c'est manga!

test pages for a french manga...

Fans seem to think that the more lines that go into a drawing the better it is. Actually, the opposite is generally true. The fewer lines you can put into a drawing the quicker it reads, and the simpler it is. [Alex] Toth is one of the few guys who can simplify an illustration to a minimum of lines with a maximum of impact

-jim steranko

BCTV (ben caldwell television)

howdy all!

great news for the 3 of you who wondered when i was going to be on TV, the answer is TONIGHT! ok, i'm only on TV in the berks county PA area, but if you have a computer (like the one you are reading this post on) then you can watch it live at 7pm here:

i'm going to do some classes and workshops at the Art Institute this fall, and having an exhibit aug 4, so the interview is part of the exciting and informative* media blitz that will put my name on everyone's lips (in the greater berks county region, who is watching channel 13 tonight)! i don't know what they will ask me, but since i throw random comments into every conversation anyway, no worries, right?

as for the exhibit... it will open aug4, and feature tons of original art and development notes, etc, plus i will print up some of those WW pages to fill up the whole wall! and there will be prints and original art for sale! and ninjas, too!**

see you tonight! or at the exhibit! or NYCC! and if i don't see you at any of those places, let's just pretend i did AND YOU LOVED IT, ok? thanks!

i'll post more details about the exhibits and classes and some exciting stuff that's coming for new york comiccon!

cheers!

ben c

*i make no guarantees that it will be even remotely informative.

**due to budget constraints, there will be no ninjas.

more exonauts

no time top post lately (or no energy, same thing). here is more from the exonauts, i think you can see a little bit of it on the site.

project exonaut

hi all!

one of the projects i was working on a while back was cartoon network's online "project exonaut" game. some of the art for that is still secret, including all my character (re)designs, but here is a battle scene i drew up that was rendered by massive black. the whole project was AD'd by drawing board regular jeremy vanhoozer:

i'll post more later!

fight like a girl!

amusing myself by thinking of fun graphics to put on shirts

wondy

i was working on something completely unrelated and this kind of popped out.

*edit* waiting for something to save, finished doodling it.

BAZU!

exactly

manga manga manga!

sorry i've been gone so long, moving and work and blah blah.
still working out the details, but i might have a very manga summer:

recent portfolio stuffs

if only i can get the job! also, boo hoo.

the barge captain's house

well, i was keeping it a secret (ha ha, get it? becau-- ahh, nevermind)... but whatever.

another coloring etc test for st michel. this is the barge captain's house, once a salt-taffee factory. as always, i love showing age and past usage in my characters and enviros.

originally, everything was going to be covered with snow, like a bruegel winter scene.

wolverine

stylin' 2

still working on projects i can't post or talk about...

in the meantime, some doodles of costumes for the same history as empress blue.

howdy all!

sorry i've been absent, in addition to being very busy, i've been pretty wiped out. fun!

so just something short and sweet.

last month was my twins' birthday, so i drew up a coloring/activity book for their class, then went in and read it. fortunately, i'm about as smart and lucid as a 4-year old, so it worked out really well.

it was based on a bunch of bedtime stories i made up for them (the batman/cinderella team-up stories were getting old). it's not shakespeare, but it put off the day day when they inevitable realize that i am an embarrassment. anyway, here are the first few pages:

i'm posting them (relatively) hi-res so you or your liked ones can also color them if you are bored and the tv is out or whatever.

my favorite part is the title lettering.

ain't no party like a —

x184

howdy!

well, NYCC was more exhausting -- and more interesting -- than i was expecting. i didn't really have a plan, and i know there were a lot of people i was planning on looking up who i missed. that's one of the things that always bugs me about big cons, even though it's obviously my own fault.

fortunately, i did get to see a lot of fantastic people, including old pals like steven silver and cheeks (who are way out of my league but don't seem to realize it, which is fine with me)! thank god mike (miss mucci if you're nasty) got me through saturday, and he didn't even use his imaginary ninja sword on anyone the whole time! that was a first.

and of course i have to mention joao and nuno and ricardo (wait, i think there were 2 ricardos?) and basically the whole portuguese comics cartel, who had some beautiful work and were nicer than nice! people who are so positive make me uncomfortable, because i am made out of complex carbohydrates and spite. hopefully some of their new projects make it to american publishers!

on the more soulless side of things, i had some interesting business meetings and, if all goes well, it looks like i will be very busy next year.

anyhoo, talking to joao inspired me to revamp some characters from an old pitch of mine, originally for a cartoon. maybe it would work better as an online comic?

crossroads

hmm.

next year will be interesting, because for the first time in years i will no longer be catching up with long term projects, or working on any how-the-hell-did-someone-pick-me-for-this projects. i will have the time (relatively) to turn my attention to some long neglected work. the thing is, there are so many completely different things i could do. it's paralyzing!

first off, i will be returning to the award-losing dare detectives. i've worked out a plan, and i've actually done a lot of the scripting for the second dare case, as well as a bit of thumbnailing. the story is much more complex than "the snowpea plot", and compared to almost all of my previous work, it will be a lot less compressed. certainly not decompressed, but a little more space for the characters to breathe, a little less hectic (at times) than the last story. also a lot more room to show little corners of the dare world, from the racism maria faces in a swanky resort to the ruins of the ancient giant civilizations to the return of dare's first foe, red dingo! and yes, this story also has kissing (which apparently offends a lot of people), but then it has tiki zombies too, so make of it what you will.

pictured: not a tiki zombie

there are also a bunch of "manga" stories i've been meaning to tackle. now, i understand that the rest of the world has some sort of rulebook about what is and is not officially manga, i just don't really care. unfortunately, publishers do. so i'm trying to figure out if it's just easier to do my own stuff online and make a living digging ditches or something.

in light of my surprisingly controversial post last month (well, it surprised the hell out of me) several people have asked me about my more female-centric work, which led me to the shocking realization that pretty much all my work is female-centric. at least compared to a lot of what's out there, i guess. maria dare and ann-marie and dolly and alex faraday and WW and the list goes on. i don't know how it happened. i blame masamune shirow. also, women.

blue haired, alien hunting women

but i'm wondering if i shouldn't go with that, and focus on one of my stories that is more... well, not like WW, what's the point of almost doing something? but something along the same lines, in terms of larger than life superheroines and crazy international intrigue and fantasy and all that jazz. the fact is that most of my stories are drenched in that stuff anyway, even most "dare" stories. just in different combinations. anyway, most of my manga projects fit somewhere in this category, so we'll see. there was even one i posted doodles from last year, although i'm afraid that story isn't crazy enough. you know, time-traveling cyber-crocodile jetbike crazy. (one of the things i loved about WW was the sense that jesus, anything could totally happen so you better just smile and go with it. i want more of that.)

you can't tell, but he just punched 1,000 space ninjas

anyway, i'm gearing up to tackle at least some of these projects in the new year. one thing you may have noticed is that a lot of my new art has been very loosely drawn and inked. it's a faster way to work, and right now i want to spend less time finessing each panel, and really crank out a ton of stories. in the end, all people* want is to be entertained, and all i want is to entertain them!

*and by people, i mean small children, mimes, professional convicts, and myself.**

** mostly myself.

NYCC

howdy all!

i will be going to the new york comiccon next weekend. well, saturday for sure -- sunday is my birthday. anyway, i won't have a table or anything, just wandering around, possibly trying to pitch an idea or two. ha ha that is funny.

so if you see me feel free to say hi or punch me. "hi" would probably work better for me.

also, i have been finally finishing up a pack of commissions, here is one of the larger ones:

burnbabyburn

inking/style test, working on it on and off over the past week, in between other things. not worrying too much about the bike details, although thanks to the sophie project, i've had a lot of practice. the hands are annoying me.

good evening...

cleaning out some digital junk and what the what is this? oh yes, several years ago, sterling asked me to do a tiny promo chapbook to go with something "dracula" related. can't remember what exactly, possibly because they never actually used it, but now it can achieve new levels of uselessness on the web.

oh, that dracula! he gives me a toothache.