I encourage them to listen to classical music because it will connect them to the sublime. Instead they subject their ear drums to heavy metal, rap, hip hop and other trash. To me it’s a shame that young people aren’t listening to the greatest music ever written. I like everything he has written, but his Fourth through Eleventh ones in particular–each one is a masterpiece. Some of my darker and more complex cartoons were drawn while listening to Shostakovich symphonies in particular. I listen to classical music 90 percent of the time. In fact, they cost me a lot in terms of a smeared reputation and a resulting loss of commercial work.Ĭrackrabbit ( for ED) : Do you ever listen to music in the background while creating your art? If so (and even if not) what kind of music do you enjoy?īen Garrison: Yes. Political cartooning was a just a sideline when i started drawing them in 2009. I still draw complex information graphics for corporate clients. After I graduated, I got a job at a newspaper and I became a graphic artist instead. My wife Tina has a BFA and she was a better cartoonist than me when I met her. I studied painting in college, although I have a BA and not a BFA. That’s when I knew what I wanted to be in life–a fine artist. I thought I was in big trouble, but he loved it and put it up on the bulletin board.īy the time I was in high school I started painting. He snuck up on me and grabbed the drawing. One time I drew one of a rather brusque math teacher in the 9th grade. I enjoyed drawing stuff for classmates–caricatures and such. Then I began illustrating them with little cartoons. ED Interviews: The Ben Garrison ( ) InterviewĬrackrabbit ( for ED) : First off, you probably get asked this a lot, but can you tell us about how you started drawing and painting?īen Garrison: I started writing stories when I was in the 5th grade.

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