Benjamin Wei Yi Mark (Wei Yi Art) is a Calgary-based freelance artist specializing in comic book style art who is also currently working towards his commercial pilots’ license (He’s also my little brother). His primary medium and technique is ball-point pen using cross-hatching techniques to create depth and dimension in his images.
Comic books and comic art have been in his blood ever since childhood when he refused to wear anything but his Batman Halloween outfit, and when he outgrew it, his Superman pajamas, and posing for nearly every photo during his childhood making the Spiderman “web-slinging” gesture 🤟.
Ben is also an accomplished pianist and has studied classical music and jazz, achieving his Grade 10 in the Royal Conservatory of Music.
He is especially passionate about Synth-Wave music and artistic styles, which features heavily in some of his pieces, including work that was featured by WarnerBros as promotional material for Wonder Woman 84. His goals are to tell stories through writing and art. He is also a budding screenwriter and movie buff with an impressive film collection.
(As his older brother, it has been a joy to witness his growth and development as an excellent multi-disciplinary artist and an even better young man.)
When Ben is not at the drawing table, he is listening to vinyl on the super-cool record player his brother gave him for Christmas, experimenting in the kitchen, or working in operations for North Cariboo Air.
Which ‘hood are you in?
I currently live in Bowness.
What do you do?
At my core, I am creative. I am fortunate that I have various different ways of expressing my creativity such as music, art, writing and even flying can be creative at times. On the artist side, I create ballpoint pen art that blends techniques of realism and comic illustration with digital colors for the finished product. When I am writing my screenplays, comic scripts, and short stories I often use my skills as an artist to better visualize what I am writing. If words or art can’t express the emotional through-line of what I want to create, I’ll often draw from music to help me create the narrative I am visualizing in my imagination.
What are you currently working on?
My imagination is constantly taking off with so many ideas that I have to keep more than one project on the go. Usually, I have a backlog of thumbnails for different art ideas, and I keep a notebook of story concepts that I want to explore in the future. Currently, I am working on 2 Synth-wave-inspired ballpoint pen pieces and a private commission. On the writing side, I am working on the third draft of a screenplay for a short film; as well as a comic script, another screenplay, and a detective novel that are in the developmental stage.
Where can we find your work?
Etsy
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/WeiYiArt
https://m.facebook.com/WeiYiArt/
Website
