Ben Hutchings

Ben Hutchings is an Australian cartoonist and animator. He was born in Moruya, New South Wales, but grew up in Canberra. He is best known for his work in the video game industry, on games such as Tribes: Vengeance and BioShock, for his long-running comic strip "Tales from the Pub" in The Picture, and for illustrating the graphic novel The Invisible War.
Self-publishing
Exposed at an early age to mainstream American comics like Archie and European "albums" such as , he was inspired to make his own primarily by British humour comics such as The Beano, Whizzer and Viz. He began his own comics career self-publishing his own books in a photocopied A5 zine format under the imprint "Geeen Comix"; early titles included Dragon Hurtor, Buckets of Bile and the ongoing series You Stink and I Don't (1994-2004). Later one-shot books included Lesson Master, also serialised in The Picture, and Pumpkin Brothers, a children's comic. He also contributed to anthologies of work which included artists such as Mandy Ord, Kirrily Schell, Glenn Smith and Ross Tesoriero.
Squishface Studio
Having moved to Melbourne in the 2000s, Hutchings was one of eight artists who undertook a residency at the National Gallery of Victoria's gallery space at Federation Square, and, enjoying the experience of working in public, partnered with several other cartoonists to start Squishface Comics Studio, an open comics studio located in Brunswick, Victoria. It opened to the public in 2012.
Along with Squishface artists Sarah Howell and David Blumenstein, he was part of the first Caravan of Comics, in which Australian comics artists toured America giving appearances, signing and taking part in comics jams and lectures.
Graphic novels
Hutchings' self-published works began to be republished by Melbourne publisher Milk Shadow Books in 2011, starting with the collected You Stink and I Don't and a new work, Walking to Japan and continuing with other new books including Iron Bard Ballisto.
In 2017 he illustrated The Invisible War: A Tale on Two Scales, a graphic novel about lethal bacteria threatening the life of a nurse on the Western Front during the First World War. The book was created in collaboration with historians and scientists. It won a number of awards and was nominated by the Children's Book Council of Australia as a 'Notable Book of 2017'.
He is shortly to release a graphic novel for children called Mini Mel and Timid Tom.
Other works
Hutchings has continued to self-publish books and produce online comics for outlets such as Going Down Swinging and The Nib. He also periodically teaches comics making at Squishface Studio and elsewhere.

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