HELLO,
I have been a freelance cartoonist since 1986. I worked as an in-house cartoonist for Acne, Britain’s first alternative children’s comic for 7 years, going on to create my own publication, an environmental children’s comic, called The Big Greenie.
My latest project is The Daily Dalek, an attempt to write, draw and publish to the web, 365 days of situation cartoons featuring Doctor Who’s oldest nemesis.
Mrs. ToneCartoons, a.k.a. Dalek Julie, co-writes the gags with me.
Oh yes, yes, yes. . . I’m famous ! I’ve been interviewed by The Cult Den, a hip new cool and well have a look . . .It’s Doctor Who month this month and I was asked to give away some of my secrets to their readers.
A Dalek A Day Keeps The Doctor Away? – The Daily Dalek Interview. 02/28/2012
Written by Kneel Downe.
It could be said that here at the Den we have a certain fondness for Time. The walls are adorned with countless clocks. Chronometers fill every available space. Paul insists on having an Advent calendar every single month of the year and our desks are full of Doctor Who and Family Guy ‘page a day’ calendars.
Myself, I prefer the ‘comedy cats’ one…hehehe…it’s wearing a hat.
But where would we be without our daily dose of the internet’s finest countdown? For there is a joyous creation out there that you can enjoy nearly every single day, for free.
Swallowing hard and gathering my wits, I placed a sub-space call to the damaged world of Skaro.
“Connection in 5 Rels, 4 Rels, 3 Rels, 2 Rels, 1 Rel… STATE YOUR BUSINESS!”
Hello. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. First, can we get a brief look at the man behind the pens? Who are you, sir?
Who am I ? . . . . . well I first got a cartoon published aged eleven, I left school at fifteen before taking my exams and ran away with my portfolio in hand, to work in the comic industry. I went on to have work featured in numerous national publications.
I’m a family man and I currently own about fifty hats, one for each of the different roles I play. I had a break from cartooning for almost 10 years after becoming, let’s say demoralized by the publishing side of the industry. I’ve now decided to come back to it, trying to build up a freelance business, hoping it will give me the flexibility to work from home and share the care of my daughter, who has multiple disabilities. I love watching films, playing guitar and of course, Doctor Who.
How long has the Daily Dalek been going and what inspired you to begin such a project?
I began the Daily Dalek last May, as an exercise to get me back into cartooning on a regular basis, re-cutting my cartoonist teeth so to speak. I chose Daleks, because I thought it would be more than a challenge to think up a years worth of funny situations for such serious and frightening characters. I endeavor to produce a single panel sketch a day, but that’s not the way it has always worked out, due to several hand injuries, one of which was a kitten bite that put me in hospital for over a week. The M.R.S.A infection I obtained from said kitten, almost killed me. My ultimate aim is to produce 365 Dalek cartoons however long it takes and not to get bitten again.
You use a variety of styles. Which is your favourite?
Ah ha, you noticed, what a lot of people don’t realise is I actually draw each cartoon on the day and dependent on how much time I have that day will determine the style I choose. The Last Supper of the Daleks, took me 4 hours to do, the Dalek van Eyck was the longest at 8 hours. However, the sketches on white backgrounds only take around 15 minutes to complete.
I start the process late at night while all the children are asleep, it would seem to me to be the best time as it’s when I’m at my most creative, after sketching down a few ideas I get some sleep. Later the next day when I get time to look at them again with fresh eyes, I choose the best and lay it out on 80 gm cartridge paper. Then it’s off to the light table and I get out the ROTRING Tikky graphic pens. I use 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 to draw the cartoon. Then I pop it on my HP Photosmart scanner and print off a copy. To colour the cartoon I use the LETRASET Permanent twin-tip Promarker pens, these give me a nice flat colour and blend in quite nicely. When I’m done I scan it into Photoshop using 300 dpi and add some shadowing, pop it into the tonecartoons border, and save it as a PSD file with all the layers. I then flatten the image, resize to 1,000px × 795px and save as a JPEG Image.
I wanted to do something new and have the freedom to move away from my original style, I used during my Acne comic days. It’s been interesting for me to see how my style is developing as the Daily Dalek progresses. I am moving more towards the use of Photoshop, as a tool to help with the strain I am putting myself under. My favourite style is an amalgamation of using the computer and traditional cartooning techniques. If time allows I want to use Flash as I have some ideas for Dalek animations and a Dalek game.
Ahhh…DALEKS! We all love Daleks but which incarnation and model would you chose as the best?
Too true, who can resist their charm and wanton single-mindedness. My first memory of the Daleks, is the usual story. Picture a very young boy with aspirations of great things peering around the back of the settee to catch a brief glimpse of the most frightening thing I had ever seen, apart from my mother’s flying slipper of course, shouting exterminate, EXTERMINATE. . . that’s the Dalek, not my mother. I cannot remember which episode, I’m afraid, quite literally very afraid.
My favourite Dalek is the mad Dalek Caan, because he kept the Daleks alive and he had some kind of mental breakdown from seeing all of time itself. I am no expert when it comes to Dalek models, I have to admit I now have a vast array of Dalek books to help me get my facts right. The one I use the most and refer to as my bible, is the Dalek Survival Guide. I like the original models from the film Dalek’ Invasion Earth, as they scared me the most as a child. The Special weapons Daleks look like they kick ass and if I was to do a Rambo Dalek I would definitely use one of them.
On a similar note, which is your favourite Dalek story and what do you think of Modern Who in general?
Now that’s a hard one as all the Dalek stories are far more superior to any other plotlines, but I would have to say The Cult of Skaro is my favourite. I like the idea of them being free thinking. I really rate modern Who. I prefer Russell T. Davies scripts and I think all the David Tennant episodes are excellent. I don’t think there will ever be a Doctor to beat Tom Baker, but if the role was to be offered to me I would try my best to give it a go.
Many thanks sir…would you like to plug yourself and just how can we all encourage and aid your fearless quest?
I don’t sell merchandise due to licensing and trademark laws, although it would be brilliant to have an official BBC book of the best of the 365 cartoons at the end of the project. I use advertisers to help fund the costs of running the site and buying pens. I spend all of my free time on the project and would love it to become full time, but sadly at around 20p a day I make from the adverts, I don’t think that will happen anytime soon. I am looking for affordable Doctor Who sites to advertise on and please get in touch if you are interested in link sharing. If you want to donate towards this Dalek challenge that would be an amazing help, whatever the amount.
If you know anyone who likes Daleks or cartoons, and you want to help aid me in my fearless quest, spread the word, and better still, catch up with me over at Twitter under @ToneCartoons, The Daily Dalek Facebook and of course www.tonecartoons.co.uk/blog for your daily dose of Dalek cartoons. If you have anything to contribute to the site, such as your fan art, or interesting Dalek content, you can email me at tone@tonecartoons.co.uk
Do you think we mentioned Daleks too often? :O)
Thank you for this opportunity to talk to The Cult Den readers and take part in your fantastic Doctor Who month, I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us. I would also like to thank all the fans and friends who have supported me so far.
I was also featured in the first cartoonist interview over at INKED.
Tony Naylor ( DAILY DALEK ) INKED #1
By BK
August 13, 2011Posted in: INKED
Doctor Who fans rejoice! A comic aimed for that nerdy itch, is finally here to scratch you with its weird plunger-like hand. I got to babble back and forth a bit with Tony Naylor the creator of Daily Dalek a daily single panel comic based around the beloved tin cans.
What made you want to make a comic about Daleks?
For a while I have been a cartoonist without a cartoon and I wanted a challenge that would get me back into cartooning on a daily basis. I needed to build up my cartoonist muscle again and I thought Daleks would be difficult to think up 365 situations for.
Assuming you are how long have you been a Dr. Who fan? And Who is your favorite doctor?
Okay, okay I admit it, I am a Dr. Who fan and have been since I was about 7 years old. That’s 33 years. Tom Baker is my favourite Doctor, I suppose you just stay loyal to the first doctor you experience.
Scariest Dr. Who alien?
The Doctor Who adversary that scared me the most were Ogri. They lived on blood and looked like giant sparkly Weetabix.
What Doctor Who character would you choose to draw after the 365 days are over?
I am considering a cartoon called The World of Who, incorporating all the Dr Who characters. I also want to spend more time developing The Big Greenie into a webcomic and work on an animated H.P. Superhero cartoon.
Who was your favorite lady companion?
I am not really that keen on any of them, I like it when the companion is on an equal level with the Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith did save the Doctor’s life numerous times and Romana (Mary Tann), was a Timelord herself. I’ll choose them because they were useful and could kick ass.
I saw that you had other work with comics, is Daily Dalek your longest running series?
No D.D. is in it’s infancy. H.P. Superhero, was one of my characters in ACNE, which ran for 7 consecutive years. I was an in-house cartoonist drawing 22 pages a fortnight, plus working freelance on other alternative comics. Other characters at that time, included Fairy Nuff and Elvira Mental. I also did artwork for other cartoonists, taking over Tom Fulup’s character Billy Butt. I left when I had to draw cartoons for other writers as I didn’t enjoy that. It was at that point that I launched my own publication, The Big Greenie, an environmental childrens comic.
What do you use to draw your comic, Daily Dalek? I know in the 89 created you have so far, there are a few different styles.
I draw straight onto 80 gram cartridge paper, with a Rotring Tikky Graphic pen. I colour with either promarker pens or photoshop, or sometimes a mixture of both, adding extra light with a white pencil crayon. I also like working with inks and watercolour, when there is time in the day. I have been trying to develop a new style that is an amalgamation of my style with the use of modern technology. The Daily Dalek, is a vehicle to showcase my various abilities.
Where do you get your ideas/inspiration?
The ideas just seem to come out of the end of my pen when I start drawing. Usually late night drawing sessions of quick sketches, whilst watching old series of Dr. Who. I also do a lot of brainstorming with my girlfriend Julie (@Membrane7) on Twitter. We work as a team really. I am dyslexic and she is the one that checks through all my spellings after Spellcheck.
Do you feel like your art was influenced by any artist in particular?
Gary Larson; Don Martin; Tom Fulep; Clive Ward; Dicky Howett; Tim Quinn and Steve Bell. That’s the short list.
What do you feel has been the biggest hurdle getting exposure for your comic?
I don’t think I have any exposure really, that’s the problem, getting people to know what you are doing. I am just relying on social media, mainly Twitter (@ToneCartoons), and I just started a Tumblr and a Facebook page. Also joining your site, and looking at webcomic lists and blog directories. Ultimately, this is a project I am sharing for free, at the end of it it would be great if it gets noticed. I would like to publish the best of them in a book. If all else fails, 365cartoons is ideal for a calendar.
Lastly, what is your favorite food/drink combo?
Red wine and cheese.
Background/About Tony Naylor :
First published in Derbyshire Times aged 11. Left school before my exams so I have no qualifications. Took my portfolio into A.R.F. Cartoons in Derby aged 16, and started work there the next day. I am a father of 7, step-father of 5, and living with 8. I now work freelance from home whilst sharing the care of my disabled daughter who is just 4. She has multiple sensory impairment and cerebral palsy.
