About Hal Hefner | Hal Hefner

MY NAME IS HAL HEFNER

I am the artist and writer of Gates, Heavy Metal Magazine’s first online comic.

Gates has been covered in Wired magazine, MTVGeek, deviantART and many more comic book, entertainment, geek focused and music related websites.

GeekChic Daily called my science fiction comic book, Gates, “Dr. Moreau meets 1984. On acid.”
MY LIFE

I grew up in the eerie woods of upstate NY–in a small town called Mohawk, where the Iroquois once roamed. I was educated at the Munson Williams Proctor Institute of Art where I studied Fine Art and received an AFA.

Upon graduating, I attended RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) where I received a Bachelor’s degree in Illustration with a minor in Graphic Design and a crash course on life.

I am an artist and storyteller first and foremost and I love to paint. Since the age of three I have been drawing and painting almost every day. I have been influenced by the world around me and am fascinated with ancient cultures, specifically Native American, Egyptian, African and the South American peoples. I’m opinionated and passionate about who am I am as a person philosophically, politically and artistically. I am a humanist who loves being alive and I am grateful everyday for my family, friends, the opportunities I have had and the new ones that are yet to come. Every piece of art that I create, tells a story.

I am skilled in the traditional painting techniques such as acrylic, oil, watercolor, guache and more but my preferred method is to combine these mediums and complete the process digitally in Photoshop.

I have worked on everything from video game key art, to magazines and comic books, to book covers and so much more over the course of my career.

CATMONNKEY STUDIO
I am the Chief Creative Officer at CATMONKEY studio.

CATMONKEY STUDIO is a storytelling studio that creates artistically crafted narratives.

Please go to our website for more details.

MY CLIENT LIST
Heavy Metal, Team Zenyatta, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Mile 9, Han Solo Adventures (video game), Hero Games, Evil Hat Productions, Spacedog Entertainment, Breygent Marketing, Alderac Entertainment Group, Nifty Comics, Strange Horizons, Nova Eth Publishing, Gensler / Studio 585, Coca Cola, DirecTV, Citysearch California Tan, Fractal Dimensions, Hustler magazine, Jay Comics, Star Wars Day celebration, Eleventh Hour, Challenging Destiny Magazine, Shadis Magazine, California Tan, Basement Games, Fractal Dimensions, Fractal Spectrum Magazine, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, FILTER, Rochester Space and Science Center, Hanna Design, Perkins & Will, Toyota, Gold’s Gym, BLT and more.

DESIGN + MARKETING
In addition to my artistic accomplishments, I am an award winning Graphic Designer, digital colorist and teacher. I’ve taught drawing, color theory, digital coloring and digital painting at the Comic Book art Institute in Los Angeles.

And to top it off, I’m an experienced and highly successful marketer, having worked with all types of companies including ad agencies, design firms, entertainment studios, video game companies and more.

TRANSMEDIA LOS ANGELES
I am the Managing Director, of TransmediaLA an organization dedicated to the education, incubation and innovation of multi platform storytelling and exploratory narratives.

CONTACT INFO.

I am available for commissions, freelance work and am open to talking about any new opportunity.

Please contact me via e-mail at HAL@halhefner.com

VIDEOS

Below are some videos that you can learn more about me as well as my processes and properties.

An interview with deviantART that I did at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con:

DeviantART panel at the 2011 Amazing Arizona Comic Con, with Dan LuVisi and Karl Alstaetter:

Interview with deviantART and Dan LuVisi at the 2011 Amazing Arizona Comic Con:

A Spoof on Giorgio Tsoukalos and the show Ancient Aliens, for a mockumentary commercial for the Gates soundtrack, dedicated to the Ronnie James Dio, Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.

Transhumanism Event at Parsons in NYC in May of 2011: I’m discussing the topic of Transhumanism and its relation to secret societies and the downside to a compassionless society that forgets how to be human.

Introduction video to Gates the Comic Book:

And last but not least, here is the Trailer to Gates the comic

I occasionally do some fun Podcasts. In February of 2012, I along with ambient musician, Kevin Bryce joined the crew of the Webcomic Beacon!

We discussed my webcomic Gates, and musical artist Kevin Bryce,who actually performed two songs live form his studio in Canada, Fes Works and Melissa Kaercher of the GeekLife podcast, talk about HEAVY METAL Magazine

This podcast was an in depth look at the animated cult classic Heavy Metal movie from 1981, the history of Heavy Metal Magazine and the future of the new movie.

http://www.webcastbeacon.com/webcomic-220/