Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Stepan immersed himself in both horror and comic book culture at an early age, which eventually led him to perform in a multitude of punk rock bands through high school and college. Learning the syntax of sequential narration outside the academic context, he discovered the nuances of caricature based on 90’s cartoons including Ren and Stimpy and Beavis and Butthead, where deviation from the formula of big studio animation was the norm. He has recently completed a master of fine arts at Michigan State University.