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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Jeff Stahler

One of the best gifts any of us can have is the ability to make some one laugh.  Jeff's cartoons do just that with his combination of wit and humor.

How is it that you came to be a cartoonist?
Since a young age, I been a doodler. I alway have enjoyed reading the comics page. My favorites being Dick Tracy, Peanuts, Gasoline Alley, Dennis the Menace and numerous more.
I think that being at the right place, at the right time help get me into cartooning. I was a graphic designer for Columbus Monthly and we acquired a weekly suburban paper which I helped redesign.
We created an opinion page and I asked if I could do a weekly cartoon for the page. The editor for the morning daily paper in Columbus, Ohio saw my work weekly and asked if I'd like to come aboard and cartoon on a daily basis for the paper. That's how it began. 
Did you go to art school?
Yes. I attended and graduated with a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design.
Who were your influences?
Their are many. As a cartoonist, I admire just about every other cartoonist. They are all a very unique, individual bunch. Many I admire for their line quality, others I admire for their direct and simplistic humor.
Mike Peters & Jim Borgman were both Ohio cartoonists that I worked with or around for the past 30 years and I admire and respect both for their dedication to this craft and for always being their for me.
What inspires you now?
Creativity never seems to stop. I love getting up each morning and traveling up the stairs to my third floor studio, where I plant myself. I read, doodle, sketch and ink ideas for hours.
Daily deadlines actually inspire me. Knowing that I need to produce another cartoon for either my daily syndicated comics panel, 'Moderately Confused' or my 3x a week editorial cartoon feature is a joy.
Would you share you style or technique?
I sketch in a pad with a pen my ideas and then pencil the sketch ideas with a pencil on a light table to a 2-ply hot-press bristol board. My finishes are inked with a Winsor Newton Series 7 No. 2 brush and I letter and scratch with a permanent .03 ink pen.
What is your market?
Currently, both of my editorials and daily comics panel are syndicated and distributed by Universal Press Syndicate out of Kansas City. 
I also just got a fun side project of doing the program covers for this season's Cincinnati Bengals home games.
Are their links to your images you would share?
http://www.gocomics.com/jeffstahler
Do you do any teaching?
Currently I'm not teaching but I am considering the possibility of going back to The Columbus College of Art and Design to teach cartooning or humorous illustration
Do you currently have any products on the market?
Other than my syndicated cartoons, I've produced a couple of collection of my cartoons in book form and I am currently working on a new collection of 'Moderately Confused' cartoons for an ebook this fall.
What do you love best about what you do?
I love creating & being creative on a daily basis. I hate when a day goes by and I haven't produced anything. I love being busy and looking behind new doors.

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