Ben Templesmith (born 7 March 1984) is an Australian comic book artist best known for his work in the American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

industry, most notably the

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

series ''

Fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle o ...

'', with writer

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

, and IDW's ''

30 Days of Night ''30 Days of Night'' is a three-issue horror comic book miniseries written by Steve Niles, illustrated by Ben Templesmith, and published by American company IDW Publishing in 2002. All three parties co-own the property. The series takes place i ...

'' with writer

Steve Niles Steve Niles (born June 21, 1965) is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as '' 30 Days of Night'', '' Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery'', ''Simon Dark'', ''Mystery Society'', and '' Batman: Gotham County Line''. ...

, which was adapted into a motion picture of the same name. He has also created book covers, movie posters, trading cards, and concept work for film.

Early life

Templesmith was born 7 March 1984, in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. He graduated from

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

with a bachelor's degree in Design, and holds a diploma of Cartoon and Graphic Art from the Australian College of Journalism.Giles, Keith (31 August 2001)
"Artists on the Verge: Ben Templesmith"

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

Career

Templesmith produced his first commercial American comics work in 2001, providing the art for Todd McFarlane Productions' '' Hellspawn'', which was published by

. He has gone on to create his own original works as well as contribute to many licensed properties at various publishers, most notably

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...

, with which he had an exclusive agreement through most of 2008 and part of 2009 before returning to being a freelancer. Other licensed properties that Templesmith has worked on include illustrating "Dark Journey", a story in issue #17 of the

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

anthology series ''

Star Wars Tales ''Star Wars Tales'' is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics, beginning on September 29, 1999, and completing its run on July 13, 2005. Each issue is 64 pages and features a few unrelated stories from various eras of the ''Star Wars'' ...

'' in 2003, and the covers to

Devil's Due Publishing Devil's Due Publishing (often abbreviated as DDP) is an independent comic book publisher in the United States. Based in Chicago, Illinois, DDP is best known for its wide selection of genres, including licensed and original creator-owned proper ...

's '' Army of Darkness: Ashes to Ashes'' #1 in 2004 and IDW's ''

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

'' #0 in 2008. Original works Templesmith has produced include the miniseries '' Welcome to Hoxford'', the ''New York Times'' best-selling '' Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse'' ''Tommyrot: The Art of Ben Templesmith'', ''Conluvio'' and ''Choker'' at Image Comics with writer Ben McCool. He also provided a number of covers for the

Oni Press Oni Press is an American independent comic book and graphic novel publisher based in Portland, Oregon. In 2019, it became an imprint label following the company's merger with Lion Forge Comics. The merged company, Oni–Lion Forge Publishing Grou ...

series ''Wasteland''. In April 2012,

DC Entertainment DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and was based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery that manages its DC Comics units and characters in other units, ...

announced that Templesmith would be one of the artists illustrating a new digital ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' series with stories set outside regular DC continuity. Starting in November 2014, Templesmith launched ''Gotham by Midnight'' from DC Comics with writer Ray Fawkes.

Awards

* 2007

International Horror Guild Award The International Horror Guild Award (also known as the IHG Award) was an accolade recognizing excellence in the field of Horror fiction, horror/dark fantasy, presented by the International Horror Guild (IHG) from 1995 to 2008. The IHG Awards wer ...

for Illustrated Narrative (with Thomas Ligotti, Joe Harris, Stuart Moore, Michael Gaydos,

Colleen Doran Colleen Doran is an American writer-artist and cartoonist. She illustrated hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books and magazines, including the autobiographical graphic novel of Marvel Comics editor and writer Stan Lee entitled ''Amazing Fant ...

and

Ted McKeever Ted McKeever (born 1960 in New York City)McKeever entry
Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Dec. 30, 2021. is an ...

for ''The Nightmare Factory'')"The INTERNATIONAL HORROR GUILD AWARDS for WORKS from 2007"
Retrieved 7 September 2010. * 2007 Spike TV Scream Award for Best Comic Book (with

for ''

'') * 2010 Eagle Award for Favourite Colourist

Nominations

* 2005

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

for Best Limited Series (for '' 30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow'', with

)2005 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards
Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 7 September 2010. * 2005 Eisner Award for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (for ''30 for Days of Night: Return to Barrow'') * 2006 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series (with

for ''

'')2006 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards
Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 7 September 2010. * 2006 Eisner Award for Best New Series (with Warren Ellis for ''Fell'') * 2006 Eisner Award for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (for ''Fell'') * 2007 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series (with Frank Beddor, Liz Cavalier for ''The Looking Glass Wars: Hatter M'')2007 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards
Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 7 September 2010. * 2007 Eisner Award for Painter/Multimedia Artist (for ''The Looking Glass Wars: Hatter M'') * 2006

for Illustrated Narrative (with Steve Niles for ''Dark Days'') * 2006 International Horror Guild Award for Graphic Narrative (with Steve Niles and Ashley Wood for ''30 Days of Night'' issues 1–3) * 2007 Horror Guild Award for Illustrated Narrative (for ''Wormwood Gentleman Corpse: Birds, Bees, Blood & Beer'')

Selected bibliography

Comics

* '' Hellspawn'' (artist,

, 2002) * ''

'' (co-creator and artist, with Steve Niles,

, 2002) * '' Dark Days'' (co-creator and artist, with

, IDW Publishing, 2003) * ''

Criminal Macabre ''Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery'' is a comic book series starring Cal McDonald, an antihero American comic book character created in 1990 in comics, 1990 by writer Steve Niles. The character's adventures have been published by Dark Hors ...

'' (artist, with Steve Niles,

, 2003) * '' Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse'' (creator and writer/artist, LOFI Magazine, 2004–2006, IDW Publishing, 2006–present) * '' 30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow'' (co-creator and artist, with Steve Niles, IDW Publishing, 2004) * '' Singularity 7'' (creator and writer/artist, IDW Publishing, 2004) * ''Blood-Stained Sword'' (co-creator and artist, IDW Publishing, 2004) * ''

Silent Hill is a horror anthology media franchise centered on a series of survival horror games created by Keiichiro Toyama and published by Konami. The first four video games in the series, ''Silent Hill'', '' Silent Hill 2'', ''Silent Hill 3'' and '' ...

: Dying Inside'' (artist, with

Scott Ciencin Malcolm Scott Ciencin (September 1, 1962 – August 5, 2014) was an American author of adult and children's fiction. He co-authored several books with his wife Denise Ciencin. Biography Malcolm Scott Ciencin was born in 1962. He was a New ...

, IDW Publishing, 2004) * ''

: Bloodsucker Tales'' (co-creator and artist, with

Matt Fraction Matt Fritchman (born December 1, 1975), better known by the pen name Matt Fraction, is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of '' The Invincible Iron Man'', '' The Immortal Iron Fist'', ''Uncanny ...

, IDW Publishing, 2004–2005) * '' Hatter M'' (artist, with

Frank Beddor Frank Beddor (July 31, 1958) is an American former world champion freestyle skier, film producer, actor, stuntman, and author. He worked as a producer on ''There's Something About Mary'' and ''Wicked'', and wrote the book ''The Looking Glass War ...

and Liz Cavalier, Image Comics, 2004–2006) * ''

Shadowplay Shadow play refers to shadow puppetry or shadow theatre. Shadowplay, Shadow Play or The Shadow Play may refer to: Literature * ''Shadowplay'' (novel), 2007 novel by Tad Williams *''Shadowplay'', 1990 novel by Jo Clayton *''Shadowplay'', 1993 nove ...

'' (co-creator and artist, IDW Publishing, 2005) * ''

'' (co-creator and artist, with

, Image Comics, 2005–present) * ''

: Red Snow'' (co-creator and writer/artist, IDW Publishing, 2007) * ''

Dead Space ''Dead Space'' is a science fiction/horror fiction, horror media franchise created by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, developed by Visceral Games, and published and owned by Electronic Arts. The franchise's chronology is not presented in a lin ...

'' (artist, with

Antony Johnston Antony may refer to: * Antony (name), a masculine given name and a surname * Antony, Belarus, a village in the Hrodna Voblast of Belarus * Antony, Cornwall, a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom ** Antony House, Cornwall, United Kingdom * Antony, ...

, 2008, Image Comics)Ekstrom, Steve (28 February 2008)
Ben Templesmith - Moving into Dead Space

Newsarama Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS. History N ...

* '' Welcome To Hoxford'' (creator and writer/artist, IDW Publishing, 2008) * ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

- The Whispering Gallery'' (artist, with

Leah Moore Leah Moore (born 4 February 1978) is a British comic book writer and columnist. The daughter of comics writer Alan Moore, she frequently collaborates with her husband, writer John Reppion, as Moore & Reppion. Biography Moore was born to comics ...

and

John Reppion John Mark Reppion (born 1978) is an English comics writer. He is married to Leah Moore, the daughter of Alan Moore, and he has worked with both on the comic ''Albion''. John Reppion and Leah Moore have co-writing credits on '' Wild Girl'', a 6- ...

, 2009) * ''

Groom Lake Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force Base, the facility is officially called Homey Airport ...

'' (co-creator, with

Chris Ryall Christopher Ryall (born April 2) is best known as the former President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer of IDW Publishing (June 2004–2019), and as a writer in the comic book industry. In February 2011, his Eisner Award-nominated series, '' ...

, IDW Publishing, 2009) * ''

Choker A choker is a close-fitting necklace worn around the neck, typically 14 inch to 16 inch in length. Chokers can be made of a variety of materials, including velvet, plastic, beads, latex, leather, metal, such as silver, gold, or platinum, etc. The ...

'' (co-creator, with Ben McCool, Image Comics, 2012) * ''Ten Grand'' (artist), with

J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5'' ( ...

, Image Comics, 2013 * '' Gotham By Midnight'' (Artist) (co-creator, with

Ray Fawkes Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (g ...

, DC Comics, 2014)

Game books

* ''Superiors 4: Rogues to Riches'' (''In Nomine'') (2000)

Steve Jackson Games Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the cr ...

, Interior Artist * ''

Faiths and Pantheons ''Faiths and Pantheons'' is a campaign accessory for the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons#Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition, 3rd edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'', for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Contents It details the mechanics of the ...

'' (Forgotten Realms) (2002)

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

, Interior Artist * '' City of the Spider Queen'' (Forgotten Realms) (2002) Wizards of the Coast, Interior Artist * ''

Fiend Folio ''Fiend Folio'' is the name of three separate products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). All three are collections of monsters. The bulk of the material in the first edition ca ...

'' (''Dungeons and Dragons'') (2003) Wizards of the Coast, Interior Artist * ''

Nomads A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

'' (2004; artist;

White Wolf Game Studio White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant

)

Art books

* ''Tommyrot: The Art of Ben Templesmith'' (IDW Publishing) * ''Conluvio: The Art of Ben Templesmith'', Vol. 2 (IDW Publishing) * ''SquidGirls: Erotica Tentacular''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Templesmith, Ben 1984 births Australian comics artists Australian illustrators Horror artists Living people Role-playing game artists