Author: Alex Heberling

Alex Heberling here. I own the place.

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Alex Heberling

flippedroundagain:

postmoderndepression:

cumaeansibyl:

convictorofkarma:

copracat:

goldengray:

zincfingers:

teal-deer:

aeromachia:

freshphotons:

Poster by Klaas Wynne.

aah oh wow this is great

my best friend in middle school wasn’t allowed to wash her hair with anything other than this weird lemon juice concoction because her terrifying mother objected to “chemicals”, I spent a lot of time being like BUT WE’RE MADE OF CHEMICALS at her, to no avail

This is so great. Chemicals are not inherently bad, people.

basically obligated to reblog this

I bought dish detergent once that advertised itself as containing “no chemicals!” I couldn’t not buy dish detergent made of ~*MAGIC*~.

There’s a brand of detergents that promises ‘no nasty chemicals’. AUGH.

as a chemist, this is relevant to me

chemicals are our friends!

Ugh this! While I understand people wanting transparency with their food and what is in it, blind fear of “gmos” and “chemicals” is really harmful too.

One of my favorite parts of Brave New World is when one character can’t actually figure out how to explain chemicals. It made me realize exactly how arbitrary the distinction is…

Emphasis mine.

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Alex Heberling

ryanestradadotcom:

I’m gonna tell you guys a secret about chasing your dreams.

It’s not the cliche crap, about never giving up, or overcoming adversity. You know all that. If you relate following a goal to The Odyssey, everybody knows about all the monsters you have to slay, battles you have to win, cyclopses you have to outwit, and all that.

But what no one tells you is the the adversity is not the hardest part to overcome. The hardest part is comfort. To return to our The Odyssey metaphor, the hardest part of his journey had to have been the land of the Lotus Eaters.

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There were no six-headed monsters on that island, no sirens, no angry deities. There were just some nice dudes offering some fruit that made Odysseus and his men feel awesome. They offered a home, they offered rest, they offered community. This wasn’t exactly Odysseus’ goal, but it was another version of it. The men could have stopped their quest RIGHT then and there, adjusted their goal to find A home instead of THEIR home, and been done. No more cannibals, no more witch-goddesses, no more being turned into pigs. But Odysseus didn’t stop there. He wanted HIS home. He wanted HIS family. He knew that if he stayed one second longer, it could jeopardize his chance to ever accomplish his real goal. He left, knowing that he was giving up his safety net, and possibly risking everything.

I’ve had this experience twice.

In 2007, I was living in India, working as a trainer for Citibank. It had taken a couple of years of adversity to get to where I was… but at that point I was being paid INCREDIBLY well for doing, well, next to nothing. I was there because it looked good on paper to say they had an American trainer on staff, but in reality their employees has no time to attend training. I made $5000 a month, was provided with an apartment, a maid, a personal driver, and spent most of my workday watching DVDs in the library. It was a very comfortable place to be.

But my goal has always been to have adventures and make my own art. This wasn’t exactly my dream, but it was another version of it. I was having adventures a’plenty, and I was making some art, but my job involved spending my nights in a call center (that I couldn’t bring paper in or out of) and my days to exhausted to draw. I made very little art. My graphic novel had been on hiatus for six months. I even lost some big opportunities…. a publisher wanted to run my comic Aki Alliance right alongside Diary of a Wimpy Kid right before Wimpy Kid became as huge as it did, but I lost the gig because of my long hiatus.

It was terrifying to step away from that oh-so-comfortable safety net. Everyone told me I was living the dream, but I knew I couldn’t sit doing nothing forever. Even though I’d only been paid to make a comic a few times, and had no idea how to make a living at it, I knew I had to try. If I took this step, it was going to be back to fighting monsters. I didn’t want comfort, I wanted to follow my dream. I quit.

I started something called Cartoon Commune. I did custom comics at a flat rate. Boyfriends as superheroes, how-we-met comics for weddings, promotional comics for trade shows…. and just like Odysseus, I was right back into adversity. All nighters. Customers that never paid me. A whole year where I was so broke I had to live on the floor of a broom closet of a friend’s art school and shower at the community gym.

But all that perseverance paid off. Cartoon Commune became a very successful endeavor. It allowed me to travel the world and make a decent living off of comics. Not nearly as much as I made in India, but enough to have an amazing life.

Everyone told me I was living the dream. Well, a dream. But only a version of my dream. I’ve been having adventures and making art, but not MY art. I have a folder on my hard drive with thousands of pages of comics. Comics for brides, grooms, boyfriends, girlfriends, CEOs, rock stars, famous people I can’t name because of nondisclosure agreements. But none of them are for me. They’re not my comics.

I’ve taken time off to draw some of my own books, having to choose the simpler-to-draw scripts so that I can get them done in between Cartoon Commune commitments, and every time it has been an amazingly rewarding experience.

Recently, I got to the point, where I knew it was time to take the big, scary, next step.

I quit the Cartoon Commune. I passed it on to its new manager, Chad Thomas, and lost my safety net. As of 12 hours ago, when I drew the last line on my last Cartoon Commune comic, I’m done. I’m now not just a full-time cartoonist, I’m going to make my OWN comics full time. Once again, I don’t entirely know how to do that. I’ve had success recently selling creator-owned comics, but I realize that it was a group effort and my contributions weren’t necessarily the most popular part of the package. I have no idea how people will respond when I launch projects of my own.

There will be adversity. There will be battles to fight, and monsters to slay. As a recently married man, those battles have higher stakes than ever. But I am ready.

I’m gonna go make some stuff.

I hope you like it.

30 Days of Character Building

Alex Heberling

everydaychallenges:

1.) Describe your character’s relationship with their mother or their father, or both. Was it good? Bad? Were they spoiled rotten, ignored? Do they still get along now, or no?

2.) What are your characters most prominent physical feature

3.) Name one scar your character has, and tell us where it came from. If they don’t have any, is there a reason?
 
4.) How vain is your character? Do they find themselves attractive?
 
5.) What’s your character’s ranking on the Kinsey Scale?
 
6.) Describe your character’s happiest memory.
 
7.) Is there one event or happening your character would like to erase from their past? Why?

8.) Day of Favorites! What’s your character’s favorite ice cream flavor? Color? Song? Flower?

9.)  Who does your character trust?
 
10.) Can you define a turning point in your character’s life? Multiples are acceptable.
 
11.) Is there an animal you equate with your character?
 
12.) How is your character with technology? Super savvy, or way behind the times? Letters or email?

13.) What does your character’s bed look like when he/she wakes up? Are the covers off on one side of the bed, are they all curled around a pillow, sprawled everywhere? In what position might they sleep?
 
14.)  How does your character react to temperature changes such as extreme heat and cold?
 
15.) Is your character an early morning bird or a night owl?
 
16.) Are there any blood relatives that your character is particularly close with, besides the immediate ones? Cousins, Uncles, Grandfathers, Aunts, et cetera. Are there any others that your character practically considers a blood relative?
 
17.) What’s your character’s desk/workspace look like? Are they neat or messy?
 
18.) Is your character a good cook? What’s their favorite recipe, whether they’re good or not? (Microwave mac-and-cheese applies.)
 
19.) What’s your character’s preferred means of travel?
 
20.) Does your character have any irrational fears?
 
21.) What would your character’s  cutie mark be?
 
22.) If your character could time travel, where would they go?
 
23.) Is your character superstitious?
 
24.) What might your character’s ideal romantic partner be?
 
25.) Describe your character’s hands. Are they small, long, calloused, smooth, stubby?
 
26.) Second day of favorites! Favorite comfort food, favorite vice, favorite outfit, favorite hot drink,
favorite time of year, and favorite holiday.
 
27.) Pick two songs that describe your character at two different points of their life, and explain why you chose them.
 
28.) If your character’s life was a genre, what would it be?
 
29.) How does your character smell? Do they wear perfume or cologne?
 
30.) And finally: Write a letter to your character, from yourself.

(I found this on a website a long time ago, and have pretty much given up trying to find the blog it came from.  So if you know the original writer/source, I would appreciate the info.  Otherwise, just letting people know that I didn’t create this.  ^_~)

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Alex Heberling

dommifox:

A couple people asked me how I vary my leaves and trees and honestly, it’s super easy! I’ve never made a tutorial/guide before so I kept this mega simple but I hope someone out there might find it useful at least!

Also, anyone can download the brushes I use for all my art on my tumblr page (: I only use around 5 so go nuts haha