Dave Kellett


Dave Kellett is the cartoonist of Drive and Sheldon, and co-director of the documentary Stripped. He is a co-host of the podcast ComicLab and the The Wrong Way… show on YouTube. He has been nominated for various Eisners and Harveys, and won a Reuben Award.

Early years and education

Kellett is a southern California native. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree in English and Spanish. While there, he produced the daily comic strip Four Food Groups of the Apocalypse for the student newspaper The Observer. He earned a master's degree from University of California, San Diego in Literature with his thesis, To draw in the crowd : the cartoon and the 'public sphere' of eighteenth-century England. He received the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship, to attend the University of Kent at Canterbury in England. There, he earned a master's degree in History of cartoon art propaganda with his thesis, ''Philip Zec: Cartoonist in a Propaganda War.''

Career

Dave Kellett is the creator behind the successful webcomics: Sheldon about a 10-year-old computer genius billionaire, and the sci-fi strip Drive. The author of twelve comic books, and the co-author of the Harvey-Award-nominated book How To Make Webcomics, Kellett regularly speaks around the country on the subject of cartooning in new media.
In 2014, Kellet released the comics documentary Stripped, produced with twice-Sundance-nominated cinematographer, Fred Schroeder. He has been a guest speaker at Savannah [College of Art and Design|Savannah College of Art & Design], the Society of Illustrators, Ohio State’s triennial Festival of Cartoon Art, the Charles M. Schulz Museum, the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum, Loyola Marymount University, South by Southwest, San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic Con, Emerald City Comic Con and more. His cartoons have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and dozens of others.
Kellett holds two master's degrees in the art and history of cartooning: First, at the University of California, San Diego; and then at the University of Kent, at its Centre for Cartoon and Caricature Studies, on a full academic scholarship from The Rotary Foundation. After working for Mattel Toys as the head writer and a senior toy designer for 8 years, Kellett pursued cartooning full-time in 2007. He started Sheldon in 1998 and Drive in 2009.

Awards

Eisners

Reubens

Harveys

  • 2013: Nominated, Harvey Award, Best Online Comics Work — Sheldon
  • 2009: Nominated, Harvey Award, Best Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation — ''How to Make Webcomics''

CCI Film Fest

Additional Honors

Sheldon Comics

The Sheldon comics series chronologically-collected include:
  • Get It Together, Pickles: A Sheldon Collection
  • Pal Times for Pals: The Tenth Sheldon Collection
  • In It to Swim It: The Ninth Sheldon Collection
  • Delightful Jokes for High-Class Folks: The Eighth Sheldon Collection
  • Still Got It: The Seventh Sheldon Collection
  • Living Dangerously With Saturated Fats: The Sixth Sheldon Collection
  • Nerds On Parade: The Fifth Sheldon Collection
  • A Blizzard of Lizards: The Fourth Sheldon Collection
  • 62% More Awesome: The Third Sheldon Collection
  • The Good, The Bad & The Pugly: The Second Sheldon Collection
  • ''Pure Ducky Goodness: The First Sheldon Collection''

Sheldon Comics (Themed)

Collections of Sheldon comics curated by theme include:
  • Pop Culture
  • Pugs Unleashed
  • Pugs: They Think They're People
  • Coffee: It's What's For Dinner
  • Literature: Unsuccessfully Competing Against TV Since 1953
  • ''Pugs: God's Little Weirdos''

Drive Comic

  • Drive: Act 4
  • Drive: Act 3
  • Drive: Act 2
  • ''Drive: Act 1''

''Anatomy of'' Books

  • Anatomy of Dogs
  • Anatomy of Dinosaurs
  • Anatomy of Authors
  • Anatomy of Animals
He also co-authored the book How to Make Webcomics with Brad Guigar, Scott Kurtz, and Kris Straub. Around the same time, the quartet hosted the podcast Webcomics Weekly. Kellett deliberately self-publishes many of his books under the publishing name Small Fish Studios. The editions are financed with great success through Kickstarter.

Acting and other projects

Kellett was a part of the sketch comedy group And Donkey Makes Five from Los Angeles, California. He also performed in Comedy Central's South Beach Comedy Festival in Miami in 2009. Kellett has performed on stage in Skirts and Flirts in New York and in Los Angeles. He also performed in Der Inka von Peru at the in London.

''ComicLab''

Since 2018 Kellett has co-hosted the podcast ComicLab with fellow cartoonist Brad Guigar. It's aimed at comic professionals and semi-professionals, marketed as a show "about making comics — and making a living from comics!" As of August 2024 there are 350 episodes of ComicLab available on Spotify with a rating of 4.9.