by Smoky Man

Ben Templesmith is one of the hottest new artist in comics. Born in Perth, Australia, in 1978, where he still lives, he hit the industry as a storm with his eyepopping digital painted art.
This is certainly his year. In fact he is at work on the Hellspawn series for TMP/Image, on the shelves with the dark miniseries 30 Days of Night and developing a Vertigo project titled Darwin Theory with writer Joe Casey.
More info about him and his work at www.templesmith.com

You are a rising star and this is a fact.

Heh...to you maybe...to me...I'd like to wait and see a little longer. ;)

Can you tell us some biographic details about you? I know you live in Australia...

Errr.. I'm descended from the Knights Templar. I live a very boring life in Australia. Typical bloody middleclass whitey boy you could say. I have a dent in my skull, from birth. I'm also the eldest of three kids. I hate that. I always cop all the crap.

Do you remember when you were first exposed to comics?

Not exactly, but I remember the first comic I thought was 'great' was either a Val Semeiks Conan or Todd McFarlane's Hulk. Both played havoc with my mind.

Did you attend any art school? Did you go to any school specific for comics? How much did you learn there about "how to do comics"?

No art school, though I have done life drawing classes (and need to do more), I've done University, graduating with a design degree. This actually included a comics minor... but that didn't actually teach me anything as I was already well into the craft of sequential art by then and eager to learn more.... advanced stuff. Still I am.

Why did you choose a career in comics?

I like to draw and create. I like control of what I'm doing. I like to tell stories. Beats doing supermarket catalogues that's for sure. Having said that, it's not that easy to simply 'chose' a career in comics, it's also got to choose you. ;)

What are your biggest influences, both in visual art - comics, painting, movies - and in other media like music and literature? In which way are these influences transposed into your Art?

At first it was simply the amazing work of Ashley Wood that got me interested in actually pursuing comics art. Dave McKean and others soon followed...but these days I'm trying to find new things to get into. Right now Ralph Steadman is my absolute favourite. I love the vibrancy and brutality of his work.
Music is what probably influences what I put on a page the most these days...just depends what's playing at the time. I like to try and transpose a 'vibe' into the work from the music.
And I study movies too, mostly older classics and such...for the storytelling. My favourite bit about comics. I'd rather do entire panelled pages than a 'splash' page personally.

You are a "son of the Internet era". How important has the Web been to find your well-deserved place in the spotlights?

Well, the web allowed my work to reach people who would never have seen it otherwise. It's cheap and global, and most in the anglo-american comics world seem to be on it. It can't be beat for networking, especially if you're in another country.

You worked on a William Shakespeare's Hamlet comics adaptation with writer Aaron Thacker [you can find it at unboundcomics.com]. Was it difficult to measure yourself with a masterpiece like that?

Well, there's been so many versions of Bill's work now… what's one more? ;) I think, if done right, many great works would translate fantastically to comics and help expose people to the medium as a whole. I hope to get back to Hamlet at some point, honest I do! I'd like to think that what I'm doing now might even benefit it in the future, as I'm learning so much right now.

I discovered your stuff surfing on comics websites. In particular, I remember one of Andrew Dabb's Slices short stories. It was "The Mark". And I noticed your disturbing and creepy art.
It seems you have a natural attitude towards "horror": why? Would you like to draw lighter stuff?

Slices are works of genius. Andrew is amazing. (He did not pay me to say that. He doesn't have to, he blackmails me instead ;) )
Lighter stuff? Maybe...the world is a dark place though, and more often than not it's the bad things in life that help define us. I like things like that...as they say something more than another 'Superhero saves the world' story would. 'Horror' can really mean anything, so there's great variety and scope of things to do within that.

Talking about "horror", I know you are a big fan of The Crow myth. Where does this passion stem from?

Well, it was a great film. Great story. Adapted rather well from a comic...and directed by an Aussie.. need I say more? ;)

Recently you have been assigned to the Hellspawn book (starting with #10, with Steve Niles as writer) replacing an other Australian guy, Ashley Wood. How do you feel about this?

I could write an essay on that one. And for awhile there I kept changing my mind about how I felt about it. Ash, and the success he's had, are what kept me doing comics. Yet I don't want to be seen as an imitator, as the influences ARE strong...but we all have those I guess. change is good. Evolve or die. I was quite shocked and humbled to be picking up where he left off. Hellspawn is like few books out there right now.

What is in your opinion the most important feature of the character that needs to be highlighted?

Hellspawn you mean? He's going through some rough shit right now. In many ways he's being redefined by forces around him...forgetting how human he once was, which will bring him other problems. Steve is going more into...how the world deals with Spawn, than how Spawn deals with the world. That make any sense?

Also, you are working on a Vertigo book with writer Joe Casey. It is titled "Darwin Theory" and it sounds interesting. Can you reveal us any details on the project? What is the story about? Is it an ongoing series or a miniseries?

I'm not going to say much about it yet! In my eyes...it's a journey...about how one man sees things, and how he comes to see them after certain events. I don't know how it'll end or anything... Joe has yet to write that bit and show me. ;)
It's a miniseries. Painted/computer layered work, three 48 page issues (unless something changes).
It's quite different from my more... "horror" work too. At least I hope it is a little!

An other announced project associated to your name is "30 Days of Night" (published by Idea+Design Works) with writer Steve Niles. What is it about?

It's about a small Alaskan town in the arctic, and some bad things that happen once the winter darkness sets in. We won't say tooooo much more about it until the release date nears. ;)

Have you got any interest in doing any superhero stuff? Who would be your "first pick" and why?

Not really. Superheroes have been examined to death in general I think. There's plenty of it out there already. That said, there is ONE superhero story I'd like to tell... but in my own time....and my own way...and some people might not like it. The only person in a costume I could really actually enjoy drawing to any great degree would be Batman. There's a few sides to his character, and visually there's a lot to work with. Yeah, he'd be fun.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not really anti-superhero... they just don't interest me that much anymore. I loved them to death when I was a kid.

You use a lot of computer for your art. What is your standard process in digital painting?

Hmm, that's a bit like asking a doctor " how do you perform an operation?" There are many ways...depends on the image, materials and what not really. I only tend to use Photoshop. I don't actually work on the computer itself, I merely scan in things I've already done in the real world. Computer rendered work IS nice...but it looks so clean... I can still tell when something is painted on computer using a tablet etc......usually! I like that .01% little bit extra human error of real life drawing.

What are the pros and cons in using software tools for an artistic process such as painting?

I can alter things with the computer...colours...I can add colours...but I don't exactly 'paint' ON the computer. The beauty of it is you can stuff up or try things as many times as you want...you just undo the errors if you don't like what things turned out like.
Pain in the arse when the computer crashes and burns on you though. Happened a few times.

Are you worried that your images might seem "cold" or "artificial"? How do you work to avoid this danger?

Hehe, see above. As everything I do starts off in real life... I hope I don't get that particular problem.

What does "experimentation" mean for a young artist like you?

Well, it means progress to me. I'm a long way from where I want to be artistically...so each new experiment I try is a step in....what I hope might be the right direction. I want to be changing constantly. I want everything to be new and slightly evolved if I can help it.

What kind of stories would you like to tell, if you were writing your own book?

Violent human relationship stories about society, betrayal and power. What motivates people to do bad things. None of that 'saving the world' stuff. More like ' Why should we bother saving the world?'
I have plans in my head... but that's a ways into the future yet! I've much to learn. MUCH to learn indeed.

Imagine you get the power and can do whatever you want. What would you do to reinvent comics?

Oh, the usual. Advertise, market, and create valid material suitable for more than the .25% or whatever of the population that currently read anglo-american comics. I'd encourage a complete rethink about format. Books and comics are not milk cartons. They can be any shape or size. The potential is there that they should be more widely accepted and read than books. They have pictures in them after all, which are easier on the eye to the modern dumb masses. Perception is the key. Change that, and someone might be very wealthy, very quickly.
Manga has none of those perceptions really in the US, and it's sales are skyrocketing.
There. That question still gets asked a lot. ;)

Do you admire any Italian or European artist?

Manara is a god. I am physically frothing at the mouth over Metabarons each time I get it. There is much that is good about the Euro styled comics. I wish I knew more. One day I will.

List three comics a real fan should read.

Any and all Hellboy TPB stuff.
Any and all Preacher TPB stuff.
The Tug and Buster TPB.