Buy the Ben The Illustrator Art Print and Badge set here

Ben The Illustrator is a London based designer and Illustrator. Ben’s work stands out because his great use of colour and wondeful designs. Ben is the first artist to use a mouse in the new UrbanRetro ‘The Mouse vs. The Brush’ Project and goes head to head with Lou Pimentel.

Hi Ben, tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved in illustration?

Drawing is pretty much all I’ve ever done, since I was a kid. There was one day, aged 7, and I drew a picture of some pirates, and it was ace, really it was, and everyone liked it, and I think I might have decided then “this is what I’ll do, I’ll draw”. So I do. I actually studied animation, then worked in animation for a few years, directing and animating music videos for labels like Skint and Sony, then I diversified and worked with varied clients in animation, web design and illustration, but it was always the illustration jobs that were exciting me, so I decided to make a clean break from the animation and simplify everything, just be Ben the Illustrator.

What inspires the art that you create?

Principally there are two things, music and travel. Seeing incredible natural landscapes and amazing cities always inspires me. And I’ve always been obsessed with music, when it comes to my work like Speakerdog, its inspired by bands like The Polyphonic Spree, putting so much love and enjoyment into their music and their live shows, it inspires me to do the same with my work. To create illustrations that make people feel good.

Are there any artists that inspire your work?

I am such a geek for pictures, I take inspiration from a huge variety of traditional artists, contemporary artists, illustrators and graffiti artists, Takeshi Murakami, Keith Haring, Basquiat, Warhol, Matt Sewell, Airside, there are too many to list!

If things were different career wise and you were not Ben theIllustrator what would you being instead?

Hmmmm, what a terrible thought! I love my job, I don’t really know if I even see it as a job to be honest, anyway, if I wasn’t an illustrator? I think I’d like to go outside and work with trees. When I was a teenager I worked with forest rangers preserving woodlands. Maybe I could go back to that.

What annoys you the most when you are working at your desk?

There’s not much, I shut myself off a bit, music on my headphones and all. The only things that can annoy me are actually tiny little things, like someone in the room sniffing!

Do you ever get a creative block and what to do at that point to get creative again?

I’m generally ok with that, it doesn’t really happen to be honest. I enjoy what I do, and it makes me feel good, so if somethings not right, it’s doing something creative that puts me back on a high.

What has been the most fun project or client you have worked for?

Good question, I’m not sure if there is just one! I do illustrations for Smart Cars and Vice Magazine, for Smart’s alternative ad campaign in Europe (which only appears in Vice and a few lifestyle trade shows). They are great fun, they don’t restrict me much with briefs at all, every time they have an idea of a type of landscape that they want a Smart Car to be driving through, and they just let me run with it, so far we’ve done a desert, snowy mountains and a city, I look forward to part 4! Another fun project was a recent collaboration with Sjors Trimbach, for his Badgers, which are little paper ‘cut out and keep’ characters, each with a pin badge for a face. Sjors has done a set of four previously, each character with a design by a different artist, and is currently putting together a new set, with six new artists, I am very happy to be one of those.

Tell us a bit about the art print ‘Shouting Love From The Rooftops’ you have created for UrbanRetro?

It’s my buddy Speakerdog, he’s quite a popular little chap, mostly for just spreading love and good times wherever he goes. I’ve been playing about with Speakerdog for a year or two, he’s got a t-shirt, and numerous canvasses and some dollar bill stickers floating around, mobile wallpapers, he’s appeared in a few magazines and posters, keep your eyes peeled for Speakerdog! This particular piece is most probably the most special Speakerdog piece yet, I was very pleased with the city, and the graphic icons are totally in line with Speakerdog and his personality. I produced the piece starting, as always, with pencil and paper, then scan it and take it into Adobe Illustrator, where I simply trace it and colour it. Illustrator is an incredible program, so much depth and scope. I’m a real geek for colours, I like to spend a long time picking and choosing perfect colours for a piece, and this was no exception!

Are there any plans on turning Speakerdog into a vinyl toy or similar in the future?

I’d love to, I really would, I think it kind of HAS to be done. I’ve never worked on a vinyl toy before, so it is a new area for me, but I am hoping to start work on a vinyl toy very soon. I am in the process of putting together some paper Speakerdogs at the moment, cut out and keep, your very own Speakerdog! They’ll be out soon! I’ve never modeled with paper before, so it’s mostly a trial and error process, at first it was more of an error process, but I think we’re getting somewhere now!

If you could be another artist for one day who would that artist be and what would you do?

Excellent! Wow, there are a lot. I think perhaps Takeshi Murakami? He works with a really great team that put his visions into reality, he gets to spend time working in New York and Tokyo (perhaps my two favourite international cities) and he gets to do some massive art pieces. If I was Takeshi Murakami for a day I think I’d try and create a massive piece, maybe an installation, in the English countryside somewhere? Sounds daft, but it would be really super.

Finally a question we ask all artists. If there was one famous character (cartoon, comic, video game, etc) you wish you designed who would it be and why?

That would have to be Speakerdog. hehe, sorry, just kidding. I think it would have to be Charlie Brown, it’s not all that interesting, but I have always loved the simplicity in how Charles Schulz drew him, his innocence, his big smile, just so simple and amiable. He also had that killer stylish yellow tee with the black zig zag. All those Peanuts kids, and Snoopy and Woodstock all have this wonderful style to them, not just in the line quality, but the actual figures, their priceless facial expressions, cute hairstyles and fine, fine clothing! Good honest kids.

Thanks for taking part in this interview and also in the new UrbanRetro project. You can buy Ben The illustrators art print and badges from the following link:

The Mouse vs. The Brush

Ben the Illustrator website

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