Steve Stiles
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Steve Stiles is a science fiction artist and writer, coming out of the science fiction fanzine tradition. He studied at the High School of Music and Art and the School of Visual Arts and later wrote about this in his essay, "Art School":
- Both were located in Manhattan, where I was, and both had excellent reputations. And so, in 1956, at age 13, I took the entrance exams at M&A, which partly consisted of drawing an arrangement of old shoes and flowers, as well as a review of my portfolio pieces -- which included two issues of my first fanzine, Sam; that was a lucky break because my interviewers had never heard of a kid pubbing an ish and thought the whole concept incredibly creative. Four years later, the people over at Visual Arts had the same reaction to some of my other fanzines and awarded me a three-year scholarship. I was blown away by the realization that fandom had actually helped me achieve my goals in the Real World! That's the last time that happened... Music & Art certainly wasn't a full-fledged art school but rather a high school with additional emphasis on art and music classes. Even so, I had more opportunity to familiarize myself with a wider range of materials, from chalks and caseins to oils. And here I was studying in the same school that my heroes Harvey Kurtzman, Bill Elder and John Severin -- the guys at Mad -- went to, so it was pretty heady. [1]
His first professional sale was in 1961 was a cartoon for Paul Krassner's The Realist. After a stint in the military as an illustrator, he worked in advertising before becoming a freelancer in 1975. He has worked in genres ranging from underground comix to children's books to superhero comics.
His first cartoon for a fanzine appeared in Cry of the Nameless, edited by F.M. Busby and Elinor Busby. His work (art and text) has since appeared in fanzines from the famous (Xero, Void and Mimosa) to the obscure (Vojo de Vivo).
[edit] Awards and nominations
Celebrated for his work for various fanzines, Stiles has won five of the last six Fan Activity Achievement (FAAn) Awards for best artist (2001, 2003-2006). In 1998 Stiles also won the first Bill Rotsler Award, which was named after prolific fan artist Bill Rotsler. Stiles was a Hugo Award nominee as Best Fan Artist in 1967, 1968 and 2003 through 2007. The 34-year gap between his 1968 and 2003 Hugo Award nominations is the longest such gap in Hugo Award history.[2][3]
