About
ChaosLife is the site for the humorous, personal and
sometimes political comics of A. Stiffler & K. Copeland.
ChaosLife updates every week!
About A. Stiffler
A. Stiffler is a professional artist, comic illustrator and graphic designer.
Residing in Columbus, Ohio with two cats,
they enjoy life to the fullest, even when it’s chaotic.
F.A.Q.
When does the site update?
Usually on Mondays and sometimes Saturdays! The site does not currently have an ‘official’ update schedule. We try to update once a week, but sometimes between our regular graphic novel comic, commissions and our own personal life that’s not possible. You can subscribe to the RSS feed to get a regular reminder every time I update, which is pretty neat!
Are your comics autobiographical?
Pretty much!
Most of the humorous ones you’ll find here focus on our personal life, often hyperbolized. Others are just what interest us at the time, which can range from social networking to politics to socks.
The main characters that appear in the autobiographical comics are meant to be us. A lot of people have confusion with that because the blonde haired person is androgynous looking. In real life, I have short hair and an underachieving chest, so in comic form, it translates to ‘androgynous’. Honestly, I don’t care whether or not someone mistakes me for male or female. Simply put, gender doesn’t matter much to me; I don’t make a big deal out of it. I’m just ‘me’. And in the comics scope, 99.999% of the time, it has yet to matter whether the person represented is male or female.
To expand on that sentiment, I never want anyone to feel bad for mistaking the character for male or female. I don’t identify with either gender (this is called “agender”) so I choose not to over exaggerate any gender-specific features. If you read it as male, identify with it and later find out I have a vagina, what’s wrong with that? You shouldn’t have to know what’s between someone’s legs in order to relate to them.
Who’s the brunette girl in the comics?
That’s my wife, K.! My wife and I were finally married in Massachusetts (one of the only legal places same-sex couples can be married in the U.S.) in 2010. We’ve been together nearly ten years, however, with the intention of legally marrying when it became legal in our current state. When it was clear to us that we might have to wait a lot longer than initially planned, we opted to make a trip to MA in order to obtain a marriage license.
She colors a lot of the ChaosLife comics on here and writes our ongoing graphic novel that I illustrate, FindChaos. She also really loves books.
Who are the cats in the comics?
They’re our two cats! Konstantin (named after Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, a rocket scientist) is the grey one, he’s a Russian Blue. Peter is the orange and white one, he’s a Flame-Point Siamese. They’re both pretty derpy, but we love them. We acquired both of them from a local shelter. Make sure to spay and neuter your pets, everyone!
Could you just draw yourself with boobs or longer hair or in a dress so I can identify you as female?
Simply put: No.
Not only would that be unnatural for what I perceive to be my interpretation of myself, but saying that all females have to have breasts, long hair and wear dresses is a little insensitive. I draw the character of my wife and I almost exactly the same – except for the fact that she has large breasts and long hair and I don’t. In real life, she has large breasts and long hair and I don’t. None of the facial features on the characters are skewed to be perceived as female, the hips are not larger or smaller and the reactions the characters have aren’t meant to be boxed into ‘female reaction’ or ‘male reaction’. They’re just reactions. Some people have short hair, some people have small or no breasts and some people only wear dresses on cold days in Hell. If you’re offended or confused by this, eh… Sorry, it’s my comic. There are plenty with large breasted, long haired females in dresses out there, I’m sure you can find one you like better!
Don’t you think you’re taking mental illnesses lightly?
These are comics. To be funny.
While I won’t say there will never be a serious one thrown in in the future, I can say that so far, the tone and appearance of any of my comics that tackle mental illness and those suffering from it (my wife’s paranoid schizophrenia included), is one of understanding and acceptance. I don’t claim to be a doctor or a psychologist, but I know that humor is something people relate to, that gets them thinking, talking and understanding one another. There’s a huge stigma revolving around people with mental illnesses that I wish didn’t exist. Hopefully by expressing that my wife and I have a sense of humor about it, even though we have to live with the detrimental side effects, others will be inclined to break the barriers of stigmas and social isolation.
And if you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it! Magic.
When will this comic be available as a printed version?
Hopefully, soon! It takes a lot of work (and money) to self-publish! We’re already planning on it, though and I can safely say the printed version will have extra content and some of the comics will be expanded, so maybe it will be worth the wait!
What do you use to draw these comics?
Pencil, paper, a kneaded eraser and a bit of time in Photoshop CS6 with a Wacom Intuos4.
Can I use one of your comics on my site?
That’s called stealing! Stealing is bad. But if you’re not making profit from it, and you give me proper credit with a link back to this specific site, then that’s fine (i.e., posting on Reddit, reblogging on Tumblr, sharing on Twitter, linking on FB, or reviews etc. are a-okay — all with proper attribution). Just notify me to let me know where it is, please.
Do you take commissions?
Check out my Commission Page to see if I’m open! You’ll find all of the pertinent information there, too! I don’t work for free, so please don’t ask.
Do you do anything else?
Oh my, yes!
I illustrate the ongoing web-based graphic novel FindChaos which is a dark supernatural horror series with lots of gore (NSFW/L). I also do paintings, drawings, short story comics, etc. and sell my original artwork.
I also have a Tumblr, dA account, Facebook Page and Twitter and I like cheese. The cheese thing is an extra. Just for you.
And because so many people have asked, here’s some pictures of our little family that appears in ChaosLife:
Any other questions, concerns or comments, you can contact me directly at:
