TV time again

today (dec 28) at 7pm i'll be on TV again. local access, BCTV if you live in the berks county area. i'll be talking with reading eagle art critic ron schira about comics (presumably mine, but who knows) and there's an excellent chance i will say something ignorant or embarrassing. or... ignorant AND embarrassing, why choose just one? you can see what i'm up to.

if you don't live in the area, you can go to http://www.bctv.org/bctv/watch_live/wl_bctv/ to watch a live stream.

cheers!

nothing like a cuppa...

...when fighting alien hordes.

something (non-dare) that i'm working on. i'd probably be done, but mice tried to burn my house down this weekend.

no, that is not a metaphor.

the 5th dare day of xmas!

the dare detectives should be in bookstores today!!!

buy it now! or later. now is better!!!

cheers to simon

the 4th dare day of xmas

yes, i know the counting is all off. whacha gonna do about it?

dare days of xmas 3

an old street, away from the tourist traps,

in tropical southgate. from the kula kola caper.

this is actually one of my favoritest drawings ever.

unfortunately, it was stolen (along with a bag full

of other art) from NYCC.

the 2nd dare day of xmas

here's day 2!

in a later case, the DD go undercover to investigate a psychedelic band dabbling in mind control. as you can see, sarah learned everything she knows about punk from my little pony.

pearl harbor

holy crap! when i think of wonder woman, i think of this:

also, space amazons.

DARE DETECTIVES #1 is about to hit stores!

ah... winter. that magical time of the year, when a young man's fancy turns to panda gangsters and haunted casinos...

and to cater to the underserved panda-gangsters-and-haunted-casinos demographic, archaia has released the dare detectives mostly first case, "the snowpea plot".

the 208-page trove of wonders will be available at bookstores on the 19th, just in time to buy your special someone 2 copies for christmas! why 2 copies? because that's twice as much money for me, and that 100ft tall robot mme. bleu isn't going to build itself!

it was going to be 102 feet, but that would have been ridiculous

so to celebrate, i'm going to post dare art each day for the 12 dare days of christmas. each will be high-res, so feel free to download them, print them out, make them into screensavers, sneak them into your portfolio, etc.

ps - if you hate bookstores, "the snowpea plot" will also be on sale at comics store on the 28th. of course, by then the books will all be sold out, and people will be using page 183* as a new and indestructible national currency, so don't miss out!

cheers!

ben c

ps -- aaah... fergit it, i can't wait that long! it'll just have to be 18 dare days of christmas. or 11. whatever, i draw ninjas specifically so that i don't have to math stuff!

*ha ha, i'm just kidding. it's going to be page 185.

poison

feel like crap and everyone in my family

is sick right now and no sleep and boo hoo.

commission, 11x17"

happy thanksgiving!

i'm giving thanks for a lovely wife and children with no criminal record.

so far

ps - this is the path from vaudeville to lantern abbey

ugh

been felling sick for the past several weeks, no energy, either. more of those oz motivational posters.

blurg.

more from the cartooning class

hi all! more from my class. i suppose i should mention, by the way, that i'll be teaching another round of the class starting in january, and anyone who lives in the berks/lancaster area who is interested can sign up through the yocum art institute.

anyway, talking about placing figures in space/drawing figures in perspective, which segued into POV and shot composition:

of course, these are not exhaustive -- they're just supplements for the actual class -- but i'm thinking of putting together an "advanced! cartooning" book or something, after manga is done.

kids

nothing fancy, just a doodle of my girls and toby.

yes, toby the dog is named after toby taylor. but in all fairness, toby taylor was originally chosen as a great puppy name, since the character is like an overgrown puppy. it's all very "circle of life".

or something completely different.

design, posing, and body language

these are some notes i drew up for my current cartooning class.

i used DD's arch-foe red dingo, who i have only recently figured out how to draw.

he is a manic and grandiose character, so he was a perfect example for showing changes in body language for depression, elation etc that need to look exciting, while essentially being static poses.

the stages go from right to left, because i am left-handed and everything i do is backwards

if you have my earlier sketchbooks, or the uberfolio, you can see plenty of examples of the attempts i've made at red dingo over the years.

i actually have dozens of pages of these expressions/poses, it seems i went from total block to artistic diarrhea. enjoy the mental image!

red dingo is enjoying it

the bar poses are from a scene in "the kula kola caper". don't worry, kids, it's just ginger ale!

and vodka.

OZ motivational poster

cleaning up some old files and found this. there are more.

*#&#*! winkies.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

obviously, i was going to post this yesterday.

unfortunately, we've been sans internet since friday, thanks to the blizzard. and i just realized that starbuck's has free wifi. if only they had blankies for nap time...




i'll post more stuff from the witch's house later.

what the hell, ben?

no, seriously... what the hell?

pictured: what the hell?

NYCC commissions 4

playing doctor, 11x17

NYCC sketches 3

2 more con sketches. dr strange is roughs for an 11x17 pic that i'm working on.

the bottom is a random doodle, based on a tattoo artist i met. i didn't actually see her punch the red skull, but come on.

pictured: come on

also, howdy again to everyone i met, and everyone i met again! i didn't get to visit all the tables i wanted to, but here's hoping for next time!

also, to sarah from nebraska/massachusetts: i still didn't see your art!

(as a general note, everyone should be carrying art on them at all times.)

NYCC commissions 2

catwoman pencils

catwoman inks

wonder woman!

more to come...