The Le: Are you reading any comic books these days?

Ben: I’m always reading Hellboy, BPRD and anything else that Mignola puts out. The Sinestro Corp war and all of the Green Lantern Corp Blackest Night stuff has my interest at the moment but I tend to buy trades so the wait is killing me.

On the Marvel side of things I love the Guardians of the Galaxy. I also got hooked on Deadpool during Joe Kelly’s run but the story telling has spiraled down. It didn’t help that the writers for the Wolverine Origins Movie didn’t bother to make the most of Ryan Reynolds and they managed to take a giant dump on Deadpool as a character. Although I will conceded that he has a very convoluted story but it could have been way better.

The Le: What are you sculpting these days?

Ben: Currently I work for Privateer Press in Bellevue, WA. My first set of sculpts for Privateer just got released in the Monsterpocalypse All Your Base Expansion. I did the Guard Legionnaire, the Martian combiner Ultra Galaxius-4, most of the faction bases and some of the smaller units.

I’ve also done some work on Warmachine but that stuff hasn’t been announced/released yet.

The Le: Sounds like you've been reading comics for a while now -- are there any particular comic book storylines that you really enjoyed?

Ben: Well, the first monthly comic that I bought was Darkhawk and let me tell ya, the writing left a lot to be desired. As far as really good stories go, Watchmen, Dark Knight, Runaways (although the story seems to be dwindling), Green Arrow Green Lantern. I get a lot of crap from my friends because Green Arrow if one of my favorite characters. I really enjoyed Kevin Smith’s Quiver. The Longbow Hunters also holds a special spot in my heart because it’s set in Seattle which is where I’m from.

The Le: What did you want to "grow up to be" when you were a kid?

Ben: The earliest thing that I can remember wanting to be was a zoo keeper. I think it was inspired by seeing some old cartoons that led me to believe that the bulk of the job involved throwing steaks to lions. It wasn’t until later in life that I came realize the reality of the job was less glamorous than I had previously thought.

After that I wanted to be an animator or a toy maker, those two things led me to where I am today.

The Le: Do you have any advice for aspiring artists and sculptors who are reading this?

Ben: Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and always be open to feedback.

My experience has been that when people don’t like something they will certainly let you know and if you can learn from it rather than taking it personally you’ll get a lot further in your sculpting career. Critiques have always served to make my work better.

When I started sculpting one of my mentors told me that I shouldn’t be afraid of messing something up because one of the major benefits of working in putty is that if you make a mistake it’s easy to carve away whatever the problem is and have another go.

It sounds like a really simple idea but when I was just starting out I found it difficult to put that idea into practice. Once I got the hang of it my work improved by leaps and bounds.

Ben Misenar's website can be found at freelancesculptor.com