Ben Hutchings - May 2005

Ben Hutchings is creator of You Stink & I Don’t, Buckets of Bile
and Dragon Hurtor, as well as co-creator of the popular title Glenjamin,
to name but a few. To find out more, or order any of his titles, visit
his homepage - http://www.effect.net.au/geeen/ or the Phase Two Comics online shop.

My inside sources tell me that you're contributing to a European anthology this year.  Can you give us any details at this point, or is it one of those hush-hush kind of deals? 

 


It is a cute little rhyming strip!  I hadn't done a rhymey comic for ages, and the last one I tried was
so hard to write that I had to drop it from You Stink #8.  The problem with
it is that they had to split it and do the "To Be Continued" thing.  So you
will get 3 pages.... 3 measly pages!  Then you have to wait for the next 4. 
The comic is a British anthology called Paper Tiger ( Issue 2), and I also did a
nice cover!  If you are not in Canberra, you can order it from
Paper Tiger Comix

 

I've also recently scored a gig doing filthy, dirty cartoons for Picture magazine!  So I will be doing that, and the regular strip for BMA.  But comics wise, I am working on Glenjamin #3 and Dragon Hurtor #5, and I believe after that I will get around to doing a third Buckets of Bile .

 

I'd like to try and bring something new out for each Supanova...tho' that is a mighty task indeed!  I have just about finished a new zine too, entitled "It ain't a duty, it's a privilege" which is all about my fake war adventures.

 

You're a full time animator - turning heads (
GameSpot interview) and garnering nominations for all kinds of awards, have a full social life and still somehow manage to self publish comics at an alarming rate.  Aside from neo-satanic witchcraft, which I understand you practise, what's your secret?

 

I only seem to produce one comic a year, and maybe do a couple of other small things!  So when you think about it, the rate isn't that alarming.  I am alarmed at the fact I am so freaking slow!  I try and draw a few hours of drawing every night of the week, and don't spend any time playing computer games or watching shitty television, so that helps.  I had to give up witchcraft because of all the hippies getting into it for peaceful, aren't-I-alternative reasons.  I now do stitchcraft and make time saving cardigans.

 

The passion for some local comic creators is with animation, yet due to the costs involved in creating a animation they took up comics as a release valve. As a creator who does both, is this the case with you or just a natural codependency? 

 

Doing animation is pretty cheap compared to doing a comic!  Look at the cost... a pirated version of Shockwave, a computer which everyone has anyway, something  with the internet so you can upload it... all in all a few days work and the cost of a blank CD.  

 

A comic can cost hundreds of bucks when you think about printing and visiting cons and stuff, but it's not the cash, I just animate coz I love it.  I have been animating for as long as I have been comicking.   Comics are better because you don't have to go on the computer all the time, like some big loser.

 


Dragon Hurtor is probably your fans most favourite comic series, are there any plans to release a 5th issue, and does it have a conclusion? 

 

It's actually my fans least favourite comic series!  I assumed it would be the most pop, being a genre comic, but lo and behold nobody really buys it.  Those that buy it seem to love it however!  I am working on #5 slowly.  I will wrap up the story in that one, and leave it open for more adventures from him.  I like the world of Dragon Hurtor so I might continue the series but with adventures concerning new people.  Who knows!  Since everyone hates it so much I might just ditch the bloody thing.

 

Was there any local creator who has retired now you wished you had a chance to work, but never got the opportunity, and why?

 

I really wanted to draw and write a Greener Pastures story!  Some of my friends got the privilege to work on it and they did some great artwork.  As you know, they don't really do it any more. 

 

 

How long have you carried that beard for?



It carries me.  Take it away and my head just flops forward!  I grew it when my neck stopped working after a headbanging injury at a Missy Higgins concert at the Wallaringa Drop-in centre, Wallaringa, 1976.

 

 What motivates you to do your comics?

 

A desire to let all my grievances, beliefs and japes be known to all man.  That's about it really!  I can't imagine not doing comics.  I'd probably end up being one of those people who doesn't stop talking.  I get a lot of motivation from comics that suck too - I think "I can do better than that!" and I really want to show that I can.  And comics that rule provide short bursts of motivation. 

 

How do you stop yourself from procrastinating when having to ink very detailed panels?

 

I find that after a few minutes of washing my bra or tending the garden, I get restless as I know I am procrastinating!  I've become good at bowing to my guilt.  To be honest though, the inking part is the fun bit in my opinion.  I hate pencilling, that is godboring.  That's where I always screw up, see.  

 

Has working in the computer games industry influenced your artistic styles (in either direction, going with or rebelling against the visuals and image making processes of computer games)?

 

No, and I am glad of it!  Have you flicked through a computer game mag lately?  These days it is all soulless polygon art from Half-Life or Doom 3 or whatever.  It is so bland to look at compared to the clever pixel art of the 90s.  No matter how smooth or realistic computer graphics become, they are boring to look at compared with hand drawn art. 

 

How has your creative voice developed/changed over time?



I think just coz I am older I am less preachy and heavy handed with trying to get a point across.  But I like to think that I have not gotten less funny, despite doing some more arty and serious stuff in Glenjamin. 

 

What do you think is the most important message your stories convey?

 

I try to encourage people to love one another, and live together in tolerance, compassion, understanding, love, laughter, joy, acceptance, open mindedness, generosity, wisdom, forgiveness, lochness, giving, sharing, caring, nurturing, shoes, friendliness, mateship and harmony in the one same global village on the same earth under the same stars with the same blood (except for those who have diseased blood who are not to be judged except by whichever god or goddess you happen to feel is the right for you). 



Pulp Faction Standard Question

Do you see Australian comics industry as running in place? Is it advancing to a point where it can compare to other markets and carve out its own unique niche? Some say we are stuck in a cycle of derivative regurgitation of mainstream comics, particularly from the US, and narrow self-referential works when trying to make them 'Aussie'. What's your take on this? 



To compare to other markets we have to have at least one title being sold on a regular basis in newsagents across the land. Until then, we can't really say we have a proper scene, let alone an industry.  And that accusation is quite accurate , but the landscape of our underground scene changes constantly, like the surface of  Jupiter.  The lineup in the Artist’s Alley at Supanova is totally different from say, six years ago.   I wish people would stick with it sometimes.  



April, 2005