I love cartooning.
One of my skills as a graphic designer is that I can cartoon. I still cartoon. I now teach high school drawing and dedicate
a whole section on cartooning.
I love comic books but I especially love newspaper comic
strips. At one point I had high hopes of
being a newspaper cartoonist.
Three comic strips had/have the biggest influence on me:
Peanuts, Bloom County/Opus and my absolute favorite—Calvin And Hobbes.
The strip starred precocious and mischievous six year old Calvin
and his imaginary friend Hobbes the tiger personified by his stuffed toy tiger.
Together the duo would embark on some of the most
imaginative and outrageous adventures imaginable laced with sardonic views of
growing up, grownups, school and life in general.
Bill Watterson, the creator and artist of Calvin And Hobbes,
imbued the strip with a sense of wonder as seen through the eyes of a young
boy. Watterson’s art captured the
innocence of childhood and yet lent itself to depicting some of the most elaborate
scenarios as imagined by young Calvin.
The strips’ timing was impeccable and the word play between
the two main characters was both funny and poignant.
Andrews McMeel Publishing has gathered ALL of the Calvin And
Hobbes daily and Sunday strips into a handsome four volume soft cover
collection that is sure to please any comic strip or Calvin And Hobbes fan.
Bill Watterson provides an insightful introduction where he
talks about what inspired to create the strip as well as his talent for peering
into the mind of a precocious six year old.
Although the strip ran a mere 11 years from 1985 to 1996 until Watterson’s
retirement, Calvin And Hobbes still remains a huge favorite of comic strips.