Artists I Like: Stefan Poag

Continuing this series. Another artist I like: Stefan Poag.

I encountered Stefan's work when I discovered DCC RPG around 2013 or so. Immediately I was blown away. Stefan is one of those artists after my own heart... a singular figure with a style that is reminiscent of other great artists yet entirely unique at the same time. On the cartoon spectrum*, his work is fully on the cartoon side of the line - which is where I live and love.

I am cautious about comparing one artist's work to another because we don't always want those comparisons. It can make us feel like you're saying we are mimicking or copying someone else. Which, I realize, is a silly thing to think. I take it as a compliment when I'm compared to someone else. But I get it that some folks don't take that way. All that rambling out of the way... Stefan Poag's work does remind me (in a very good way) of Erol Otus, Chuck Whelon, and even Rick Griffin... three artists I adore. Also... there's a bit of Robert Crumb in there too.

There's a whimsy and crudeness to Poag that I simply adore. I mean those words in the best possible way. He's not doing highly precise, realistic art. But don't get it mixed up: he's pouring a ton of effort and craft into what he does. There's this insidious notion that "cartoony" art is somehow less rigorous or less important. I disagree. All art, if the artist takes their own work seriously, has rigor and craft. Mapping a drawing of a face onto a photograph to make sure it is accurate is not a measure of quality unless your goal was to draw a photographic face.

Stefan draws wonder.

Check out this video of Stefan giving us a little sketchbook tour.

*What I mean by "cartoon spectrum" is simply how likely someone is to describe the work as "a bit cartoony". Because even when I try to draw something as realistically as possible, inevitably it will be described as "a bit cartoony". To me, that's a great compliment because I kind of despise super realistic art. Yet there are a lot of folks out there who use the label "cartoony" if not in a derisive way, in a kind of dismissive way. As in "it's cartoony BUT..." like a sideways compliment. Stefan Poag's work is cartoony AND, not BUT.