Avoiding the Pigeonhole in Your Portfolio I recently had a couple of new prospective projects arise, and they both...
Sketchy Thoughts by Steve Stegelin Articles
Steve Stegelin’s It’s October. Why Aren’t You Drawing?
It’s October. Why Aren’t You Drawing? If you’re looking for an excuse to draw (on top of your usual deadlines...
Steve Stegelin’s Keep Ahead to Keep Up
Keep Ahead to Keep Up Last week I discussed how “life comes at you fast,” so you need to be flexible and reactive. Think of this week’s post as the flipside of that same coin. One way to roll with the punches to your schedule or projects is to also be proactive when...
Steve Stegelin’s Life Comes At You Fast
According to my Google Docs dictionary, adaptability is “the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions.” And this week, I was reminded how much adaptability is a requisite quality for any comic creator. As the week was coming to a close, I was...
Steve Stegelin’s Know Your Rights Before You Sign the Dotted Line
For the record, I’m not a lawyer, just someone who’s faced a number of contracts over the years. So a quick disclaimer that you shouldn’t consider this post as professional legal advice; if anything discussed here piques your interest or concern, follow up with a...
Steve Stegelin’s Anatomy of a Pinup: Octobriana 1976
As a cartoonist with regular weekly deadlines and commitments to other projects, taking time to draw just for myself is something I struggle with the most. What’s helped me in this regard, though, is the realization that art done for “fun” also provides an...
Steve Stegelin’s Crunching Numbers on Your Network
A couple of weeks back, I wrote about the various responses—good and bad—my editorial cartoons get on Twitter. And honestly, there are times when Twitter feels like a particularly hellish part of the social media landscape, especially when it comes to political...
Steve Stegelin’s They Give Awards to Imposters, Don’t They?
Just as comic books have several awards, including the Oscar equivalent of the Eisner, editorial cartoons have a number of opportunities for recognition outside of the Pulitzer. Being the latter half of the year, it’s now the season when these awards begin to ask...
Steve Stegelin’s All a-Twitter
I’ve written in the past about how a frequent benchmark for an editorial cartoonist is either making the reader laugh or making them angry. Based on that, I must be doing a fantastic job, because the latter was rampant in Twitter responses this week. A strip...
Steve Stegelin’s Anatomy of a Pinup: Joust Edition
One of the things I’ve missed most with the lack of comic conventions in the wake of COVID-19 is the opportunity to visit the host cities. Return to a convention enough times, and some places become traditional haunts over the years. Sure, there are those...
Steve Stegelin’s Comics Distribution (and Evolution)
As news of comic convention cancellations continues to come in, I’ve been feeling the pangs of convention withdrawal, both as an attendee and a vendor. I’ve also spent time staying indoors to revisit my comic convention and think back about how I first...