                                                       The Short Answer:
                                    Find kindred souls who want what Bob Heim
                     has to offer by taking the Heim House portfolio to a worldwide audience.

Etc: Bob Heim (pronounced Hime) considers his life experience to date as market research for what he wants to accomplish. This experience/research includes making images on paper and other places from a time that pre-dates memory. By way of explanation, Bob says that he wasn’t born with a pencil in his hand but evidently picked one up shortly thereafter and promptly stuck the graphite point into his forehead. His mother told the story and, as proof, explained that a little blue mark on Bob’s temple, visible into adulthood, marked the spot of his misguided early efforts.

The research he can remember, which forms the basis for today’s cartooning efforts and marketing decisions, came after his childhood doodle-scrawl and the “stay within the lines when you color” period. The experiences that led to Heim House International are rooted in the sound of laughter at his graphic efforts.

This laughter, the encouraging sound of music to his ears, has been known to break out at one man exhibitions of his work, during appearances at arts and crafts shows, and during talks, demonstrations and workshops on the subject of cartooning. Even when the joy which total strangers found in his work was not backed up with a purchase, the potential for giving pleasure to others and meeting kindred spirits kept him working.

On days when there is more laughter than financial rewards, Bob recalls the prediction of a late, great artist friend. Penn Schumaker once predicted to a much younger Bob that his art would bring him a “small but very loyal following.” Hearing this story, another friend pointed out that Alexander the Great conquered the known world of his day with a small but very loyal band of dedicated followers.

Given his preference for laughter over pillage, plundering and bloodshed, the decision to build a loyal following from the known world of this day was an easy one: He would get serious about purchasing a computer and use a website to welcome the world to his studio.