Blog Home! Welcome to Lost in the Woods, my illustration blog! Here you will find sketches, new work and news. You can subscribe to email updates, or click here to visit my portfolio!

Hoot!

October 6th, 2010 Ben Powis

Hoot! is a new 8 page story, you can read it today inside 8: A Kid’s Book Anthology. A collaborative project I have taken part in with a bunch of other illustrators and story tellers. The project has been put together over at illopond.com,  the site is now open for anyone to join in the fun. Come along and start a self publishing project of your own, share your work or just peruse everything else on show. Find out more about 8: A Kid’s Book Anthology by clicking here, buy a copy today by clicking here!

Inside ‘Gulf Coast’

January 5th, 2010 Ben Powis

I got a look at a print copy of Gulf Coast 22.1 this morning, my ‘Burial of the Dead‘ reproduced really well, check out some snapshots below!

gccover

A Handful Of Broken Images

October 18th, 2009 Ben Powis

hanged-man

Out at the end of this month is issue 22.1 of Gulf Coast, a journal of literature and fine arts. This issue features a comic interpretation of The Burial of the Dead, the first quarter of The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot. I was very excited to be asked to create this 12 page interpenetration of Elliot’s poem, the whole process was fantastic fun, presenting a very interesting challenge.

I am very pleased with the results, which can be seen in the magazine (and on the cover!) or in some samples on the Gulf Coast website. The newest journal also contains an article by Sean Bishop on the growing acceptance of comic art and it’s ability to communicate complex narratives, you can read that on the website too! I will post some pages from by Burial of the Dead on this blog over the new couple of months, but if you want to see it complete and any time soon, you just have to pick up a copy of the magazine!

gulf-coast-cover

Thought Bubble: Fin!

November 18th, 2008 Ben Powis

Thought Bubble in Leeds was fantastic fun! A big thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello and to everyone who picked up some comics too!

It was my first ever ‘convention’ – excluding No Barcodes in Camden market earlier this year – and also my first visit to Leeds, so full of new experiences. We didn’t get to see much of the city, between traveling and selling comics, but the view from the hotel window was nice!

I’m not pulling a funny face, I’m just munching on my breakfast apple! We managed to get the table setup pretty smoothly and I was really happy with how it looked, I also managed not to forget anything, not bad for a beginner huh!

Here is the table from the front, notice the little Turtle Guitar character model in front of ‘Bitter Herb – he was our table mascot for the day – he really enjoyed himself! :)

Finally here is a picture taken by Richard Bruton of Forbidden Planet, which is the only photo of me not eating an apple! (And the table looks pretty good in it too!).

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by -  see you again next year!

Strange Alchemy Store Update

We had some new items for sale at Thought Bubble which have now been added to the Strange Alchemy Store:

Badge Packs
3 Unique badges in a pack backed with one of four artwork designs.
Each pack contains 3 Limited Edition badges featuring work from my publications backed by one of four designs.

Pocket Monster Series 2
Pocket Monsters are back with Series Two! Own an Original monster drawing, in your pocket!

Each pack contains 1 Original Monster Drawing, signed Birth Certificate and care guidelines. Each monster is hand packaged by the artist!

And also, for a limited I have a special offer running where you can get Where Grows The Bitter Herb, Turtle Guitar, Whale Hunt and 3 badges, signed on request, for a bundle price of just £10!

Check out the new stuff at the Strange Alchemy Shop now!

Forbidden Planet International…

September 29th, 2008 Ben Powis

Richard Bruton of Forbidden Planet has written a lovely article on my work, primarily Whale Hunt and Turtle Guitar, which appears on the Forbidden Planet International Blog!

“Whale Hunt is another British small press comic that manages, once more, to expand the scope of what the small press is all about. Because this defies all expectations you may have about what a small press comic should be.

Read the full article here!

Inspire Magazine

August 13th, 2008 Ben Powis


A few months ago I was asked to contribute to a magazine put together by Aaron Staple. Inspire magazine looks fantastic, it features a bunch of contemporary illustration work which utilizes digital techniques and has a little interview with each artist to give a little insight into their world.

The magazine was produced as an end of degree project, hopefully Aaron will get the recognition he deserves for going out on a limb and producing a quality piece of design!

Anyway, here are my two pages upon which you can read my babble from a while ago…

Artwork for sale!

July 10th, 2008 Ben Powis

The above pictures, which were on show at this years Liveline Comics Art Exhibition in Richmond, London are now for sale! They are 2 digital full colour prints and one original pen & ink drawing, all A4. They each feature work from ‘Where Grows The Bitter Herb‘ and are the only prints of these pages ever framed, at double the size of the book prints!

  • Calm Before The Storm
    Full colour digital print of the finished comic page from ‘Where Grows The Bitter Herb without the text. The print can be signed on request.
    £30 including Postage & Packing.

  • Lift Off!
    Full colour digital print of the finished comic page from ‘Where Grows The Bitter Herb without the text. The print can be signed on request.
    £30 including Postage & Packing.

  • Puffership
    Original Pen & Ink line drawing which was coloured for a final comic page and cover art in “Where Grows The Bitter Herb“.
    £95 including Postage & Packing.

If you are interested in any of the pieces please get in touch!

Of ‘Bitter Herb and Barcodes…

June 6th, 2008 Ben Powis

NoBarcodes was fantastic fun!
I’d like to say a big HELLO! to everyone who was there. It was great to meet so many cool new people and see such a huge array of unbelievably cool comic art. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the table and picked Where Grows the Bitter Herb (which sold out!), Whale Hunt, a Pocket Monster or even just a free badge and a chat!
I’d also like to give a big shout out to my fellow table buddies who made it a day to remember, check out…

Dan Cox, genius behind Tokyo Gonzo!

Chris Getliffe will conquer the world with his Bunny comics some day…

Jon Scrivens’ Little Terrors comics are awesome, he sells sweat bands too!

Oh and I also picked up a book by Lizz Lunny which is just the bee’s knees! Thanks again guys, see you next time!

This just in from the Meeemooo…

For the next seven days or even more it’s Bitter Herb Week on the MeeeMooo! To celebrate the release of “Where Grows the Bitter Herb” by MeeeMooo resident Ben we’ll all be popping out World of Turtle Guitar fanart! So stay tuned for exciting astounding and amazing contributions! And of course be sure to pick up your copy of “Where Grows the Bitter Herb” today!

ImagineFX

May 7th, 2008 Ben Powis

My work is featured in the Expose section of the June issue of ImagineFX, a magazine of contempory fantastical art – check it out!

IFX

Coming up this weekend is the Bristol Comics Expo 2008, I will be there on Saturday, if I know you (or even if I don’t!) and your going give me a shout and lets say hello!

At the end of the month I will also be attending No Barcodes, the small press convention from the people behind London Underground Comics. I will be selling comics and maybe doing some drawing too, come say hi! Busy month!!

BookArtsBookShop and LUC

April 14th, 2008 Ben Powis

London’s Bookartsbookshop is currently featuring an exhibition of work from the London Underground Comics stall of Camden. You can see Turtle Guitar in the front there (thanks guys!) amongst the other fantastic comics.

Stop by and take a look, the exhibition will be on until the 25th of April.