Ben Hepton Illustrator

Artblog of Ben Hepton | www.benhepton.co.uk | For commissions, email me at [email protected] | Feel free to ask me anything | Prints available on my Etsy shop

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I created these illustrations early last year, they were originally for my nan as she is a very keen gardener and I presented them to her on my wedding day (best grandson right here). They were done in coloured pencil and promarkers. I also used teabags to create a rust effect which i'd never done before but it paid off.

These can be purchased as prints over on my Etsy store.

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These prints are all packaged and ready to send out. You can purchase any of my prints at https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BenHepton

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Anxious to get started?

Anyone else get really anxious about starting a new project... or is it just me? Staring at a blank canvas makes me very nervous, It’s like I've never done art before. This is something I need to work on as it leads me to procrastinate and I end up wasting so much valuable time.

I just read Djamila Knopf blog post ‘If You Can’t Seem To Get Started’ where she says ‘If you pretend you’re only going to work on this new project for 10 minutes. And before you know it 10 minutes are over and you suddenly want to keep going.’

I thought I’d share this just incase anyone else was struggling with this, I’m sure going to give what Djamila says a go and I will let you know If it improves. If anyone else has anymore tips, please share.

Ben

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These sauces were done in coloured pencil with a watercolour underbase. It’s so much quicker when adding watercolour first to block out colour.

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For those of you who are thinking about getting an iPad Pro to use as a tablet for digital painting I cannot recommend it enough! With apps like Procreate and full Adobe Photoshop soon to be released I'd say it is up there with the Cintiqs! Ben

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A rare occasion of me actually showing my face. These tree frogs are now available to purchase as A4 prints, only 10 available at the moment so don’t miss out. How exciting! 🐸 Link is in my bio. Also I’m taking on commissions through my Etsy shop or email me [email protected] Ben

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The beginning of a HUGE project

If you've seen my instagram recently you would have noticed I have been focusing mostly on digital art, and this is for a good reason.

I have always been interested in fantasy stories, films and art books ever since I was a child. I remember making up my own characters and short stories, illustrating them as best as I could with cheap pencils and cartridge paper. All this seemed to faze out as I become older and focused on art that I thought most people would likely be interested in, giving me more of a chance to become successful within the art world. However I noticed I burnt out all the time and had no motivation to draw or paint anything, hindering my progress and letting my dreams of becoming a full time artist unlikely.

Anyway... a few months ago I attended my first art convention featuring comic book artists and fantasy artists (right up my street) not only that, my all time favourite artist Christopher Lovell was attending, this was a perfect opportunity to ask him a few questions on how he stays so motivated, and produces so many insanely good pieces of art.

What he said instantly made me realise where I was going wrong. He said ‘Make art based on what you love, not what you think everyone else loves’. Since that realisation I have never been so motivated towards my art. Taking that advise on board I have been focusing on my fantasy/nerdy routes, and now I always look forward to returning to my desk to see what I can create next.

That leads me to the title of this post. After a month or so of pondering on this and planning, I am going to be working on my own Fantasy art book creating my own world through Digital Illustrations and short stories. This is by far the biggest project I have ever had, it will involve creating and illustrating my own characters, creatures, environments and short stories (that is the very short version of the to-do list for this book). This is a project that I will be working on in my spare time in between my other other art pieces and design work. I hope some of you get enjoyment from seeing the concept illustrations and ideas come to life. This is partly the reason I'm starting this blog so that the people who want to see this project progress can.

Here’s a digital painting I have been working on. It’s an initial concept of one of the creatures that live in my fantasy world. His name is Groff

Looking forward to sharing the progress with you :)

Ben