Stjepan Šejić is a Croatian comics writer and artist whose work combines sumptuous digital painting with a sharp eye for the small, often embarrassing ways people give themselves away. Born in Vinkovci in eastern Croatia, which was at that time still part of Yugoslavia, he has described a youth spent unsure of what direction to take. He considered careers including palaeontology, studied law, and went to art school without feeling especially well grounded in drawing. The decisive encounter came during secondary school in Rijeka, at a comics exhibition where he saw a Witchblade cover. The discovery opened a path from the Italian comics he already knew towards American comics, digital art and, eventually, the work that would make his name.

Long before he was a published professional, Šejić built his initial fanbase on DeviantArt under the pseudonym Nebezial, often shortened by fans to Neb, derived from the Croatian word for ‘celestial’. He still uses this handle, and treats his social media pages as a place to post goofy sketches, life updates, and works-in-progress reports.

Šejić began professionally as a colourist after sharing work online, and has recalled the pivotal moment when he sent some painted comic pages to Top Cow editor Renae Geerlings. He went on to become closely associated with Witchblade, and later brought his painterly style to titles including Aquaman, Suicide Squad, Justice League Odyssey and the acclaimed Harleen.

His defining work is the comics he has written and drawn himself – Sunstone, Death Vigil and Fine Print – each balancing taut and measured storylines with humour, tenderness, and a belief that people become most interesting when they are trying, often imperfectly, to tell one another the truth. His early inspirations have included Marc Silvestri, Michael Turner and Alex Ross, but his own style is less about imitating superhero grandeur than making it human. His characters are attractive and relatable, but they also blush, hesitate, roll their eyes, and fail to say what they mean.

Stjepan Šejić’s sensitivity is inseparable from his partnership with his fellow Croatian wife, the artist and writer Linda Lukšić Šejić. The two make their own comics, sharing scripts and updates, identifying what is unclear and asking the useful question ‘What is this really all about?’. They brainstorm together on coffee breaks, building the shared mythology that connects Stjepan’s Fine Print and The Queen and the Woodborn with Linda’s Punderworld, Blood Stain and Swing. Linda has also been a visual inspiration – Šejić has said that aspects of Sunstone’s Lisa came from her, while Ally also carries elements of her character.

Sunstone, the comic thread that became a New York Times-bestselling Image/Top Cow series, is perhaps his clearest expression of his trademark combination of graphic style and complex narrative. It turns erotic romance into a story about communication, misread signals, and the courage of being seen and known. For Šejić, the polish of the finished page and the unruliness of ordinary feeling are not contradictory, they are the whole point of his work.

Stjepan Šejić is notoriously independent. In 2020, following frustration with DC Comics regarding script revisions on Justice League Odyssey, he publicly walked away from corporate comics to protect his mental health and creative freedom. While he has occasionally stepped back to do high-profile covers for publishers including DC Comics, his focus is now primarily on self-publishing on his own terms.

Stjepan Šejić’s Instagram account, where he showcases his most recent work, can be found here.

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