Ben Jones (American cartoonist)

Ben Q. Jones
Born
Benjamin Queair Jones

1977 (age 46–47)
Alma materMassachusetts College of Art and Design
Occupation(s)artist, animator, filmmaker, voice actor
Years active1999–present
Notable workThe Problem Solverz
Stone Quackers
Saturday Morning All Star Hits!

Benjamin Queair Jones (born 1977)[1] is an American artist, animator, filmmaker, and voice actor. He was a co-founder and member of the art collective Paper Rad from 2001 to 2008, as well as his own studio Ben Jones Studio, Inc. in 2008. He has worked on various animated television programs and web series for Animation Domination High-Def (ADHD). Since 2017, Jones is the creative director of Bento Box Entertainment.[2] He lives and works in Los Angeles, California.[2]

Biography

Jones was born in 1977 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in central Massachusetts. His family collected computers, a hobby initiated by his father, Frank, who was a software engineer. This influenced Jones a lot, so much that later he would draw inspiration for his future style of art and design.[clarification needed]

Jones attended Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and graduated in 1999 with a B.F.A. in Studio of Interrelated Media (SIM).[3][4]

Career

While studying in Boston at Massachusetts College of Art and design, he began working in an art collaboration with classmate Christopher Forgues (C.F.) under the name "Paper Radio".[1][5] Art in America magazine named Jones one of the, "most important cartoonists of their generation" for his work with Paper Radio.[6] In 2000, he founded the East Coast art collective Paper Rad, with the artists Jacob and Jessica Ciocci.[1] Paper Rad is best known for creating comics, zines, video art, net art, MIDI files, paintings, installations, and music with a distinct "lo-fi" aesthetic.

Ben Jones collaborated with PFFR and Williams Street on a 2007 pilot for Adult Swim titled Neon Knome.[7] It was passed by the network and went on to become rebranded as a Cartoon Network show called The Problem Solverz.[7] Jones is the main creator and the voice actor of Alfe and Roba in the Cartoon Network show, The Problem Solverz.[8]

In 2013, Jones became the creative director of the Fox Saturday night programming block ADHD,[9] where he released his series, Stone Quackers. The program aired as sneak peek on October 27, 2014, on FXX[10] and a spin-off, Gothball, was premiered as a web-series on May 1, 2015, on the ADHD YouTube channel.[11]

Jone's work in fine art painting includes psychedelic themed painting, described as brightly colored, often visually flat or with pattern.[3]

Filmography

Project Show run Channel(s) Credited role No. of episodes Notes
Pick a Winner 2004 DVD only Director (credited as Paper Rad) 5 episodes [12]
I Dream of Zinedine Zidane 2005 Short only Digital effect artist Inexistent
Super Mario Movie Director (credited as Paper Rad)
Wonder Showzen 2005–2006 MTV2 Animator Unavailable
Trash Talking 2006 DVD only Co-creator, Writer, Producer, Executive producer, Director, and Voice actor (credited as Paper Rad)
Yo Gabba Gabba! 2007 Nick Jr.
Nickelodeon
Jingle animator 1 episode
Neon Knome 2008 Adult Swim Creator, Animator, Writer, Executive producer, Director, Music composer, and Voice actor
The Problem Solverz 2011–2013 Cartoon Network Creator, Executive producer, Director, Music composer, and Voice actor 26 episodes
Storyboard artist 2 episodes
ADHD Shorts 2012–2016 Fox, FXX Storyboard director 10 shorts
Voice actor 4 shorts
Designer 3 shorts
Writer 2 shorts
Peanut Butter & Jelly 2013 Short only Voice actor Inexistent
Axe Cop 2013–2015 Fox, FXX Creative director 22 episodes
Wander Over Yonder 2013 Disney XD Voice actor 1 Episode
High School USA! 2013 Fox Creative director 12 episodes
Golan the Insatiable 2013–2015 Fox, FXX
Lucas Bros. Moving Co. 2013–2015 Creative director, and director 17 episodes
Storyboard director 2 episodes
Voice actor 1 episode
Stone Quackers 2014–2015 FXX Creator, Writer, Executive producer, Creative director, and Voice actor 12 episodes
Storyboard director 2 episodes
Major Lazer 2014–2015 Creative director 11 episodes
The Adventures of OG
Sherlock Kush
2015–2016 ADHD (Web only) Director 20 episodes
Gothball 2015 Creator, Writer, Director, and Voice actor 10 episodes
Nerdland 2016 Film only Sequence animator
OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes 2017–2019 Cartoon Network Voice actor 14 episodes
Neo Yokio 2017 Netflix Creative director, and Voice actor 6 episodes
Art Thiefs TBS Creator, and director 1 episode [13]
Saturday Morning All Star Hits! 2021 Netflix Co-creator, voice actor, writer, director of animation, Creative director 8 episodes
Koala Man 2023 Hulu Executive producer 8 episodes

Music videos

References

  1. ^ a b c Nadel, Dan (April 4, 2011). "Artistic Modern Funnies: Ben Jones' Problem Solverz". Tcj.com (April 4, 2011).
  2. ^ a b Holloway, Daniel (April 18, 2017). "Ben Jones Named Bento Box Entertainment Creative Director". Variety. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Jump into the world of Ben Jones' post-internet, psychedelic paintings". It's Nice That. September 21, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  4. ^ "Lines of Thought: An Interview with Ben Jones". MassArt. November 7, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  5. ^ Chiaverina, John (September 16, 2015). "Paul's Pile Of Papers: Paul Bright On His Paper Rad Collection And Forthcoming Book". ARTnews. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  6. ^ Nadel, Dan (April 28, 2016). "Punk and Hippie". Art in America. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Unleashing the Pizza-Loving Beast". Animation Magazine. March 25, 2011. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  8. ^ "In Brief". The Fresno Bee. March 30, 2011.
  9. ^ Animation Domination High-Def ('ADHD'). WonderCon Anaheim 2013. (March 30, 2013).
  10. ^ Nadel, Dan (October 24, 2014). "Inhale Exhale". Comics Journal. Fantagraphics Books. Archived from the original on October 25, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  11. ^ GOTHBALL TRAILER - Youtube
  12. ^ Pick A Winner (2004), retrieved April 18, 2019
  13. ^ "Art Thiefs – Hamilton Phillips Casting". Archived from the original on October 5, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.

Further reading