Interview for Aha Daily (*)

digital photography and drawing. Which one was your first passion and - See more at: http://www.benjaminheine.blogspot.be/2012/12/interview-for-adobe-photoshop-just.html#sthash.SE23kNXe.dpuf

Introspection, 2013

digital photography and drawing. Which one was your first passion and - See more at: http://www.benjaminheine.blogspot.be/2012/12/interview-for-adobe-photoshop-just.html#sthash.SE23kNXe.dpuf

(You can also read the following interview at ahadaily.com)

digital photography and drawing. Which one was your first passion and - See more at: http://www.benjaminheine.blogspot.be/2012/12/interview-for-adobe-photoshop-just.html#sthash.SE23kNXe.dpuf

Nishu Kakkar: Tell us a little bit about yourself? Where is your home? How long have you been a visual artist? What factors favored you in becoming a successful visual artist today?

Ben Heine: I was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 1983, I moved to Brussels, Belgium, in 1990 and I now live in Rochefort, a small city in Belgium. I’ve been working on graphic projects, mainly illustration and photography, for over 20 years.

Different © Ben Heine

Well, I don’t think I’m a successful artist. Firstly because the graphic design industry is totally sick and insignificant in comparison to other creative industries such as music and film. Secondly because there are many aspects I need to improve in my personal evolution. It’s true I do have the chance to get exposure when I post a new creation, I suppose because I’m young and rather active on social networks, but exposure doesn’t pay bills! Exposure is an illusion and a rather useless fantasy. What matters now is generating money and making a decent living with my art or I'll have to stop it.

digital photography and drawing. Which one was your first passion and - See more at: http://www.benjaminheine.blogspot.be/2012/12/interview-for-adobe-photoshop-just.html#sthash.SE23kNXe.dpuf

I’ve always invested a lot of time and energy in my passions. I was doing things alone from the beginning, I have no assistants and I always learned on my own, so everything requires more time and efforts but it’s also very nice to be in control and to decide myself which direction to take! I despise those artists who pay a bunch of assistants to do the difficult work and don’t even credit them!

Theodor Heine born in 2012

What is your current state of mind before we continue with this interview?

Well, right now, it’s the middle of the night and many wishes, thoughts and hopes are spinning in my head. I’m contemplative, introspective, reflective and sensitive. I feel happy because I’ve had a beautiful baby boy who is now 1 year old. I also discovered some new passions that will help me not be blocked in my creative projects. I dream of harmony and I really wish I can keep growing as an artist.

Besides the various forms of visual arts seen from you so far, which new form/s can we expect from you in coming years?

Ben working on a music track

I plan to end my “Pencil Vs Camera” series. I’m always trying to develop and improve the concept so that it’s constantly changing. I don’t want people to get bored with this idea. I don’t know exactly what I’ll do next. I started making music and this passion is literally eating me alive and I wish I could spend 100% of my time on it but unfortunately I have too many ongoing graphic projects. I’ll need to find new ways to express and renew myself. It’s not going to be easy, but I’m sure it’s achievable.

Which has been your most memorable assignment and why?

I’m sorry, I can’t say, I really tend to forget all my past projects. I don’t remember any of them. I can only say some were a bit more time consuming and difficult to make than others.

We know that each of us has someone or something, which inspires our life and work. Can you tell us the true basis of your inspiration?

 Inspiration comes from anywhere

Fear of death and anxiety are the main reasons giving me energy and motivation to create new projects. Childhood wounds are also playing an important role in my life as artist, bringing me the strength to surpass myself daily. Anything and everything, usually very small things, inspire me, I love to search for universal truths in tiny random events. Finally, I am a very competitive person, I like to test myself and to challenge others, of course, if I fail, I’ll try to fight more to succeed. If there is no chance at all, I'll simply give up and try something different.

What remains your biggest fear and biggest success as a multi skilled person?

One of my fears is to get lost in my different passions. Combining drawing and photography was rather easy so far. It’s harder to switch from my graphic to my music projects. But on the other hand, when I’ll have learned and mastered all the tools available in these fields, it will be a big strength and a powerful means of expression.

If you could live anywhere on this planet where would you build your dream home?

I think it could be in a quiet village in the USA, I'd love that!

List out your 5 most popular creations in your portfolio.

according to my sites stats:

Pencil Vs Camera 32 ©Ben Heine

No1: Pencil Vs Camera 73 (Double Identity, drawing, photo...) No2: Pencil Vs Camera 57 (Crow landing on girl in London) No3: Pencil Vs Camera 58 (Cat and dog, sweet duo in Spain) No4: Pencil Vs Camera 32 (Vertigo, optical illusion, in Germany...) No5: Planet Paris (Paris seen from the top of the Eiffel tower)

List out any 5 random sites/blogs from where you gain inspiration.

I’m not very proud to say that I almost never visit art blogs or other online resources. I don’t want to be influenced in any way. What I usually do is listen to news and science podcasts or music when I’m working. And I watch National Geographic or Discovery Channel during my breaks. That’s it.

If you could choose it, what would your legacy in the industry be? What is it that you want to be remembered for?

Innovation, fearlessness, unconventionality, independence.

What pieces of advice would you give to an amateur visual artist?

Ben Heine at Tour de France Photo

Be confident. Trust yourself. Try the untried. Learn from your mistakes and always remember that only efforts and hard work will bring you success, satisfaction and happiness. Be faithful and thankful to the people who helped and supported you and consider forgiving those who tried to destroy you. Don’t believe in providence. Always believe in your skills.

Which five words would your friends use to describe you?

Crazy, Solitary, hard worker, hyperactive, emotive.

(*)  Ahadaily.com is a blog about art, design and creative technologies

© 2013 Ben Heine

Creative Challenge in Lisbon

With a friendly funicular near Bairro Alto

Breathtaking seaside view

I travelled to Lisbon a few days ago for the launch of the new Samsung phone and tablet in Portugal. Samsung Portugal invited me to use the new “Galaxy Note 10.1” (tablet) and the “Galaxy Note II” (smartphone) to see how it is possible to be creative, to draw and take photos with these new digital devices. The mini documentary here below will give you an idea of the interaction I had with the tablet, the smartphone and the beautiful city of Lisbon, the film was made by Dub Video Connection via Desafio Global Ativism, there will be a long version soon.

Video: Samsung Portugal - Desafio Global - Dub video Connection - Director: Sandro Aguilar

Basically, I made photo-drawings (Pencil Vs Camera) like I usually do but instead of using pencils, pieces of paper and a reflex camera, I used the 10.1 tablet as a drawing surface area, the magnetic S-pen as a tool to draw and the powerful integrated camera of the Galaxy phone to capture the final results...

Sketch in progress in a nice restaurant in Alfama, Lisbon

That was an astonishing, exciting and challenging experience for me because it was the first time I was working with this technology. To be completely honest, it was a total improvisation, I only had a few hours to learn all the specific applications and the tools I had to use for this experience (mainly the S-Note and Photoshop Touch applications).

Sketch in progress in a street of Lisbon

Amazing moment in Alfama

I had to do the sketches very quickly (less than one hour per image, while I usually spend several days of work on every single project I do!). Another difficulty was that I didn't use any references, it was a complete freestyle adventure in a new environment as well. This said, I was very pleased and impressed by how fast it was to learn all the creative tools available on the tablet and phone, mainly because these devices offer a friendly, welcoming and intuitive interface.

Sketch in progress at Praça dos Restauradores

Galaxy Note 10.1 (Tablet)

One of the particularly new features I really liked in the tablet was the Multiscreen function, it allows several applications to work side-by-side, having several windows opened in the same screen. I could easily switch from one application to another.

Galaxy Note II (Phone)

All in all, the “Galaxy Note 10.1” and the “Galaxy Note II” are mind-blowing instruments to increase artists' skills and productivity. I might work more with them in the future.

Find here below some of the improvised experimental photo-drawings I made and some other pictures of my friends there and the beautiful environment I was working in and finally a brief report of  the Samsung launching conference that happened at the end of my trip (the 3rd of October 2012) at Pavilhão Atlântico.

Lisbon is super famous for its beautiful and old fashioned yellow trams. The best way to discover Lisbon is by tram. They rumble up and down through the alleyways of the city. Streets and curves are sometimes so narrow that the line becomes a single-way track! I had already made a Pencil Vs Camera image, published in March 2010, showing the legendary and famous Carreira 28 Tram (see below), This time, I quickly drew a new version of it in colors, taking off, ready to fly towards new dreams and horizons...

Flying tram, 40 minutes sketch on the Note 10.1 - Photo taken with the new Galaxy phone

Pencil Vs Camera - 4, Lisbon, March 2012

Walking with my friends in the streets of Alfama, the oldest district of Lisbon, I noticed a lovely outdoor restaurant offering all kinds of delicious dishes with sardines ("sardinhas" in Portuguese, people in Lisbon love them!). We had lunch there. While waiting for the food, I made the following sketch quickly...

Sardines invasion, 40 min sketch on Note 10.1 - Photo taken with the new Galaxy phone

I stayed in a great hotel called Gat Rossio - Gatrooms located between Rossio Square and Praça dos Restauradores. As you can see here below, it's a trendy, colorful and well decorated place.

Discovering the Note 10.1 for the first time at Gat Rossio - Gatrooms

In company of Soraia Mourinho, Marketing Manager of Gat Rossio - Gatrooms

With my great host Gonçalo Oliveira 
(from Desafio Global) at Gatrooms

Gatrooms is full of funny spaces like this wooden balcony where I spent some time with my host Gonçalo Oliveira.
 
Praça dos Restauradores is a well known landmark in Lisbon dedicated to the restoration of the independence of Portugal in 1640, after 60 years of Spanish domination. The obelisk in the middle of the square, inaugurated in 1886, carries the names and dates of the battles fought during the Portuguese Restoration War, in 1640.

The Monument to the Restorers is located in the center of the square. One morning during my trip, I had the simple idea to transform the obelisk in a spacecraft launch platform...

A space shuttle taking off at Praça dos Restauradores. Lisbon Air Force?
40 minutes sketch on the Note 10.1 - Above photo taken with the new Galaxy phone

The shooting for the documentary was scheduled the first day of my arrival in Lisbon (that's why I didn't have so much time to get used to the tablet). Here below are the awesome people I stayed with.

 

 

Sandro Aguilar

One of them is Sandro Aguilar, the director of the short film featured at the top of the post. I'm really happy I met that guy.  His films always leave room for multiple perspectives and multiple interpretations. In his movies, Sandro recreates another world and does not let himself be trapped in reality. His favorite themes are loneliness and personal identity. Google him and discover more about his universe...

Sandro Aguilar

Sketching at Terreiro do Paço

There was a huge strike in Lisbon the day I arrived (29th of September 2012), tens of thousands of Portuguese were protesting the government's financial policies, an austerity program that is expected to get even tougher to meet pledges given to the country's international creditors. Protesters in Lisbon filled the central Praça do Comércio square (also known as Terreiro do Paço) at the call of the main CGTP trade union to demonstrate against "the theft of wages and pensions"...

I'm talking about this to explain the context of the following image, which was made at the mentioned location where tens of thousands of persons protested. As you can see below, the image shows a giant mouth saying "Lisbon Fever", because that day was full of tension. Again, it was a rough impro, but it really reflected what was happening around me.

Lisbon Fever, 30 minutes sketch on the Note 10.1 - Photo taken with the Galaxy Note II

20 minutes sketch on the Note 10.1

Samsung has been busy innovating on the tablet front as well as on the smartphone front with their newest set of devices. One of the major changes and big improvements is the Samsung’s Wacom powered S-Pen stylus which has been upgraded from the Smartphone Note to offer 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, the additional precision of the S-Pen is a revelation (and since it’s Wacom technology underneath, it's possible to use any Wacom Penabled stylus, which can be useful). The S-Pen is great to use with the powerful S-Note application.

10 minutes sketch depicting
a Lisbon scenery  (Note 10.1)

I personally think the Note 10.1 is a revolutionary device for creative people like me, because it can be used as a new tool of expression to share ideas and feelings and because it can extend artists' skills and broaden their sources of inspiration. I'm pretty sure that, in the future, a large number of artists will be working on digital devices such as the Note 10.1 (I hope in secret that larger tablets will be available in the near future). Now that I had the chance to try this technology briefly, I'd better train hard and come up with more powerful designs.

On the 3rd of October 2012, Samsung officially launched their new devices in Portugal. This event was celebrated at Pavilhão Atlântico during a conference that gathered several hundreds of people from different backgrounds.

Maestro Artur Pinho

I was lucky to be among them to talk about my creative experience and to share my opinion about the digital devices I had tested just a few days before. There were several live performances during the meeting, I particularly enjoyed the orchestra directed by Portuguese Maestro Artur Pinho. All the musicians were reading their sheet music on tablets instead of traditional paper. That was really something. It was also impressive to meet Sam Lee, Samsung big boss in Portugal. And finally it was a huge pleasure to meet Hugo Braz, who personally explained me a few things about the Note 10.1 and who gave an excellent presentation during the conference.

Sam Lee, Samsung Portugal President

Hugo Braz, Samsung Portugal Marketing Head

Speech during the conference

Many thanks to Gonçalo Oliveira for his invitation.
Lisbon, wait for me, I'm coming back soon!!

© 2012 - Ben Heine

Flesh and Acrylic - 3D Print
.

Enlarge HERE

Here are the results of a collaboration with "Minimaal", a Belgian company making 3D prints. It was a new and enriching experience for me.

Photo 1: Flesh and Acrylic - Martin // Photo 2: Fight for Your Rights // Photo 3: Scanning Martin's arm // Photos 4, 5, 6, 7: Scanning & modeling Martin's arm // Photo 8: The 3D print is made with a ZCorp 3D printer. The main component used in this case is a monochrome powder called Z150. This powder gets injected layer after layer, according to the 3D model, until the object is totally reproduced with details and textures. To make a solid sculpture, Minimaal adds a Zmax epoxy, giving extra strength and durability to the 3D object // Photos 9, 10, 11, 12, 13: 3D print in progress // Photos 14, 15: Acrylic painting on the 3D print // Photo 16: Exhibition of the final piece in presence of the model at "Art Event" fair (Namur - January 2012)

© 2012 - Ben Heine

Blue Dimension
.

(See it on Flickr)

A lovely landscape I captured in Naxos, Greece . I first thought
this was a small toilet block, but not at all. It's a magic door. :)

© 2011 - Ben Heine

Sketch for Haiti
.

© 2010 - Ben Heine

2010

.

A new white page...
Best wishes!
Happy New Year.

.
© 2009 - Ben Heine

Save Our Planet

.

.
© 2009 - Ben Heine
.

Obama Gives Biofuels a
Presidential Jumpstart

By "Environment News Service"

To spur biofuels research and commercialization, President Barack Obama signed last Tuesday a Presidential Directive establishing a Biofuels Interagency Working Group. He announced his administration's notice of a proposed rulemaking on a national Renewable Fuels Standard and announced $786.5 million in additional Recovery Act funds for renewable fuel projects.

"We must invest in a clean energy economy that will lead to new jobs, new businesses and reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said President Obama. "The steps I am announcing today help bring us closer to that goal. If we are to be a leader in the 21st century global economy, then we must lead the world in clean energy technology. Through American ingenuity and determination, we can and will succeed."

The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will be co-chaired by the secretaries of agriculture and energy and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and will operate in cooperation with the National Science and Technology Council's Biomass Research and Development Board.

The Working Group is tasked with developing the nation's first comprehensive biofuel market development program. It will use existing authorities and identify new policies to support the development of next-generation biofuels, increase flexible fuel vehicle use, and assist in retail marketing efforts.

>>> Read the full article
.

Somewhere in
the Future
.
© 2009 - Ben Heine

.

Element to
Another

By Peter S. Quinn

Rest in the air
Unsettled light future
The dreams from here
Minute’s away moocher
Depopulate its echoes
Moment’s cane of sense
Into the existence goes
Each of its fragments

Element to another
Inhabit no landscapes
Apprehensive foremother
The bringer of shapes
Through the row lost
Meanings of limbo words
Phantoms thought mossed
Pole lines blackbirds

Into the evening
With its own afterglow
Lonely again it'll sing
Before its last go
Draft of shades walking
All the flashes of flame
Forms of change chalking
Into intended endgame
.

ICT Overdose

.

© 2008 - Ben Heine

.
I'm a Martyr
of the Keyboard
.
By Peter S Quinn (*)

I type all day long
Into the request deep
Sometimes it’ll ping-pong
Right into my sleep
I'm a martyr of the keyboard
Going down deep under
To the alphabet lord
God of the ticktick thunder!

I'll type for a request
Just to please and be ready
I'll try to do my best
If my fingers go on steady
This and that comes out
I have no complete control
Automation knows its ways about
Around the ‘key-mole’
And keyhole

I type all day to spark
And give it a steady beat
But sometimes it’ll all lack
Except its little tweet
This maybe a dark poetry read
With not much in deeper meaning
But to somewhere it will lead
In a steady and closer
Screening

-------------------

(*) Peter has been very prolific, - with more than 15 thousand music works /instrumental songs, and over 10 thousand poems and lyrics. You can find nearly 7 thousand music works and more than 5 thousand poems and lyrics by him on the internet. Don't miss his frequently updated blog

--> The poem was created by Peter S Quinn for this particular image. Thank you Peter.
--> ICT = Information and Communications Technologies
.