His bump and grind style is reminiscent of pulp fiction covers and cult film posters of the 1950s with a distinct contemporary,politically incorrect edge. The best kind of pop art, the kind that’s smiling at you with a knife behind it’s back.
Benjamin Güdel, illustrator and comic artist striking drawings are collected in Blood, Sweat and Tears, a rollicking romp through pop art portraits, pin-ups, pirates and more. I want a copy of this book but I’m too poor to buy one, so I contacted the good man himself to see if I could sweet talk him into sending me a copy…
I first came across your work when I saw a portrait you’d done of the good Reverend Beat-man… Voodoo Rhythm! I love the records he puts out, are you a fan?
Beat-man and I grew up in the same city and when I saw him for the first time live many years ago, jumping around on some backyard stage, I liked the guy immediately. Back then he was still appearing with the wrestling-beat-man program and that is one of the wackiest things I’ve ever seen. But regardless, the whole Voodoo Rhythm thing is really great.
What techniques do you use? Is it all by hand or are computers involved?
The basis is done by hand. I sketch the things first and then I go over them with brush and black ink. Then I scan the drawings and get a final drawing done. Sometimes I also retouch parts of the drawing. That’s how the whole thing becomes a kind of mixture of hand and digital work.
Your website always just had one portfolio and then, bam! Loads and loads of new work! Was all the new stuff just for your book or is there a lot of old work in there?
When I started out working as an illustrator I needed to take on every job I could get. I was glad for the money and pretty much did everything. The result was that the fun jobs usually ended up evolving aside from everything else and so the fi rst web-portfolio didn’t end up being that big. In the last couple of years however, I was able to do more and more interesting work, which left me with not having enough time to up-date the portfolio. And the book is now a collection of all the drawings I think are really successful.
Have any of your comics been printed or are they just for the website?
I used to have something like this underground comic publishing house. Together with other artists we tried to get our work out there. So a couple of the stories are from that time. Actually, I thought I was done with the comic thing; I’d rather draw than text. But now people are becoming interested in this stuff again and I got to draw a couple of fun things. Comics are a great thing but unfortunately very time-consuming.
Who are your influences?
Movies and TV both influence me very much. The way of bigger-than-life thinking is something that I also try to live. Bringing in big emotions and not being afraid of kitsch. The people want to be entertained, discover a story in a picture and maybe even see themselves in it. That’s when a viewer will actually want to spend some time in front of a piece and really look at it.
Is music a big inspiration for your work?
It used to be. I would use music to get myself into the right mood in order to paint or draw a picture. But now, listening to music while I work is something that distracts me more than it helps. I need to enter completely into my own world and then I just can’t have someone else’s’ emotions alongside. That just ruins the sentiment immediately and takes the piece into a whole wrong direction.
What other sort of music do you dig?
I am definitely more on the rock track. Although, I also liked the whole techno thing of the 90’s as well, especially the parties. That’s why it’s fun now to see
how rock is coming back into the picture again. 5 years ago rock was just a niche-kind of music in Zürich. This was techno city. And now all of a sudden you can see the same people pogo-dancing and drinking beer instead of the collective screaming and vodka-Red Bull-drinking from before.
BENJAMIN GÜDEL ILLUSTRATOR AND COMIC ARTIST BASED IN ZURICH
more info at guedel.biz check it out man.
Stevie Copter
Previously published in Fused Magazine issue 22
