My name is Benjamin Richards, I am a 25 year old creative and currently an apprenticing Tattoo artist at Dreamhands Tattoo studio in Auckland, prior to this I studied towards a bachelor in fine arts for 3 years at Whitecliffe. In the past I have done commissioned illustrations for bands, wine bottles and have exhibited my portrait drawings in several exhibitions including one at the All-Press gallery in Victoria Park. Although I’ve used many different media I work almost exclusively with traditional mediums, in particular either graphite or colour pencils. My body of work largely consists of realism portraiture and illustrations that feature typically dark-themes such as existential dread and inspired by hardcore and heavy metal music.