Stephan Pastis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stephan Pastis
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Pastis in 2017
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Stephan Thomas Pastis
January 16, 1968 |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley (BA) University of California, Los Angeles (JD) |
| Occupation | Insurance defense litigation attorney (1993–2002) Cartoonist of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine (2000–present) Author (2003–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Staci |
| Children | 2 |
Stephan Thomas Pastis (pronounced STEF-ən PASS-tiss; born January 16, 1968) is an American cartoonist and former lawyer. He is best known as the creator of the popular comic strip Pearls Before Swine. Stephan Pastis also writes exciting children's books. His first book for kids was Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. One of his Timmy Failure books, It's the End When I Say It's the End, even reached number 4 on The New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Middle Grade Books.
Contents
Stephan Pastis: A Cartoonist's Journey
Early Life and Drawing Dreams
Stephan Pastis was born on January 16, 1968, in Los Angeles County, California. His parents were immigrants from Greece. He grew up in a town called San Marino, California. Stephan started drawing cartoons when he was a child. His mother often brought him pens and paper. This was to keep him busy when he was sick and had to stay in bed.
He later attended the University of California, Berkeley. There, he earned a degree in political science in 1989. The next year, Pastis went to law school at UCLA School of Law. He received his law degree there. Even during his law studies, he kept drawing. He created the character Rat for Pearls Before Swine during a boring law class. He felt that writing for Rat allowed him to express his true thoughts.
From Lawyer to Cartoonist
From 1993 to 2002, Pastis worked as a lawyer. He helped insurance companies in the San Francisco Bay area. However, he quickly realized he did not enjoy being a lawyer. He found the job stressful and didn't like how people often argued. In the mid-1990s, he decided to follow his dream of becoming a professional cartoonist. He sent many different comic ideas to companies that publish comics. Ideas like The Infirm and Rat were sent in, but they were turned down many times.
Creating Pearls Before Swine
How the Characters Began
The character Rat first appeared in one of Pastis's earlier comic ideas. Rat often thinks he is the best at everything. The character Pig is very different from Rat. Pig is kind and gentle. He had appeared in another early comic idea called The Infirm. At first, these characters were just simple drawings with jokes.
Meeting Charles Schulz
In 1996, Stephan Pastis had a special meeting. He met Charles Schulz, the famous creator of Peanuts. Pastis found Schulz at an ice rink in Santa Rosa, where Schulz had coffee every day. Pastis was a bit nervous when he introduced himself. Schulz was very kind and welcoming. He let Pastis sit with him and they talked for an hour. Schulz even looked at some of Pastis's comic strips. He gave Pastis helpful advice. This meeting was a huge inspiration for Pastis.
Finding Inspiration and Success
Besides Peanuts, Pastis also learned from the comic strip Dilbert. He studied how to write short, funny comic strips with three panels. He drew about 200 new comic strips for his idea, Pearls Before Swine. He picked the 40 best ones. For two years, he was too scared to send them in.
In 1999, he finally decided to submit his comics. He sent them to three different publishing companies. One company, United Features, first put the comics online. This was to see what readers thought. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, supported Pastis's comic. This made Pearls Before Swine incredibly popular. Another cartoonist, Darby Conley from Get Fuzzy, also helped Pastis. Conley taught him how to color the Sunday comics and add gray tones to the daily ones.
Eight months later, Pastis happily quit his law job. He felt that his unhappiness as a lawyer actually helped him. He believed that humor often comes from reacting to difficult feelings. Wanting to leave his job pushed him to create better comics. This helped him get his comic strip published. Fifteen years later, Pearls Before Swine was still growing fast. It appeared in over 650 newspapers around the world.
Collaborating with Bill Watterson
In June 2014, Pastis worked with Bill Watterson. Watterson is the creator of the much-loved comic Calvin and Hobbes. They created a special week-long story together. In this story, a second-grade girl named Libby drew some of Pastis's comic frames. Pastis later shared that Watterson himself drew the artwork for three of these strips. In the last comic of the series, Libby told Pastis she would not draw more. She said, "There's a magical world out there." This was a special reference to the final words in Calvin and Hobbes.
Pearls Before Swine Book Collections
Treasury Books
Stephan Pastis began publishing collections of his Pearls Before Swine comic strips. These larger books are called "treasuries." His first treasury, Sgt. Piggy's Lonely Hearts Club Comic, was released in 2004. These books gather many comic strips together. They often include extra content from Pastis, like his thoughts on why some strips worked or didn't. He releases a new treasury book about every year and a half. These treasury books are now the main way his Pearls Before Swine comics are collected.
Stephan Pastis's Life and Other Works
Family and Community
Stephan Pastis lives in Santa Rosa, California. He lives there with his wife, Staci, and their two children. He is also on the board of the Charles Schulz Museum. He helps with things like merchandising rights and answering questions about Peanuts. Pastis greatly admires Charles Schulz. He believes Schulz's work was revolutionary for comic strips. Pastis has said that Schulz's influence on him is huge. He even helped write a Peanuts TV special in 2011. The special was called Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown.
The Timmy Failure Book Series
On February 25, 2013, Pastis released his first book for younger readers. It was called Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. This series is similar to the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Timmy Failure tells the adventures of a young boy who wants to be a detective. His best friend is a polar bear named Total. They work together to solve mysteries in their neighborhood. Many more books followed in the series. These included Timmy Failure: Now Look What You've Done (2014) and Timmy Failure: It's The End When I Say It's The End (2018). A prequel to the series, Zero to Hero, was released in 2020.
Timmy Failure on Screen
A movie based on the Timmy Failure books was created. Disney started working on the film in April 2017. Tom McCarthy directed the movie and co-wrote the script with Pastis. The film was released on Disney's streaming service, Disney+, in January 2020. The main character, Timmy Failure, was played by Winslow Fegley. The movie was filmed in Portland, Oregon, from July to September 2018.
Awards and Recognition
Honoring His Work
Stephan Pastis has received many awards for his comic strip work. He was nominated for the National Cartoonists Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award several times. He won this award in 2003, 2006, and 2014. He was also nominated for The National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year every year since 2008. He won the prestigious Reuben Award in 2018.
See also
In Spanish: Stephan Pastis para niños
