Weirdos in Love

Crazy 4 Cult 5 at Gallery 1988 (Melrose)

Raise your hand if you are tired of the cynical, jaded attitudes that seem to have taken over and wiped out all but the touchiest, feeliest dolphin huggers of the world! In the pop culture world at least, it seams like it's just not cool to actually love anything or anyone. Ironic love of Members Only jackets and Phil Collins, yes. But I think a lot of folks now have a hard time coming out and saying they are really into something or someone. I guess that is too risky. We love songs about people who torch a car to spite an ex-lover. But when it comes to stories about people who love each other where things turn out just fine, people don't want to hear about it.

Seriously?! What exactly do we all have to be so bitter about? I say anyone who thinks it's unsophisticated, unrealistic, or immature to love life and be optimistic for the future is missing out on life itself.

-End Rant-

For this year's Crazy 4 Cult at Gallery 1988 I painted a series of small pieces I'm calling Weirdos in Love. These are four pieces are inspired by some of my favorite films: Harold and Maude, Wild at Heart, Napoleon Dynamite, and Better Off Dead.

I love the characters in these films because by the end of the story they grow up a little (or a lot) and decide to give love and life a real chance.

I hope these paintings can help make love and passion cool again! ....I guess we'll see.

Go And Love Some More

Water color and ink on Claybord, 5"x7"

You Got Me Hotter Than Georgia Asphalt

Water color and ink on Claybord, 5"x7"

There's More Where This Came From

Water color and ink on Claybord, 5"x7"

Language Lessons

Water color and ink on Claybord, 5"x7"

The 5th piece in this series is a bit larger and will part of I Know You Are But What Am I? The Pee wee Herman tribute show at Gallery 1988's Venice location.

CRAZY 4 CULT 5: I'M GETTING TOO OLD FOR THIS SHIT

Opening reception: Friday July 8, 7-11pm (show is up through July 30, 2011)

7020 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038, www.nineteeneightyeight.com

Shaping America's Lexicon One Painting at a Time

Help me invent new words! Here's the story:

While growing up, films like The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Vacation, She's Having a Baby, Sixteen Candles, and especially Ferris Bueller's Day Off were a huge influence on me. They helped shape my expectations about life and my teen years. I think the humor and insight in every John Hughes film is timeless. Last March Gallery 1988 paid tribute to the Master of 80's flicks with a group show called The Road to Shermer. I was honored to be a part of it!

So how does an artist come up with concepts for a show like this? Well, it's just about presenting your own ideas, memories, and sense of humor on the subject matter. One thing that always struck me about John's films was the fashions. The styles seemed amplified a bit beyond real-world fashions. I think the clothes really helped convey the characters and make them larger than life. And for me, it all seemed to culminate in their hats. I went with my first thought, which was to paint a catalog page of all the memorable hats from Hughes' films.

Hats By Hughes, Acrylic on wood panel, 15"x20"

Cameron Frye's "bestie"

After this piece was completed, the idea that a newsboy style hat (like the one worn by Alan Ruck in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) is actually called a "bestie" stuck with me. I started calling my own newsboys "besties" and maybe its a testament to my ego but I decided other people should call them besties too.

So I wrote a definition and submitted it to urbandictionary.com. I love the idea of John Hughes films, the show at Gallery 1988, and my own painting all coming together to make this new meaning of the word stick! If you love Mr. Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, cool hats, maybe even my artwork, please take a second to click this link and give the definition a thumbs up!

Urban Dictionary: bestie

Then try to use the word in a sentence every day. Perfect!

-Ben Walker

P.S. The Road to Shermer received an amazing amount of press! So now my "Hats" piece has been featured all over, including Vogue Italy's website. Bello!

Camp Firewood

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of

Wet Hot American Summer

Friday, June 10th, Gallery 1988: Venice will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of an event that changed my life; The release of the film, Wet Hot American Summer. How did it Change my life, you ask? Well, after seeing this film I began steering all conversations toward this movie.

"Oh your cat has bird flu? Dang that's a shame. You know what else is a shame? The fact that you haven't seen Wet Hot American Summer!"

So I was thrilled when G1988 asked me to be part of their group show commemorating 10 years of this film's existence. I painted this piece depicting my favorite moment in the picture, the climactic end to a chase scene when camp councilor Victor Kulak jumps over a single hay bale.

Jeez, I had a series of images sketched out but I ended up devoting the rest of my time to creating a set of wooden signs directing you to Camp Firewood or Town. It was a fun change of pace. Turning plywood into an aged and cracked sign almost felt sculptural. and yes, I own a dremel and love it. Apparently I'm also really into working with text and titles right now because I keep adding it to all artwork. This sign is the first project I've done that's just about type and icons rather than characters and such.

I give full credit to my girlfriend Amanda for the idea of making a sign. And we were both so psyched on how well it turned out that we decided to put together a little photo-shoot inspired by the film. Here are best pics from the day.

Camp Firewood opens Friday, June 10th from 7-10pm (on display through June 29, 2011)

Hosted by the film's director & Co-Writer: David Wain!

Gallery 1988 (Venice)

214 Pier Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90405

www.nineteeneightyeight.com

Ben Walker: Concept Artist

So, I'm a Concept Artist now. As often happens in life, there have been some twists and turns for me and I've ended up living in the San Francisco Bay Area, working for a Facebook game company. (Don't worry, the paint brushes, T-shirts, etc. haven't been put down completely! I'm still chugging away on some new art projects).

The game I'm on is called Ravenwood Fair and it's created by a guy who is well known in the video game world, John Romero. If you haven't heard of him, I'm sure you have heard of the games he has spawned: Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein? yeah.

Yes, John has good taste in clothes. No we are not holding hands.

I was hired by LOLapps and brought onto the Ravenwood Fair team about halfway into it's development and it's been really cool to see it launch and grow so quickly! The idea of the game is that you are clearing away a scary forest (in a fairy tale, Black Forest style) and building a fun fair. But the creepy forests are still around you so there's a bit of a dark edge to this mostly cute game. It's been compared to Zynga's Frontierville, which is fair of course, but Ravenwood Fair is definitely it's own thing and not just another clone (as can happen with so many games these days). I don't think I'm being biased when I say the artwork really stands out on this game! The small but kick-ass art and animation team really made this a top-notch game (they were knocking it out of the park well before I showed up). Big props to Christine Macternan for overseeing it all (and for helping me get my size 10 Chuck Taylor in the door).

So yeah! I've been working hard for the last few months on concept art and other assets for this game. which means digitally painting various, buildings, rides, food items....lots of logs. Some stuff I just do as line art, then someone else will take over from there. Some stuff I will see through to final paints. There is a lot of passing artwork around, which is very different from the way I work on my own art and illustrations. But as long as one doesn't get overly-attached to random pieces or have an ego about stuff, the collaborative approach isn't a problem. I'm just happy to be paid to draw and paint all day! Here are some samples of my work.

Yes, you can show this to your Art Director friend.

My contract is almost up with LOLapps, so it looks like I will be moving on to other things. I've definitely learned a lot and had boat-loads of fun working with this team! I'll be sure to let you all know what happens next for me.

Thanks for reading,

Ben Walker

These Are Their Stories

*Bong-Bong*

Are you familiar with the art of Brandon Bird? He is in a lot of ways what I hope to be: a super nice guy who creates stunning artwork that also happens to be hilarious. Brandon is known mostly for creating artwork that incorporates his love for the Law & Order TV franchise.

Earlier this year Brandon asked me to participate in a Law & Order themed group show! For this show, each artist interprets a one-line episode summary from the DirecTV program guide. Here is all the info:

"These are Their Stories"

runs July 24 to July 30, 2010

Gallery Meltdown, 7522 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Opening reception July 28th, 8:00 to 10:00 pm

I chose Killer Has a Foot Fetish for my piece. I took some artistic license and changed it to The Killer Had A Shoe Fetish. This sounds better as a men's adventure magazine title which is the direction I wanted to go with this one. Keep reading to see how it all went down.

My Day in Court

I was summoned to serve jury duty and I knew how much waiting is involved so I thought it would be fitting to bring my sketchbook and my little man-bag full of pens to the courthouse and start sketching out ideas for my Law & Order piece.

Tangent story: If you have never been to a courthouse, in order to enter you have to go though "airport security" with the armed guards, metal detectors and X-ray machines. I set my man bag on the X-ray conveyer belt and began emptying my pockets when the cop in charge of watching the X-ray display started shouting "Whoah! Whoah! What is that!? Who's bag is that?" More cops started filtering in as they pulled out my man bag and started rifling through it. I thought "What could they have a problem with in there? is my phone so old it's unrecognizable?" They dumped out the contents on the counter and out fell two miniature guns.

I had totally forgotten those were in there. They were originally key chains. I had gotten from a vending machine and popped the chains off.

"Oh those are for drawing reference. I'm an artist. I uh, draw bears with guns and stuff..."

Trying to explain "drawing reference guns" to people who look for weapons as their full time job is awkward and futile. Luckily the cops laughed and showed the guns to their cohorts and did not step on my neck at all. I was allowed to take my "drawing reference" back to my car.

Anyway, there was indeed some waiting involved in my day at the courthouse and I got some decent thumbnail sketches done.

Shhh, TV....

I have to say, Netflix - Watch it Now is such an amazing resource for illustrators! To practice getting a likeness for Goren and Eames I just put on episodes of Criminal Intent through Watch It Now and paused whenever I saw a pose or expression I liked. I love the fact that I can choose from a pretty decent library of TV shows and films and stream stuff instantly to my TV. Streamed on my laptop, I can grab clear, still images of whatever I want! Remember Snappy, kids?

Sometimes I like to do a mockup of everything in Photoshop. Obviously it's not something I copy exactly, but a mockup can help me "pre-visualize" pieces that have to be composed just right. Text can be figured out at this stage too.

Closing Arguments

Here is the final piece. It was done with ink, acrylics and Dr. Martin's dyes on illustration board. If you are in Southern California come witness "These are Their Stories" at Gallery Meltdown July 24 to July 30, 2010.

Thank you,

Ben Walker

************

UPDATE!

The Killer Had a Shoe Fetish sold to the creator of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Rene Balcer! I am proud to know that my piece will be hanging in the (home? office? limo? not sure) of the man who brought us Detectives Goren and Eames!

-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

Where in the World is Winchester's Bicycle?

Today I received the following email. I thought this question and my response would be worth sharing.

Ben,

I bought this shirt from you at last year's comic-con, San Diego. I

have gotten questions and compliments on it where ever I've been.

It's my favorite shirt. What's the story with this guy?

My buddy's wedding in NY

London - you can just see him poking out of my sweatshirt -

Athens Greece

Thank You Dean!

I think Winchester's bicycle has become a lot of people's favorite shirt; myself included. Somehow I happened upon a mysterious and iconic image.

So what is the story with this guy? Well this image is called Winchester's Bicycle. It started out as part of my first gallery show in late 2006. All of my pieces were an homage to the dedication and ingenuity of the men who built flying machines in the early days of the race for flight. Every painting depicted people successfully flying in their machines. My flying machines were directly influenced by real (failed) attempts. I used a lot of artistic license with the design of these machines, especially with Winchester's.

Just for the record, this was nearly two years before I had ever heard the word "steampunk".

A lot of the pieces from this series seem to resonate with people. I think it's because I was trying to say something about our hopes and dreams, and our love of freedom. The paintings are set in the past but they all show optimism for the future.

So back to the T-shirt. I'm glad you enjoy it so much! It's cool to see Mr. Winchester sort of fly around the world. I don't know if you were hoping to hear a more fleshed out story about Mr. Winchester and his bicycle, but that's what I love about my T-shirt designs; They aren't an ad for a movie or a comic book or mixed martial arts. They are just fun and open to interpretation.

Thanks again for your interest!

-Ben

*******

Before I sign off, here are a couple more guys who love Winchester.

Actor and geek culture virtuoso, Wil Wheaton wore a Winchester shirt for his appearance on VH1's The Great Debate.

Artist and friend, Matt 136 modeling a Winchester

I will be printing more Winchester shirts for Comic-con 2010. This week I will have to decide whether to reprint in "classic black and white" or do a new color combination for him. If you have a suggestion or preference by all means let me know!

Thanks for reading.

Your pal,

Ben Walker