Communication Arts 56

I'm proud to announce that my risographed covers for Tales To Behold 5 and 6 got into the Communication Arts 56th Annual Illustration!

Tales To Behold is a self-published comic zine featuring gonzo super-hero adventures with humor, old school vibe, lots of punching and unnecessary nudity. You can order the handmade, numbered books from BirdCageBottom Books or read them on my BEHOLDER Blog or tumblr.

These newest covers are two color risograph printed, with help from the awesome Kris Mukai.

This is a project that I do for fun and nothing else, so it makes me really happy to see it being recognized. Thanks so much to the judges!

Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream

I created this large sequential illustration for “Little Nemo– Dream Another Dream”, an anthology of tributes to Winsor McCay’s seminal strip by 118 contemporary artists.

I'm very proud to be part of this project, as this large book includes some of the finest artists working today, such as Paul Pope, Mike Allred, Yuko Shimizu, Andrea Tsurumi, Matty Hunh, Gregory Benton and so many more esteemed colleagues and friends.

It was  conceived and published by Locust Moon Press and is a beauty– the large proportions really allow to admire all the details of the fabulous pieces people created.

There will be a show of original artwork from the book at the Society of Illustrators from February 10th - March 28th, 2015.
The Opening Reception is on Wednesday, February 18th.
Hope to see you there!

Edit: The comic also just got accepted into the Society of Illustrators 2nd Comics and Cartoons Annual, whoo-hoo!

Within the context of the book, we decided to use an (almost) b/w version.
At the Society, you'll be able to see the actual original, warts and all.

New York Times Sunday Business Cover

Had the pleasure of illustrating a cover and interior spot for the Sunday Business section of the New York Times. Art Director Minh Uong, with whom I've worked since his time at the Village Voice, asked me to do something sequential.

The story is about Shanesha Taylor, who was arrested for leaving her children in a car during an important job interview. It's written by Shaila Dewan and you can read it here.

The challenge with sequential editorial pieces is that the image is a bit fractured and cannot be as bold as one single image.

After a first round of sketches, we tried to increase the graphic impact by using one large panel and a few smaller ones.

As the project progressed, we rearranged the panels several times, till everybody was content with the flow of the story.

For the interior, we did a simple comic-strip of 3 images. For the cover, we used one large, loud image and and four smaller panels.

Thanks again to AD Minh Uong and the New York Times!

Cover for 11 Freunde magazine

 A very exciting project I've worked on is no published and I can talk about it: I did the cover for the 150th issue of the German soccer magazine 11 Freunde. The cover story is about the current "super-coaches" in European soccer, and they were inspired by my BEHOLDER comics to draw them in an old-school Marvel way as comic heroes. I also did a few interior illustrations of more coaches.

After some sketching we actually ended up using a direct reference of a picture in Journey Into Misery 5, just replacing my "Mighty Protectors" with the aforementioned super-coaches. The final is printed with two spot-colors which will make the art-work pop nicely, and is also similar to the 2-3 color designs I create for my own comics covers. I can't wait to see it in person!

Thanks so much to Sabine Kornbrust and the entire editorial team of 11 Freunde for a dream project! Get your copy now!

Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Pablo Simeone for the interiors.

The original page from Journey Into Misery 5 that the cover was inspired by.

MoCCA Fest 2014 Report

MoCCA Fest 2014 was a great one, almost twice as many people came this year, and the Society of Illustrators went all out to make this the best show in a long time!

Just entering the space and seeing the enormous Charlie Brown balloon, on loan from Macy's, you could feel something was different this year.

Saturday was packed, and even Sunday was still very well visited. So many old friends and colleagues came by, and new friends were made. This festival is definitely a big social event for me, as I can catch up with people I haven't seen in a while, or meet others in person for the first time.

The admission was a lot cheaper this year, which probably made a good difference, but I think it's also due to the Society's promotional efforts, in getting the word out. I talked to plenty visitors that were there for the very first time, which is a great sign.

Sales-wise, I made about the same amount as last year (which was the Society's first time of running it). I sold less prints, but many more mini-comics, (which evens it out that way) and all in all I sold more individual items than I have ever sold at a MoCCA Fest.

One of my favorite innovations was the terrific after-hour on Saturday, hosted at the actual Society of Illustrators, where they fed us with delicious food, treated us to complimentary drinks and gave out awards to the best self-published comics. It was great to mingle and chat with the other creators and an overall fine and classy event. We really felt taken care of.

So thanks again to the Society of Illustrators and all the volunteers, all the attendees for making this a success, to all who visited and said Hi, to Dingding Hu for helping me set up, and to Scott C. for being my MoCCA buddy!

See you next year!

MoCCA Fest 2014

MoCCA Fest 2014 is almost here, and I'll have a table again as well as many other artists that will be selling comics, prints and other awesome things. Now that the Society of Illustrators is running it, the fest has been revitalized with fresh energy and is definitely a lot of fun.

I'll have a new maxi-comic out, Tales To Behold 5, continuing my gonzo superheroes series, this time with a 2-color risograph cover!

Also for the first time, my image "Cellphone Girl" will be available as print. Of course I'll also have some of my other prints, my children's books and the graphic novel PEANUT with me, so there will be plenty to choose from! Hope to see you there!

April 5th & 6th, 2014

11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Table C32

The 69th Regiment Armory

68 Lexington Avenue

between E. 25th & E. 26th Street

New York, NY 10010

Admission to the 2014 MoCCA Arts Festival is $5 per day. 

Tickets are available at the door. 

Journey Into Misery 5 begins tomorrow!

It begins tomorrow– The next chapter in THE BEHOLDER saga. On the blog, the full Journey Into Misery will be serialized for your viewing pleasure.

If you like what you see, why not order the book as a handsome hand-crafted pamphlet with block-printed cover, from BirdCageBottom Books!

Thanks for reading!

New York ComicCon 2013

Last year I had a truly great time at New York ComicCon Artist Alley, so I'm back again this year! It's going down next week, Thursday through Sunday, Oct 10-13th.

This time I'm bringing some reinforcement. I had this large banner made of Dr Brain (from Tales To Behold), so you can easily find me. But just in case: I'll be at table BB5 of Artist Alley.

I'll have many goodies for you: For the young ones, there will be PEANUT and THE WOODS, and for the very first time LAST-BUT-NOT-LEAST LOLA.

For the more aquired taste, I'll have all my self-published BEHOLDER mini-comics, so you can complete your collection.

And for art-lovers, there will be three finely crafted prints to purchase:
Destinations, Ruins, and Ruins Girl.

Something for everyone!

And besides my own table, I'll also have a signing at the Random House Booth on the Main Floor, Sunday 2-3pm.

New York Comic Con is being held at the Javits Center (655 West 34th Street) in Midtown Manhattan,  from Oct 10-13th. This year NYCC Artist Alley will be returning to the North Pavilion of the Javits Center.

Jenny Everywhere Day 2013

Jenny Everywhere aka The Shifter, is a character created by the people, for the people. She is public domain and everybody can use her for their stories. Read more about her on the Shifter Archive. I myself am currently using her in my series Tales To Behold.

Once a year, Benji Christensen, holds Jenny Everywhere Day, on August 13th, which is her virtual "birthday". Many submissions came in, and here you can see my very own image for the occasion. I wanted to show many different versions of the character, from other comics. To see my references and inspirations, I've listed them all on the BEHOLDER Blog.

You can read my Tales To Behold series, featuring the intrepid Jenny Everywhere, on THE BEHOLDER, or purchase them as high-end comic-zines here.

Tales To Behold #3 now serialized on THE COSMIC BEHOLDER

To get you into the mood for the forthcoming Tales To Behold #4 (this fall), I've started to serialize TTB3 on THE BEHOLDER. Yes, indeed, you can read it for free!

Here are are the first 6 pages:
Page 1        Page 2
Page 3        Page 4
Page 5        Page 6

If you can't wait to see how it all unfolds of the next 2 months, and make me a very happy Beholder, you might even consider purchasing the entire book here: http://www.birdcagebottombooks.com/shop/tales-to-behold-3/

It's hand-made with block-printed color elements. For $6, you get 48 pages of comics! Before the month is over, Bird Cage Bottom Books even has a special, if you order for $15 or more. For the coupon, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page:
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b71e2e0d5cb831b482bfa9436&id=3b27a14300

But no pressure– in the meantime, hope you'll enjoy the story!

MoCCA Fest 2013 Report

I had a great time at MoCCA 2013 and felt a greater energy this year. The exhibitors were in a better mood, and so were the attendees. My sales were very strong, especially on the first day which was my biggest in-take on a single day ever.

I've been now tabling for about a year flying solo post-Rabid-Rabbit, and it's nice to establish somewhat of a track-record, with people I saw at New York Comic Con or Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest, coming back for more.

Income-wise, illustration prints and my graphic novel Peanut were the heavy hitters, (since they are more expensive). But I also sold more BEHOLDER books than any MoCCA before.

Visitors at my table included students from classes I taught or visited, people who went through the SVA MFA Illustration program, and of course many colleagues from the comics and illustration world.

The Society of Illustrators did a fantastic job, it was great to see the enthusiasm with which Anelle Miller and her team were running the show, and had added already a few touches of their own. I liked the wall dividers who partitioned the show into more digestible portions and created focus while walking through the aisles. The cafe, the get-together for exhibitors, the gallery and the awards for the best self-published comics were also really nice ideas.

Thanks again to the Society of Illustrators for doing an amazing show, to the other exhibitors and of course to the attendees, who hopefully had as much fun as I. See you next year!

Getting ready for MoCCA Festival 2013

It's that time of the year again, MoCCA Fest NY is next weekend, and I am participating again, with a lot of new stuff! First of all, I'll have copies of my graphic novel Peanut with me, so it's the perfect occasion to get your signed copy directly from the artist.

Debuting at the fest will be my latest mini-comic Journey Into Misery 5, a 44-page extravaganza that brings some of my weird storylines to a conclusion. Very happy with how it turned out, and hope you'll like it, too!

And as an extra-special bonus, I'll have prints of my Ruins Girl with me, for the first time.

Besides that, there will be all the other Beholder Books so you can complete your collection, and some of the previous illustration prints.

This year will be the first time that the Society of Illustrators runs the festival, so it will be very interesting to see how / if it'll change the look and feel of the event. Personally, I'm excited that two of my favorite institutions have now merged together.

Hope to see you there!

Table C94
April 6th & 7th, 2013

11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
The 69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY

PEANUT is out now!

After working on this project for about 3 years, it's finally out: PEANUT, a graphic novel written by Ayun Halliday and illustrated by yours truly, and published by Schwartz & Wade / Random House.

Here you can see Peanut out in the wild, at Forbidden Planet NYC, amongst the new publications of the week.

The book has 208 fully illustrated pages, and is printed in two spot colors, a very dark indigo and a bright pinkish red.

The story is about a young girl who moves to a new town and struggles to fit in and to make new friends. To make herself more interesting, she tells everybody she has a deadly peanut allergy. Of course, her lies circle out of control.

Since beginning of this month it's available in any bookstore near you. Ask them to order it for you, if they don't have it in stock.

There have been some nice reviews already, including a Starred Review by Publisher's Weekly. Peanut is also a Junior Library Guild Selection.



You can also order it from IndieBound and Amazon.

My advance copies, yay!

Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest Report

I had a lot of fun at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest last weekend. It was my first time "flying solo" at this event, I was so grateful to be invited! And so many people came; plenty of friends and colleagues visited my table, and even people I had just met at NY ComicCon came back. Besides my mini-comics, children's books and prints, I had an advance copy of my forthcoming graphic novel Peanut with me.

Fellow cartoonist Anuj Shrestha brought me lunch. Thanx Anuj!

I am happy to say that sales-wise, this was the single most successful day at any of the festivals I attended this year (MoCCA, NY ComicCon, and the small but very cool Prints Alive). It's especially exciting to meet people who already know some of my Beholder Comics and are coming back for more! That means a lot to me.

The three cover variations of the brand-new Tales To Behold 3

View of the upstairs, were my table was (yes, it's a gym!)

My photo-op with Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons!

Good bye BCGF 2012, it was a blast and I am so happy that I could be part of it! Thanks to Gabe, Dan and Bill for putting together another amazing festival!

Tales To Behold #3 for the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival

Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival is this weekend, and here is what I hope  Tales To Behold #3 will look like. If all goes well…

Tales To Behold 3 Cover, to debut at Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest

This is the inked cover for my latest comic, Tales To Behold #3, featuring the return of Armagedda (last seen in Tales To Behold #1).

Thankfully hurricane Sandy left me unharmed, alas my paper-supplier in Chelsea wasn't as lucky, so the production of my latest gem in time for the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival could be tricky.

In any case, I'll be at the festival on November 1oth, with all my other wares, such as Casual Comics, Beholder comics and children's books, I hope to see you there!

Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival
November 10, 2012 12- 7 pm
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church
275 North 8th Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

RePaneled: Spuk Geschichten #327

During a recent trip to Germany which was rather stressful, I wasn't really able to work on anything "real". But copying some comic panels of my old comic collection was a nice way to still keep drawing; a relaxing, self-indulgent pastime at the end of the day.

Of course I did it with the fun RePaneled blog in mind, and last night it was indeed posted. Thanks to Anthony Vukojevich for all the work he puts into this platform for nerdy fun!
(Small image is the original; click both to enlarge).

About Spuk Geschichten (Spooky Stories): Even back then it was a guilty pleasure, as it was very pulpy, with monsters constantly running after half-naked women. It was one of the few series that were actually available at newsstands. Besides that I actually don't know much about the background of the series. I think it was produced for the German market, but the artist could have been in a studio abroad. It's hard to find out anything about him online.

Artist: Jesus Pena,
(although it's spelled with a "wave" above the "u", and a pointy thingy pointing up, above the "n".
Publisher: Bastei (Germany)
Comic Data Base Entry: http://www.comics.org/issue/540913/

In my version, I took the liberty of translating the speech balloons, which might be the first time that Spuk is available in English, ha!

New York Comic Con 2012

My first Comic Con was a blast, I had a lot of fun, had great conversations, made new friends and also sold a lot of mini-comics. 155 to be precise, which is downright amazing. Furthermore, I sold out of my Destinations print, plus a whole bunch of my children's books found a new home. The Comic Con experiment was a full success!

Here's a look at the Artist Alley, the area designated for artists of various backgrounds, be it established Marvel artists, aspiring indy creators and everything in-between. There were so many people, many of which sported colorful costumes.

Upstairs at the Random House booth they were already promoting Peanut, due to come out in January 2012.

I got to meet some of my comic heroes from the good old days, and also real-life heroes such as good ol' Hawkeye here.