Today we’d like to introduce you to Rodney Dollah.
Rodney, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I have always been a person drawn to creativity. At the age of five, my uncle who at the time was somewhat of a known photographer brought me home a coloring book from the Art Institute of Chicago, along with a box of pastels, not the ordinary box of Crayons that I was accustomed to. It sounds funny but this experience helped shape my creative upbringing ever since. The unfamiliarity of these pastels broke rules that I was unaware of, I was able to do things I didn’t know I could do with a piece of material that was made to create art with. This was my first moment at experiencing artistic creation for myself. It was an amazing moment and one that I would soon come to feel over and over again, throughout my career as an artist. I was later taken to the Art Institute for a show my Uncle was in and was then introduced to the workings and mechanics of a creative event, as well as behind the scenes and workings of the Art Institute. At that point, I knew I would become a creative professional of some sort. Growing up, I had issues with focusing on one single thing for a long period of time. This curse eventually became a tool for me and allowed me to experience and appreciate the many forms of creativity the world had to offer without any sort of discrimination that could hold me back from experiencing them fully.
Towards the end of my High School years, I became a paid Illustrateur that had worked in fantasy and sci-fi games. I later went on to work in advertisement and film as well as publishing. I have worked for companies such as Virgin Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting, Microsoft, Milton Bradley and have worked with artists from Disney, Pixar, Lucus Entertainment and Marvel, just to name a few.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Currently, a couple of my focuses besides my current career as an artist has been placed on publishing books based on various forms of art and the other has been putting together creative based events such as gallery shows and producing other various types of art related events for the Chicago based art community as well as various international communities.
One of my personal favorite projects of mine is an ongoing project called Rodney Dollah’s Little Book Of Monsters. It’s a book that I had conceived while I was lending Brian Haberlin the co-creator of Witchblade and Digital Art Tutorials a hand. It is an Annual Art Book I organize. design and publish throughout the whole month of October to celebrate Halloween. With the help of Brian and support from James OBarr, the creator of the Crow, the very first volume came to life and was sold out fairly fast. As I mentioned, it is an ongoing project so Each year the book has a different theme base, but it always revolves around creating monsters with a driven scene of Halloween. Each volume has a slew of well-known guest artists from such industries as Film, Video games and comic books. Submissions are then opened and excepted worldwide based on the theme of the current volume. The previous year’s excepted submissions along with the guest artists are then published with the release date of October 1st of each year. The submission process is usually open six months prior to this book release’s current open edition and all of the artists are promoted and highlighted through the whole month of (October) Halloween.
The big day though is when we announce the artists that made the cut for the following year’s Edition, which is announced on October 31st, Halloween. The Book holds host to so many artists of various disciplines as well as backgrounds, they range anywhere from graffiti artists from Asia to fine gallery artists from Russia. These are the mechanics that make this book so special and has helped many artists get discovered. I hope to continue this journey for many years to come. More information about the project can be found on the companies Facebook page by searching, Little Book of Monsters. I also am the creative director and founder of Not My Comix, an international publishing house, geared to the discovery and assistance of the all so many unseens but amazing artists our world has to offer us. Our first published book can be found and purchased from the Oceanside Museum of art in California. You can get a sense of what we do by visiting our website at www.notmycomix.com and also please View our Facebook page for up to date happenings.
Do you think conditions are generally improving for artists? What more can cities and communities do to improve conditions for artists?
I am also a big believer in my home city and the many different types of artists that it is home to. Over the years, I have been bringing artists together to share in each other’s form of creation in hopes of helping each other grow as artists as well as come together as a whole people of artists to bring Chicago, our city the respect it deserves to be seen as a city of unique and creative artists. I believe It does not matter if you’re a graffiti artist or a fine artist, we all share in the creation and should share what we are with one another. These are all gifts that we possess and should also be shared among ourselves. I also believe that this is how you truly grow as an artist. The ego can be a good thing to have but it can also be a very destructive thing to possess as well.
I’ve always thought that each city should support their own before supporting artists from the outside. It seems like they’re always looking out when they should be looking in. When we take care of our own, that’s when the culture begins to grow. Chicago has many, many was to support the local artist. All you have to do is look. Social media is an amazing thing for this. Hit a cafe, gallery opening or some sort of convention. The list goes on, you just have to look and then do.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work can be found hanging in galleries and in public locations, all throughout the city. It can also be viewed, purchased or commissioned through my online presence. Please refer to links below for current and future happenings.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rodneydollah.com
- Email: rodneydollah@littlebookofmonsters.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/rodneydollah
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/littlebookofmonsters
- Other: www.notmycomix.com
Image Credit:
Rodney Dollah
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
