More To Love

Click the picture, count the lines.

In keeping with the "prints we'll have at FCBD this weekend" theme, I wanted to post the new color version of this piece I shared on Valentines Day. It's part of a larger collection (more on that soon), but I printed a limited number of these for the event to share the love early.

Rescue! Now In Color

I took last weeks grim and gritty black and white drawing and made it into this weeks grim and gritty color drawing. I’ll have prints of this at Carol And John’s this friday at my table as well at the RBMC’s table. I think it’d look great in your kid’s room...or yours.   

Erin's BIG hugs!

Truth, Justice, Hugs!

Avengers Assemble Hugs!

The Guardians of the Galaxy are Hooked on a Hug!

Here are the BIG hugs I did for Carol and John's Comics Free Comic Book Day! All three will be available as prints at the event Friday, May 1st and Saturday, May 2nd, along with tons of other merch!

World's Mightiest Mortal

SHAZAM!

He was one of my first comics, had Captain Marvel pj's when I was a kid so it was only right that I painted this for this year's Free Comic Book Day Art Show.  This piece was done with watercolor, inks and acrylic on my old favorite, clayboard.  If you would like to see it in person along with last week's Batman and TONS of great DC art done by talented folks in the Cleveland area make sure you come to Carol and John's Comic Shop THIS WEEKEND!  The original and prints of Shazam as well as all the other art in the show will be available.  

Great fun to be had by all!  Check out all the event particulars here!

Rescue!

Click and count the lines. 

It’s no secret that this is about my kid being born. The difference in scale is entirely intentional as I wanted Robin to only be able to hold Batman’s finger, just like my daughter did when I met her. 

This is EXACTLY how I remember it happening...Ladder and all. 

Just like the other monsters, this original piece is for sale at FCBD at Carol and John’s comic shop, as well as prints of an (upcoming) colored version. You should buy them, my kid is almost two now and she needs a Robin costume.  

Ben Peeks In The Justice League Locker Room

I really went back and forth on this one.  Adding things, cutting things, rearranging things, and pushing myself to exhaustion.  Luckily, I called it finished at 3 in the morning Friday night... and then I woke up at 7 in the morning and noticed something I didn't like.  Fixed it and sent it to be printed.  Usually takes a deadline to get me to work that hard on something.  I definitely haven't worked on that many characters since last years Free Comic Book Day.  I should probably do stuff like this more often.

If you'd like to see this up close and personal (and maybe even buy a print of it), you can come to Free Comic Book Day at Carol and John's Comic Shop in Cleveland.  The last few years have been amazing.  Any fan of comics should do themselves a favor and attend.

Till next time,

Ben

Batman: Pretty Poison

Keeping on with the Free Comic Book Day Art Show theme that was so deftly started by Tim (best Aquaman incarnation EVER), here is my fist of two pieces I have in the show.  Good ol' Batman the Animated Series style Batman.  

My original idea was to do this batman on a red background as they did the backgrounds in the first few seasons of the animated Series.  As I started throwing my Dr. Martin's concentrated watercolors down on the clay board I was really liking the glow I got from the crimson and magenta so I went with it.  Some ink, acrylic, salt and more watercolor later Batman fighting in a cloud of Poison Ivy's toxic gas was born.  I took the title from a good Ivy episode and voi la! 

This piece along with Tim's amazing Aquaman and other stunning comic images from my fellow Monsters and other Cleveland Artists will be available for show and purchase Free Comic Book Weekend and Carol and John's Comics, Cleveland, Ohio.  It's an amazingly fun weekend so be sure to come by!

More to come.......

Tim's Outrageous Aquaman!

Aquaman from the fantastic "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" cartoon is my favorite incarnation of the character.  This image is an Acrylic painting on an old, 18"x24" piece of canvas board. A painting that, if you feel so inclined, you can purchase at Carol & John's Comic shop's (in Cleveland, Ohio) Free Comic Book Day 2015 Art show. 

This is my original drawing doodled in photoshop.

I printed the drawing out on the biggest paper that I could find (two 11"x17" sheets), and using clear gel medium, attached the printouts to the canvas board. This saved me a ton of time not having to redraw my drawing on the board.

Once that was dry, I started paining the background, and then worked my way through the rest of the piece until it was finished. 

Movin' on UP!

This weekend we pack up our paints, buckets and weird painting stools and head in to the heart of Cleveland to start a 2 year painting endeavor with our friends at Graffiti Heart.  Like our time working in Ben's family barn these first few pieces will be done away from our audience's eyes but this time IN A WAREHOUSE!  So in a way, we are movin' on up!  When these are done and available for public consumption we'll share as well as keep you up on further murals with Graffiti Heart  (big, BIG things coming!).  But until then here are some shots from our time in the Hale family barn working on the barn mural.  enjoy!

Garnet

"Garnet" from the show "Steven Universe". 
-Tim Switalski

Erin Schectman Caruso, WILD CARD!!

Erin! Doer of only good things. Teacher, Painter, Designer, new Aunt and Auntie to a flock of RBMC babies, our adopted little sister and secret mentor to ALL of us here in the Rust Belt Monsters.  When this group was forming we thought Erin would be a great addition because her style was the wild card among ours, that kick of unexpected flavor, the person who would make us see more and think differently.  Well, we weren't wrong but we got way more than that!  Most of us who couldn't call ourselves painters before after painting shoulder to elbow with our Swearin' Erin, can.  She's our Broadway singin', ear to ear grinnin' comic sans lovin', paint slingin' powerhouse known as Erin!  Check out a few of her amazing images below and be sure to check out SUPER GROUP HUGS, her latest foray into hot, pop culture character on pop culture character action!  Really great stuff!

Find more Erin here:

erininartland.com

supergrouphugs.tumblr.com

society6.com/erininartland

DISCLAIMER

Erin doesn't actually LOVE Comic Sans so much as she is in love with Comic Sans, a love that dare not speak it's name.   You can ask any other member of the RBMC ltd. and they will say it is so.  It is also fair to note that all other members of the RBMC are notorious goofer-offers and their opinion on human/font love is spurious at best.  

Ben Draws Ninja "Toitals"

I haven't drawn with pencil and ink in a long time.  I haven't completely abandoned the physical realm, but I've come to enjoy my tablet and computer more and more.  Also, I've been animating and coding more than drawing.  Well, that is going to change this month.  Tons of projects and little time.  As a nice little warm up, I broke out my handy little pencil pouch and drew a Ninja Turtle.  Why?  Because my cousin's little boy is becoming quite the artist and I bought him a copy of "How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way".  It was the first art book I ever bought myself and was hugely influential.  I wanted to make it a little more special, so I threw this drawing on the inside cover.  Fun Fact: that inside cover worked surprisingly well with the Copic Markers.  Who knew?

There should be plenty more to come in the next few weeks as we get closer to Free Comic Book Day.

-Ben

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Aquaman from Drink & Draw

From last night's Drink and Draw Cleveland, a warm-up sketch for a possible larger piece.

-Tim Switalski