Rich Burlew - Biography

Biography

Burlew first developed the basic style elements of his stick figure art at the age of 12 while drawing a comic called "Mr. Demon" for his lunchroom friends. He attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, where he earned a degree in Illustration, and has noted that "everything learned about color use or panel composition... picked up at Pratt." After leaving college, Burlew worked for several years as a professional graphic designer in New York, primarily working on elementary school textbook design and layout.

Burlew first began playing Dungeons and Dragons in high school, but his interest in the hobby lapsed until 2000, when Wizards of the Coast released the Third Edition ruleset for the game. Upon running his first adventure with the new rules, Burlew found that he needed several identical miniatures to represent a group of bandits, and so used graphic design software to draw simple stick figure cut-outs in the style he had developed as a youth instead of purchasing lead miniatures. He continued to use stick figure monsters for years in his D&D sessions. Burlew frequently assumed the role of the GM, a role he has likened to writing a webcomic.