Local cartoonist Steve Smeltzer has just published a retrospective collection of his work for Fort Wayne Magazine, called Fort Wayne in a Nutshell.
Cartooning has always been a tricky medium to navigate, according to Smeltzer, and with shifting formats, disappearing publications and fewer and fewer print outlets running daily strips, it’s a competitive one as well.
What does it take to make a go of making people laugh for well over two decades, and why is Fort Wayne the place to do it?
WBOI’s Julia Meek discusses the fine art of being funny with Smeltzer, where it has driven his career path over the decades and how it balances his “night job” on the local music scene.
You can find out more about Smeltzer’s cartoon world at his website.
Fort Wayne in a Nutshell: A Cartoon Retrospective is available directly from Amazon.
Here is a transcription of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Steve Smeltzer, welcome.
Steve Smeltzer: Thanks.
Julia Meek: Now, your contributions to the Fort Wayne music scene are legend, but a lesser known hat that you wear is professional cartoonists. Now, just, how did that happen?
Steve Smeltzer: Well, you know, I always enjoyed drawing. My dad was an artist. They called him commercial artists back then. And honestly, during World War Two, he painted that nose art on the front of airplanes. So that's how I think he really got his start.
And he came back home and then, you know, started his career as a commercial artist. So he would teach me things about drawing, but probably the most important thing about cartooning, because you can be kind of a crummy drawer like I am, (chuckles) but you know, you just got to have the ideas.
And my dad, bless his heart, he would come home every day when I was in grade school and fix me lunch. And we'd sit there and watch a soap opera, Love of Life, on TV, and we'd insert alternative dialog, you know, when they would say something, you know. (chuckles)
And we'd try to outdo each other, and that's such a big part of my cartooning, is that, whatever that part of your mind is, that does that.
Julia Meek: And the good-bad influence that must be half nature and half nurture. Yes, and it worked on you. Yeah, great, great story.
Steve Smeltzer: Yes! (chuckles) Oh, thanks.
Julia Meek: So what did it take you to get into the funny business from your own drawing board?
Steve Smeltzer: I thought, well, I gotta make some money, you know, (chuckles) because when you're a drummer and you're...there's only so much. So, I thought, you know what I should do, like humorous illustration for magazine articles, you know, like about mortgages, and then draw a funny looking house and this and that.
And the process of that, you know, you have to send to art directors at these magazines. Then they, supposedly, after you send a bazillion little postcards of your examples of art, then they, you know, start considering you. I thought, okay, I can't do that, you know. So, I thought, well, maybe I'll start doing the cartoon thing.
But in doing that, it's a lot harder, coming up with those ideas, honestly. But as soon as I decided to do it, I did it. I made a list of all the magazines and who pays the most I'd sent out to them first and get rejected. And then finally, you know, find out where you fit in. like at the $10 cartoon pay range. (chuckles)
There used to be like the Parade magazine for the Journal Gazette, something called USA Weekend that came with the News Sentinel, and it was the same kind of magazine format. And I sent out to them, and I forgot I sent to them. And one time I was teaching at home, and I got a call and this guy says, this is Casey, somebody from USA Weekend. And I thought it was, like a weekend long distance service.
Back then they used to call you to, you know, sign up for 10 cents a minute or something. I went, yeah?, you know, kind of like, I'm tired of this, you know, these kind of calls, and he goes, we want to buy one of your cartoons. I said, and shook my head, like, what are you talking...Oh, USA Weekend. Oh, okay. (laughs) And that was, that was really the start of the professional part of it.
Julia Meek: The big light bulb and the big cannon all went off at the same time?
Steve Smeltzer: Yeah! (chuckles)
Julia Meek: And over the years, how have you seen the business, your markets, change?
Steve Smeltzer: Yeah. Well, like USA Weekend, out of business.
Julia Meek: Well, true.
Steve Smeltzer: I sold to Better Homes and Gardens. They quit using cartoons because the Oprah Magazine that came out at that time, they wanted to all model themselves after that, and they weren't using cartoons. So many people weren't using cartoons, and so many magazines or publications were just folding.
Julia Meek: The changing times and senses of humor, perhaps?
Steve Smeltzer: Yes! Definitely, now. I see, like New Yorker cartoons are, they're always kind of obscure, and, you know, people didn't understand a lot of them.
But now I just, I don't get it. It's a really a cultural or age difference I don't know, a lot of those things are I don't think are funny to me, but I don't know.
Julia Meek: It's the changing times, yeah, and the branding, of course, in the bottom line. Okay, now let's fast forward to that new retrospective volume of 'toons that you've got out. Steve. Fort Wayne, in a Nutshell.
Steve Smeltzer: Yes.
Julia Meek: Would you tell us about the project that begat the book, and how it all came about?
Steve Smeltzer: Yeah, sure. I think it was 2004, I had sold some cartoons to, well, Sweetwater. Chuck Surack, he bought my cartoons for a calendar that he put out for a long, long time, you know, around the Christmas time, he'd send it with the orders, people, you know, ordered stuff from him.
And then, you know, I had sold some that, maybe Wall Street Journal and this and that. I thought, well, you know what? I should try a magazine around here. And Fort Wayne Magazine looks so nice. I mean, it was just a great publication, you know, photography.
And so I called them up, and they said, well, yeah, let's, we'll see some. So I emailed them, and they said, yeah, let's, let's do some Fort Wayne cartoons. So that was 2004 and I did it every month for however long 150 cartoons is because that was...(chuckles)
Julia Meek: (laughs) A lot of fun!
Steve Smeltzer: (chuckles) Yeah! So, after that finished, ran its course, then I had a bunch of cartoons that I still owned all the rights to and everything. I'd post one on Facebook, and people would say, hey, you ought to make a book out of that.
And I said, Yeah, well, I should, you know, make some renovations to the Space Shuttle too. I have absolutely no idea how to do either one of them. (all laugh) Make a book! How do you do that?
Then I saw a YouTube video, and so I took all those old cartoons from Fort Wayne Magazine, or took 75 of them, half of them, and put them in that format, this platform, I guess they call, you know, with templates that I put together, and, boom! Put on Amazon and there you go. (chuckles)
Julia Meek: And this is fresh off the presses, Steve, how has the response been so far? Who is buying your book?
Steve Smeltzer: With Amazon, you don't know, you know, they don't tell you who buys it. But a lot of my friends, you know, have bought it, I think it's pity buying, you know. They just... (chuckles) so, and, you know, "Hey, I just bought it," they'll say on Facebook, and I go, Oh, that's, yeah, thanks...and, and leave some really nice reviews.
I mean, I don't deserve the nice things they really say. That's not self-deprecating falsely, that's, they're just, really, I got great, great friends. I mean, you among them, great friends!
Julia Meek: (chuckles) Your friends do love you, Steve. And obviously our listeners are getting a great taste of your sense of humor. They get that part. How would you describe your cartooning style?
Steve Smeltzer: Well, I've always wanted to be like Gary Larson, The Far Side, but I'm not hip enough. I'm more like Hi and Lois, you know. (all laugh) I'm just, too, too family friendly.
So much that I think a lot of my friends go, "Oh yeah, that's, that's nice, Steve, whatever," you know, but I think that's my style, (chuckles) just kind of simple.
Julia Meek: So, a challenge like your nutshell project, literally, where did you begin, that first cartoon, that first time? Well, how did a guy like you start a movement like that?
Steve Smeltzer: Well originally, when they were published in Fort Wayne Magazine, I just always had to keep it local. And that was really kind of tough, because, you know, with local things, a lot of humor, you know, you shine a little dark (chuckles) darkness on something to make it funny, or make somebody look kind of foolish, or something, that's just part of, you know, a lot of humor.
And you can't do that, because if you put something in the magazine about whatever, some restaurant or something, you had to keep it nice and still try to get it funny, but they usually always had a local reference, whatever it was.
Julia Meek: And Fort Wayne is (chuckles) quite an interesting place. We may be prejudiced, but in fact, there is plenty to laugh about, draw about and talk about.
Steve Smeltzer: Yes! (laughs)
Julia Meek: Did you, throughout that run, or ever, actually, in your life, have cartoonist block or brain cramp, you know, really think that you couldn't come up with an idea?
Steve Smeltzer: Yeah, but that goes back to my dad thing, how we'd come up with this alternative dialog to soap operas. Because when you think about it, I mean, say you're doing a cartoon for a magazine that has hardware, like screws and stuff, you think of a screw, and then you just put something odd with it--an elephant, you know? And then something usually starts coming out.
Julia Meek: Thank you for that pro tip, actually. And who are some of your favorite cartoonists, past, present and up and coming?
Steve Smeltzer: Oh, yeah. Well, love Charles Schultz, Peanuts. I just love the simplicity, the philosophical aspect, the kindness, you know, never anything running off the rails or anything. I just loved him.
And then, of course, like I said, Gary Larson from the Far Side, he was just on the edge, just really crazy stuff. I love that too. And there's so many, but those are probably, oh, that Pearls Before Swine guy, Stephan Pastis. I guess he's an attorney that quit and start doing cartoons.
Julia Meek: All rather off the wall artists, creatives, and yes, I certainly see the thread running through all of that. Now, can you describe the rush of publishing a funny and everyone thinking it really is just that?
Steve Smeltzer: I uh, yes! I mean, I'm overjoyed with it, I really am. You know, because so often you do something just in the solitude of your home, you know, you and a pencil, basically. And then you ink it in if you're convinced it's okay. (all chuckle)
And then you never find out, because if it's in uh, like the Wall Street Journal, for instance, you know a lot of people won't comment on that, because maybe a lot of people don't subscribe to The Wall Street Journal that I know, which I can almost guarantee that. So, to hear that, to get that feedback, is so nice.
You know, when you go out and play a gig on drums and you do a drum solo and people clap, it's like, mission accomplished. You know, you do it, you get a response, and everything's great. But cartooning is different.
Julia Meek: By the way, do your own cartoons crack you up?
Steve Smeltzer: (chuckles) I don't know. I don't think I like me too much. (all laugh)
Julia Meek: Would your dad have?
Steve Smeltzer: Oh, my dad, most supportive man I've ever known. Yeah, he would, he would have loved it, yeah!
Julia Meek: Very good. Okay, you've juxtaposed your cartoon career with that other passion, playing and teaching drums, and you've been very successful with both right here in Fort Wayne all these years. How would you say that they have balanced each other in your life over these years?
Steve Smeltzer: Well, you know, that's a great question. I'm not sure; I think there's elements that run through both those kind of passions, if you will.
Just from a realistic standpoint, I think it's good for people to do several things if they can, especially in the art world, because if one starts going south a little bit, you got the other one to kind of pick up the slack.
Julia Meek: That's a great point, yes. Also, does one sometimes kick-start the other?
Steve Smeltzer: Oh yeah, yeah. When I was doing the Sweetwater cartoons for those calendars, it was just ideas all over the place, because it's just like, well, at the last band practice, you know, this happened, and now I can just draw it as a cartoon and sell the idea that way.
Julia Meek: In fact, that full circle, because you're still teaching at Sweetwater, (both chuckle) so the juices are all still flowing and circulating?
Steve Smeltzer: That's...yeah. And, you know, they say that you do something you love, you never work a day in your life. That's, I love three things, you know, teaching, playing drums and drawing cartoons. So, you know, people say, are you going to retire? And I say, from what? (both laugh)
Julia Meek: Being happy as a clam, it sounds like.
Steve Smeltzer: (laughs) Yeah.
Steve Smeltzer: And who are some of your favorite musicians, from national to local?
Steve Smeltzer: Oh, well, Beatles is what got me started, like everybody else that night, Ed Sullivan, everybody watched it, everybody my age. And we all went back to school the next day and said, Well, now we know what we're going to be doing, (chuckles) you know, now` our life is laid out for us.
Julia Meek: (laughs) Yes, we've got it spelled out for us. Yes, very interesting. Very, very interesting. Any others--locally?
Steve Smeltzer: Oh, locally, there's so many people. Sunny Taylor Berry, she is just an incredible singer songwriter, and what a sense of humor.
Her studio's across from mine at Sweetwater, and I almost can't wait until a student gets out so we can meet in the hall, and, you know, some kind of shenanigans is going to start going on. She is so funny, yeah. So, I love her.
And guys I play with, you know, I play with Jim Baker and Dave Latchaw down at Ruth's Chris. We do a lot of dinner music things. I've been playing with them for, I don't know, a million years?
We're up there playing, and it's just like, it's like three old guys out there fishing. You know, we're having a blast, only we can't drink on the gig, so...you can drink when you fish, I think.
Julia Meek: But you can't fall out of the boat on a gig either, though, can you?
Steve Smeltzer: (Laughs) That's a great point!
Julia Meek: Now, since your dual careers began well in advance of internet and social media, Steve, what's your take on that electronic influence in both of your areas, over these years and by now?
Steve Smeltzer: Yeah. Music, it doesn't, really doesn't get, get involved. But I know a lot of, like, you know, top tier musicians and stuff can't make any money from records because they just get it for free on the internet, you know, that kind of thing.
But I often said my dad, who tried to get a cartoon strip established back when...he died real young at 48, but prior to that, he really, uh, worked hard, and you'd had to send out to the syndicates in order to get into the newspaper, and that's like Charlie Brown and all that. So, he worked really hard, but it was a process that each submission to these places would take, I bet you, six months.
Now, if he could have done that today, he was very prolific, and he could have sent things out and got yes or no's and gone on to the next thing, it would just been a matter of time, because everybody says that, you know, but my dad was really a gem--as a person and as an artist, so just put those two together, and I think he would have really gone far.
Julia Meek: Yes, and what a testimonial, and again, reflected in your own work. That has to make you proud and happy; has to make him proud and happy?
Steve Smeltzer: I hope so.
Julia Meek: Now, you've always got something up on your drawing board, I hear Steve. (both chuckle) Anything you can share with us about future illustrations?
Steve Smeltzer: Well, I got to get back to submitting to Wall Street Journal again. That's, you know, you get about 10 cartoons, and you send out. And they used to always do snail mail, so that was one of those things, It's like, it's too much work.
You got to go down to the post office. I mean, come on, who's going to do that? (laughs) But now they accept by email, so I'm going to get more on that.
Julia Meek: Okay. So, we should be watching?
Steve Smeltzer: (chuckles) Yeah, get your subscription to Wall Street Journal, everybody.
Julia Meek: Thank you. And I am curious, what advice would you give to all young artists and emerging musicians equally, about following their dreams in this techno savvy 21st century?
Steve Smeltzer: Yeah, you know, I just know enough about the techno area to know that I don't know what I'm talking about, because I think so many of these younger people know how to like, TikTok, for instance.
I'm not on TikTok because I don't understand it, but the younger people do, and I think that could be a very viable outlet for those things. So, they probably actually know more about it than I do. I would say, just keep doing what you know.
Julia Meek: And that's the key. How do you keep them motivated doing that?
Steve Smeltzer: Yeah, that's a good question. I don't know. Maybe they get motivated by, just cartoon-wise, if there are any budding cartoonists out there, I think they just do that, you know, and they get response from people, maybe immediately on TikTok, you know. But for me, you know, I should maybe learn how to do that. (chuckles)
Julia Meek: It also sounds like you're having plenty of fun without it, or with little of it, so?
Steve Smeltzer: Seriously, I really, whatever works, and support of friends and family, it's just, yeah.
Julia Meek: And last question, Steve, you have delighted the world with your comic take on it for decades now.
Steve Smeltzer: Thank you.
Julia Meek: At the end of the day, what does it do for your sense of place and sense of peace in this community you love?
Steve Smeltzer: Oh, that's a great question. I'm just, the older I get, the more gratitude I think I get in my life. I just feel so, so blessed to be able to do what I love to do, and have people enjoy it, or at least say they do.
Because I got nice friends, they would say that. But yeah, to have that. You know, recently with this book, I've had former students, the parents came recently out to Sweetwater, and they said, would you sign this book? Because it's my former student's birthday, you know?
They said that was a great influence on him and stuff. And I mean, how can you not feel good about something like that?
Julia Meek: Steve Smeltzer is a Fort Wayne musician and educator as well as professional cartoonist, with a new book out entitled Fort Wayne in a Nutshell. Thank you for sharing your story and your artcentricity with us. Steve, don't ever stop.
Steve Smeltzer: Thank you.
