Stephan Pastis
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Stephan Thomas Pastis (born January 16, 1968) is the creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine.
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[edit] Background
He was raised in San Marino, California. He attended the University of California at Berkeley, earning a B.A. in Political Science in 1989. He then attended UCLA Law School. Before working as a cartoonist he was a lawyer, practicing insurance law. During his college classes he needed something to do to stop the boredom; so he turned to doodling. As the weeks went on he picked up on his childhood dream of becoming a syndicated cartoonist. He tried four times unsuccessfully with different strips such as "The Infirm" and "Rat," whose main character would later reappear in another rejected submission, "Bradbury Road," and of course Pearls Before Swine. But all of his submissions were rejected by the syndicates until he created and submitted Pearls Before Swine. Today, he lives in the San Francisco, California area with his wife and two children.
[edit] "Pearls Before Swine"
Pastis drew the character of Rat from his original submission, "Rat." The character of Pig was based on pigs that had been featured in another submission. When he invented the characters of Pig and Rat, they were just stick figures with jokes. He learned how to write by studying Dilbert comics in bookstores. He then collected the 40 comics that his attorney colleagues liked the best. Fearing another rejection, however, Pastis put them in an envelope and let it sit on the counter in his basement. It sat there for a year until he went visited a friend's grave and, feeling as though he had let her down, had a change of heart. He sent it out and 6 weeks later United Features Syndicate called him to inform him that he was being considered for syndication. "Pearls Before Swine" was launched in syndication in 2001.
[edit] Awards
Pastis was nominated for the National Cartoonists Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award for 2002 and 2006, and won the award for 2003.
[edit] Trivia
- One of his favorite painters is Edward Hopper. Influences can be seen in the October 13, 2002 Sunday Pearls Before Swine strip which is based on the painting Rooms by the Sea, and the cover of the comic strip collection Nighthogs which is based on the painting Nighthawks.
- Pastis also currently serves as a guest curator at the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California.
- Pastis's young son adores Garfield, a stark contrast to Pastis, who has a lot of negative references towards Garfield in the strip.
[edit] External links
- Biography from the official Pearls Before Swine website
- Short bio (with picture) at The National Cartoonists Society
- Stephan Pastis FAQ at comics.com
- Article about him from MSNBC
- Interview with him, among other people
- Some of his previous comics before "Pearls Before Swine"
- A recent interview with Pastis
