Ben Vranken

Iceland

2011-02-08T01:54:00.000-08:00

Hello there,

again it has been a while but that' s because I have been really busy with a lot of different things. I' m sorry if you kept on visiting this blog and was dissapointed time after time. Your suffering is over!

Last year in november I got incredible lucky because I was invited to make a trip to Iceland. I was asked to do a story for a well known Dutch motoring magazine.
For AUTOWEEK I did a story about a ' father and son' -adventure on the beautiful volcanic island.
A Dutch travelling agent offers this trip to fathers and sons in need of some quality time with each other.( I went with my son Wiborg.)
We drove a quad-bike, rode on horse-back and visited an incredible cave.
All of this against the beautiful Icelandic backdrop. It was very inspiring to visit this little nordic country and I really liked the atmosphere up there. People are very relaxed and helpfull.
I can recommend a visit to Iceland especially when you' re in to volcanoes, fjords and caves.

I published some photos I took during this trip.

Till next time

Illustraties

2010-06-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

Naast strips maak ik natuurlijk ook illustraties voor diverse opdrachtgevers. Enkele voorbeelden laat ik hier graag zien. Het bovenste werk is gemaakt voor Hartpatienten Nederland, de belangenvereniging voor mensen met hartproblemen en de tweede tekening staat in het Zeeuws Tijdschrift., het magazine over alles wat in Zeeland speelt.

promo

2010-06-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

Omdat ik toch aan het tekenen was heb ik maar gelijk een nieuwe promotiekaart voor mezelf gemaakt. Ik neem er een paar mee naar Haarlem dus als je me ziet lopen schiet me even aan dan krijg je er eentje.

Stripdagen Haarlem

2010-06-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hallo daar,

het is alweer een poosje geleden dat dit blog geupdate is maar de Haarlemse stripdagen van het komende weekeinde leek mij een goed moment om weer eens wat vers werk on-line te zetten .
In de refter van het stadhuis te Haarlem is trouwens een kleine expo te zien waar ook werk van mij , als oud-VPRO-debuutprijswinnaar, te zien zal zijn: KOMT DAT ZIEN!

Verder is bij uitgeverij Xtra natuurlijk nog steeds het prachtige werkje 'SCHROOT' te koop waar ik op zondag 6 juni bovendien met veel plezier een origineel tekeningetje in zal maken.

werkjes van de laatste tijd

2009-11-20T06:17:00.001-08:00

PULPMAN

2009-03-02T01:57:00.000-08:00

Hi there,

recently I did a story for Fred de Heij's brandnew magazine "PULPMAN" . Brought to you by "Uitgeverij Xtra" from Amsterdam the magazine's packed with high quality-stories and news. Fred edited the magazine and contributed most of the comics. He also did the beautiful cover art. My story is called "Het Danspaleis" and it's based on a song by "The Kinks". I hope you like it.
Check your local newspaperstand or bookstore for "PULPMAN",it's only 7,95 euro's!

Volkskrant

2008-11-25T00:21:00.000-08:00

Hi,

a while ago I was asked to do a series of drawings for 'De Volkskrant', a major Dutch newspaper. They were preparing a special on the Northsea and we figured it would be nice to have a sort of comic running through the newspaper.
Both 'De Volkskrant' and me were very pleased with the result and I hope you will be too. The on-line version of the webspecial can be found by going here

HAARLEM

2008-06-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody,

again it has been a while but I just needed some time to recover from those hectic 'Haarlemse Stripdagen'.
As you know my new graphic novel: "Schroot" was released there and it was a great succes; thanks to the good people of 'Uitgeverij Xtra', I sold a lot of copies.
I think the book is very well executed and looks really good.
It was fun meeting all the people you normally seldom see because they live in remote parts of the country like Amsterdam.
Well, because of all this and because of the fact that the weather was very nice I spent most of my time drinking beer and talking to old friends on the squares of Haarlem.
I would like to say thanks to all the people that bought a copy of my book.
You can obtain your copy through the editor's website and as from now the book will also be available in bookshops across the country.
Check your local comic-retailer for a copy of "Schroot"; it's only 12,50 euro's

Preview

2008-06-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

Page from: "De Luidruchtige Boom" ("The Noisy Tree").
Page from:"Woeste Hoogten"("Wuthering Heights").

Page from: "Schroot" ("Scrap-iron").

Dear reader,

let me just show you a few pages from my latest graphic novel. The book consists of three stories in black and white with greyscales. The total amount of pages is 96!

Schroot

2008-06-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well hi there,

after a rather long period of silence from my part I'm back again because there has been some developments in the comic-department.
After working very hard for the past few months my newest graphic novel is finally finished and can be found at the coming convention at the Dutch town of Haarlem coming weekend.
I will be there too myself and I will be happy to provide your copy with an original drawing.
I don't know the exact time yet but I will be present in the "Philarmonie'-building which is also the nerve-center of the festival, so I'm told.
My editor ( Uitgeverij Xtra ) is situated next to the VIP-bar. Feel free to drop by and check out the other excellent books they publish.
Well , see you in Haarlem and ofcourse I hope you will like my latest book.
It's called "Schroot" ("Scrap Iron") and it's only 12,50 euro's.

AGENT

2008-02-16T02:42:00.000-08:00

Hi there,

offcourse you're familiar with ZONE 5300, the number one comic magazine of the Low Countries. A lot of very fine artists started their career here.
As from now , ZONE 5300 will not only be known as a magazine publishing outstanding comics but as an agency as well !
So when in need of an illustration, a comic, a script or even an animation or a workshop just visit the website on the left where you can find and hire the artists you know from the magazine.
The ZONE 5300-agency offers lot of different disciplines under one roof but the're always happy to fulfill your wildest dreams ( as far as illustration is concerned that is !) and like to be challenged by your assignment.
And being very happy to be a part of this bunch of special people that goes for me too !
Please pay us a visit on www.zone5300.nl/agentschap

STONE!

2008-01-10T12:35:00.000-08:00

This is the card I did this year ( I do them every year and it's becoming a real x-mas-tradition) for STENELUX, the fine shop in Amsterdam that sells the most beautiful objects from natural history you can find. When in town it certainly is worth a visit.
It's located near the Rijksmuseum in the 1e Jacob van Campenstraat 2

It's alive!!

2008-01-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

Hello there,

Oops, 2008 already? well it's just like I updated this weblog only yesterday but again it has been a while. I'm sorry but I don't seem to have the discipline needed to maintain a weblog. I promise however to do the best I can in the new year!
Let me start by wishing everybody a wonderful 2008!
In my last update (dating from august,I'm afraid ) I told you about the graphic novel I was doing . Unfortunately I didn't manage to finish it in time so I'm still working on it and we've decided to postpone its publication.
We ( the publishing house and myself hope to be able to publish the book by the summer of this year.
But "Scrap Iron" (as the graphic novel will be named )is not the only thing I have been busy with during the last months of 2007. I have been doing a lot of illustrations for all sorts of purposes and even a "life-event" where I was asked to draw in public came my way.
The coming year however I hope to focus on my career as a comicbook-artist and be able to do some fine stories for you.

Graphic Novel

2007-08-24T00:44:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

back again with some exciting news. A while ago one of Hollands most interesting publishers ( www.uitgeverijxtra.nl )asked me to do a Graphic Novel. We both are very enthusiastic about this project because we think my work really fits in among the fine books already published by this publishing-house. We plan to release the book at the coming "Stripgidsdagen" in the belgian city of Turnhout(www.stripturnhout.be ) this december.
So at this moment I'm slaving away on the stories. I want the novel to consist of at least two short stories but I think it would be nice to have some illustrated pages in the book as well ( showing just a nice drawing with no connecting to a story I mean )
Anyway ; the working title of the book is "Schroot" (Scrap Iron )and the stories are mostly about loners who are crushed by their environment. Although I am aware of the fact that this is a returning theme in my work this time I try to handle the subject with a bit more lightness and offer the reader some light at the end of the tunnel.
My main goal, however is to draw this 'tunnel' as attractive as possible.
So there still is a lot of work to do but I will try to post examples of the pages every now and then.

Another gruesome picture

2007-06-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing I did yesterday about the fact that ancient battlefields often produce very few objects related to the fight. I think it's because after the battle human scavengers visited the place and took the valuable items like weaponry and armour away. Not only the maggots and the crows had a feast after a battle.

On line at last!

2007-02-27T01:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while but here I am again with some great news. Since january my website is operational ! Thanks to the technical skills of my good friend Marly Weemen (check out her own website at: www.in-space.nl ) my work can now be found on the www.
It's a rather simple site but I think it's very special and it even has some animated features. The idea behind this website is to show my illustration-work and the comics I do to interested people all over the world in an easy way ( think of all the postage and the trainfares I can economize on! ).
I also had a postcard printed to tell people about my site and a lot of those were sent all over the world. I like to think you are reading this because you received one. In that case: welcome to my site!
I hope you enjoy: www.happybeet.com

Archaeological News

2006-12-20T11:53:00.000-08:00

As from today a new edition of Hollands finest magazine on archaeology can be found at your local newsstand or bookstore. ' Archeologie Magazine ' as it is called is filled with interesting stuff about (amongst many other things) a special on the archaeological remains of the "Great War" and on war- archaeology in general, interesting news about the "Antonine Wall",articles about Jersey, Canterbury, the Champagne district in France and Egypt. Furthermore the magazine is packed with little news-items,links to websites and beautiful pictures.
I have my own little ' corner' (in fact it's a whole page!) in the magazine with which I am very pleased because I really like the way the magazine is executed. In this 'corner' I like to write and draw about archaeology from a somewhat different and highly non-scientific angle.
On their website ( www.archeologiemagazine.nl ) you can learn more about this fine magazine.

Gr'omnibus

2006-12-14T02:23:00.000-08:00

..and there's more good news: two of my stories have been published in the 300plus paged anthology GR'OMNIBUS made by the people behind the GR'NN-magazine and published by Sherpa(a small Dutch publishing house). I did the stories quite a while ago but the book was published to celebrate the 10th birthday of the magazine and it looks very good! Altough I do not fancy all of the stories I think most of them are o.k.
It's nice to see the pages I drew ages ago in print again and what's more: I still like them !
The book also features lots of other famous Dutch(and international) small press artists like Anke Feuchtenberger,Marcel Ruyters, Markus, Amoebe and many more.It's a nice book to help you make it through the coming holidays and it's only 24,95 euros.
Check out the publishers website (www.sherpa.nu) for more details.

Emergency border

2006-11-30T01:52:00.000-08:00

At last I finished the story I have been working on for Hollands #1 comic (amongst other things) mag Zone5300. All the changes that had to be made in the end turned out very well. as you can see I had to add an ornamental border to make up for the loss of right dimensions. What originally was an emergency solution now turns out to be a very important part of the story and really gives the story an extra 'layer'.
Don't forget to check your local newsstand or bookstore in december for the winter-edition of Zone5300!

Scrap Metal Part II

2006-10-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while but here's an update about the comic I was busy translating into the Dutch language. Well at least that is what I thought I was doing. In the end it turned out there had to be done a lot of more work besides translating in order to get the comic published. Because there was but room for an 8 page story I had to almost cut in half my 15 page story(!).
But it turned out well and I think the story has become more powerfull because a lot of items in the end were not essential to the story.
By cutting the story in half I was forced to use only the most necesary ingredients of this little tale. Storiewise this cutback of pages has been a blessing in disguise.

The Scrap Metal Idol

2006-10-03T04:50:00.000-07:00

At the moment I am working on the Dutch translation of my story 'The Scrap Metal Idol'. Originally written in English, this story was to be my contribution to the 2005 SPX-Anthology. Unfortunately it was rejected for unknown reasons (at least I don't know them) which is a great pity because I think it's a rather nice comic. Anyway; the people behind the best Dutch comic magazine ever decided to publish it in their next issue. The name of the magazine is : ZONE 5300 and you can learn more about them at their site www.zone5300.nl
In the past I have published some stories in ZONE 5300 but I have been busy with a lot of other thing so it has been a while but I'm glad to be back!
Check your newsstand in November for the latest issue of ZONE 5300.
'The Scrap Metal Idol' deals with religion but I really wanted to tell something about how time moves on and how we and our problems ,worries and fears will all be forgotten in the future.
Talking about the future: you will have to be patient untill november when you wil be able to read it for yourself. Offcourse I hope you will enjoy it!

2006-09-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Welcome at the "Home of the Happy Beet" ; Ben Vranken's weblog. I shall be using this weblog to let the world know about my work as an illustrator and comicbook artist.

I'm working on a website and when this is finished you will be the first to know!