ND Stevenson
ND Stevenson (formerly Noelle Stevenson; born December 31, 1991) is an American cartoonist and animation producer. They are the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the animated television series "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" which ran from 2018 to 2020. They are also known for the fantasy webcomic "Nimona" and their work on the comics series "Lumberjanes". Stevenson's work has won multiple Eisner Awards as well as a Daytime Emmy Award and a GLAAD Media Award. Stevenson is non-binary and has written about being transgender in works such as "The Fire Never Goes Out . Early life. ND Stevenson was born on December 31, 1991, in Columbia, South Carolina, to Diana and Hal Stevenson. They are the third of five siblings. Stevenson was homeschooled before attending A.C. Flora High School. During their senior year, they created picture books and won a local award in the Visual Literacy Book Production category. Career. Education and Nimona". Stevenson attended the Maryland Institute College of Art, graduating in 2013. While there, Stevenson gained fame as a fan artist under the name "gingerhaze" for their "hipster "Lord of the Rings"" characters. They also created cover art for Rainbow Rowell's  novel "Fangirl", which was published in 2013. During their junior year, they created their soon-to-be popular character Nimona as part of an assignment in one of their classes. In mid-2012, Stevenson began creating a webcomic around the character, also called "Nimona", and soon signed with a literary agent who found the webcomic online. The agent helped them sign with HarperCollins to publish "Nimona" as a graphic novel. "Nimona" would double as Stevenson's senior thesis in 2012. For their work on "Nimona", Stevenson won Slate Magazine's 2012 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Web Comic of the Year  and the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: Reprint. Stevenson was also named a 2015 National Book Award Finalist for the graphic novel version of "Nimona". Stevenson said that the ability to create comics on their own and create "Nimona" was what got them a "writing job in animation," bringing them into the animation world. In the summer of 2012, Stevenson interned at BOOM! Studios, a comic publishing house in Los Angeles. Section::::"Lumberjanes" and Marvel Comics. After their graduation in 2013, Stevenson returned to BOOM! Studios to help develop, and eventually write, "Lumberjanes". "Lumberjanes" won Eisner Awards for Best  New Series and Best Publication for Teens in 2015. In 2015, Stevenson wrote for Marvel Comics on the comics "Thor Annual" and "Runaways". Section::::"She-Ra" and other animation. Stevenson was part of the writing team of Disney's animated TV series "Wander Over Yonder", beginning with Season 2 in 2015. Stevenson was the creator and executive producer of DreamWorks Animation's rebooted "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" animated television series on Netflix, which ran for five seasons from 2018 to 2020 "She-Ra" received critical acclaim, with particular praise for its diverse cast and the complex relationship between  She-Ra and her best friend-turned-archenemy Catra. In 2019, the show was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming, as well as a Daytime Emmy Award at the 46th Daytime Emmy Awards. In 2021, the series was tied with First Day when it won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids and Family Programming. Other work. Stevenson did freelance illustration for Random House, St. Martin's Press, and Label Magazine. They also worked with Ryan North on his book "To Be or Not to Be" (2013), a choose-your-own-adventure-book based on  Shakespeare's "Hamlet". In 2017, Stevenson appeared in two episodes of "Critical Role"'s first campaign as Tova. They have subsequently appeared in three "Critical Role" one-shot episodes between 2017 and 2022 as themself, Tova and Peter Pan. Their character Tova will be featured in an upcoming line of "Critical Role" miniatures by WizKids. Their autobiographical collection of drawings and journals, "The Fire Never Goes Out", was published in March 2020. "The New Yorker"'s review described it as "a memoir of sorts ... , a coming-out story, a love story, a tale of disorientingly rapid professional triumph, and a  story about mental health and illness, showing the young artist figuring out what They must do—first to make art and then to get well." In October 2021, Stevenson started a Substack titled "I’m Fine I’m Fine Just Understand" which will explore topics such as mental health, gender identity, and more, with premium subscribers given access to comics which "reflect more personal/sensitive topics." On February 4, 2022, Stevenson posted a fan comic of "The Book of Boba Fett" entitled "This Place Was Home" on Twitter. Personal life. Stevenson married fellow cartoonist Molly Ostertag in September 2019. They  began working on "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" at the same time they began dating Ostertag, who was influential on the show "from the very beginning", coming up with a major plot twist in the show's final season. In July 2020, Stevenson announced that they were "nonbinary, or something like it", and uses any personal pronouns. In November 2020, Stevenson published a comic about their top surgery. On March 31, 2021, the International Transgender Day of Visibility, Stevenson stated that they are transmasculine and bigender. On October 11, 2020, National Coming Out Day, Stevenson wrote and illustrated  their coming out story for "Oprah Magazine". They described their journey to self-acceptance, their "battle against the gender essentialism of their Evangelical upbringing", and stated that they had become an atheist by age 23. In an August 2020 interview, Stevenson stated that they are bipolar. In February 2021, they mentioned having ADHD in an interview and its impact on their work and life during the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2021, Stevenson changed their first name to ND, as noted by CBR, Out Magazine, ComicsBeat, Xtra Magazine, and Bleeding Cool. In October 2021, Stevenson said that they were "becoming increasingly  aware of the practical need for a new, less gendered [name]... right now I don't really feel like I have one".