About the Artist

Vegan Dad is a serial comic strip created by Alex Porter.  Alex is an artist born and raised in Chicago, Illinois who relocated and currently lives in a small town in Wisconsin.  A daily comic strip has been something he enjoyed first as a reader.  "All my life I have loved the sweet melancholy of Peanuts, the goofiness of early Garfield and the amazing wit and beautiful surrealism of Calvin & Hobbes."  Primarily a songwriter and musician, Alex decided in early 2014 to try a semi-regular comic on a free-community website.  "The response was... positive... overall."  Alex jokes, "Vegan Dad is not the edgiest strip published, but it is entertaining.  I do get good comments on my storylines, which I appreciate."  After developing the characters and stories, Alex had the challenge of designing the characters.  "The page I was using had templates, so I was supplied with pre-drawn characters and backgrounds.  It was nice, but also limiting."  Having an art background has been helpful in creating his own unique vision for his comic.  "Yeah, I attended some art classes at the University of Wisconsin and there were some techniques I picked up during that time.  Funny thing is, I wanted to be a 'commercial artist' back in those days, and never would have imagined comics.  They were lesser 'art'.  But I know myself well enough to say that I would NOT have lasted drawing logos and product images for someone else.  Comics are amazing in comparison."  As for the future of Vegan Dad, Alex is positive.  "I enjoy the strip and the ideas keep coming.  I can't say there's 50 years of the strip in me, but I can say that as long as I know that others are enjoying it, I'll be inspired to keep it alive."