Stephan Pastis
Stephan Pastis
Stephan Thomas Pastisis an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine. He has since begun writing children's chapter books, commencing the release of Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made and the second and third Timmy Failure, which debuted at #4 on The New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Middle Grade Books...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCartoonist
Date of Birth16 January 1968
CitySan Marino, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I was a total stranger to him, and he let me sit down at his table and we talked for an hour, ... I took a picture with him. He looked at some of the strips that I had been doing and gave me some tips. Man, I was on cloud nine.
This is every creative person's dream - a hobby that I'm lucky enough to get paid for.
If you look at other strips from the 1950s, he stuck out like a sore thumb. I'm sure he probably got some of the same complaint letters that I get now,
I wish I didn't have to do it. But I'm standing on the deck of the Titanic and see the iceberg coming,
When you do anything creative, you really have to live entirely in that world. I think my ability to do that is what makes me such a bad dinner guest. I'm always looking over someone's shoulder, taking in stuff around the room, immersed in the world of whatever I'm writing about, and keeping the characters completely in my head.
Thomas, my 15-year-old, is effectively my editor, I've always trusted his voice, more than anybody, on the strip for years. He has one of those ears that's just tuned to the rhythm of humor, so if he says something's not funny, my stomach just hurts because I know he's right, and it's already been drawn.
I recently forced myself to read a book on quantum physics, just to try and learn something new. I was confused by the middle of the first sentence and it all went downhill from there. The only thing I can remember learning is that a parallel universe can theoretically be contained on the head of a needle. I don't really know what that means, but I am now more careful handling needles.
It seems so absurd to get really mad with a cartoonist over a comic strip. It's sort of like getting in a fight with a circus clown outside your house. It's not going to end well.
Maybe the bar is low, but most of the strips that are 50, 60, 70 years old that are on their second or third generation of artists, the humor is pretty bland. There are others by people that were raised on 'Family Guy' or 'South Park' that are edgier. Mine's not as edgy as those, but it's edgier than 'Beetle Bailey.'
You can't just count on becoming a syndicated cartoonist. I actually tried to calculate the odds once, and the best I could come up with is a 1-in-36,000 chance. And the odds of getting hit by lightning are 1 in 7,900 - which kind of shows how long those odds are.
I never feel burdened or overwhelmed by my work. People tell you to find something you love for a career, and I have. That makes me feel very lucky.
A biscuit in the States is something you would put gravy on with dinner, and it's not sweet in the least!
The principles of comedy are the principles of comedy. I can hear funny.
To get syndicated as a comic strip artist is as likely as winning the lottery.