Ben Boling was born in Gainesville, Georgia and was raised in Cumming, a small town forty miles north of Atlanta. He attended school in Cumming where he spent most of his time filling up his notebooks with doodles and cartoons instead of notes. Because of his love of drawing, Ben barely escaped high school with a diploma, but went on to attend Reinhardt College in Waleska, Georgia where he miraculously graduated with an Associate degree in Fine Art. After a short stint at North Georgia College in Dahlonega and six months working on an assembly line in a socket wrench factory, he went on to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design. In Savannah, Ben majored in Illustration and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art.
Ben has been doing freelance illustration for over 25 years. He uses many media in his work including acrylics, pen and ink, marker, colored pencil, scratchboard, as well as digital artwork and design. Some of Ben’s commercial clients include Delta, Painted Taco, Norseman Motorsports, Thwak magazine, Cracked magazine, Mellow Mushroom, Teefury.com, and Teevillain.com.
Some of Ben’s influences include comic book art, children’s book illustrators like Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak, Mad magazine, and animated cartoons. Ben’s work has a whimsical cartoon style, but sometimes has a bit of an edge. Even on those occasions, his sense of humor still comes across.