The Beardly Ben

@thebeardlyben.art

5000 Followers 249 Following

He/him. Cape Town based bearded Illustrator & games animator at @freelives.bsky.social. Husbear of @dwuff.com. Metalhead. TTRPG enthusiast. Cat and dog dad. Bisexual. ✉️ thebeardlyben@gmail.com linktr.ee/thebeardlyben FUCK AI

A photo of the sunrise through some poplar trees in our neighborhood with the sky appearing to share the same colouration as the trans pride flag.
An illustration of a male anthro St. Bernard in a modern detective outfit standing with his left hand in his pocket and holding a cup of black coffee in a red mug in his right. He is standing in a police office surrounded by paperwork, a chair, a desk and a pin board with red string as bright sunlight seeps through office blinds from a window to his right. The name "Scratch" is displayed underneath in a distressed typewritten font.
A comic page showing a dragonborn (Kermet), an orc (Harry) and an unnamed half-giant. Kermet says while angrily pointing at the giant: "That was bloody uncalled for! Apologize for being rude to my buddy right now!" to which Harry says: "It's fine Kermet, let's not-" Harry is then cut off in panel two with the giant leaning face to face to Kermet and saying "And what if I DON'T?" Kermet, looking him straight in the eye responds with: "Well... then we're gunna have a problem now, aren't we?" The giant then in panel 3 punches Kermet in the face and says: "Hah! What are YOU gonna do, little snake man?!" Harry has a horrified expression on his face. Harry bends down to Kermet now on his butt, frantically saying: "OH MY GOD KERMET! ARE YOU OK?? ...SAY SOMETHING!" Kermet just starts laughing. Panel 5 is a closeup of Kermet's face wildly grinning with his eyes glowing red as he says, still laughing: "I'm good, Harry mate... BETTER than good!" Panel 6 cuts to Harry's surprised expression as Kermet continues: "The REAL party is about to begin!"
A half orc/gnoll standing ready for a fight with a greatsword along with his pet frostbite wolf standing in a snowy tundra.
Page four of my queer fantasy comic "That Night" Panel 1 shows a whole bunch of empty tankards The second panel shows Harry walking to get another round of drinks with Kermet and Burjack in the background holding their empy tankards upside-down. Harry says: "Hahaha! Alright fellas, I'll get the next round!" In the third panel, Harry bumps into another guy's arm by accident spilling his drink. The fourth panel shows Harry looking up at a half-giant man with a goatee and saying: "Shit! Sorry man, I-" and is cut off by the guy yelling: "Watch where you're going you fat fuck!" Panel 5 cuts to Harry's scared face as he tries to apologise. The speech bubble reads: "I... I'm sorry. It was just..." to which Kermet yells from off-panel: "OY MATE!"
Page three of my queer fantasy comic "That Night" Panel 1 has Kermet (male dragonborn) talking to Harry (male orc). Harry says: "Not exactly, but you've certainly made my night! I'm actually on a date." To which Kermet replies: "Oh?" Harry goes on to say "Yeah, though I have been waiting here for hours." and Kermet responds: "In that case, why not join us for a drink while you wait?" The second panel is a medium closeup on Harry's face, smiling as he says: "I'd like that." The narrator's voice captions the panel with: "I'll never forget that smile." Panel 3 has the narrator continuing: "Your date never decided to show. We all got well acquainted..." The panel shows Burjack (male bugbear) and Harry shaking hands and introducing each other. The text reads: "Harrison." "Burjack, well met!" The fourth panel shows the three laughing and drinking beer. Kermet has his arm over Harry's shoulder. The narrator continues from the last panel with: "...And had the time of our lives." Panel 5 is a shot of them clinking their tankards together with all three of them saying "Cheers!"
An illustration depicting a brass dragonborn barbarian standing on a boulder throwing a middle finger up at the sky that gets struck by lightning. The scene pays homage and references a painting done by the late great Frank Frazetta called "The Tempest"
A comic page starting off with Kermet the male dragonborn sliding over to Harry, a male orc sitting by the bar. On panel two Kermet says: "You're gonna have to step away from the bar, mate." to which Harry asks: "And why's that?" to which Kermet replies: "You're melting all the ice!" The third panel is a closeup on Burjack's face, a male bugbear with a deeply unamused expression saying: "REAL smooth, Kermet." The fourth panel shows Harry staring at the viewer, now sharing Kermet's point of view, which follows with him bursting out laughing on panel five. Harry asks: "Are you trying to flirt with me?" to which Kermet replies "That depends, is it working?" on panel six.
An illustration of a half-orc gnoll holding up a greatsword with blue magical butterflies circling the scene and ghostly butterfly wings appearing on his back.
A preview showing three panels of a comic page with an orc going to get another round of drinks with his bugbear and dragonborn friends and then accidentally bumping into someone.
A comic page showing an establishing shot of the exterior of a tavern in a modern fantasy setting with the caption reading "It was at our local watering hole where I first laid eyes on you". It follows with two friends namely a dragonborn (Kermet) and a bugbear (Burjack) drinking at a bar and laughing on the second panel. The third panel is a closeup on Kermet's face as he notices something from off panel towards his left. Panel four shows a chubby orc character sitting alone at the bar like he's waiting on someone, the caption reading "You sat there by the bar, all by yourself". The fifth panel shows Kermet gesturing towards the orc while saying "Watch and learn, mate." to Burjack. Panels 6 and 7 are a split of the same scene with Burjack looking on as Kermet is striding towards the orc while saying "This ought to be good."
A preview image from a comic panel showing a dragonborn, orc and a bugbear drinking and laughing.
An illustration showing a muscular male furred anthro shark person with six limbs showing his two forms: one being in a bipedal stance and the other being a larger more feral version with a large mane and more fur.
A poster for Maker's Massive showing a robed figure surrounded by floating candles with an early 1980s computer in front of them along with a keyboard and what looks like an Atari 2600 joystick controller. The colour palette is limited to a cool green and orange on black with a lot of distressed and xeroxed paper texture overlays. The info on the poster reads: Playtesting, meet & greet and hypertalks. Maker's Massive Game Dev Meet-Up. HCC Homecoming Centre. Corner Buitenkant & Caledon Street, Cape Town, 8001. 6-9pm - Tuesday 23 June 2026
A preview image of two comic panels showing a male dragonborn in a tanktop holding a beer scooting over and initiating conversation with a male orc sitting at a bar.
A banner image previewing 3 panels from a new queer fantasy comic I'm making containing a dragonborn, bugbear and orc character.
An illustration of a chubby male gnoll leaning against a stone fencepost with an ale is his right hand. The background is of a rooftop tavern at sunset with a large building in the distance with a tower next to it and a stone statue of a bearded man in the middle distance holding a vessel from which a beacon of yellow light is beaming into the sky.
A screenshot of Metalocalypse showing Skwissgar Skwigelf's face with the caption "This is dildos." AI is dildos, and forever will be. Fuck AI
A screenshot of Metalocalypse showing Skwissgar Skwigelf's face with the caption "This is dildos." AI is dildos, and forever will be. Fuck AI
A simple stick drawing done by Gnoll Dogg showing a kaiju gnoll with fiery hair going on a rampage, crushing a mountain with his right hand and stepping onto a massive city.
An illustration of two chubby gay male bugbears dancing.
An illustration of a gnoll bard with a lute wearing a bi-pride cape.
An illustration of a half-orc gnoll holding a square greatsword with a blue frostbite wolf next to him facing off to a white-furred threat in a snowy tundra.
An illustration of a male anthro rabbit ranger with a bow and arrow. He's got white fur with black spots over his eyes with black ears and muzzle and is wearing a red leather tunic over a red puffy-sleeved shirt, a leather belt with a red potion fixed to it as well as a quiver of arrows, teal pants and leather foot wraps.
An illustration of two victorian pallbearers struggling to carry a coffin with the top open and the body flopping around. There's a cemetery in the background along with some mourners and three ravens. The logo Fallbearers sits at the top and Wishlist Now on Steam at the bottom.
An illustration of a half orc/gnoll walking into a snowy forest with his pet frostbite wolf.
"You don't need to be a wizard to cast fireball" with the image of a molotov cocktail
A screenshot of a Quinns Quest Reviews video on youtube featuring cover artwork I made in the thumbnail.
An illustration of Senshi, the dwarf from Delicious in Dungeon pointing towards bread dough being kneaded by Barny, a half-orc gnoll within the interior of a dungeon. There are two speech bubbles with pictograms of bread, one with a question mark as if being asked by Senshi and the other with a exclamation point as confirmation from Barny.
Griffin McElroy finally snapped and is holding the tiniest butterfly knife in his right hand and flipping the bird with his left and is wearing cool shades
The most perfect looking little mushroom. Light brown fuzzy cap and white stalk.
A picture of our cat Pixel, a tortoiseshell Calico, sitting on the kitchen floor staring up at me begging for peanut butter.
An illustration of a chubby male half orc/gnoll chef pouring a spoonful of honey over a honey mustard pork leg roast resting on a bed of veggies and fresh herbs.
A doodle of an orc wearing trans-pride dungarees with a gourd in his right hand while holding his partner, a mulleted dragonborn male wearing gay pride-coloured jorts in a side hug. The dragonborn is flipping off the viewer and sticking his tongue out.
An illustration of a brass dragonborn barbarian butting heads with a black tabaxi rogue with dramatic anime lines framing the scene.
An illustration of an anthro rat wearing a hood hiding its face and a chainmail skirt with a longsword on his belt.
An illustration of a fat male kobold in a patchwork cloak and trousers wearing a big purple wizard had casting a spell using a wand in his right hand and a tome levitating from his left engulfed in magical blue flames. He's also wearing a bandolier with several wands in various shapes.
A screenshot showing a member of the bluesky team that has me blocked because I'm on an "AI Hater" block list, while at the same time I have them blocked for being on an "AI - NFT - Crypto Cull" list.
An illustration of a burly bugbear druid sitting with his back against an old log while smoking weed, with mushrooms sprouting all around him and on the log. The background is of a lush green forest with rays of bright sunlight shining through the leaf canopy. There's a big rock overgrown with moss and ivy protruding behind him with spiral-like runes carved into the face of it. The weed smoke he's exhaling is a deep purple with a galaxy of stars seemingly forming inside of it.
4 Panels from Jamie Hewlett and Alan C Martin's Tank Girl showing TG realizing that Booga swallowed a hand grenade that he held in his mouth to which she comes over and kissed him and knees him in the crotch so he would cough it out. The text reads: Tank Girl: "Shit. He's swalled the grenade." Booga: "What do we do now?" TG: "I don't know!" B: "You'd better bloody think of something quick - I'm gonna explode any second!"
It shows a picture of Mads Mikkelsen from Casino Royale but shows him behind a DM screen and a bunch of minis and a battle map with the text "It appears that the creature has a more legendary resistance than you anticipated, Mr. Bond."
I have a "forbidden" error message on my bluesky notifications.
An illustration of a rotund anthro male corgi in a brown jacket over a sci-fi space traveler uniform and a messenger bag slung over his shoulder. He also has cybernetic legs from the knees down.
An illustration of a female gnoll artificer in power armour of her own design with chain flails attached to her gauntlets and a minigun mounted onto her left shoulder. There are blue glowing runes inscribed all over the armour plates.
A photo of me (taken by Dwuff) laying down and getting tattooed on my lower left arm.
An illustration of a male bugbear standing with his hands in his trench coat pockets looking off towards the side. He has a sword sheathed on his back
An illustration of a half-orc gnoll covered in flour kneading bread dough in a cozy medieval-fantasy kitchen with cooking utensils, pots, gourds and dried herbs in the background.