Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Wright-Heuman.
Ben, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in Richmond, VA, and always knew I wanted to be an artist of some kind. For a long time, I thought I would end up a writer since my doodles weren’t very good. I even attended Kenyon College and graduated with an English and Drama double major, with plans to become a screenwriter. Luckily for me, those dreams were soundly dashed by the 2008 Writer’s Guild strike, and while I was waiting to figure out what to do in the meantime, I rediscovered my love of comics.
After years of working in customer service and drawing in the evenings, I eventually realized that I wasn’t getting where I wanted to be fast enough on my own. So, I took a leap and attended the Center for Cartoon Studies. This place REALLY taught me how to hone my comics-making craft, and when I received my MFA in 2016, I jumped directly into freelance cartooning.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If anyone tells you freelancing is easy, they’re either selling you something or are much better at it than I. A lot of people tried to warn me, but I didn’t really understand how difficult working for myself would be. Sure, you get to keep more of the money you make, but you also have to be your own business manager, marketing department, publicist, accountant, etc. And you may be a great artist, but it’s hard to be great at ALL of those things.
I feel like I didn’t really hit my stride until Rainer Kannenstine and I started producing comics anthologies under the name CanonWrite Productions. That’s where I really discovered the joys of collaboration and how wonderful it is to have a team of creators that can help make the final product bigger and better. It’s like they say: a burden shared is a burden halved.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
My comics projects have been all over the place. My first major work was my self-published mystery graphic novel series, The Letters of the Devil. That started as my senior thesis project and grew into one of my crowning achievements. Two books are out so far, and I’m working on the third (with more planned down the road).
Around the same time, I launched the first Letters book, I also started my weekly comedy weebcomic CosPain. It’s a slice-of-life series about cosplayers and convention craziness written in a Japanese yonkoma style, and I’ve been publishing weekly installments since 2017. You couldn’t get more different from my darker graphic novels, but the positive response CosPain has received has really meant a lot to me.
More recently, I started producing comics anthologies with my creative partner Rainer Kannenstine under the name CanonWrite Productions. We’ve produced a cryptid anthology called Less Than Secret, and a gnome anthology called What The Gnomes Know. Our next project is coming out soon, so keep an eye out for that!
Outside of comics, I dabble in numerous other media. I do game livestreams every Tuesday on Twitch, do interviews for several comics-related YouTube channels, create animated comics live-reads, and create fantasy illustrations. I really try to do a little bit of everything.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
When I was in middle school, I took some summer cartooning courses at the Hand Workshop (now the Visual Arts Center of Richmond). The cartoonist there, Kirk O’Brien, was the first person that actually taught me the basics of serious cartooning, and it was a revelation. My doodling style changed dramatically, and I can honestly point to those classes as one of the most influential moments in my long-term creative journey.
Shortly before attending the Center for Cartoon Studies, I managed to track down Kirk and got to show him my portfolio. He gave me great feedback that I still apply to this very day.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://BWHComics.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/BWHComics
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/BWHComics
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@BWHComics
- Other: https://twitch.tv/BWHComics
Image Credits
Ian M. Klesch
Ben Wright-Heuman
