Little Ao-sag-bi

Here is 'Ao-sag-bi'. This illustration is just a small detail in a much larger picture than feeds into an even bigger project that should be due out in October. Unfortunately, I had to adjust his position for the final image but I like this initial composition so much that I thought I'd share it.

Ouroboros Update

The fantastic Nate Williams very kindly interviewed me about the process of creating 'Ouroboros' over at Illustrationmundo, where you can see early stage sketchbook drawings of the comic, you can read this verbal exchange HERE. Creative Review even picked 'Ouroboros' to be in their 'very nice publications' for March section, clickity clack HERE to peruse. Finally, the AOI featured it on their blog with some very positive (if misspelt) words, tap that mouse HERE to go there.

Below are a few unused images from the illustratiomundo interview. First up is the pencil sketch and colour final of page 7.
Pencil sketch and colour final of page 18.

Finally, here is a section of the shelf beside my desk. It's littered with books and toys and is a constant source of distraction and inspiration.

'Ouroboros' Signing at the Here Gallery, Bristol

To celebrate the release of my debut comic book 'Ouroboros', I'll be signing copies of it at the Here Gallery in Bristol from 7.30pm-9pm on Tuesday 2nd March. The Here Gallery will have copies of 'Ouroboros' for sale so come along for a few glasses of wine and a warm atmosphere, your more than welcome. PS - Bring your hip flasks!

Mr Fish Dude at Piñatarama!

A big Thank you to Jorge Alderete fo asking me to take part in Pinatarama at the Vertigo Gallery in Mexico. Here is the press blurb for the show.

The piñata’s associated with the Latino culture, but historians point to Asia (especially China) as its actual point of origin. It’s supposed that the famous traveler Marco Polo’s visit to that nation, he saw how the Chinese created colorful animal figures covered with paper, which is hung with ornaments, and were used in the New Year celebrations. As a good observer, Polo brought Europe the idea of these early piñatas. Although housed in various regions of their religious significance, today, is considered a symbol of fun and entertainment.

Between contemporary design of characters and this popular tradition the project aims to let ourselves be surprised by the unexpected results arising from the interpretation of these characters by Mexican artisans who made them. And give the viewer a particular facility where the 30 piñatas “design” reflect the contemporary look of mixtures, juxtaposition and appropriation, in this case an object culturally ingrained in Latin America. Mexican artisans Ricardo Linares and Lorenzo García will be constructing the piñatas based on the designs of 25 worldwide artists including Cupco, Cecy Meade, Apak, S.britt, Snaggs, Tado, David Gamez, Gaston Caba, Sonni, and many more!

Who is that dapper sea creature? It's the Mr Fish Dude Piñata!
Here is a picture of more of the Pinatas. Go to nfgraphics to see a whole host of great photos of the show.

Also, I recently set up a facebook page so feel free to join up here for sneak previews of projects before I post them on this blog.

'Ouroboros' Out Now!

I am very pleased to announce the release of my debut comic book, Ouroboros, which has been published by the super kind folk at Nobrow. The book is printed in three spot colours on an off-white Munken paper and is retailing for £8.50. You can buy it now from the Nobrow website and the first 40 people to buy this regaling tale of utter futility will receive a signed copy for no extra charge! Still need convincing? Well, read this insightful review by Bobby Jewel to help make up your mind.

Inspired by the mythical serpent Ouroboros, Ben Newman brings the reader on a tale of action and adventure that juxtaposes brutal violence with ecstatic comic exuberance. Where our protagonist fights a band of rogue, thuggish, drug peddling perverts after they murder his newly beloved mermaid.

Brought to life in a world of Newman's trademark bold style and visually arresting use of colour and timing; Newman plays with the theme of life, death and rebirth across 24 pages of vivid and original story telling. As described in the book, Ouroboros ‘is that which is forever done, but which may not be undone, it is life and death intertwined. Both chicken and the egg... but also Sunday dinner'.

Here are some sample pictures that Nobrow have taken for you, dear reader, to enjoy. Hubba hubba!

For those of you in Bristol, you'll be able to purchase 'Ouroboros' from the Here Gallery on Stokes Croft Road, where I'll be signing copies from 7.30pm until 9pm on the 2nd March. So come along and say hi!

Porporpeius at The Museum of Small Things

Opening from the 5th February until the 7th March, 'The Museum of Small Things' is being held at Ultralounge inside Selfridges, London, and it is one hell of a show. Here is the skinny on the exhibition.

The Museum of Small Things will inspire visitors to open wide their eyes and to slowly look, and then look again, at the world they inhabit. M.O.S.T. will house priceless gems too subtle to compete with the show-stopping technology of the modern world. Modest masterpieces under-valued in cultures where biggest is better and mega, if achievable, is best, will be centre-stage. The variety on display in this museum will dynamically demonstrate how the lines between all forms of visual expression have become blurred. Exhibits range across images, objects, moving pictures, ideas, detritus and treasures.

I was asked to design a Deity mask that would be built for the exhibition by the extremely talented Felix Wentworth. Here is Porporpeius himself, the drug addled half-brother of Neptune, god of water and air, bodiless and pathetic!

Here is the legend of Porporpeius.

One of the little-known God Deitys of water and air is Porporpeius, who you may remember from his booming music career during the Blues revival of the 1960s. Heavy drug use and a failed suicide attempt during the late 1970s drove Porporpeius to confront his half-brother Neptune about his rights to the Kingdom of Atlantis. Unfortunately, Porporpeius fell off the wagon just before this confrontation and after causing a dreadful scene at Neptune's son's birthday party, Neptune decided to sever Porporpeius' head and hide his body in the darkest depths of the sea. For the past 40 years, the bodiless Porporpeius has been strung out on cheap liquor and cheaper drugs, searching every square inch of the Earth for his missing body but to no avail.

Whilst at the preview for the show, I made a film of how the mask is viewed because I couldn't do it justice with just a photograph.

The photos below are to demonstrate how amazing Felix's skills are and to help give a better impression of the depth and layering of the mask.

I'd like to say a big thank you to Ali, Valentina and Nicola at Pocko and Kit Grover for the huge amount of energy and time they put into making the show look so incredible and also, for asking me to take part in it.

Pre-Order The First Ever Nobrow/Ben Newman Vinyl Toy

Roll up, roll up! Thats right folks, you can pre-order the first ever Nobrow vinyl figurine designed by moi (er..me) and available exclusively from the Nobrow website. This sexy chunk of plastic is a limited edition of 50 which will never be made in the same way again! It will also be presented in a sumptuous silk screened printed box which I will hand sign and edition ready for it's release on the 12th February. Holy Nizzle Whizzle! Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for the launch of a few more super exciting projects which I have been working on for the past couple of months. Gidee-up!

(Please note that the toy box in the picture above is not the final design and is for advertising purposes only)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody and a big thank you to all of you who follow this blog for coming back and taking an interest in my work. Hope you all have a great New Year. x

Christmas Cards For Charity

It's that time of year again when time plods by for children and races at a million miles an hour for adults. Yes. It's Christmas and what better way to not only show friends and family how much you love them, but also donate and help a charity, than to but a pack of 'All I Want For Christmas' cards. A pack of 20 limited edition festive cards designed by 20 different illustrators and designers including Bjorn Lie, Jon Burgerman, Peskimo, Lucie Sheridan and many, many more for only £15. So click here to help 'Young Bristol'.

Jungle Gym For Nobrow 2

Right, I've just dragged my snotty, spluttering, cold-riddled carcuss over to my computer to tell you healthy, bright eyed, bushy-tailed specimens about Nobrow 2 which is now available to buy at Nobrow.net. If you purchased and fell in love with the first journal then you ain't seen nothing yet. The latest issue is printed in 3 spot colours and features the incredible Blexbolex, who designed the front cover that you can see above, and picked the 'Jungle' as the theme for talented folk such as Marc Boutavant, Henning Wagenbreth, Alex Spiro, Jack Teagle and many, many more to wrap their creative noggins around. I received my copy this morning and although it didn't cure my cold, it did manage to put some colour in my cheeks and made my chapped lips crack from smiling. Thanks to Al and Sam for letting me take part. Below is my hotspotch contribution to the issue. Enjoy!

'Secret Service' at Rotopol

From this Saturday (21st November) until the 13th February 2010, Rotopol Press will be hosting their exhibition entitled 'Secret Service'. Rotopol are using the term 'post-democracy' to create a series of themed group exhibitions until November 2010 and this is set to be the first. My Secret Service print is featured above and will be available to purchase at the show so check out the Rotopol website for more details by clicking here!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween, everybody! To kick off this ghoulish weekend of halloween hi-jinks, Pocko have asked me some devilishly scary questions and believe me the answers are utterly shocking so be brave and go here if you dare. Wooo ha hahaha!

Autism Society

This recent illustration for the Autism Society is about how some autism sufferers find it difficult to understand social situations and interact with others. People with autism can have a very literal sense of language and facial expressions which confuses their understanding of conversations and social behaviour.

Creative Review film the Bento Bestiary

Thanks to Ollie from Play Nicely for emailing me the link to this, it made my bloody day.

451 Flier From Start to Finish

Rather than just posting a final image, I thought it would be fun to talk and show you through a recently finished job. The brief was to create the first in a series of fliers for a new poetry evening in Southampton called 451.

After a few emails and a one to one meeting with the client, I put together the first rough (below) that incorporated the ideas we had discussed. The name of the poetry evening comes from 451 fahrenheit which is the temperature that paper starts to burn at, so it was agreed that heat or flame should be used in the image. An image of a poet holding burning paper didn't seem quite right, so we decided that a 'flaming brain' would be symbolically more interesting and could imply a burning intellect or passionate thinking, which better suited the subject matter.

After watching a few poets perform, I realised just how different each individual's movements, vocal delivery and subject matter were. I knew I wanted the main image for the flier to be quite simple but still display a series of emotions and gestures. I felt it would be better to send a colour mock with the first pencil rough to give the client a better idea of how the arms and heads would look when they overlap. Below is the colour rough and as you can see it's very basic but conveys the idea well enough at this stage.

Once the client had agreed to the first pencil rough and the colour mock, I started to draw up a neater pencil drawing adding some changes and fleshing out other elements that I had been asked to experiment with.
I used the neater pencil rough to create a final colour mock so that we could see what works and what doesn't.
The colour mock above helped us to identify areas that needed to be simplified and altered, for example; the microphone mesh, the brain swiggles and the swirling leaves. I was happy at this stage with the progress of the illustration, so I got to work drawing a logo that would complement the image. I didn't want the logo to be too distracting so I decided to keep it really simple and colourful.
Below is the final image that will be used on the flier. I've added texture and staining to the background colour so that it is no longer completely flat and the main figure has had a weathering effect added to it. Also, you may noticed that the second row of arms have changed their hand shape. It was felt that the meditating hand position may confuse the poetry evening with that of a spiritual event.

There you have it. From pencil scribble to full colour image. Thanks for reading and I hope it was interesting!

Owls for the ARK Project

This Barn owl and Long-eared owl are my contribution to the ARK Project, which is being run by DGPH and printed by IDN. Over 200 illustrators and artists worldwide were commissioned to help fill the Ark and each contributor had to choose an animal native to their country. Illustrators involved include Chris Garbutt, Jon Burgerman, Johnny Yanok and Nishant Choksi. The aim of the ARK project is to help raise money and awareness for endangered animals.

Also, my 'Mr Fish' print is available from 'On The Wall' for an economy busting £9.99. You can buy it here.

POCKOSHKO in Magma's Window

Ali from Pocko very kindly sent out this photo to all the Pocko artists. It's great to see everyone's nesting dolls together at last.

POCKOSHKO Opens at Magma

POCKOSHKO opens this weekend exhibiting across all 3 Magma stores as part of London Design Week. The show involves 20 international Pocko artists and will showcase a set of Russian dolls by various Pocko illustrators including Paul Bower, Tabas, Kinpro, James Braithwaite and many others. Above is the full set of my dolls that will be exhibited. It's nice to see them together at last.

On another note, I highly recommend checking out Nick White's new book called 'People I've never met & conversations I've never had' published by Nobrow. I picked up my copy at the launch yesterday and it is hilarious and looks amazing too. Shazam!

Early Autumn in the City

New Portfolio Work

It's commissioning time through late September and October so there is no better time to give your portfolio a spit and polish. Above is the new poster for the 'Socialism' night held on Bristol's only club on a boat, the Thekla.