SF Wildlife - Day Dreamer Ring Tailed Lemur

If you caught my last post you know, I am switching gears a little for my SF WildLife blog. For these upcoming entries I am featuring a select group of Bay Area friends. These are guys who I admire a lot, and who have a great personal style. 

To start, I present a guy who has a subtle, approachable style. He enjoys classic men's fashion, and has a sense of humor about it all too.  Plus he was quickest to respond, and was happy to model for free.

It's Me.

This is my typical, every day look. There are a few things that I am very likely to have on me. Here are a few of my staples. 

1. Mr. Jones pin

In Daniel Clowes' graphic novel, Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, this secret mark was forcibly scratched into the heel of the hero. The symbol meant the wearer had the correct "mental frequency" and had been visited by the mysterious "Mr. Jones". Don't worry, I don't think this nightmarish story was meant to make any sense. Wearing this single pin on my corduroy blazer is my little nod to the secret society that is comic book geeks and art dorks. You don't have to wear a polyester Spider-man hawaiian shirt to represent. This pin hasn't sparked any conversations yet but I'm sure when it does I will make a new friend. 

2. The Graphic Tee

A coworker just asked me, "Do you have any T-shirts that aren't your own designs?" Not a lot. My every day clothes usually involve a neutral colored T-shirt that is either one of my own designs or made by my friends. 

• Gama-Go
• Skinner
• Zerofriends
• Upper Playground

I design shirts I want to wear and I would rather advertise for friends than just grab something from Urban Outfitters.

3. The Socks

I started wearing non-white, non-boring socks around age 12 and never looked back. Unless I am rollerskating, I am wear socks that are colorful and possibly weird. They may not even match. You can laugh but a friend of mine got a job for doing the same thing. Yep, the interviewer was on the fence about him, but when he noticed my friend had two different argyle socks on, he knew this guy was alright!

4. The Chucks

Converse has also been my go-to shoes since the 5th grade. In the two years that I have lived in San Francisco, I've literally walked the soles off 3 pairs. This pair was a gift and they are definitely my all-time favorite. Black leather, lace-less low tops. They have a  Ramones-meets-RunDMC vibe that I dig.

5. The Hat

I've always loved hats but they fell off the radar for me for most of my adult life. Now that I live in the City (and lets face it, my hair isn't as thick and lustrous as it once was), hats are non-negotiable. I owned half a dozen before I started working with Goorin Bros. Now my hat wall is looking pretty crazy. I've been hat greedy. But lets face it, if I wear a hat nearly every day and I still want to match all my various clothes, I gotta mix things up. It's mostly flat-caps (news boys) and a couple fedoras. 

By the way,  stay tuned on developments with Goorin Bros.!

6. The Man-Bag

I realize that for most of the country this is still called a purse, but my man-bag has become a necessity to living in The City. I walk or bus everywhere and I need a few basics every time I leave the apartment, including but not limited to: 

• Sketchbook
• Pens & pencils
• Business cards/postcards
• My keys. I hate having a bunch of crap, especially keys, scraping against my legs and bulging out of my pockets. I don't want to look like Khaki Koala.
• Groceries. Yep, San Francisco charges for bags now, so if I buy a bottle of wine on the way home I might just put it in the man-bag. 

My leather messenger bag was a gift from my lady. Its by Andrew Marc and it's awesome. 

7. Oh, and The Jeans

I have a few pairs of Levi's 511s. One each in blue, grey and black. I love them. They aren't too baggy or too close. There are no ridiculous stitched flourishes on the butt or hammer loops coming off them. I've been told they are ass-complimentary. That's all a guy needs.

Thanks for reading! Who is next? Check back in the coming days.

-Ben

I'm A Model. You Know What I Mean?

This isn't really "breaking news" but I want to share something I am pretty proud of; my appearance in a Marvel comic book! I don't mean my artwork (not yet anyway, but there is hope). No, I mean me.

Last year my good friend Timothy Green II asked me to model for him as he was working on a one off issue of Ender's Game called Recruiting Valentine. I played the bitter school teacher. We get to see what I would look like with Spike-esque blonde hair. Those who've ever gone dancing with me know I'm all too familiar with jumpsuits. Cracking good job, Timothy!

More of Timothy's work can be seen on his blog.

******

A few years ago I was missing the good times I had drawing costumed models in art school so I started my own "alternative drawing studio" called Pompsicle (like a frozen fashion show. Still not sure if that makes sense). Local artists can pay a small cover to come draw from love models in crazy costumes, cool street clothes, etc. Everyone from fashion models to roller derby girls to furries have modeled for Pompsicle sessions.

I've had the pleasure of meeting a lot of cool people who want to dress up and pose for artists. Occasionally things come up and a model backs out at the last minute or they just don't show up. Which means I've ended up modeling for all kinds of cool, young artists!

This one is done by Afton Kern. She's about the most talented young artist I've met in a long time. I'm not sure if this one has a title so I'm calling it Portrait of Ben Walker with Primate Heads. More of her work can be seen on her Facebook profile here.

Something I learned early on: If you are a guy who may need to model for artists: own a suit...and a cool little hat and you can pull off dozens of characters. Here is a sketch by another talented artist and photographer, Matt Verdolivo. More of his work at www.greenolive.net.

Thanks for reading!

Your Pal,

-Ben