Website: www.benjaminmarra.com

Benjamin Marra’s work jumps out at you immediately. At first glance, his sketchbooks may be dismissed by the casual observer as yet another wannabe comic fanboy’s doodles (followed up by the likely ‘Oh, that doesn’t look like Jim Lee/ Humberto Ramos/whoever-is-hot-artist-now’ comment). However, on closer inspection, it’s quite clear that this is a dude who has spent a good deal of time honing a love for pulp fiction, Heavy Metal magazines, fantasy novels and comics into a distinct illustration style and, more impressively, a style that actually sells. We caught up with him to get his thoughts and insights on his life and work.

Hi Benjamin! How are you today?

I’m great, thanks for asking.

Your work shows a huge indie comic book influence. Tell us a bit about how this evolved.

Well, when I was 9 or 10 I started reading comics and the first ones I bought were all indie comic books. It was when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles helped usher in an independent publishing movement in comic books. The first comic I ever bought was Darick Robertson’s “Space Beaver.” It had a profound effect on not only my early, formative years drawing but also my own psychology and interaction with pictures. There was some real dark themes in that book that as a youth I had not been exposed to before. Lots of blood and evil deeds. I loved it tremendously. For years I didn’t read a comic with humans in it. I only read ones with anthropomorphic animals. And that’s all that I would draw, too, some sort of animal walking on their hind legs carrying a Gatling gun or some other ridiculous weaponry. Then I got very into mainstream comics and started drawing superheroes. Sort of graduated from animals to people I suppose. Later I learned about R. Crumb though I think he was an ever-present spirit and I just started recognizing his work around me more and more. There’s a sort of tactile feel to indie comics that I enjoy, like the printed stuff in your hands might as well be the actual drawings. I think there’s a closer feeling to the work in indie books than with highly polished, overly designed, expensively printed comics. Having said all that though, there aren’t many indie comics out there that I read today. I don’t like the general naval-gazing, self-analysis, relationship-trouble content found in most “indie” comics.

Most artists of independant comics seem doomed to obscurity, yet you have managed to take the style out of the comic niche and successfully applied it to commercial work. What’s your secret?
I think the secret is to make work that you want to make, that comes from deep within your soul and hope people can connect with your enthusiasm for it and your honesty. For my own process, I was always just trying to find the way that I worked most intensely without any doubt about what I was doing. I was trying to find the method that would inspire the most emotional investment into the image. I think the comic-book style comes from all those years of devouring comics, it’s deep within me now. The comic book influence is just a part of my decision-making process when I’m drawing. As far as commercial success goes, I think there are several factors that have made the comic book aesthetic more commercially desirable, thus making it easier for someone like me to have some modest success. There is in general a greater respect for the form of comics. I think it all goes back to Krazy Kat and Zap Comics influencing Phillip Guston  to shun Abstract Expressionism in favor of narrative painting. Gary Panter, who is perhaps one of the most important cartoonist of the last 25 years, proved the connection between comics and applied art. There’s the recent rediscovery, recognition and adulation of Jack Kirby’s contribution to not only comics but to popular culture by the mainstream. Paul Pope is an incredible conduit between indie comics and all other forms of applied art. In illustration you have people like Tomar Hanuka, James Jean, Yuko Shimizu and Nathan Fox who have all been extremely successful using comic-book approaches to making pictures. So others have really paved the way for comic style being commercially viable.

Your client list reads like a wish list – Rolling Stone, Playboy, the New York Times! Did you actively seek these out, or did they just ‘happen’?

A little bit of both I’d have to say. I actively sought them out, but the jobs also just sort of “happened,” too. I should point out that those gigs have happened over several years. I sent Rolling Stone a small booklet of my drawings that I printed at home. And it wasn’t until two years later that they contacted me for work. The pieces I did for Playboy were actually winners for this contest we had at the SVA Illustration Masters program. We competed with each other to illustrate that year’s Playboy college fiction writing competition winner. A lot of the times art directors like my work but don’t know how to use it. But every once and a while I’ll get a call for a cool job.

A lot of your work, if not all of it, looks like it’s hand drawn and colored. Do you use the computer at all, and why?

I do use the computer a lot but not for my illustration work. Sometimes I’ll use Photoshop to color in line art. I use the computer to design stuff, post stuff on my website and blog but not in the creation of imagery. I’m really into hand drawn stuff. I used to be a meticulous perfectionist painter and it took some maturing for me to learn that not everything is perfect and to not only accept mistakes but celebrate them. The mistakes are what make us who we are, give us our character. So I’ve come to love the imprecise-ness of hand drawing, I like to be able to see the edits I’ve made to the drawing with white out. The mistakes and unpredictability of how I draw are what entertain me while I’m making a drawing. I try to plan as little as possible when I am first approaching a drawing. I like to see what ideas I might arrive with during the course of creating it. Accepting this method has also allowed me to work faster and get my ideas out quicker.

Let’s see… apart from being an illustrator, you’ve also been… a lifeguard, cashier, park ranger assistant, mover…. and scholar, if you count in the Masters in Illustration. How do you think these experiences have helped shape your work?

The experiences I had on those jobs have informed me as a person and my understanding of the people and the world around me. All that in turn influences me as an artist, illustrator and storyteller. I believe it’s your world view, life philosophy and self-awareness that influence your decisions as an artist. So all the experiences and people that I had and interacted with during those jobs contributed in many ways to where I am now and the pictures I make. The education experience is complicated because while I was able to spend a large amount of time focusing on my work and receive formal art training and ideas from artists I admire and respect I’ve also tried to forget everything I’ve been taught and listen more to my own instincts when it comes to my work. I think that is the most valuable lesson I learned from school. To unlearn what was taught to me and trust myself.

What words of wisdom would you have for aspiring illustrators who love and want to draw comics/manga?
Two things that are the most important in drawing comics and in illustration. One is to make work that is honest, work that is all your own and different from everything else the same way we are all different from each other as people. Don’t make work you think others want to see. Make work for yourself, that you want to see. The second thing is to make work about things that you truly love and obsess over. People will respond to the honest connection you have with your work. Those are the two most important but another important thing is to not think too negatively about your work. Don’t get down on yourself too much. Do not doubt yourself. Doubt kills artwork. Have a critical eye and be open to ideas from others (this is especially important when it comes to making comics as others can point out things in your work you don’t see yourself). Lastly, drawing comics is a long distance thing. Which is why it’s important to make work that satisfies you, because you’re going to be doing it for a long, long time.

So, are we going to see an ending to ‘Night Business‘ any time soon?
Haha. Probably not for quite some time. It takes me a long time to complete one issue as I can only work on it when I have free time. So I’m not sure when we’ll see the end of the whole story. I know how the first story arc will end. But I think it will be a couple years before we see that ending. I can see it now in my mind. Everyone else will have to wait.