Steve Brodner is an illustrator, caricaturist and veteran Continuing Education faculty with over three decades working as a professional satirist. Having honed his craft since the Nixon era, he is currently experiencing an unprecedented demand for his virtuosic mega-compositions and punchy moment-to-moment political commentary on the Trump administration. In addition to contributing to almost every major North American print publication, including The Nation, The Washinton Post, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, Brodner maintains a remarkably constant social media feed, and a full schedule of teaching at SVA. He began with SVA Continuing Education in 1993, and currently teaches Illustration: Rules of the Road, a primer on the process and best practices of illustration, and Pow! The Art of Politics: Creating Art That Packs a Punch, an online course aimed specifically at political content. (Be sure to follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and visit his website at stevebrodner.com.)

As an artist and teacher, Brodner’s method is one of courage and clarity. “Write drunk; edit sober,” he often states, quoting Hemingway. For Brodner, a successful illustration depicts “one fine idea” and as he’s discovered through years of experience, “rarely is the first one the best.” His pedagogical refrain is, “Work it out in the sketching!” He will modestly tell you this is all he has to offer, but what Brodner really teaches is disciplined risk-taking: he is a professor of courage.

We had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Brodner after his Wednesday evening class. We asked him his thoughts on The Emperor’s New Clothes, changing times, and making work that gets under people’s skin.

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