Meet Cartoonist Steve Brosnihan

Steve Brosnihan is pen pals with Don Bousquet, was pen pals with Dr. Seuss and, of course, literally is a pen’s pal.

Steve, 53, a unique Rhode Island pen-and-ink cartoonist, has spent countless volunteer hours distracting ill children and their families from the formidable diagnoses often given out at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

He began volunteering nearly a quarter century ago at the Potter Building, what he calls the “primordial children’s hospital” at Rhode Isand Hospital soon after he lost a staff newspaper job and decided to try to support himself as a freelance cartoonist in 1991.
This was just about the time his six-year correspondence with Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) ended. It was the famous children’s book author/illustrator who spurred the young man on.

“He was a great inspiration. His advice was never technical, but pointed towards persistence in finding publishing opportunities. He was forthright about failures on the road to eventual success,” says Steve. “He touched me with his generosity of spirit and willingness to advise. Our son, Teddy, is named partly in tribute to him.”

Steve’s whimsical, eclectic art stylings – and his devotion to volunteerism and getting children to smile and to draw – are the direct offspring of parental example.

“My late parents had their own styles and were people of strong faith. My mother lived a life of service and loved the chance to help others and inspire smiles. Both of my parents were humor-oriented people and loved making friends and loyally keeping them,” he says. “I consider my work with adults and children a chance to create new friendships, even if the contact is brief. Earning the trust and friendship of a child is tremendously rewarding.” He volunteers, creating cartoons and smiles, about eight hours per week, over two nights and one afternoon.

Steve began his career with editorial cartoons for The Daily Dartmouth college paper and U.R.I.’s Five-Cent Cigar. These were unpaid. East Bay Newspapers gave him his first paid assignment in March 1984 (the year he began writing letters to Dr. Seuss). “Kindly Managing Editor Bruce Burdett threw me a bone. It was an illustration for an editorial on a bottle bill. I scored eight bucks and spent it all in the same place. I was 22,” laughed Steve.

His style has evolved a great deal. He started conventionally, but improved when he, in his words, “stopped worrying about composition, balance, perspective, etc. I felt like I improved as an illustrator by not worrying so much about pursuing perfection. I enjoy striving for the ‘pleasingly weird’ as an alternative to the ‘perfect,’” he says.

He is not as well known in R.I. as Don Bousquet or, perhaps, Charlie Hall, but is an icon on the state elementary school level. “Most of my cartooning peers are kids I teach in school programs or meet at the hospital. They know me and my Cartoonagrams. Otherwise, I’m fairly anonymous in the local adult art world. People may have seen my work... like the ‘Rhode Island... Can Be Puzzling,’ stuff, but generally think that Don Bousquet did it. If people know my published work it’s most likely from my 12 years drawing for the newspaper The Providence Phoenix. I did quite a few covers during that time and was a weekly contributor.”

He has had offers to work in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles for the shot at bigger success, but quality of life has always outweighed quantity of cash. “Rhode Island has all I ask for in a desirable place to live. Plus, I love the inter-connectedness of its population, though I know it drives some people nuts. I think the reason my ‘Rhode Island... Can Be Puzzling’ drawings are popular among Rhode Islanders is because we all believe we know everything there is to know about this place. You can’t find that mentality in any other state, even other small ones,” says Steve.

“I’m most happy when I perceive that my work has moved someone from unhappy – or scared, anxious, nervous, uncomfortable – to happy. This happens most often at the hospital. I deeply appreciate the feeling that my cartooning is helping take the edge off a rough time for a child or family,” he adds. “Not long ago, an adolescent med/psych patient at the hospital spent about an hour drawing with me in a group situation. When the lesson was over, he lingered behind the others and told me that while he was drawing with me he forgot that he was in the hospital. I told him that I couldn’t receive a higher compliment.”

That compliment was even better than the one he got from actor Paul Newman when Steve volunteered at his Hole In The Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, CT. Paul encouraged him to finish his Cartoonagrams book because he believed it would be “great for the kids.” “He offered to help me publish the book, but his health ultimately got in the way,” says Steve of the late philanthropist.

Children reinforce how powerful laughter can be as a healing tool. “Kids, even very sick kids going through a horrific life experience, will still seek every opportunity to be happy, to laugh,” says Steve. “It is an amazing thing to be part of a moment that reinforces that fact of human nature. No matter what I’m facing, I’ll be okay as long as I can keep humor in the mix.”