Bentos Animation

Profile Pics

2011-07-21T06:14:00.001-07:00

Profile Pics, a set on Flickr.

A set of portraits for imaginary social media profiles. Try to spot the caricatures of real people.

Secret Mission to Dublin, Bob and my drawing

2010-10-20T00:42:00.001-07:00

Well, he seems pretty pleased. Hope you like it Bob.
With thanks to Simon Birkenhead for the photos.

Secret Mission to Dublin

2010-10-05T04:34:00.000-07:00

This was the great secret mission to Dublin, a caricature of secret guest speaker Sir Bob of Geldof. Apparently it was given to him as a present on-stage yesterday after he spoke. It's his birthday today, hence the badge. Hope he liked it

Here are some of the roughs

Superstar DJ

2010-08-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Just found this little beauty poking about online today. Anyone paying attention might recognise the girls from the first few posts on this blog.

Indie Cliché #4 - Aloof Cutie-Pie singer

2009-10-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

Musical Ability - 4

Hair - 9

Shagability - 12

Junkie Prospects - 6

Public/State School - 7/3

TZ Brainstorm!!

2009-08-06T08:26:00.001-07:00

TZBrainstorm03
Originally uploaded by andrewbentos

The TZ team as it stands now.

We are discussing a possible mock YouTube Brand Channel no doubt.

Morph

2009-04-15T05:35:00.001-07:00

Morph02
Originally uploaded by andrewbentos

2D Morph redesign I (and I assume half the Illustrators in the country) was asked to do a couple of years ago.

They didn't go for it.

Norton Hero Builder

2009-04-01T04:51:00.000-07:00

Designed to make the website for the latest version of Norton Internet Security more 'sticky'. Unfortunately no longer online.

Indie Cliché #3 - Androgynous Singer Trying Very Hard

2009-02-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

Musical Ability - 6

Hair - 7

Shagability - 9

Junkie Prospects - 9

Public/State School - 7/3

Indie Cliche Top Trumps #2 - Fat So-Cal Punk Bassist

2009-01-28T09:20:00.001-08:00

Musical Ability - 9

Hair - -4

Shagability - 2

Junkie Prospects - 7

Public/State School - 3/7

Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy...

2009-01-06T04:10:00.000-08:00

Getting embarrassing to be working on now

Kelly bouncing some more

2009-01-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

Stage 2

Kelly Bounce Rough

2008-12-30T06:48:00.000-08:00

Apparently that's how she likes it. For those of you who remember this

Colleagues Pillow Fight

2008-12-30T01:25:00.000-08:00

Some girls I work with were talking about moving in together, this is how I imagine they're evenings would have been spent.

Total Bill Pressing rip-off (but for a good cause)

2008-12-18T06:21:00.001-08:00

Token Xmas Song

2008-10-02T01:19:00.000-07:00

Done in a couple of weeks alongside fulltime work for very little money in 2005 (look at me getting my excuses in), despite being able to clearly see everything that's wrong with this I still quite like it.

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SCENES OF CARTOON LEWDNESS

THE VISUALISER!!

2008-09-25T02:14:00.001-07:00

So the desks at Google have a CD case with your name and job title printed on the sleeve. So far so whatever. Unfortunately it is in the hated COMIC SANS!

So I thought, well that's rubbish, and I'd been playing with the idea of turning my job title (Visualiser, check it out!) into a type of X-Men superhero for a while, et voilá: THE VISUALISER!!

Regular readers may recognise an early incarnation if the Ice-Man.

Other people thought it was a good idea and I ended up doing a few more. Here they are:

..and how they turned out

2008-08-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Student Fancy Dress Characters

2008-08-06T01:35:00.000-07:00

Characters for a game where a bunch of students are trying to sneak home without being seen after staying out all night at a fancy dress party.

7 songs for Brian

2008-06-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

So, 7 songs I'm into now. Not my 7 favourite songs, that's not what I really take this to be about. Songs that I've found drifting through my head, unbidden, recently.

Modest Mouse - Float On

What can you say? Future classic, will be on radio playlists for years and years and everytime it's played people will go, "Oh, I really love this song, who's it by?" and no one will know.

Radiohead - Karma Police

Standing in Victoria Park on a lovely sunny summer evening with, what, 40 000 people quietly singing "This is what you get, this is what you get, this is what you get when you mess with us," to that nursery rhyme melody is a genuinely spooky experience that will stay with me for a long while.

Cherry Ghost - People Help the People

My Grandma died in Autumn last year, about the time I was listening this album to death on my MP3 player. On the train home from work a couple of days after she died, I was in floods of tears listening to this song.

Sara Bareilles - Love Song

Listen to Capital FM in the car when the missus is driving otherwise might not have come across this one. Quality pop music.

Ryan Adams - Halloweenhead

Ryan doing his best Neil Young impression. Proof that lyrics don't really matter all that much.

The Fray - Hips Don't Lie

Scrub through to about 1:00 minute in. Now I like the original but this is brilliant.

Lifedrawing

2008-04-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

2 minutes

10 minutes 15 minutes

Really enjoyed tonight. Trying to connect with my inner Egon Schiele

I've got a cool job

2008-04-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

For a potential Cricket Bowling game.

Kelly Brook Trampoline Game - Inked and Coloured

2008-03-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Lifedrawing 03/03/08

2008-03-03T15:07:00.000-08:00

10 minutes
10 minutes
20 minutes (Colonel Kurtz)
30 minutes

Kelly Brook Trampoline Game

2008-02-11T14:19:00.000-08:00

You got to pop her ballons without, ahem, popping her balloons.

Cometh the hour..Official RBS 6 Nations Drop Kick Game

2008-02-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

Becoming something of a speciality it seems, rugby games. Thanks to some fantastic work by the other designers and developers and a bit of courage and belief by the people writing the cheques the game has turned out uncannily similar to what I woke up thinking about at 5 O'clock in the morning the day after I was first given the brief. In practically all cases where things have changed they have done so for the better.

Couldn't be more chuffed.

If you can figure out how to catch the ball without being given a hint then you're doing well. If you can get anywhere near the top of the leaderboard then you're a far better man than I. I've never been good at games I've worked on but some of these guys, Welsh mainly it seems, are posting scores that we never thought would be feasable.

Good luck!

Lifedrawing

2008-01-21T14:39:00.000-08:00

Two minute poses

10 minute pose (I think)
20 minute poses

Much happier with these than the first of the year last week, though the proportions might be a little off, especially the heads. Trying to find a good balance between line-drawing and tone and not pulling it off. Might have to go for a higher B pencil.

Cometh the hour...

2008-01-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

..cometh the 30th birthday.

Have you been naughty or nice?

2007-12-21T02:35:00.000-08:00

They were done a while ago but I still think these Talkintoons cards hold up. Have a good one anyway.

Gaz N Skilling vs Temple Walkabout

2007-12-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

Me and all my school mates are 30 this year and Gaz (cricket fan) and Skilling (football fan) are celebrating theirs at the Temple Walkabout next month. Pip, Gaz's long suffering girlfriend, asked me to design an invite.

Iceman

2007-12-10T14:19:00.000-08:00

Character design for an American sports betting website.

Lifedrawing

2007-12-03T15:24:00.001-08:00

Great model, good mix of quick then longer poses. Can you tell I was having fun?

Odd Shaped Balls

2007-09-20T12:41:00.001-07:00

Finally, a slot I designed has gone live, a week and a half after I leave the company. WOOP!

And it's probably my favourite too. Hope people like it, it was a lot of fun to make.

Lifedrawing

2007-08-28T23:41:00.000-07:00

Munkis

2007-08-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

Alas, poor BBC Jam, I knew it Horatio.

Done for the Attic Media 'Business Studies' Digital Curriculum project. It's a SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. They animate too.

Lifedrawing

2007-08-08T13:35:00.001-07:00

5 minute poses, my kind of party.

Reject Cowgirl

2007-07-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Looks like they're not going to use it so I can post it here.

Lifedrawing 02/07/07

2007-07-03T00:18:00.001-07:00

Longer poses, 20-25 minutes, which means in practice more time to mess up a decent line drawing with over-shading.

Meet Rick

2007-06-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

Meet Rick

Rick was part of one of my very first forays into both freelancing and dealing with the client directly

Lifedrawing

2007-06-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

I went to my first Cartoon, animation + character figure drawing group lifedrawing session on Tuesday. Really enjoyed it, and the couple of beers afterwards. Certainly less packed and less serious than Monday nights at Candid Arts

"Suits you sir!"

2007-04-23T05:21:00.000-07:00

I love drawing guys in suits and though I don't actually wear suits to work I do like wearing them. I had a great day round the Bond Street part of Oxford Street picking out my outfit for the wedding during the January sales.

Cath and Cliff

2007-04-12T05:19:00.000-07:00

I don't normally do a lot of caricature, try to guess who these two are supposed to be. Answers on a postcard...

All Sports

2007-03-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

More old character designs, this time for a company called NakedPenguinBoy in Farringdon on a project for All Sports. They wanted an intro movie to an 'exclusive club' style area of their website. These characters above are for the club interior. All Sports actually went bust pretty soon after the website was launched.

19 year old me

2007-03-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

This is a self-portrait I did when I was 19, so 10 years ago.

The serious look is partly concentration, partly the angle I was trying to draw myself from and partly because I really thought of myself as a serious Artist at this point.

I often wonder what 19 year old me would think of 29 year old me. I guess I would think I was a classic sell-out, sacrificing artistic credibility for a guarantee of paying the bills. And I'd be right about that.

But I hope that I would also recognise an ordinary bloke trying to earn a living. I think I'd respect me for that.

I hope I'd respect me for that.

I'm getting married in a couple of months and the big 30 is staring me right in the face so forgive me a little navel gazing.

Hippy Bathday

2007-02-06T05:02:00.000-08:00

29, still officially young!

Film Street - Characters

2007-01-24T12:55:00.000-08:00

Characters for Film Street

Then each premises on the street has a 'shopkeeper' type character who acts as a mini-guide to that shops activities.

BAFTA Bentos

2007-01-08T04:37:00.000-08:00

Film Street, a project I worked on at AtticMedia, has been nominated for a BAFTA under the catagory of 'LEARNING PRIMARY':

http://www.filmbirmingham.co.uk/Articles/Film_Street_is_in_the_Running_for_a_BAFTA.aspx

I did most of the character and BG work you see in the main action area.

Merry Xmas!

2006-12-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

Question: does this keep playing when no one is watching it?

Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

More girlies

2006-12-20T02:32:00.000-08:00

More girlies dancing from the same project:

and stills from the Flash anim:

Nice beer last night with the old LAS crew. A little depressing about the state of the industry here, and animators can and do moan to Olympic standard but still had fun.

Mark, where were you?

Invite Drawing

2006-12-13T05:17:00.000-08:00

Me and Louise are getting married in April. As a 'creative' I wanted to do something for the invite rather than just buying something. I did this drawing from a photograph with the intention of having it on the front.

I got lots of help from my friend Carrie with the design and tried a load of different things, but it just wasn't working. Eventually Louise found a make-your-own kit in Confetti and the drawing found a home inside, opposite the details.

This was a difficult drawing to do because I hadn't tried to draw a 'realistic' likeness of anyone for years, and I'm used to drawing rough sketchy scribbles that noone apart from myself needs to get.

It's difficult to be objective but I like it. Carrie said it looks kind of like the Posy Simmonds strip in the Guardian which is is fine by me.

Cartoon Saloon and the Book of Kells

2006-12-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago a friend sent me a copy of the book Flips 7. It basically gives a profile on about a dozen studios and creators and the things they're working on. It also had a free DVD with some clips and by far the best animation on it was by an Irish company called Cartoon Saloon.

http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/website.htm

Basically these guys are the best. If it weren't for a couple of really frustrating reasons (well, a two bedroom flat shaped frustrating reason anyway) I'd be over there, happy as a sandboy working on their Flash series Skunk Fu: http://skunkfu.blogspot.com/

And I don't know of a more exciting project than their feature Brendan & the Secret of Kells: http://theblogofkells.blogspot.com/

It takes so much money, talent and resources to make even a half watchable feature animation that it always surprises me how keen everyone seems to be to keep doing it. It seems to me that 5-30 minutes is the ideal length for animation, giving you a much better chance of getting more things right than wrong. But this project looks like the absolute bees knees and I can't wait to see it.

Listening to the cricket

2006-11-30T17:46:00.000-08:00

Done for the Skwigly Animation Sketch competition: Theme: "I should really get some sleep”

http://www.biganimation.com/forum/tm.asp?m=5814

just before Strauss needlessly gave his wicket away.

Arse

Coloured Podium Angel

2006-11-29T02:20:00.000-08:00

And these are stills of the animated version:

New Job

2006-11-29T02:11:00.000-08:00

So I've got a pretty cool job doing illustration/animation for an internet gaming company. I wasn't really sure what it was going to be like but it's actually quite fun.

This is the kind of thing I'm doing.

As per usual, pretty rough sketches.

2006-11-27T07:01:00.000-08:00

So, in the petty, childish words of the Cranberries; Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We.

I've been meaning to do this for ages, but when it comes to actually doing it it's difficult to come up with drawings that I think are going to impress people. I've become quite a lazy drawer because I know I can clean things up and change proportions etc when I come to draw it up in Flash.

Bad habit to get into.

Anyway, these are the two drawings that turned into the Spider-Man at the start of my showreel: http://www.bentosanimation.co.uk

Later I shall write extensively on the deficiencies of the English football, rugby and cricket teams.