’t even draw a stick figure. And you go, oh, well here you go. Let’s start here. I like to ease it in also, I think because I’ve got such a cartoony style that I can, I don’t know, I can show that it’s okay. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to draw Alex Ross to be able to make a comic. It’s fine. And I do like that and to get feedback. Little Johnny here, he doesn’t like talking, but he really likes to draw. I get that. Or they’ve continued on drawing their comic at recess afterwards. That’s kind of, I love to get that kind of feedback you go, I actually make a connection there that comics is, I think it’s quite a subversive kind of medium that you can tell all kinds of stories and it engages people really well. Even if that whole reluctant reader thing. I think. Yeah, I think it’s a great medium and I think it’s a really nice way to express yourself. And I found that I’m hoping maybe my part in getting the next generation can do the same.

Leigh Chalker (01:04:57):
Yeah, yeah. Well mate, you’re certainly working towards it, and I know a lot of the guys that I’m mates with that are out there drawing and writing, creating comic books, you’re a huge influence on them, man. Not just for your work, but I guess your business acumen, man. Because that’s another thing that is of the hustle, that when we were talking about the romanticism before, I guess you do and think, oh, this is my idea, it’s the greatest idea in the world. And then you get to that and you get a little bit disappointed, but you got to turn it. You got to keep working. You got to just keep pushing and pushing and pushing and that’s what you’ve done.

Dean Rankine (01:05:38):
Yeah. Wouldn’t it be nice to have it easier? It would just be nice. I would love to not have to do that, but thank you though. I appreciate that. I take that as very much as a compliment.

Leigh Chalker (01:05:49):
And I wish it was easy too, mate, but there’d be no stories to tell. You know what I mean? There’d be no hard work. There’d be no character stuff. It’s

Dean Rankine (01:05:59):
Certainly character building.

Leigh Chalker (01:06:01):
That’s right, mate. Yeah, it is, man. You cock your knocks, but pick yourself up. Do what you think. But what you said before is a regular, I guess thing that people do say is pick your lane. Because as you’ve picked, there’s a lot of areas of comic book too, like art, there’s cover artists, there’s interior artists, there’s creators, there’s freelancers. So I guess once you get into it, you sort of pick where you’re comfortable, don’t you? And you sort of navigate off down that path.

Dean Rankine (01:06:38):
Absolutely. What’s your will? I used say that to people a lot. For me, I would never work for Disney or Marvel or d dc or it’s just not my style. I would love to, but they just don’t produce my kind of work. So find a publisher that gets behind the kind of work that you do and go from there and start sending stuff in. And then if you don’t hear back, do it again. Another six months. A big believer and, okay, one more. Here’s my other one. Oh, just updating. Just to raise my head above the crowd. Here’s what I’m working on now. So yeah, I’m always doing that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah.

Leigh Chalker (01:07:19):
We’ll never give it up, mate. That’s what it is too. It’s motivational stuff, particularly because there are, man, I like anyone getting success, you know what I mean? I think it’s a great thing, especially when people work hard. It’s the best outcome mate, and it does motivate, as you were saying, what you hope to do with where you are going. It does motivate that next generation to like can do it. I can do it. But yes, lots of lessons. I can certainly tell you everything from the most basic stuff, man. Paper weights and glosses and staples and the smallest tiny detail all the way up to,

Dean Rankine (01:08:07):
Yeah, the whole thing’s a learning experience, isn’t it?

Leigh Chalker (01:08:11):
Oh man. I like the fact too, that you were sort of getting at with Magda that you had a chemistry with her. It worked for the good of the book. Do you find that, because I was predominantly a solo creator in my room and space and that sort of stuff, and I hadn’t really worked with many people before. I guess just habit, I suppose ego, I’m not working with anyone, but through the community, I found that working with other people, if you get the right chemistry can be a huge bonus. Now, have you found that good chemistry works for you to get the best out of projects? And on the balance side to, I guess, quantify the question is have you found that great projects have been hobbled because of a lack of chemistry between the creative outlet?

Dean Rankine (01:09:20):
I don’t think I can answer the latter look. I think sometimes you are working with people that you don’t, maybe don’t get along with it as much, but I think it’s, if someone’s communicating, okay, I can work around it. To a point, again, I shouldn’t be admitting this. I’m very much an ego artist that if I get positive feedback, I draw better, if you know what I mean. But if I feel like I’m being nitpicked about things, then I tighten up. I can still do it, but I don’t think it’s as good. But if someone’s giving me go, oh man, we love those pencils or something, then the inks are going to be better guaranteed. So I’ve some, I’m kind of like you. I don’t tend to collaborate a lot, particularly a writer and artist, so I just do my own thing. But then when there’s these great opportunities to collaborate with cool people who aren’t Kamal, I’ll definitely

Leigh Chalker (01:10:38):
So wish it happens one day. Mate, the other,

Dean Rankine (01:10:42):
So I’ve got, this is kind of like a side plug at the same time as talking about it, but I’ve got a new book coming out in July, 5th of July, I think called The Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland. And so that’s put together by Scotty Young. If people don’t know Scotty Young, I dunno, maybe pause the video and look up Scotty Young. He’s worked on everything. So working with him on anything has always been a joy. I think it was about four, maybe five years ago, he friended me on Facebook. Oh shit. Scott Young friend me on Facebook, and then he sent me a message and said, oh, would you like to do a pinup for I hate Ferry Land? I said, oh yeah, fantastic. I did. It’s okay. It wasn’t great. He liked it. He put it in the comic and said, oh, would you consider drawing an issue?

(01:11:38)
So what was happening with, he was writing and drawing. I hate Fairland for image comics, and I think occasionally every fourth comic or something, he’d get a guest ass in two, kind of give himself a bit of a break. So yeah, so I drew issue of 13 of I hate fairy land, which I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the comic, but it’s about this, I don’t know. It’s about this girl who gets stuck in a fantasy world and she has this fly who shows her around kind of thing named Larry. So my story was all about Larry the Fly, and it was a really great experience. The colorist is great. Scotty’s a very good writer. He has a real sort of nice sense of timing, humour. So then he approached me maybe last year since Covid, I could not work out time anymore, maybe two years ago.

(01:12:38)
He approached me about this thing called Untold Tales of I had fairy land and it was about inviting other people to come in and tell stories in that world. So it’s an anthology series, the five issue series. And I’ve drawn in, wrote and drew three stories in each of the issue, one, two, and three. And that was a joy to be able to basically just go for it. I would write the script and go, here’s a script. And he said, yeah, great, go for it. Which is very kind. I digress a little bit. So at this time I just finished, I finished Oggie in the Cockroaches, which is in a particular style, and I had just drawn a graphic novel for Archie, the Riverdale Diaries starring Veronica. So what I was doing was aping styles like Simpsons, again, you draw like Simpsons, you draw Archie, you draw, if something’s cartoony enough, I can draw it.

(01:13:45)
And I said to Scotty about, oh, did you want me to draw it in a style of, I don’t know, adventure time or something? He go, no, man, he’s going, no, no, just throw it in your style. And it’s like this weight had lifted off me. Oh, just in my style, that would be, so I had done months and months of drawing other people’s styles. It was really nice to be able to go, oh, I’ll just draw how I want to draw it and have that appreciated. You want me? Okay, this is often I’m doing stuff. They don’t want me. They want a version of something else. So that was, yeah, I kind of really needed it at the time. I didn’t realise how much I needed it. So it’s actually some of my favourite stuff I’ve done, I think. So I’m looking forward to people seeing it. It’s very cool.

Leigh Chalker (01:14:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Do you still get full on buzz when you meet someone that you’ve been a fan of or since you were a kid?

Dean Rankine (01:14:45):
Yeah, I haven’t met Scott Young. I haven’t met him in person. We’ve only never spoken to him on the phone or it’s only email. But know when you get on well with someone on email, I dunno. And even with Simpsons, I worked for them for nearly eight years, and it was only right at the end that I got to meet my editor and I got to meet Matt raining. I hadn’t spoken to them on the phone. And as someone who’s, as I mentioned before, a little bit anxious, you’re a little bit anxious and you’re a little bit of an introvert. You don’t want to speak on the phone with anybody ever. So email’s my best friend, but to answer your question, absolutely. Yeah, look, first I’m intimidated, but also, oh, you are always getting a buzz of meeting someone who you admire. So doing the conventions has always been really nice. You go, oh look, it’s that guy. I’m sitting next to David Gibbons, it’s cool. That kind of thing is really is nice. And I do get a buzz out of it.

Leigh Chalker (01:15:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh man, it’d be amazing. You wouldn’t get much of a chance to talk to ’em though. Once the doors get open though, I’m assuming you’d have to. Yeah,

Dean Rankine (01:15:57):
You’re doing your thing. It’s nice if it’s interstate, you get to be on the bus together. You might be staying in same hotel. They were doing these VIP parties, which is great. You get shitfaced and you’re hanging out and you get, that’s pretty cool. Yeah. But you do get to chat with people and I don’t know, I ran out of words. I don’t know what to say to people ultimately anyway, but if you’re just going to just to hang out, it’s kind of nice. So yeah, I’ve had

Leigh Chalker (01:16:28):
Really, what’s the thing in your time doing that, the piece of advice or something just from one of those people that’s stuck in your head? Is there just a random thing where you just went, oh, ding, light bulb.

Dean Rankine (01:16:46):
Yeah, I can’t say that I have. I can’t say I have. I know. It’s almost like, I don’t know. You learn as you go along. I don’t think I’ve had any necessarily. This is the thing that’s changed my world now. Actually. Look, Mark Sexton said to me, oh, you like he was working on Judge Dread Mark. Yeah, he’s great. He said, oh, I said, how’d you get that straight line? He go, oh, I used a ruler. He was all digital. And I’m think, how do you get a straight line digital? He go, I used to use a plastic ruler. You can do that. Just, it was something I hadn’t even thought of. Oh shit, you can do that. Change my will. I know. I can’t think of any particular one. Can I rego one story though? I was at a super note. I used to do these things called, they’d still do a super sketch off. So you draw up there and then at the end they clap for you and whoever wins, they win. It’s a real ego kind of thing. And then you give the drawing away. So it was a Brisbane supernova. And so imagine there’s Dave Gibbons, bill, Bob Layton who worked on Ironman. Do you know Bob Laton stuff?

Leigh Chalker (01:18:05):
I know, yes I do.

Dean Rankine (01:18:06):
And Joe dco, who is a phenomenal artist, and me on this panel, I did not win. Nobody cla for me at the end, but I was like, holy shit, look at me. Look at me up here drawing with these people. My drawing wasn’t good, but I think it was just there for the comedy of relief. But that’s kind of cool. I’m going to look back and go, oh, that was a cool experience.

Leigh Chalker (01:18:31):
Yeah, yeah. Oh man. When you have an experience like that, who cares if you win, man, you’d already there. It would be, you would’ve just been like, whoa, okay.

Dean Rankine (01:18:46):
Yeah, very much. You go, well, this is some kind of mistake. You let me in here. It’s crazy. So anyway, yeah, I’ve had some really nice experience.

Leigh Chalker (01:18:53):
Yeah, yeah. No, that’s brilliant. That’s a great story. I’m going to veer off onto a subject that we were both talking about off camera, and it seems to be obvious, the talk of the town at the moment, and I know you are definitely not a supporter, and nor am I, I’m not a

Dean Rankine (01:19:16):
Fan. So we’re talking about ai. If

Leigh Chalker (01:19:21):
Yes, because you’re vocal mate, and I want to talk to you about that because all aspects of it interests me. I mean, it is in play. It’s out there for in the world, sadly. Where are you at with it, man?

Dean Rankine (01:19:42):
Yeah, so listen, I’m going to be soft and say I fucking hate ai and the reason, but it first came out, I thought, oh, this is kind of fun. Isn’t this interesting? What I hate about AI is that the companies like Midjourney and the other ones, what they’ve done is they scrape from the internet artist’s work and photographer’s work, and I guess you say models’ work who without their knowledge, without their permission and without paying them. And then they ju it all up into this machine and you can put in prompts and it spits out work.

(01:20:32)
There’s a couple of things. People, they joke about, oh, the hands are so ridiculous. The hands are going to get better. This is going to get better. It will eventually be, you could just type in anything and it will work. My issue isn’t that it doesn’t work or it’s not going to get better. My issue is it’s a plagiarism machine. They have discovered away of mixing enough things in. You couldn’t take Lee CHOP’s work and just put it on the and say, well, this is my work now. You can’t do that. So you’re basically taking an essence of a creator who’ve worked for decades to improve their art and to get a style and say, well, I’m an artist now. This is what I do. So yeah, there’s just so much to hate. I think in its current format, it should be burnt to the ground and it is stealing.

(01:21:36)
I can’t go up, I can’t go down my street and pick off a little bit of each person’s car and bring it home and put it together from a whole car and say that this is my car. They’re currently just working the system and working the legal system. And the legal system I think is struggling to catch up, to find a way of going, well, whose art is this? So they use the term ai, but it’s not really ai. It’s not thinking itself. It’s not creating any art. What it is is taking bits and pieces of everybody’s art and Frankenstein it into one piece enough that they won’t get sued. So I struggle with, people say, oh, well the genie’s out of the bottle now. Well, no, we have rules and we have laws for a reason. There’s handguns. Yes, they’re handguns, but it doesn’t mean you can take your handgun into Kmart that this is the same thing you go, we have to be able to create a space first. I think they should stop it. I know there’s a class action going that I’m hoping that will be successful. Will AI continue to come back again? Yeah, I think it will if that’s successful. But I think it really has to be, artists should be able to not opt out, be asked if they wanted to be involved in it and then get paid for it. And artists will. There’ll be definitely people who will go, yes, I’ll draw this and I’ll get paid for it.

(01:23:17)
But until then you are fucking stealing. And I’ve heard it be justified by all kinds of people particularly and also artists that, oh, it’s a really good tool and you can get and go. You’re still stealing people’s shit, detest it. I have great fears for it. So early I was supposed to be writing a book or something and instead I wrote a letter, an open letter to the conventions in Australia to go, we should put a ban on this. We shouldn’t have this. A couple of the conventions responded, A couple haven’t. And I’ve seen AI in some recent conventions sitting there, but the reason I would say that we shouldn’t have them at conventions is that it’s supposed to be an artist alley and say, if, could you imagine you’re a convention and you’ve invited Alex Ross to be a guest at your convention. And down the road, down the aisle there, Alex Ross looks down and sees some guy selling prints that are Alex Ross inspired. What a slap in the face. That is not a way to run a convention and it’s not a way to look up to guests. So I was really happy with a couple have, like Supernova said, yes, we are not going to have AI here. Armageddon in New Zealand said, we’re not going to have AI here Con in Bendigo did the same thing. So I’m hoping that most conventions, if not all, we’ll eventually say, no, this is not the space for ai. We can choose. We have a right to choose about where this technology goes.

(01:25:05)
I dunno, I’ve had other artists who go, well, that’s it. I’m kind of done. This is doing my style. I can’t compete with this. So it’s tragic. I think it’s heartbreaking, and I didn’t think it would be us. You kind of sold the lie of, oh, you’re creative and creatives. We are always going to need artists. It’s not like, I don’t know, factory building cars or something like that, that it can be automated. But yeah, I think we’re getting automated. So will there always be art? Will there always be comic artists? Absolutely. Are we always going to get paid for it though? That’s the thing. And I want to do it for a living. I don’t want to do anything else. So yeah, I hate it, despise it and it makes me sick. This kind of, oh, it’s a really useful tool. Fuck you. There are some people who I will not talk about this with who are friends and creatives and who use it, and I won’t have this discussion with them because I want to maintain my friendship with them, but I hate it. Hate it so much.

Leigh Chalker (01:26:31):
Yeah, yeah. No fair call, man. I just wanted to get your perspective on that because I certainly don’t like it either, mate. And coming from a creative standpoint, my view on the matter is the creativity is a human thing. It’s something that people need to get out. It’s a moment in time of their life, whether it’s painting or any of those things. And the least you can do is recognise and pay the individual whose thoughts and processes and life experiences you are stripping and using for your own gain. I certainly do not like that, and that’s where I stand on it, mate. So I stand with you as well, and I will, if myself personally, I won’t support it. I won’t be buying anyone’s comic books that go down that path. No. Before, not no, because I would prefer to keep it tried and true, but as you said, mate, these things, it’s out there and no doubt it will create some, it creates division in the topic, in the opinion.

(01:27:41)
I had a conversation the other day about just all the crazy stuff too, that you get things developing their own mind to portray images and stuff that’s not even in the person’s control. And that’s even scary stuff when it starts developing into that science fiction sort of nightmares. And I would encourage anyone to read about Loeb, the identity in some European AI generators doing this sort of thing that’s created its own identity and given itself a name which is Loeb and communicates trying to understand where it fits into the world. It’s scary stuff. But anyway, onwards with the pens and the ink and the paint and the pencils mate, like in the old and the old ticker. So

Dean Rankine (01:28:37):
If people say, oh, it’s just the tools just like Photoshop, it’s really, really not, I work digitally, you have to draw every line. You’re not just putting props into a machine and stealing shit from older people.

Leigh Chalker (01:28:52):
Yeah. What would be, I reckon if people did that sort of stuff and they will, I would think that there would have to be some sort of alert to the general populace that is consuming that this was created using this. I would think that the prompts that were typed in by said creator would have to be made open where you took from what inspirations that you stole from to create your item. And I would think what would be fair is that that individual received no percentage of the work that they put in and the profits from that product were given back to the families or the artists themselves maybe.

Dean Rankine (01:29:40):
Absolutely.

Leigh Chalker (01:29:41):
No hands down, it makes me sick, Dean. So I’m with you there, bud. And yeah, we’ll leave that one at that because I can your ages and I’m sure you will too, but oh man, sign of the times though, isn’t it? Everything now I want to be an artist now I want to do this now I want to be a carpenter now. It’s like, man, things take time.

(01:30:10)
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but everyone wants it to be, so it’s just slow it down a little bit, man, breathe. But mate, I’ll start winding down the show a little bit, Dean. And there’s always a question that I like to ask. Well, I’m going to ask you two. One would be why do you do it? And the second one would be if Little Lee came up to you at a convention and was showing you drawings and showing enthusiasm and all that, what are your words of wisdom to that little fella or that little lady, the little creator, the mum or dad that are there to spark ’em off in that right direction, mate, with your experience?

Dean Rankine (01:31:02):
I think I answered the why question already. I don’t think I need to do any more. In a nutshell, I think that I had no choice. Some people have ink in their veins and you just do what you do. And I don’t think I really necessarily have a choice. I think I shouldn’t do this again because of things I don’t understand enough about. But dharma, which is that kind of, it’s a Hindu term for doing the work and sometimes you have no choice but to do the work. So I think that’s very much, very much me. I don’t feel like I necessarily have a choice. And what else would I do anyway, nothing else is interesting to me. This is just what I do. For Little Lee who would come up, I would say artists always have two problems that we look to other artists and we compare ourselves to them, and we always think that they’re better than we are. And the other problem is that we have this image in our head about what the drawing should look like. And when it doesn’t look like that, we get frustrated. That and the sad thing and the hard thing about that is that the only thing that improves that is practise and time. The only way that our image of our heads coming out on paper starts to match up is by working and by drawing and to get better at the craft and to keep practising . And that takes time.

(01:33:13)
If parents come up to me particularly and say, look, if your kid’s enjoying what they do, then that’s the best thing you can do to encourage them to keep on doing it because they will get better over time. If you look at what you drew 12 months ago, it’s certainly what you draw now is better and it’s certainly better than what you’re drawing four years ago, for instance. That’s certainly my experience that you will be better, but you need to be able to find some kind of enjoyment and to live with the frustration of it not being quite as good as we hoped. It’s never quite going to match up in our heads the way we want it to. But then to improve that, you’re just got to do the process. Draw. Sometimes you have to draw things that you don’t like, but draw things that you do like that’s okay and you’ll get better. That’s my words of advice.

Leigh Chalker (01:34:21):
Yeah, well, I mean, you live by a mate because it’s like anyone that’s followed your career would definitely understand the hard work, hustle, knowing your business, believing in yourself, and practise, practise, practise, mate. We’ll get you anywhere. So you’re a prime example of that mate amongst the Australian comic book community. So thank you. It’s great news. No, no, it was great man. It’s been a really lovely talk today. It’s a lovely Saturday. It’s great. I’m forever thankful, man, getting to talk to people like you and other people that come on chinwag and stuff like that and meet other creative minded souls and spirits and things like that. I find it very uplifting and very motivating, mate. So thank you for passing on your knowledge and let him have a little bit of your time, man, and the knowledge. So thank you. Yeah, I’m super happy with that Dean. So thank you mate. I’ll just ask one more question before I go into the closing down. Now, Dean, you’re not a hard man to find, but for anyone out there that may struggle to find your stuff, where can they get Dean? Yeah,

Dean Rankine (01:35:43):
So I’m Dean Rankin with an E on the end of Rankin. I dunno why I put Beard Master on, I just thought it was funny. So there so many beards around,

Leigh Chalker (01:35:55):
Not else happening. Dean, for me, I go with,

Dean Rankine (01:36:01):
I’m on Instagram as Dean Rankin and I’m on Facebook as Dean Rankin. Yeah. So if you want, you can connect with me. If you want to chat with me, message me. There’s particularly something, if there’s a burning question, ask it away. Just don’t get on my messenger and just go, hi, I’ll not respond to that. If there’s something specific that you want. I’m a busy man. If you want to talk to me, absolutely. But yeah, just don’t want to dick around. Get to the point.

Leigh Chalker (01:36:31):
Yeah, well there you go. One of the Australian creators out there for viewers that is open and handy to help and message, he’s just set it right there and then I’m not making this stuff up. So there you go. Alright, well thank you very much. It’s been a lovely day. So I’ll just finish off by going through the last of the little things for the show. So for everyone that’s watching, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to like and subscribe the channels because it helps out all the algorithms and all that sort of stuff and gets these people’s stories, creative stories out into the world for you to listen to and learn and get motivated. And however else it, I guess, prompts your engine. So get into it. Friday night, drink and draw. This Friday night is Vikings. It is episode number 95 on the way to 100.

(01:37:28)
So sizzle and sped and quick Nick will be there with the regulars and the cast of Irregulars and they’re all drawing vikings. And if you want to draw stuff beforehand, you can get onto the website, which will probably pop up in a second to send your artwork into. And you can send that in, man, today, Tuesday, Wednesday, whenever you feel. And there it is, art of Comex Studio. So get it in there, get some exposure and just watch the show. Have a good laugh. Now this show is sponsored by the Comics Shop. Now the comics shop has over 100 Australian independent titles. I’m in there, Dave dies in there, Rob’s Bey, Lyles in there, Peter Wilson’s in there. I mean Brad Daniels is in there. I could keep going on with this list. It’s a very long list and there’s a lot of great quality products in there.

(01:38:15)
You have a flat shipping rate of $9 and that’s for one comic all the way through to 15 or 20 or something. So cut sick. It’s the end of the financial year. So maybe not in today’s economic climate, maybe swindle yourself, like shout yourself mate, treat yourself to something nice. Maybe two or three calls, get it into you. Alright, now next week is Mr. Don Chichi and he is the silver part of the Silver Fox comics. So he’s coming in to have a yarn about all things silver, I guess, and maybe more topics like probably Baer and his history with Australian comic books, which I’m very much looking forward to. Lastly, but leastly, look after your mates. Mental health is a big issue out there. Some people struggle a little bit more than others. So if you’re one of the strong ones, reach out to your friends and help ’em out. Just say good day and because you never know that could help ’em out made of a bond or a situation, or just put a smile on their face and that’s the most important thing. So thank you very much for you Mr. Rankin. Every success mate. You’re a champion and it’s a pleasure to meet you. And the last thing I will say is community is unity. Thank you very much and we’ll see you later.

Voice Over (01:39:37):
This show is sponsored by the Comex Shop. Check out comex.cx for all things Comex and find out what Comex is all about. We hope you enjoyed the show.