I'm not dead.

 

Yes, I know it's seemed like it for quite some time but honest, I'm not dead. ( Well, yet. ) Had to go offline to deal with a few things, none pleasant and being offline becomes strangely addicting. Now to actually attempt to pick up the shambles of existence and go find my pink elephant. I'm sure I'll be back to bitch and moan on a regular basis soon but for now, San Diego Comic Con 2011 is upon us, with all it's musky geekery, sweaty crowds of people just there for the free movie promotional trinkets and to offer B grade celebrities the odd blowjob.

I'll be there, thanks to the fine folks of Gestalt Comics, like the poster says. Come say hi. Bring alcohol. ( No, actually, please don't. )

MODOK

Took a stab. He's a tad grumpy. Original art is on Ebay if you're so inclined too...

Hunter

Bat country.

Electra

The red lady. She's up here if anyone wants her.

Whoa

So, bloody eventful year so far, with more to come. Some of it keeping me from the work I should be doing sadly, so I'm back down in Australia for a bit to focus and get some things back in order. I haven't been putting the work first for rather a long time, so that needs to change. Yes, unbelievably, like a ferret reading braille I'll actually start posting art to the blog again!

Oh, and sadly, I've had to cancel some convention appearances. Comicpalooza in Houston, Calgary, Heroes Con in Charlotte and Albuquerque Comic Expo. Which sucks but had to be done. Hopefully I'll do them next year. Instead, if the Squid God is kind, ( mostly he isn't actually ) I should be at the Sydney and Perth Supanova's instead. So I'll still be about.

And still planning on hitting San Diego Comic-con.

I recently did a BUNCH of conventions though. Chicago, Kansas, Melbourne and Brisbane. All of them quite fantastique. Here's a bunch of art/commissions I did during them.

I *might* actually take on a few online ones soon, but a lot of other work ( and several promised commissions I'm behind on ) have to come first still!

Want more? Then check out my ComicsPipeline.com account for the special stuff. Going up momentarily.

C2E2 Ahoy

Alrighty! I'm off to C2E2 today. I'll have Squidgirls, some Wormwood, Hoxford, original art and of course sketches and commissions! All the info you need for those can be found here on my other blog.

I'll be spending the entire time of the con ( well, except for a panel on SATURDAY AT 1PM and bathroom breaks, ) at the COMICS PIPELINE BOOTH 617. NOT artist alley this year. I'll be right by Marvel and stuff. Rather new experience for me.

So come by, say hi, I'll sign anything you got and enjoy the chats with the people insane enough to buy my work!

When you work on your own comics, how do you work? Do you write a script before you start drawing, or do you do both at the same time?

I write a basic plot outline, then write pure dialogue, all by hand, then layout the entire book, then draw it, then finally after all that, I actually type up the dialogue and cut it up so someone else can actually letter the thing, because they can't peer directly into my head.

Ask me anything

Emerald City Comic-con And on to C2E2

Huge thanks to everyone who came out for the always awesome Emerald City Comic-con. Between the stresses of still only being half moved with all my proper con stuff in boxes, a longish commute to the con and sickness and lack of sleep it turned out really well and I hope everyone had a blast. ECCC is always so comics focused and friendly and the live art event thrown by Molly McIsaac on the Friday was really a highlight... and looks to become some sort of annual thing now for the show.



Next up I'll be heading to C2E2, assuming I make it through a mountain of things I need to get done first!

Here's what you need to know...

C2E2

I'll be there all three days.

I'll always be located at the COMICSPIPELINE BOOTH: booth #617 ( So scream that as loud as you can at the internet for everyone because I get so many questions and later, at con, so many people saying "I didn't know you were even going to be at the show!" Huzzah etc! )

COMMISSIONS INFO can be found on my blog. Yes, email me anytime now and I'll put you on the list/try to get ahead so I can fit as many people in as I can.

I'll sign as many books as I can, obviously, so don't feel bad if you bring a bunch. Don't limit yourself to just one. That's horribly thoughtful of you nice folks but I can sign a few more than that.

Quick sketches ( of vampire heads/zombies/skulls/my choice only so I can stay sane ) are always free, as is a quick chat. ( Though I tend to get loopy at the end so witty humour may start getting lost to me on Sunday! )

Live Art at Emerald City Comic-Con

Commissions and San Francisco!

Yup, I'll be up in San Francisco, most importantly doing this live art thing for the Noisepop Festival with DJ Samsupa and ALSO... this here thing below for ISOTOPE COMICS, only the best store I've basically ever been to.

This year, I *won't* be at WONDERCON sadly ( I'll be on another continent instead ) so if anyone wanted a commission off me, I'm taking some in advance of the SF trip and can deal with them at the Isotope event, where I'll be chatting/sketching/drinking the whole time. I'll also have a very limited number of SQUIDGIRLS: EROTICA TENTACULA on hand, for personalizations and sketchings in. This'll probably be the only time I'll be up to SF for the foreseeable, so come on out and see how great sequential art and the people who love it can be.

Details for commissions and such can be located here and drop me a note about what you want at bentemplesmith @ gmail.com. I really need to consolidate lots of info into something manageable, I know. When I eventually get time to breathe...

New Wormwood!

Ok, almost new...the really really new stuff is coming too. Yet again, Wormwood Volume 01 has sold out, so it had to go back to print and it's finally back in stores today. And yes, retailers can actually order it again too. PLUS, with a new Wormwood miniseries out eventually this year, there's new life in the old corpse yet I hope.

I even did a new cover for it. Got really sick of the old, first cover I ever did for a Wormy trade. Hope people think this one is just as good. A bit more in sync with the others.

You can buy it from all the usual places, IDW, and Amazon as well. Support your godly local retailer first if you can though.

Curse of Four

So I did this image for a book cover for Caitlin Kittredge's new thang, "Curse of Four" from Subterranean Press. One of my favourite images I've done in a long while actually.

It's up on her blog now, so am guessing it's all right for me to plug it and of course, check out her website!

Plans for 2011 so far

Alright you lot, apologies for lack of updating. Been off doing things, traveling and making so many plans, including moving city/state to Seattle. And it's not over yet so things may be a little sporadic for awhile. BUT...

In response to a lot of queries and questions, this is what's going on and I'm going to point you all here for the info.

WORMWOOD: BINGO NIGHT IN VALHALLA

Is coming! Got to work madly on it now. Will be solicited for July, more info to come and there's already a sneak peek on my tumblr.

FELL

Yes, amazingly, there's a new, full script for issue 10 and it's a spiffy one from Warren. I'm starting on that this month too. Right now it has to fit in with all the other crap I've got going on but it'll get done soonish. It feels really good to finally have a different answer to the classic "So when will there be more FELL?" question. The answer is SOON.

CHOKER

WILL be finished, Ben is working on the final script for issue 6 right now.

BLACK SKY

This one I'm getting into now too, script is coming along and I'll be fitting it around the other stuff. Yes, I'm a busy boy. Really got to get my arse moving on this one.

CONVENTIONS, FESTIVALS AND COMMISSIONS

Ok, so here's how the first half of the year is looking so far. Still doing a lot of travel and hopefully meeting all the cool people who amazingly support my work.

NOISE POP- February 27th I'll be down at the festival, doing some live art, specifically of FELL, along with DJ Samsupa. It's a free event at the festival, so come on down. and YES, wil be doing a signing/event thingy at Isotope comics with the insanely good James Sime and co. there'll be a signing and some Squidgirls for sale. I can do a small number of commissions to be picked up/paid for at the signing if there's demand as well. Email me to get on the rather short list for such things. ( bentemplesmith @ gmail.com )

EMERALD CITY COMIC-CON!

Yes, I'll be there. Yes, I'll be doing commissions and should have some Squidgirls for sale too. I'll be found in artists alley somewhere, wherever the big red banner with my "T" is basically.

C2E2 CHICAGO!

Yes, I'll be there. Yes, I'll be doing commissions and should have some Squidgirls for sale. I'll be able to be found at the COMICS PIPELINE booth the entire con.

And further on, all these cons are ones I'm pretty much committed to for now. Because I am insane, apparently. International stuff to come:

Planet Comic Con, Kansas City

Supanova Comic Cons, Brisbane & Melbourne

Comicpalooza, Houston

Heroes Con, Charlotte

Calgary Expo in uh, Calgary

Albuquerque Comic Expo

ZomBcon, Seattle

San Diego Comic-Con

New York Comic-Con

Superman "hasn't done anything to his hair since the 50's." Are you forgetting the Super Mullet of the 90's?

Umm... You think mullets count? I do not.

Ask me anything. Typing actual english words helps though.

Is there such thing as "pretentious" artist?

Yes, absolutely.

You see it in "fine art" especially with the recent spate of them ripping off commercial artists and calling their "reproductions" "found art" or some such. Meaning in art is a lovely thing but honestly, it's really about how pretty and aesthetically pleasing something is at the end of the day. I miss the days of actual technical proficiency that'd go along with the long winded "explanations" for their art too. I appreciate most art, as I appreciate the beauty, even in the ugly side of life... but I really wish decent figurative art would make a come back.

Banksy, now, there's an artist who at least for awhile had real meaning and social commentary to his work.

In my opinion, the worst offenders of "pretentious" artists are some musicians, who rate their own work far too highly and go on and on in such serious ways...when the intelligent people in the room know they're simply derivative of many a musician before them, or even worse, are a creation and simply a front for corporate blandness sold as "edgy" and "new" when it's been written by committee and the singer mimes the words and looks pretty. People who don't even write their own music are not musicians, they're taking part in some shallow commercial karaoke business. Yeah, musicians, when you've written a piece that captures the mood of the times and affects a generation or becomes their voice, then you can take yourself uber seriously. Odds are though, those talented folks are just humble and like to write and acknowledge that it's luck of the draw as to what sticks. You're not all David Bowie. You're not all Nick Drake. ( Nick Drake impersonators are the funniest to me. )

To me, art, all art should first and foremost be a creative outlet that makes the creator happy. Sod anything else. Sod all the extra layers of meaning you want to add to try and make yourself "serious". Just have fun, make something beautiful and
hopefully many others will also agree. And by beautiful, I don't mean happy. By al lmeans, share your sadness with the world too. Don't fluff yourself up as if it's some deep thing. It's not. Unless you watched your heroin junkie parents parents die in a burning car wreck and were then raised by an abusive step uncle named Jeff, living with the demons he got while off fighting in some war that damaged his brain and the depleted uranium shriveled his testes and made him a eunuch...then you're probably just a middle class effete bastard play acting at such things. Don't take yourself so seriously. Because I won't. It's either pretty to look at/listen to or it isn't. "Meaning" ( pretention ) is too often used to cover up for lack of quality. I crack up when I hear musicians get interviewed and droll on and on about the importance of a certain piece or blah blah blah. Especially when they've got a 100 million in the bank. Yes, you have it so tough, please share your troubles with us. Same for you, Damian Hirst.


End angry old man rant. I tend not to like pretentious holier than thou types. Or as we call them, wankers.

Ask me anything. Typing actual english words helps though.