Second life

View larger image Ben Hatke, author of “Zita The Space Girl,” signs a copy of his book for Noah Hrbek, 6, at Main Street Book Company in Front Royal last Saturday. Andrew Thayer/Daily Recommend This Print This Get E-mail News Alerts Buy Photos/Page Reprints * Breaking News If local news is breaking and you know about it: * Call Us: 800-296-5137 * E-mail Us * Upload Your Photos View larger image The cover of the book “Zita The Space Girl” is shown. Andrew Thayer/Daily View larger image Hatke shows the artwork in his first full-length graphic novel, which he says builds upon traditional art forms. Andrew Thayer/Daily View larger image Ben Hatke signs a copy of his book for Dane Weber at the Main Street Book Company in Front Royal last Saturday. Andrew Thayer/Daily

Local graphic novelist uses classic art forms to improve on craft

By M.K. Luther -- mkluther@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- If the great classical painters never envisioned their old-world techniques being used on the Internet or in the pages of comic books, they obviously didn't anticipate the works of one local artist and author.

"Comics is where you put it all together," said 33-year-old illustrator and artist Ben Hatke.
Hatke, an Indiana native who first came to Front Royal to attend Christendom College, now lives outside of town with his wife, Anna, and three young daughters.

A history major with a smattering of philosophy courses, Hatke said he found success in freelance work and online contributions following his 2000 graduation from college.

An accomplished, but largely self-taught artist, Hatke said he continued to pursue a professional art career, ultimately enrolling in sessions at the Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence, Italy, in 2006 and 2008. The studios offer instruction based on the techniques of the masters, inspired by the likes of naturalist John Singer Sargent.

"It is painting like they painted 300 years ago," Hatke said. "Everything is from life -- quite different from what I do in comics."

Hatke said his art, his writing and his creativity amped up after the studio courses, taking on a new form.

"After those years, my art kind of improved," Hatke said. "I had a real kind of revelation."

The courses gave him formal classical art training that he said became the essential building blocks for all of his art forms.

"You can do anything -- it definitely informs the work," Hatke said.

After the sessions, Hatke said he began to expand his art, incorporating the classical influences into his graphic work.

"I had been doing things like that for years," Hatke said. "But everything I did just kind of jumped up after that."

Hatke, who had also freelanced as a writer, said that at the same time, he had been striving to hone his "storytelling skills." He had typically limited his stories to under 15 or 20 pages, and sometimes kept them as brief as three pages for a website.

Hatke became more active in online graphics and art communities, contributing to online Web comic sites as well as contributing stories to the Flight anthologies, a comic anthology intended to introduce up-and-coming graphic illustrators.

While working on the short stories for Flight, he became acquainted with other professional graphic artists, illustrators and writers through Internet message board postings.

The Web became a forum for online collaboration and communal sharing of ideas, Hatke said, and literally opened him up to a whole new world -- inspiring him by constantly exposing him to colleagues who became instructors and critics.

"You kind of cross-pollinate and germinate each other," Hatke said.

Now, Hatke has completed "Zita the Spacegirl," his first full-length book. The graphic novel, published by First Second Books, combines Hatke's graphic arts and narrative storytelling and his longest story to date -- up to 200 pages.

Hatke said he found that with the addition of art, graphics and the storyboard process, he could find his storytelling voice. The format allowed him to create a winding and evolving narrative, and he is now planning on the story to be a series.

As he completes the second installment in the Zita series, Hatke continues to use the Internet to explore and develop his artwork. With the help of Web-savvy friends, Hatke uses graphics software to create and design his own website.

Hatke also has compiled an online portfolio and keeps a blog updating readers and burgeoning fans on the progress of his work and upcoming events.

"I am developing a little following," Hatke said.

On the Web
• Visit www.househatke.com or www.zitaspacegirl.com for more information on Hatke and his work.