Benjamin Dewey is an illustrator originally from Cleveland who is now based out of Milwaukee. He's been illustrating his whole life and has been doing it professionally for the past 13 years.
Dewey has done work for almost every comic publication you can think of and is also a huge Game of Thrones fan. However, like a lot of fans, he was a little disappointed by how the story was progressing.
He told BuzzFeed that this motivated him to put his skills to work. "As seasons 7 and 8 started to depart from the rich character development and deliberate pace of previous seasons, I started thinking about what I would’ve preferred to see and decided to draw what I thought was missing!"
The result was a series of illustrations that give us scenes many people wished were in Game of Thrones.
Like an epic battle of direwolves and giant ice spiders.
Or Jon giving Ghost the goodbye he deserved.
Some scenes would have made perfect sense — like Arya, Grey Worm, and the Hound going on a rescue mission.
While others like this Ser Pounce moment are a little more fantasy than reality.
Regardless, it's nice to imagine an alternate universe where some of these played out. Like this epic battle.
Or the most clever and strategic people in Westeros devising a plan together.
Two queens, one scene.
Since publishing, Dewey's art has gone viral. He said the reactions to his illustrations have been very positive, and he hopes people will do a little bit more than just "dunk on" the show.
And he wanted to make it clear that he is a true fan who wanted to turn the criticism into something productive and artful:
I sincerely hope that it helps other Games of Thrones enthusiasts think of critique differently. Dunking on something can be very satisfying and gets at strong emotions, but I don’t think it’s productive in many instances. I always like to see people take criticism as an opportunity to explore work further, not just to snipe or poke holes.
Making art is tough! If more people tried to lay out what they thought should replace the clunky choices and put it out there for the rest of us to enjoy, it would be better than an endless parade of “What David and Dan did wrong” videos. I love the show and I hope people see what I made as more celebration than shade.
Touché.
