Troop

Imagine the scene, if you will.

You've just created a range of T-Shirts and set up an online shop when your big brother, whose birthday is approaching, sends you a concise email which reads 'Do me a Storm trooper one'.


Well...




Battle of Endor



Trooper dreams


These were a one-off special for my Bro, all other designs available at the BUFFALO RUN Shop.

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I might be switching blogs soon. I've always said to myself 'if it's (blogger) still good enough for The Sartorialist, then it's good enough for me'. Not so anymore.
Will keep you posted.

Baker

x SMASH SKATES x
x THE HARMONY SKATEBOARDS x
x JOEL BENJAMIN ILLUSTRATION x



Smash Skates 1st shop board. All standard sizes.



Available at Smash Skates, Beccles or online (soon).



Special thanks to Ash, Ellie, Felix, Adam and Baker the Cat.



1st run of 50 boards signed and numbered.



One of my 'do before you dies' can now be officially ticked off.

Tweet

Banhart

Portrait of Devendra Banhart, to be filed under 'Bands' in the Portfolio.



The look of Mr Banhart in this piece was inspired by the 'Carmensita' video, a favourite of mine. Added to that the aesthetic of the 'Cripple Crow' album insert.







As mentoned in this interview (5:50ish), Devendra Banhart prefers to leave background sounds in his recordings and just letting everything happen. I was thinking about this while carefully and meticulously arranging the elements of this image in Photoshop. Here there is little sponteneity unless intentionally created. This is something I'm going to try to remedy as everything being just right is getting on my nerves a little.

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Symmetry spirit monster creation

Weekends

Last weekend I spent a lot of time under the roof of Norwich Arts Centre.
In the day time selling my wares at Clutter City Market and the evening soaking up the fantastic sounds of Sargasso Trio (after some good food at Franks Bar).
A day very well spent.

I was lucky enough to make aquaintance with a lovely creative couple: Jim Mortram and Sister Planet, my awesome stall neighbours at Clutter City.


Sticker gift from Sister P.

Jim's an award winning photographer of environmental social reportage stories and portraiture. Sister Planet (Laura Manfre) describes herself as a french illustrator and vintage lover.

Be sure to have a look on their websites, just click the names above.

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Despite a reluctance to add to an ever growing list of usernames and passwords I've just signed up to Twitter.

Find me @_JoelBenjamin_

I'll no doubt use it to endlessly Retweet Booooooom.com posts and Skateboarding snippets.

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I may appear at Les Beaux Velos this coming Sunday at Upper St Giles Street, Norwich.

My part time retail job has me hooked on 12 hour long overnight shifts, one of which is that very same evening/night/following morning. Whether it would be a good idea to spend the day prior to that anywhere else but in bed is, as yet, undecided.

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Just to throw a few more links in here:

The online shop is still going strong at - www.buffalorun.bigcartel.com

Current musical obsession - Timber Timbre

Company

Fashion/lifestyle portfolio piece. After the fairly straightforward inking stage this illustration took me ages, a few weeks, to make the colouring work (I hope it does?).



Just finished - Dantes Inferno (heavy).

Annie

My good friend Mickey over at Illustrator Lam commissioned me to do some professional colouring for him. His two page comic is a biography of Annie Yang, a woman who was tortured in China for practicing Falun Gong meditation until she managed to get asylum in the UK. Read alittle more on the subject over a Mickeys Blog or at Faluninfo.net


click to enlarge


click to enlarge

This was the first time I've ever got to colour someone elses work and proved to be quite challenging. When you make your own piece everything is sort of planned out deep somewhere in your mind. What was toughest seemed to be estimating how long it would take to complete. Until 3:30am on the morning of the deadline turned out to be a fair approximation.

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The Body Breaks - Devendra Banhart
I have 4 Devendra Banhart albums now!
I guess you could call me a fan (portrait coming soon).

WolfCarTee

For some reason it has taken me ages to get my little zine 'Wolves in Cars' up in the shop. (Read original post here)



Well, it's finally available to order and to celebrate this feat of effort there is a new Tee to match.
100% cotton in Mens and Womens fit.





Check out at -
www.buffalorun.bigcartel.com
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By the way, I have a table booked at the next Clutter City Market on Sat July 2nd at the Norwich Arts Centre, 10am - 4pm. If you're in the area come along and see all the glorious goods available from tons of local creative types!

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Missed the gig but got the album - Phosphorescent

Thrift WIP

A small piece of a current commission. Might be quiet on the blog front for a little while.

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Listening to....

Yeasayer - Wait for the summer

Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean

Timber Timbre - Bad Ritual

Thom

Portfolio piece - Thom Yorke of Radiohead.
I went for the Lotus Flower video look as I love to use large shapes/areas of flat black that his hat makes up. The colour scheme is directly inspired by King of Limbs cover palette.


Process.

I listen to Radiohead quite a lot these days although I've missed a a bunch of their albums (the ones between Kid A and In Rainbows, including the solo Thom Yorke releases). I have some catching up to do.

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Just added some prints to the Online Shop! Take a peek at BUFFALO RUN.

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Had the pleasure of seeing live last night - Staff Benda Bilili - They really know how to party.

AViAN

Recent commission for brand new label AViAN records. Underground electronic/techno straight outta Cambridge.



Check out their blog and have a listen at - avianmusic.tumblr.com



Many thanks to Vicki.

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The T-Shirt shop is now up and running at - www.buffalorun.bigcartel.com
Please check out the Tee range and check back for new prints soon.

If you're really feeling it, please share a link and tell all your friends.

Tees

Click images to view larger.


Buffalo Run


Relics (col)


Relics (bw)


3top


GiddyUp

Online shop up soon.
Pre-orders available - mail@joelbenjamin.co.uk

Brewtoo

Brew continued..

Closed

Not related to last posts claim of tee designs (coming soon), I have some work on a T-Shirt!
Norwich based Punk / Rock band 'This Business is Closed' are using a Wolf in Car for their tour tees. These tees are a limited edition, so quite possibly won't be available post tour. I'm pretty stoked with the print and was quite excited to see them being snapped up by fans at their show last saturday (from which my ears are still ringing).



I was also lucky enough to meet fellow Norwich freelancer Lauren Marina, check her work out HERE.

Thanks to Rob and the band.

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Now reading - Rework

Idle

Staying with the simple fashion based imagery, here's my latest. Nice things inspire nice thoughts, yes sir, the simpler the better.




I have no commissioned work on at the moment, something I'm working hard to remedy, so my life is pretty easy going. Having not practiced any meditative excercise for a while now, I decided yesterday to go to a drop-in yoga class. As the class was asked to gently breath, relax and let go of the days work inspired stresses and concerns I found myself thinking "Crikey, compared to these tense business bods my life isn't nearly stressful enough, I should go home and get to work!".
A selection of tee-shirt designs are on their way :)

Marine

Commissioned piece from late last year for a group of U.S supply marines! (Supply marines are the ones who get food and ammo supplies to the marines out in the field). The final image had lots of text on it; the code name of the team and their individual surnames, but that info has to stay confidential.

I was looking at a lot of Terry Dodsons comic book art while working on this one. I think it shows a little.



Glad they're back on air - Big Illustration Party Time!