Ben Levin Dot Net

Almost summer doodle

Ben — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:28:11 +0000

Just a doodle. I was messing around with making different brush presets in Photoshop and ended up sketching this.

I can’t beleive it took me so long to get into the nitty gritty of Photoshop brushes. This site had some pretty good tutorials which I used as a jumping off point: Dani draws.

Pop Art

Ben — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:12:38 +0000

A couple drawings I made a while back for my most special lady gf, Allie. Thought I’d post ‘em. If you look real closely, you might recognize some characters from television shows. I like television.

Does this count slash fic?

You can download all sorts of sizes of Buster and Bebop and Rocksteady on my Flickr.

Thanks to the Aquabats, I am totally famous now

Ben — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:22:40 +0000

These are stills from the Aquabats! Super Show! on the Hub. And yes, that is me, very prominently displayed in my Aquabats costume.

I’ll be signing autographs at the Build-A-Bear in the Glendale Galleria this Saturday.

Shaking up the world of cable television

Ben — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:38:15 +0000

Level Up got picked up for a season TWO and Matt Burnett and I created a TV show!

It’s called Bounty Hunters, as you’ve probably guessed by now. It stars Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy as… bounty hunters. You probably guessed that part too. This whole post is pretty self explanatory. Matt and I created the show along with the talented Glenn Clements and the cable television channel CMT has ordered 13 half-hour episodes. Pretty sweet. To prove that I’m not making it up, check out the super official press release or this. The internet never lies.

1 down and only 42 to go!

Ben — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:04:09 +0000

A milestone has been reached. I finished the first shot of the music video I’ve been slooooowly working on for the Max Levine Ensemble. This shot is just a pan over a layered background, so not much animation per say. But it took a while to figure out the “aesthetic” I would use for the backgrounds. Think it turned out eh. Except for the tree. I like that tree. Next time I do a video- all trees on white backgrounds.

Messin’ with color-squatch

Ben — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:22:56 +0000

A rough colorscript for the Max Levine Ensemble music vid I’m working on. All the cool kids are making them, so I thought I would too.

There Will Be Ghosts

Ben — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:24:01 +0000

I am so topical.

There’s a post over on the For Tax Reasons site about Level Up and Matt Burnett and my debut as television writers. However, since I inundate my social networks with posts about Level Up (Tuesdays @ 8pm/7c on Cartoon Network), I thought I’d write about some other topics.

I finally finished storyboarding the music video I’m working on for the Max Levine Ensemble’s “Ghost Song”. Here’s a few boards I’ve sketched out.

in these next ones. there’s supposed to be ghosts flying around DC, scaring everyone I’ll be animating them in later so just use your amazing imagination.

On to color schematics and then animation! And if you haven’t yet, go check out the Max Levine Ensemble’s new EP “elephant in the room”. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking up it up/downloading it/donating. I was lucky enough to see them play it in person when they rolled through Cali on tour.

BONUS DRAWRING:

Level Up Series Premiere! Tuesday, Jan 24th @ 8pm/7c on Cartoon Network

Ben — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:27:54 +0000

This is it! It’s all happening Tuesday! January 24th at 8pm/7c on Cartoon Network- the series premiere of Level Up!

As I’ve posted before, this is the TV show I’ve been writing on this past year with Matt Burnett and many other talented folks. So this Tuesday evening at 8pm, make sure your TVs are tuned to Cartoon Network. If you don’t have a TV, go to Best Buy, or any other giant consumer electronics store, and use one of their many TVs on display to tune into Cartoon Network until the employees wrestle you to the ground. And if you’re not near a giant consumer electronics store- cut a TV screen out of cardboard (both 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio is acceptable) and I will come over to your house and reenact the episode for you.

Favorited

Ben — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:51:54 +0000

It’s great to see the protests against SOPA and PIPA created some waves- especially in Congress. But just in case SOPA pases and the internet explodes, I’m going to make a giant post of some sweet videos. So, call me sausage factory cuz I got tons of links!

Don’t call me that.

“Adventures in Petsitting”- another awesome music video from The Max Levine Ensemble. Off their new EP elephant in the room. Go here to download it. I’ll be posting more about my video from them, but in the mean time. Rock out.

“Shit New Yorkers Say” one of the most quality additions to the meme. By my former improv buddies Eliot Glazer, Ilana Glazer and Matt Mayer- writing, starring and directing. So good. If you like these comedy styings check out Eliot’s hilarious web series It Gets Betterish and Ilana Glazer & Abbi Jacobson’s web series Broad City.

“Evergreen” a mockumentary about a sad Santa by my buddy Zack Scheer and starring my other buddies Paul Yee and former For Tax Reasons voice over artisté, Emily Tarver. A little late on linking this up, but better late than never.

“The Real Housewives of South Boston- Christmas Special”- a self explanatory parody starring the wicked funny Happy Endings writer, Jackie Clarke.

Stop Censorship… for reals

Ben — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:48:52 +0000

As corny as it sounds, being able to share my cartoons with the world on Youtube brought me a lot of opportunities. If SOPA and PIPA are passed, it’s very possible that I, and many other filmmakers, will not have access to sites like Youtube, nor the benefit of building an audience by being linked through social networking sites, or sites like Cartoon Brew and Boing Boing. Please contact your Congressperson and tell them to vote NO on SOPA and PIPA.

Here’s a video that explains everything better than I can.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.