Interview: Steven Stufflebeam

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started as a professional artist?
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A: In about the 5 grade my sister had given me a pen that had a picture of Disney's Goofy on the cap. For fun I wanted to see if I could draw it. Though it looked pretty terrible my mother, who also enjoyed art, encouraged me to continue to draw.
   Over the years I grew a love for creating things. I look back at my younger years as an artist and I am actually still embarrassed of my past but that didn't stop me from trying.
By the time I was in High school I wanted to do everything.

 Music, books, video games, movies. I wanted to create something bigger than I was, and I knew that the only way I could go anywhere was to really focus on myself as an artist, as I wanted to be able to show my vision to others, so that they could add to it and watch it evolve. That's when I decided that I wanted to study Illustration and 3D modeling and Design. I started working with my brothers and my sister because we fuel each others creative energies extremely well, and we continue to work for our respective companies, as well as continuing to develop our projects together.

Q: Out of all the jobs you've had, what was your favorite?

​A: Besides working at as a design and illustration artist with my current employer, there are two that come to mind. A couple of years back I was approached by a good friend of mine who was also a Frame Maker. He wanted to donate a custom made frame to the Marine Corps Ball. He asked if I would do a painting for him to donate. It was a very fun process, and we were able to raise some good money for local charities that support soldiers that have returned home. It was an awesome experience.

The other project that I look back on fondly was the completion of mine and Robbie's first game together, Mind Drift. It was an incredibly fun collaborative process and there is nothing like playing your own game on your phone for the first time. We are well into production of a new version of the game that will be available for the iOS and Android. We are completely rehauling the graphics and updating gameplay.
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Q: What are some movies that give you inspiration?

A: It is so hard to answer this question. There are just  too many! For me there three parts that complete the movie experience. Story, Character, and artistic portrayal.
Movies like  Inception, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Upside Down and Tron for their incredible special effects and cinematography.
Beauty and the Beast, How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind, The Incredibles, and Lilo and Stitch for brilliance in story telling and animation.
And I love inspiration films like Miss Potter, Saving Mr Banks, The Help, 100 foot journey.  
These are just to name a few.. Maybe I should have given a top five list!

Q: What are you currently working on?

A: Right now I work for a company called Glymed Plus. I work in their Media department doing graphic design, 3D modeling of their product line, and magazine advertisement design and illustration. We have campaign that is running all year long featuring illustrated character artwork. It has been an absolute joy to work on.

Q: What advice do you have fore people starting out?

A: The first lesson I had to learn is that you are going to be discouraged. I don't think there is an artist that I have spoken who who had not hit rock bottom. I think I have more times than I could count. I think I go through an artist rough patch at least... once a day? lol. But on a serious note once or twice a year I seriously lose confidence in myself, and there are many more times that I simply struggle getting through a piece.

It took me a long time to realize that that is both perfectly ok and completely normal.

An instructor I had, Sean Sullivan, taught me that any musician or performance artist is able to practice behind closed doors without anyone watching. And as soon as they are done it's gone. They can screw up over and over again and no one would ever know. And that is why their performance always seems so perfect! They screwed up enough times to get it right when people are watching! Every mistake makes them better.

An artist, however, gets to keep a copy of their practices. every sketch get's left behind. Because it exists we are forced to look at it, and we get discouraged when it's not perfect. We think every image we produce should be good enough to go to print.

That simply isn't going to happen.

And there aren't any shortcuts that will get you there faster. It is going to be a long uphill journey.