How do you get from scribbling with gold pen on homemade video sleeves to working for the WWE?

A guide for budding illustrators, or anyone wanting to work as a freelancer in the creative industries, Ben Tallon's new book Champagne and Wax Crayons sets out a framework.

As big fans of his work, we've invited Ben to talk about his journey from drawing in school all the way to working for his dream client.

"There are three photographs, buried deep in the basement at my parents' house, in which I'm 7 years old, wearing red trunks, a yellow vest, a headband, some Converse-style shoes and on my face is a drawn-on handlebar moustache. On the vest, written in marker pen are the spidery words 'HULK RULES'.

Andrew Cotterill



That day I finished third in a fancy dress competition at Butlins holiday camp in Ayr, Scotland and I even delivered a full promo interview, Hogan-style, to slightly baffled parents in the audience. My folks laughed and clapped as I threatened to 'run wild' on my competition (headless man, 1st prize and She-Ra, runner up).

The in-ring competition had a lot to do with becoming instantly addicted to WWE in 1989. But what really enthralled me, albeit subconsciously at the age of 6, was the production design; the costumes, make-up, sets, lighting, logos, posters and video packages, all coming together succinctly to form the underlying mystique that we buy into in any good film or television show.

Ben Tallon



On rainy days, I'd sit around, surrounded by felt-tip pens of all colours, drawing innumerable renditions of Ultimate Warrior's face-paint. Every time he burst through the curtain, what concerned me just as much as his foe's malevolent intentions, was the brand new colour palette on his overcoat and elbow tassels.

When Bret 'Hitman' Hart wore a pink vest and pink trunks at WrestleMania IX, as opposed to the textbook pink and black combination, it somehow heightened the viewing experience whilst marking the first time, at 10 years old, that I would willingly wear any form of pink clothing in public.

Ben Tallon



Growing up in West Yorkshire in the late 1980s/early 1990s without many opportunities to attend live events, the TV screen was my portal to America, a fantasy world that seemingly existed only in WWE programming and Schwarzenegger movies.

As I grew older, into my early teens, I'd draw new pay-per-view event logos and design ring aprons made of cardboard, making tiny sets for my action figures so that my brother and I could be the McMahon family of the Hasbro toy world.

In my later teens, the action figures became ornaments as I moved on to designing VHS videotape covers of my own for the blank cassettes that we'd record WWE programming on.

Ben Tallon



WWE Magazine provided great photography that I'd cut out and stick next to a redesigned WWE logo using liquid gold and white marker pens, complete with loving detail in the form of strap line and age certificate.

For kids growing up outside of major cities, magazines, like TV, in a pre-internet era, were our way of learning about the wider world.

WWE Magazine, bought for me one Christmas by my grandparents, now became reference for layout design and a photographic archive from which I could draw and paint.

Ben Tallon



That doesn't occur to you at such a young age is that all of these amateur artworks represented a yearning to create imagery for a living, more specifically and speculatively, imagery for WWE. Could it be possible that work was something that didn't have to take place exclusively in high-street shops, factories and offices?

I rejected the idea as fantasy, yet during my late teens at art-college I stubbornly painted huge film poster-sized images of Kane, Mankind, Triple H and the Undertaker (the latter of which still featured as a six-feet tall mural on the attic wall of our old house, painted in 1991 by my creative mother), simply because I didn't have much interest in anything but drawing, video games and sports.

Ben Tallon



When the 'Attitude Era' made wrestling cool in mainstream entertainment in the late 1990s, I didn't grow out of it like most others, but embraced it with renewed devotion.

The internet became another way to digest the WWE brand on demand. My brother would send me Raw and SmackDown in the mail to my university accommodation, on VHS tapes, so I could keep up with programming.

By this time, I'd started to understand the mechanics of television production design a little bit. I now knew that people were indeed paid to edit video promos, compose entrance music, design the magazine and sew the WWE Superstars' ring attire.



With a degree under my belt, I started creating illustrations for print publications, then TV shows such as Channel 4's Skins and the Premier League preview show and more recently worked on projects for Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead.

Outside of my commissioned client work, I would sit up until late at night, creating illustrations of WWE performers. Dogged persistence paid off and I eventually made contact with the company. Then one rainy afternoon in Manchester, I received an email asking if I was available to illustrate Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

Ben Tallon



I struggled to stay on my feet from the sensory overload and couldn't sleep that night, knowing that the 'brahma bull' himself would have to give his personal approval of his portrait. He did, and I've now worked on over 25 projects with WWE, including set design for WWE Magazine's ten-page 'Faces of Evil' features.

I've seen my poster design on Monday Night Raw and made artwork banners that hung behind Brock Lesnar, AJ Lee, Daniel Bryan and Kane to name a few.

Through our work, the WWE creative director and I have become good friends and in 2014, I went to the USA for the first time, visiting WWE HQ and WrestleMania 30, including a night at the hall of fame ceremony, later meeting Stephanie McMahon.

Ben Tallon



The whole experience still feels like a lucid dream. To be involved with the creative direction of the company is mind-blowing. That whole journey became the core thread of my debut book, Champagne and Wax Crayons: Riding the Madness of the Creative Industries.

For one little geek with his wax crayons in West Yorkshire it's a long way to sipping champagne at the WWE's annual showpiece, but a lot of focus and passion, a little talent, courtesy and self-belief go a long way to bridging the divide."

You can follow Ben Tallon on Twitter and Facebook.

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