Jan Eliot

Jan Eliot began cartooning as a form of self-defense when she was a single mom trying to raise two daughters, stay fully employed, pay the bills and still have a little fun once in a while. She discovered that cartooning gave her the opportunity to laugh at adversity, vent her frustrations and find humor in being short of money, short of time and short of patience. Not coincidentally, her original comic strip was called "Patience and Sarah" and featured a single mom (Patience) and her daughter. It ran for five years in 10 weekly and monthly papers.

While working as a copywriter and graphic designer, Jan continued cartooning and developed a second strip called "Sister City," which ran weekly in the Eugene, Ore., Register-Guard for five years. Her cartoons have been reprinted in many humor collections, magazines, computer manuals and parenting books. Jan has also published greeting cards with Maineline Press, Umbrella Press and Marcel Schurman.

In 1995, under the new name of "Stone Soup," Jan's comic strip was nationally syndicated. Jan promptly quit her job to become a full-time cartoonist and with the quick success of "Stone Soup," she has had no regrets. Closely based on her own life and the lives of her unsuspecting friends, "Stone Soup" focuses on human relationships and the modern family. As one newspaper described it, the strip "pursues the humor in life, parenting and even the friends we can't choose -- relatives."

Fans of "Stone Soup" come in all ages and sizes and from all walks of life. Jan gets mail from kids, moms and dads, guys who claim to be Wally, and senior citizens who are anxious for Gramma to find a beau. The most frequent compliment she hears from "Stone Soup" fans is "It's just so REAL!" Jan wouldn't have it any other way.