Interview with Dale Stephanos

Dale Stephanos is one of the top illustrators working in the field today. His clients include Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Mad Magazine, Wall Street Journal, The Boston Herald, Sports Illustrated, and Golf Digest. Dale was kind enough to visit Creative Journey Cafe to answer some questions about his life and work.

Why did you decide to focus your career on caricature, despite your ability to paint and draw other things? Was it a natural decision or did you force yourself to focus?

I just always loved caricature. There’s something magical about drawing a portrait that looks more like a person than a realistic portrait. Picasso said something about his art being a lie that tells the truth. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to think that maybe truth is overrated. If someone tells you a good story, and you get a lot out of it, does it matter whether it’s true or not? For me, that’s what caricature is.

And to be honest, caricature has always been the currency that gets me into the best situations. When I was a kid, the easiest way to make friends was to get them to laugh by drawing them or other kids and teachers. After that, it became a little business - a drawing of the band Kiss for some math homework.

A lot of people say it was a brave decision to become an artist for a living, but for me it was the path of least resistance. For whatever reason, I’ve always had this weird ability to do this small thing and I’ve been rewarded for it. That doesn’t mean I haven’t worked very hard to develop my ability, but I think I had a decent head start.

Your illustrations have appeared in some of the top magazines in the world. Talent aside, how did you do that? Did you set written goals or hire an agent? How do you market yourself?

I never set written goals, although I like the idea and always intend to start doing it. I’ll write myself a note to start on that.

There are many routes to where I am at this point. For some magazines, I had a good working relationship with an art director back when we were both starting out and I was able to ride his/her coattails. Other times, I’ve had a piece in whatever newspaper and an art director saw it and kept me in mind. I also do a fair amount of email promotion, and I subscribe to a service called AdBase which is a contact resource for illustrators.

I maintain several online portfolios. There’s my own site, www.dalestephanos.com, and www.illoz.com, my favorite portfolio site, and www.theispot.com, which is the best advertising investment I’ve ever made.

Another way into this market is to target one person at the publication you want to be in and do a “custom” piece for them using a story they ran a photo with.

There are also the annuals - Communication Arts, The Society of Illustrators, and American Illustration are the most popular. A lot of ADs use these as source books to find new talent.

Lastly, the best way to get work is to do outstanding work when you have it. It’s hard to put an advertising dollar value on being on the cover of Newsweek. The way I think of it is that every time I have a job, I’m advertising my name.

What’s a typical workday like for Dale Stephanos? Do you maintain a strict schedule, or do you work whenever?

I get up early, my wife and I get my kids breakfast, go to Starbucks while bouncing between NPR, sports radio, and Howard Stern, get home and read the New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, and USA Today. Then it’s into the studio, check email, look at a couple of blogs - yours, Drawger, the Art Department, Velonews (biking), and get to work.

Today I had sketches for a book cover due, as well as sketches for a magazine spot. In addition, I have a full page and two spots due tomorrow, so I’m finishing those up. I just finished a pretty involved advertising job that I KNOW will have to be tweaked because ad jobs always are.

So I’m painting, sketching, trolling for reference, shooting my own reference, and trying to come up with brilliant ideas at the same time. Oh, and there’s the usual invoices/contracts to be filled out and sent.

How does being a stay-at-home dad affect your work? You’re also a bicyclist. How do you fit it all in?

My kids come home in the afternoon and it’s very important to me that they know someone is always here for them, and not to feel as though they’re in my way. My studio is set up with another computer for each of them, and they’ll do their homework in here, or have fun drawing on the floor (on paper) or playing computer games or whatever.

They’re getting old enough so that I don’t need to hover over them, so if it’s nice out, they go outside and I can still hear them. If a pack of wild dogs or coyotes attack, I have a great view, and I know how to dial 911. For the most part though, I try to be available to them from when they come home and when they go to bed. It’s the best part of my day.

After the kids hit the hay, I work until midnight - sometimes later if things are hectic. Somewhere in all that I try to find time to maintain my relationship with my wife, and stay in shape. I enjoy bike racing, and it’s very demanding. I just make sure it’s part of my routine.

You were obviously talented from an early age, but can you tell us how you developed your financial and business side as a freelancer? A lot of artists aren’t very good with money.

I’m only good at spending money. As I mentioned before, I’ve been lucky to be rewarded as well as I have up to this point. It could all go away tomorrow. I don’t think it will, because I keep chasing work, but it could.

What is your greatest motivating factor as a creator?

Why do dogs bark? I just can’t help myself. It’s like the way we get hungry. If you think about it, it really is reproducing in a way, so it’s the same kind of primal urge, to create. Well, not exactly the same, but still. I can have a week when I’ve done ten pieces, worked way too many hours, spread myself much too thin, and the day when I finally get a breather I’m back in the studio poking away at some drawing or painting, hoping things pick up soon.

You made a transition from traditional media like oils to almost entirely digital art. Can you describe the pros and cons of making the switch?

Digital is easier in every way. I like working digitally because it’s safer and more time efficient than most traditional media. When I used to paint for work, I’d have the hassle of getting the support, preparing it, transferring the sketch, waiting for parts to dry, etc. Then I’ve have to shoot it, or scan it, and God help me if the art director needed changes. I’d have to go in and paint the part over and do all those other steps again.

The thing I dislike about working digitally is that I feel like none of my work actually exists. Also, my favorite thing is to get right up close to paintings and see how they were done. You can almost participate in the process doing that, seeing where the artist had to paint his way out of a jam, or seeing brushstrokes that may not show up in print. There’s nothing like a good painting. I miss that, and I’m getting itchy to get back to it.

What digital tools do you use?

I use an Apple dual core 3 ghz computer with 16 gigs of RAM and a 1 terabyte external hard drive that I back up onto automatically every hour using Apple’s Time Machine. It’s pretty cool. If you have a crash, you can start up again and visually flip through back to a certain time. I use a Wacom Cintiq 21UX monitor, which is basically a Wacom tablet that’s a monitor. You use a stylus on the screen. It’s like being back to pencil and paper. Very cool. Also, I have a 30 inch Apple Cinema Display. I use the two of them as one big desktop. You can drag things from one screen to another.

For software I use Photoshop, Painter, and Sketchbook Pro for drawing. The Sketchbook Pro interface is the best of them all. I highly recommend it if you draw on the computer.

Who are your biggest creative influences?

As with any creative person, it’s a long, long list. Some of the highlights:

Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Son House, Ornette Coleman, Tom Waits, Jimmy Page, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, Bugs Bunny, Speed Racer, Wile E. Coyote, Mike Ploog, Alex Ross, Gottfried Helnwein, George Tooker, Odd Nerdrum, Chuck Jones, Bill Waterson, Ayn Rand, John Steinbeck, William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Ralph Steadman, Cormac McCarthy, Frank Frazetta, Hans Hoffman, Fred Otnes, Mark English, Tamara de Lempicka, Joel Peter Witkin, Richard Avedon, Otto Dix, Mark Seliger, Charles Schultz, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Philip Burke, Jesus Christ, the ‘04 Red Sox, David Levine, C.F. Payne, Mark Fredrickson, Lance Armstrong, Marco Pantini, Mark Spitz, Orson Welles, Steven Spielberg, Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Lucien Freud, Charles Bragg, Andrew Wyeth…the list goes on and on.

If you could recommend 3 books that would help enlighten other creative people, what would they be?

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand was pretty important to me when I started out. Hunter S. Thompson’s work inspired me to try to use a different part of my brain, but I wouldn’t recommend getting there the way he did. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards is kind of a no brainer if you’re just getting your feet wet. Overall though, you can’t underestimate the importance of working with good music around you.

Lastly, how do you challenge and improve yourself as an artist?

I try not to get stuck looking at other illustrators’ work or my own. I try to see and hear new things and not fall into that comfortable spot where you eventually stagnate. It’s important to balance your life and your work. I think of the visual of filling up a bucket while I’m living my real life, so when I get in my studio I’ll have something to say. I’m very competitive though, and there’s no worse critic of my work than me, so I’m always trying to top myself. Hopefully, that will keep me improving.

I’d like to thank Dale for a great interview. Be sure to check out his blog at Drawger. Leave your comments to this post (below)!