Stephen Beals told Bored Panda that he’s been making comics for as long as he can remember, fueled by a lifelong love for art. Although he holds a degree in animation, he discovered that his real interest lay in print and graphic design.
In college, Beals generally enjoyed interacting with people—though that changed when he was tired, under the weather, or dealing with particularly challenging customers. With a touch of humor, he likened these difficult customers to "uppity raccoons," saying, “Sometimes customers are uppity raccoons, and love has left the air.”
The artist finds the hardest part of creating his comics is capturing the idea he wants to express. He explains, "I've heard other cartoonists describe writing comics as being similar to writing poetry, and I used to scoff at that, but I now think it's true. The pacing with dialog has to be on key or it doesn't work. I know this because I've made hundreds of comics that don't work."
He also believes that good writing can save bad art, but good art can't save bad writing—something he relies on when short on time. Some comics he makes just for himself, like one written in iambic pentameter. These, he says, are "too much fun to count as failures," even if he’s the only one who enjoys them.
The artist's love for comics began with the newspaper cartoonists he admired as a child. "It's such a unique form of entertainment," he says. Today, his passion is fueled by modern comic creators. "I would put today's crowd of cartoonists up against any in the history of the medium. I've had the pleasure of meeting a number of my fellow creators and they never cease to make me laugh and love everything about cartooning."
