Alex Heberling

Five years ago today, I took my first step into the webcomic world with Jigworthy.  I started down this path with the intention of eventually making it my occupation, which hasn’t happened yet.  But I’ve learned lots of things, and I’d like to reflect on some particular points for this entry.

My Art

I first want to take a look at the difference in my art.  Above are some pieces I did in January of 2005, around when I started Jigworthy, which gives a pretty good overview of the things I was doing and what the rest of my art looked like at the time.

Although a relatively recent change in my art, the most noticeable difference is that I don’t do Garanos in anime style anymore.  I mused on this a couple months ago, wondering what would’ve happened if I hadn’t made the hard switch with Garanos, but I’ve gotten many comments in the meantime (from the like of Lar DeSouza, no less) that make me glad I did.  I’m prouder of my art now more than ever.

After Jigworthy ended, I found myself with all sorts of new skills that I was able to use to make Garanos pretty good from the beginning.  I later thought of Jigworthy as a sandbox, where I taught myself all sorts of little technical skills in creating comics.  Now that I’m nearing the end of Garanos, it occurs to me that you never really leave the sandbox, you just move to another;  Garanos is no exception to that.  You’re constantly evolving and experimenting, challenging yourself, and that seemed to get away from me for a little while somewhere in the last 5 years.

Hitting it Big

I’ll be honest:  when I started Jigworthy, I nurtured a little tender throbbing hope that I’d be one of those comic that hit it big immediately.  I mean, really, who starts a webcomic and doesn’t have that fantastical little hope in the back of their mind?  That’s what a lot of us dream of, making a living doing what we live to do.  But Jigworthy didn’t hit it big, and Garanos probably wont, either.  I’m managing to pick up a lot of momentum as I reach the end of this comic, which I hope to maintain into whatever my next big comic is.  I feel like whatever I do next has the potential to get my foot farther into the hypothetical door, though.

Moving Forward

Something I heard in the last year or so really struck a chord with me, which I want to reiterate.  I think it was Kris Straub, who said in a Webcomics Weekly episode, that making a career in comics on the web is just like any other:  you invest 8 or 10 years of time into it.  Going along with that mindset, I’m at least halfway to where I want to be, and I plan to spend the next 5 years working my ass off some more to accomplish my dream.

I’m excited about the future, guys.