Benny is an illustrator and skateboarder from Felixstowe
Drawing and skateboarding are my two main passions in life and I’m lucky to spend most of my time doing both of them. From a young age skating helped me to look at things differently and although I never realised it at the time, it put me on a path to drawing and illustration.
Skateboarding is just a chance to get away from everything and to enjoy not thinking about all the crap that life entails. It’s the lack of rules and ability to be free and creative within skateboarding that translates really well into an artistic process – to most a bench is just somewhere to sit but to someone who skates, there’s countless other ways to use it.
Being out and about people is great for inspiration. Different spots and travelling to new places really helps ideas to flow. It’s a good way to see the world, even better to able to document it in a sketchbook as and when it happens. I love that I can be taken back to where I was and remember what happened from looking back at drawings and notes.
There’s definitely too many people in skating who inspire me to mention them all but Ed Templeton is a beast on a board with such an individual style.
When I was growing up his creative direction with Toy Machine always had me stoked.
Jacob Ovgren’s Polar Skate Co.‘s graphics were a huge influence on the direction I took in my 3rd year of uni. I loved the way his sometimes sinister subject matter could be so light-hearted because of his drawing style.
I follow Stevie Gee, Serious Adult and Kyle Platts on Instagram and I’m enjoying their work. The No Comply Network is rad, it celebrates skateboarding and creativity so its a winner in my books!
