The Ben Templesmith Blog.

Psylocke, with Sentinel

2009-11-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

A still life of sorts with a bad iPhone pic in some nameless hotel room on the road.

When I get the time I hope to finish the pic, for now, CHOKER from Ben McCool and I is keeping me real busy...be showing off a wee bit of that stuff shortly. Not to mention it'll be a Gem of the month in December's previews, ( so the madness should start early February )

Welcome to Hoxford teaser trailer

2009-11-10T16:53:00.000-08:00

This comes courtesy of the uber talented Freshoil. Whetted my appetite for more stuff like this I think. ( Though not whole comics I think, which would stop them being comics & make them something else. ) If you can't see it just go here directly.

Incidentally, if you've never read Welcome to Hoxford, you can find it here with a rather large discount!

And yeah, I've been a lazy bugger & not posted too much lately. I need to. I shall soon! I'm off to London again next week though.

Back in San Diego. ( Well, for 2 weeks )

2009-10-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

Finally made it back to the studio with a whole bunch of work to do despite finishing a bunch on the road. I can finally upload a whole swag of pictures of my travels too. Had a great time since my last bloggings obviously. New York and London were a blast. I didn't even get bird, swine or regular bland flu.

But before then, I just put up that wolverine painting I previously did on ebay, not for me but to help cover a friends US health care expenses ( yes, they charge you mega bucks when even something small needs treating and you're not able to pay wads of cash to bloated corrupt insurance corporations profiting off your well being, go figure. It'd be rather quaint by the rest of the western world's standards if it wasn't so horrific, ) So yeah, this one is for a worthy cause and you'd be not only getting a piece of art ( it's at least half decent I reckon ) but you'd be helping out a delightful young lady into the bargain. It's just a shame it comes to things like this.

More stuff later, including shortly, a whole bunch on CHOKER, which will be coming out this February and I'm deep into working on right now.

Next stop, London

2009-10-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

Are you in London? My next convention appearance will be my second time at the rather grand, MCM Expo, this October 24th and 25th. Come on down. I'll be there on the con floor hopefully full time, both days and yes, I'll be doing commissions and have some original art and prints to flog if you're so inclined.

Yup, I do full on painted watercolour commissions, anything you like ( well almost ) with the exchange rate the way it is these days, for £90 for small ( A4 size ) and £150 for large ( The US version of A3 ) with time given, I won't be able to get too too many so you might want to reserve a spot. ( You can always email ahead of time: contact@templesmitharts.com )

Of course, if you just have books or stuff to sign, I happily do quick sketches for free. I'll be at table C25.

This should be the floor plan below, showing exactly where you can find me amongst some of the royalty, nay, the ubermensch of British comics. ( ok maybe that's going a bit far but you get the idea. )

Not only that, but I'll be doing some specific signings in the main area with frequent partner in crime/friendly email naggerer of Wasteland covers I am always late on... Antony Johnston. Saturday: 12pm-12:20pm and Sunday 3:40pm-4pm

And if you miss me in London, I'll be back extensively next month, in Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and again London for a couple special things.You'll be bloody sick of me soon.£

Sadly, I think my camera kicked the bucket in Brazil, though I took a bunch on my iPhone, I've yet to get a proper cable to connect to the laptop ( I forgot to bring my charger/connector on my travels damn it, ) so the last pics will have to wait awhile. Had an amazing time and definitely want to go back. Felt a lot like a French festival, with it's openness and community support. Great stuff.

Lastly, here's my version of that Wolverine you might remember I posted up as line art a few weeks ago. I'm probably going to ebay the original painted version ( and a colour artproof I'm sure ) next week to help raise money for, what else, to help a friend out with yet another insanely stupid American health insurance bill because their system is horribly broken. So look out for it next week when I give a plug to a worthy cause. ( And if you're in the US, do yourself a favour and never vote for politicians who support anything but some form of strong viable public option for all, it's what the rest of the civilized world has and it works. ) You should never have to worry about bills just because you're sick. Just worry about getting better.

And thanks to everyone who took a stab at colouring the basic linework for the image I put up too! Some amazing talents who showed me or posted their work. Cheers guys.

Ahem.

Now back to work.

Harvey Pekar

2009-10-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

Last week I got asked to contribute to a big birthday present for Harvey Pekar. Part of 70 portraits by artists to help celebrate his 70th birthday. ( See them all here ) . Had a lot of fun with this one as I just hacked into it. Happy birfday sir. Happy birfday!

Brazil Pics Part 1

2009-10-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to Brazil, Belo Horizonte in fact, for FIQ a big comics festival here, though my luggage got lost and I've still not got it back...hopefully soon! I think my camera might be broken so these may be the only pics, apart from my iphone if I can get a charger...which I forgot to bring.

My art takes up two walls. This here is the unfinished presentation, before FIQ opens.

Before FIQ opens...

An astounding amount of brilliant art here. From all over the world.

Brazil, the UK & Beyond

2009-10-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

I had a big long blog post almost written out before I accidentally hit a damn browser tab and lost it all.

Suffice to say, I'll be traveling the globe the next two months and going to quite a few places. ( And sadly I have to work on deadlines while doing it too ). My bloggings may be a bit sporadic for the duration, since I probably won't have net and will be out doing things half the time but I'll try to post as much as I can.

Check my main site ( link below) in the appearance section for all the details ( No really, you check my main site don't you? It has all sorts of stuff and useful info on it besides these updates you might see elsewhere, ) but basically, I'll be down in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for FIQ, the MCM Expo in London, visiting a few people around the world then back to the UK for signings for Traveling Man in Manchester, Newcastle, the Leeds Though Bubble festival and a Comica talk with Philip Ridley, as well as a screening of his latest film HEARTLESS and a signing for the boys over at London's Orbital Comics before finally staying in one place for more than a week.

Oh and if anyone knows how to get into the back archives of the British Museum of Natural history for a tour or something, let me know. I want to see the Colossal Squid and babies in jars and such!

In case you didn't know, depending on where you read my rantings, they basically get posted to my main website all the time, I just cross post to a bunch of other places. Sometimes I even post different things at some of them. I've recently expanded the number of sites you can find me on, because I guess I'm insane or care about being accessible or something, so here's the new list of places I have a presence:

My main site: Templesmith.com
Me on Blogspot
Me on Facebook
Me on Deviantart
Me on Cafepress
Me on Livejournal
Me on Tumblr
Me on Flickr
Me on Comicvine
Me on Myspace
Me on Suicidegirls
Me on Twitter

Oh and the image? A quickie for a thing for Thought Bubble but also the beginnings of a new project for next year...

The Complete Baroness One-shot Pencils

2009-09-30T22:22:00.000-07:00

Didn't think I'd show them big enough you could actually see anything much did you? ;)

A bit more Conan...

2009-09-29T03:40:00.000-07:00

From the studio tonight.

The inking stage. Using line weights a bit this time! Pencil tones and watercolour to go. Will probably put up the plain line work if anyone wants to have fun with colour themselves after I finish my Wolverine image too. Though this one needs a lot more shading to work I think.

Cheers big time to everyone who took a stab at the Wolverine. Soon as I finish that one I'll blog a bunch of the ones people sent me! ( Or you can check out the flickr entries, the deviant art entries and the livejournal entries as they are. )

Got to do a big entry shortly too. Got CHOKER goodness coming your way soonish, not to mention a bit of BARONESS and I'll be all over the globe shortly, being in Brazil early next month as well as the UK in late October for MCM Expo as well as the Leeds Thought Bubble Festival in November and a few other signings around the place.

Deadlines? What are these deadline things? Shut up and rub my tummy damn you.

Aaaaaarrrr etc

2009-09-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

The beginnings of another random sketch.

Humans are just furniture

2009-09-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Apparently.

Today in the studio...

2009-09-25T00:29:00.000-07:00

Kitty in a box.

Favourite mug. For now.

And now, the art. Hoxford in Progress...

Whaaalaaaaaah.

And yes, I did fix the spelling on the final version as well. Brain fart.

Soundwave

2009-09-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Just put this sucker up on ebay.

Wolverine Image Updated...

2009-09-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

Started adding some watercolour washes.

Also worked back in places with pencil and added more details with watercolour.

Dirtied it up after some of the finer work. Added some further darkening washes.

Aaah, the splatter!

Used my trusty white pen to add further definitions, also changed up the dog tags a little.

Almost finished before the colour stage. The work I did on the teeth seems a bit lost in this image.

Going to try and get it finished before next week but I've got a massive work load to get through before I head off to Brazil!

Around the studio...

2009-09-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

Kitty comandeers the printer. Thanks, kitty.

Some art proofs. A little extra for a recent ebay auction.

Your first taste of a CHOKER page.

2009-09-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

A page of the CHOKER prelude ( The new 6 issue miniseries written by Ben McCool and drawn by me over at Image comics ) went live over at a CBR article for the soon to be released LIBERTY COMICS #2! If you've not heard, it's probably the biggest anthology comic of the year with the likes of Neil Gaiman, Jim Lee and a slew of other huge names as well as Ben McCool and this lucky sod.

More Wolvie

2009-09-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

Finishing up the pencils. ( Oh, I should point out, if you missed my previous post with Wolvie, this isn't for a cover or anything official. This was/is just a random piece I got the urgings to do to stay sane while working on some other more constrained stuff )

Was having fun not dealing with line weights and a distorted look. Probably thanks to the good dose of Frank Quietly, Geoff Darrow & Nate Simpson lately. ( Yes I know they do actually use line weight, more referring to their insane detail levels, but I can't remember the artists that don't and let the colour guys do all the work...) for me I plan on doing lots of tones on this one to bring stuff out, instead of the lines themselves perhaps.

I think I'm getting addicted to these close up shots of the art as I work. I just dig them to bits.

Most people who don't really know my work, read my books etc but know my name still dismiss what I do as "on the computer" as if I press a few buttons and it all happens. Sadly for me ( I wish it was that easy! ) it's not the case. Never was.

Now, more than ever, I seem to actually put more into the real world drawings long before it reaches the computer stage. It's funny really. I probably do more real world work than a bunch of the "traditional" artists now, as the industry in general goes from straight pencils to computer colouring. Yet I'm one of the ones accused of relying on the digital too much!

I love art as artifact. It would drive me insane not to have a physical record of the work I did...don't think I'll ever be doing art completely by computer, I'll just use it to help and augment the process. The computer, or rather the art programs on them, are really just new tools most of us learn to use differently.

Another pic as I do down the body, inking. No rendering, no weight, just one line consistency. Seeing what I can do when I change it up a bit.

Nearly done, except for the damn chest hair. Not looking forward to that. Not at all. But it must be done. For the whole image I've just used a .005 Pigma Micron. Archival ink, waterproof, which is good for the watercolour/ink tones I plan on putting into it later.

Here's the basic line work. Any budding colourists out there want to take a stab at it? Rather curious to see how others make it look. Hope this image is good quality enough for. Should be a bitmap .tiff file.

If you're reading this on the blog, get onto flickr and select "all sizes" then find "original" for the big arse version.

If you do colour it up, would love to see and indeed, post the results in later bloggins'. Then we can compare my final to the ones you guys do.

I should point out, the idea is to *not* try to emulate my own colour "look"...just to colour it the way you see fit.

Should be interesting!

BLACK ORCHID

2009-09-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

A quickie redo of this week's character, BLACK ORCHID for Whitechapel.

Wolvie+Studio+Coffee

2009-09-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

The early stages of a Wolverine I felt the need to do up as some paint was drying. Always got to have a little release & see where the muse takes you when you're stuck doing other art you're already wanting to move on from...or just not do more of, for the night. Alas, deadlines mean you have to keep going but a little diversion never hurts to keep the sanity.

Will update this piece as I go. I think I've done 3 Wolverine images in my entire life.

Controlled chaos but all the vital ingredients are there. The primordial soup if you will, from whence the art shall arise. All I need to do is add...something...& since I'm one of those evil evolution follower types, lets not say divine intervention, let's just call it a chemical reaction from my brain to my hand to the pen/brush/mouse/keyboard eh?

Never underestimate a coffee lid. It's how I am helping save the planet. The good ones make excellent palettes. The current ones I use have pretty much lasted over a year or two. Plus, they're easy to travel with, just fits right into my little art case.

LIBERTY COMICS! The Special JIM LEE VARIANT!

2009-09-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Not only will it be your first taste of CHOKER....The Jim Lee variant is pretty sweet. Always love seeing his more mixed media pieces.

Here's the official stuff:

17 September 2009 (Berkeley, CA) – JIM LEE, the fan favorite artist of Batman, X-Men & WildC.A.T.s, provides the Image Comics published Comic Book Legal Defense Fund benefit anthology, LIBERTY COMICS #2 with an all-new, limited edition 1-in-25 variant cover based off his collaboration with Sandman writer NEIL GAIMAN.

“Jim has long been a true Defender of Liberty with his ongoing support of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and his cover goes above and beyond the call of duty,” CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein said. “We’re very thankful for his generosity.”

LEE and his story with NEIL GAIMAN, ‘100 Words’, lead off an all-star ensemble of industry greats in the all-new second volume of LIBERTY COMICS. Passionate comic book storytelling, all in service to an important cause, the incredible contributions list includes a Painkiller Jane story by JIMMY PALMIOTTI and JIM RUGG; a new Mr. Gum adventure from MIKE ALLRED, DAVE JOHNSON and JAMIE S. RICH; The Apocalypstix by RAY FAWKES and CAMERON STEWART, a return to Channel Zero by BRIAN WOOD; a preview of Choker by BEN MCCOOL and BEN TEMPLESMITH; and a special Martha Washington piece by DAVE GIBBONS, alongside exclusive material by PAUL POPE; KATHRYN & STUART IMMONEN; CHYNNA CLUGSTON; PAUL GRIST; and JASON AARON & MORITAT. LIBERTY COMICS already features two covers, one by Batman: The Long Halloween’s TIM SALE and a new Kick Ass image by creator JOHN ROMITA JR.

LIBERTY COMICS #2 (AUG090303), a 48-page full color comic book for $4.99, will be in stores October, 14 2009.

Hello Cowboy: Monkey Juice cover

2009-09-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

Another random piece for the week on ebay. This time I just put up the cover art to my very first sketchbook "Monkey Juice". I went on to give later versions a different cover but this was the original. Hello Cowboy.

Batman Quickee

2009-09-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

Done for a bit of an exhibition in Brazil I'm going to next month. I just call this having fun with shapes really.

Skulls & Liquor

2009-09-15T03:31:00.000-07:00

A little bit more progress...

Jesus Hates Zombies

2009-09-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

Ages ago, I got asked to have the honour of doing up a cover for JESUS HATES ZOMBIES, created by Stephen Lindsay, for his big arse ultimate collection of the book. Finally got around to doing it so here's a few in progress shots!

Here's the initial pencils...mostly...since I forgot to take a picture before I started the inks. Oops.

A better shot. I used an old Russian religious icon for my version of Jesus. I figured a more modern interpretation of him than the biblical, yet not completely pop cultured up Jesus as we have in modern times could be a bit eye catching and offer some contrast to the...zombies. Got to love the old icon imagery.

Inks nearly done. Just the smaller fine lines and blacks to go.

Scanned in after the water colour washes. A little blood splatter here and there.

Added some textures. Photos I've taken of concrete etc plus a little dodge and burn.

Colour time. Made the mystic's robe blue-ish and the zombies green then warmed the whole thing up.

The final version. Further refined the colours and the contrast. A few retouches with a little airbrush and obviously, added the halo whateverthehell you call it effect Jesus has going on behind him there.

Dead Space: Extraction

2009-09-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Should be out today! At all good comic stores. By Antony Johnston and I. More story and stuff to enhance the game ( which I hope by now you guys have played ).

Will probably be my last full comic out until CHOKER, early next year.