A: I’VE BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

…and you can see all of this on Linkedin & Gates

My name is Hal Hefner. I am the creator of Gates, a Transmedia franchise, (if you are unsure of what Transmedia is).  It is currently in comic book form and located right at http://gatesthecomic.com

Now some would consider me a comic book artist or writer…but I consider myself  a storyteller, and I use my creative abilities in writing, illustration, design and marketing  collaboratively to tell my story, a new science fiction franchise which will in full scope be a generational tale about the world’s first family of organic technology.

1) MY LIFE: HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

I grew up in a small town in upstate NY called Mohawk. Just outside of the once bustling city of Utica, I fought racism, stupidity and other small town strangeness in order to rise up and realize who I was and what I wanted to do. My parents didn’t understand art and the folks around me were divided into two distinct camps of either liking me or hating me. There was no middle ground becuase I have always been a smart ass, outspoken dude who constantly questions everything and happily fights authority. So fighting adversity, breaking away from my own participation in hatred, bullying and other stupid stuff was essential to elevating my mind to be ready to grow as an artist, writer, creator, thinker and marketing guy.

2) I GOT SCHOOLED:

In order to arrive here, to create this franchise I started off by getting a great education at a technical schoool in New York called RIT. Now RIT is mostly known for pumping out Engineers, and it had an infamous connection to the CIA and was heavily funded by Baush and Lomb and Kodak.  Here I learned how to refine my painting skills traditionally and digitally, I learned about graphic design and all about creative writing. It was technically savvy and only 2nd in teh nation to MIT in terms of technical innovation.

So I got schooled digitally in Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark. Little did I know how important this would be later on.

I still continue to educate myself through extension classes at colleges and workshops such as Storyworld, for Transmedia storytelling

3) I MOVED TO A MAJOR CITY: LOS ANGELES:

After college and the tragic demise of my relationship with my long time girlfriend,  I decided to move to LA–because I had a DREAM.

After I came up with the first ideas for the Gates franchise I realized I needed to move to chase the dragon, so LA was logical to me due to the Hollywood connection and its appreciation for Science Fiction. So I packed up the car, took a leap of faith in my ability and found a way to get myself to Los Angeles.

Now I was Hal Hefner, artist, designer and creative gun for hire. And I had no clue what the hell I was doing. I had a dream and determination and I kept it hungry, humble and smart.

4) BEEN THERE DONE THAT: FROM ART & DESIGN TO RECRUITING ART & DESIGN

When I got here, I started working as a cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer. Design was the most consistent and lucrative so I followed the paycheck because LA is an expensive place to live—but it’s worth every damn penny. As a designer I worked with some great companies designing everything from marketing collateral, packaging, ads and magazines to websites and banners. But I got burned out. Fourteen hour days and a burning passion to create Gates were not a good marriage. So I found a way to jump into the staffing and recruiting industry to alleviate the pain.

In 2004 I jumped onboard with a company called Creative Circle. If you haven’t heard of them, Creative Circle is a staffing agency that caters to the creative, advertising, marketing and PR industries. In my role at Creative Circle I placed graphic designers, art directors, account executives, project managers, high end developers, marketing directors and oh so much more with all the big companies in the Los Angeles market.

5) RECRUITING AND STAFFING 101:

As a recruiter I have staffed many of the major companies in Los Angeles, from FOX & NBC to Sony and Square Enix. From Walt Disney to TBWA Chiat Day to Skechers, I placed folks within many facets of many industries.  I became a trusted name in staffing because I “got it”. With expert, firsthand knowledge of the positions I was staffing, people knew I understood their requests unlike my competitors. Myself and a small core of great people, turned Creative Circle into the nationwide monster it is today form our 5 person staff of humble beginnings in a black building on the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire.

But when Creative Circle got too big and I wasn’t jiving philosophically with ownership any longer, specifically about how to treat clients, candidates and even internal employees, I moved on. I wasn’t into gauging my clients and I was tired of the internal politics. So I hit the road. Overall though it was a great experience, I worked with some great people and I learned a lot about life, sales, marketing and the psychology of people.

6) GETTING LAID OFF SUCKS:

I then helped launch the creative, advertising and marketing division of a traditional entertainment administrative staffing company named Eleventh Hour. I helped them grow nicely in a year and a half and then when the economy tanked in early 2009, they laid me off. Getting laid off was a horribly humbling experience and it was utterly embarrassing as the owner decided to tell several other people before he laid me off, and I found out I was getting laid off on Facebook from a guy who I had hired to blog for us. So for the first time since I was fifteen, I was jobless, I had two kids, a mortgage and a wife and I was angry as all hell for the way I was treated.

Getting laid off SUCKS but I used it to my advantage.

7) PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

In ten years I had been a designer, artist, creative recruiter, marketer and salesperson. So when I was laid off, I took ALL of those components and finally put Gates together and pitched it to Heavy Metal to utilize to launch their first digital storytelling platform. Since Hevay Metal had no digital presence or any clue about what to do with the online space, I was able to help them by allowing them to utilize my franchise to be presented as their first online comic. So finally Gates was born and really born from the ashes of my demise.

CLOSING:

Hopefully this helps, as it is just a start. I will be expanding and delving further into this so keep checking back for more info as well as please feel free to ask any questions.

Please check out Gates, drop me a line or  follow me on Twitter, or Facebook and connect on deviantART and Linkedin

Click here to view the embedded video.

Whether it’s learning to draw the figure, studying anatomy or working in a comic book style format, I use books A LOT. Every day.

Below I have created my list of books that if I were stranded on a desert Island, at least 4 of the books would come with me. These are a small list of my all time favorite figure, anatomy and drawing books. I have every one of them and have used every one of them and can personally recommend them to the most professional artist to enhance their skills or the most untrained artist as great starting points to learn how to draw.

Please e-mail me if you have any questions about these books in general. Their titles are pretty self explanatory though I will break down my top 4 MUST BUY BOOKS in more detail. I hope you enjoy these books like I have.

1) How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way: How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way

THE BIBLE of all comic book how to draw books. It’s still the best and one of my most favorite books. My copy si falling apart, the pages are yellow and I’ve had it since I was 12!

2) An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists:An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists
This is my favorite book on human anatomy. It’s loaded with great muscular and skeletal images for instruction and most importantly, understanding human anatomy.

3) Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Ham. Great book that is still relevant and loaded with tips on how to draw fast and accurate figures.
Drawing the Head and Figure (Perigee)

4) The Human Figure: A Photographic Reference for Artists is a great book of poses of the male and female figure. I use this all the time!
The Human Figure: A Photographic Reference for Artists