Paul Rasche’s illustrations, cartoons and graphic design are dark and wicked in humour. His piece “Cats” was featured in Issue 1 of Lost Souls. The image evokes a sweet but weird moment: like one is being watched, perhaps, by our furry friends, with great and unusual interest. Possibly, with malevolent intent, or a higher intelligence. Ben O’Mara  asked Rasche to share more about what helps create his work.

BEN O'MARA, Tues 10 June 2025

Q1. One of the things I loved about Cats was its line work. The thick black lines of the fence, the thinner edges of the cats themselves. The effect really gives each object definition, and character. What helped you achieve this?


PR: All of my illustrations begin with thick black lines. I can't get away from them. I have tried to work with more delicate linework, but it always reverts to the chunky line. At this point, I'm resigned to it, it's just my style. I also need my lines to be clean. As to how I achieve this: firstly I use mechanical pencil on paper, and very loosely draw the subject many times, on top of each other. Then stop and look at what I've done, and choose the best lines from the options I've just created. That's the creative bit. Then it's legwork. Go over the chosen lines in black gel pen, erase the unwanted lines. Make the chosen lines chunky with black pen, then photograph, import to computer, and trace by hand. My secret is using Adobe Animate. It's designed for animations, but the drawing tools are much more user-friendly than Illustrator, in terms of gettings curves exactly where you want them.


Q2. Much of your work feels very polished to me. When did you start working in illustration and related forms?

PR: I guess like most illustrators, I've been drawing for as long as I remember. It was never something I took seriously. I always considered myself as more of a writer than anything else, and I get more out of my writing than any other creative endeavours. One day, back in the mid-90s, I was suddenly struck with the idea of creating a comic strip. Everything exploded out from that moment. I began drawing a lot, just black and white. I bought a scanner and pirated all the Adobe software (it was easy back then), and taught myself how to use it. Haven't looked back!

Q3. What is the focus of your work at the moment?

PR: I have many unfinished projects at the moment. It's good to be able to jump from one to another if inspiration runs dry. I've been doing a lot of guerilla art lately - I make stickers and put them up in public spaces - I have an extensive public gallery on a wall near my house. I also write Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books and leave them at bus-stops and places like that. I include QR codes so people can get in touch if they like. It's fun when someone writes me after finding my work in the outside world.

Q4. What is the focus of your work at the moment?

PR: So, I was lucky. My Dad (RIP) had zero interest in AFL or golf. But, even before I was born, our house was full of comics (think Garfield, Footrot Flats and Peanuts, not Spider-Man), Monty Python books, and a metric shit-ton of fantasy and sci-fi books. Which all meant I grew up a massive nerd, but - bit of a brag here I'm afraid - my imagination was off the charts. I'll always be grateful for that aspect of the environment I was raised in. I can't talk to you about footy or cars, but I can go into great detail about evil wizards. I like the bad guys, the goth aesthetic, and the blackest possible humour.

Q5. Are there things you find challenging in making your pieces? If so, what helps?


PR: Yeah, sometimes I get stuck halfway through a piece. Because I know the feeling of 'yes, that is the perfect idea', and that feeling doesn't come, and I can't settle for anything else, so the piece remains unfinished until I'm walking around a supermarket or something and get struck with the solution all of a sudden. I just need to keep the unsolved aspect in my mind, rather than forget about it. For example, at the moment I'm stuck on a piece that features a television, but I can't figure out what should be on the screen. So I just go about my life with a little psychological niggle, always on the lookout for that one thing that will trigger a solution.


Q6. Do you have advice for those wanting to create similar work?

PR: Just that the idea of what you're drawing is much much more important than the execution. You don't have to be able to draw to create super-cool stuff. Also, I'm self-taught, and that comes with a healthy dose of impostor syndrome. Ignore that. If you can't think of what to draw, get someone to make a suggestion. 'A cat brushing its teeth', 'A mushroom cloud in the shape of a loveheart' - stuff like that. Like how it's easier to write if someone gives you the title, it gives you a path. Finally - force yourself to do it, and make time for it.

Q7. What do you have coming out next?

PR: I have about 70 notes of ideas for projects on my phone at the moment. I don't know what will be finished next. I'm writing lyrics for an AI-generated death metal band, I'm also writing a dark fantasy novel that comprises 666 chapters of exactly 666 words each (about one-third finished). I've got some half-finished illustrations that aren't connected to a larger project at the moment. There's heaps of stuff on my Insta!

Q+A: Paul Rasche

EVENT

Ben O'Mara

June 2025


Want to be enchanted? Come along to Macabre Dreams, a night of strange and dark readings and music, feat.  the launch of Lost Souls ! Wed 18 June 2025.

REVIEW

Phoebe Lupton

December 2024


Naomi Klein's Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World draws on memoir-cultural criticism to reveal a disturbing lack of kindness in the era of misinformation.

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