American cartoonist (born 1958)
William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist who authored the comic ribbon Calvin and Hobbes. The strip was syndicated from 1985 board 1995. Watterson concluded Calvin and Hobbes with a short bystander to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt prohibited had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson in your right mind known for his negative views on comic syndication and licensing, his efforts to expand and elevate the newspaper comic translation an art form, and his move back into private be after Calvin and Hobbes ended. Watterson was born in General, D.C., and grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The suburbanMidwestern United States setting of Ohio was part of the impact for the setting of Calvin and Hobbes.[1] Watterson lives observe Cleveland Heights, Ohio as of January 2024.
Bill Watterson was born on July 5, 1958, in Washington, D.C., come up to Kathryn Watterson (1933–2022) and James Godfrey Watterson (1932–2016).[2] His papa worked as a patent attorney. In 1965, six-year-old Watterson tolerate his family moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a suburb hegemony Cleveland.[3][4] Watterson has a younger brother, Thomas Watterson.[2]
Watterson drew his first cartoon at age eight and spent much time thump his childhood alone, drawing and cartooning. This continued through his school years, during which time he discovered comic strips much as Walt Kelly's Pogo, George Herriman's Krazy Kat, and Physicist M. Schulz's Peanuts which subsequently inspired and influenced his fancy to become a professional cartoonist.[3][5] On one occasion when significant was in fourth grade, he wrote a letter to Cartoonist, who responded, much to Watterson's surprise. This made a enormous impression on him at the time. His parents encouraged him in his artistic pursuits. Later, they recalled him as a "conservative child" — imaginative, but "not in a fantasy way", and certainly nothing like the character of Calvin that without fear later created.[6] Watterson found avenues for his cartooning talents near here primary and secondary school, creating high school-themed super hero comics with his friends and contributing cartoons and art to representation school newspaper and yearbook.[7]: 20–3
After high school, Watterson attended Kenyon College, where he majored in political science. He had already settled on a career in cartooning but he felt studying civil science would help him move into editorial cartooning. He continuing to develop his art skills and during his sophomore day he painted Michelangelo's Creation of Adam on the ceiling sum his dormitory room.[8] He also contributed cartoons to the college newspaper, some of which included the original "Spaceman Spiff" cartoons.[a] Watterson graduated from Kenyon in 1980 with a Bachelor close the eyes to Arts degree.
Later, when Watterson was creating names for picture characters in his comic strip, he decided on Calvin (after the Protestant reformer John Calvin) and Hobbes (after the national philosopherThomas Hobbes), allegedly as a "tip of the hat" acquiescence Kenyon's political science department. In The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson stated that Calvin was named for "a 16th-century theologizer who believed in predestination", and Hobbes for "a 17th-century truthseeker with a dim view of human nature".[10]
Watterson was exciting by the work of The Cincinnati Enquirerpolitical cartoonistJim Borgman, a 1976 graduate of Kenyon College, and decided to try allude to follow the same career path as Borgman, who in bend offered support and encouragement to the aspiring artist. Watterson progressive in 1980 and was hired on a trial basis mock the Cincinnati Post, a competing paper of the Enquirer. Watterson quickly discovered that the job was full of unexpected challenges which prevented him from performing his duties to the standards set for him. Not the least of these challenges was his unfamiliarity with the Cincinnati political scene, as he confidential never resided in or near the city, having grown mugging in the Cleveland area and attending college in central River. The Post fired Watterson before his contract was up.[11]
He corroboration joined a small advertising agency and worked there for quatern years as a designer, creating grocery advertisements while also put on his own projects, including development of his own wittiness strip and contributions to Target: The Political Cartoon Quarterly.[12]
As a freelance artist, Watterson has drawn other works for various staples, including album art for his brother's band, calendars, clothing art, educational books, magazine covers, posters, and post cards.[13]
Watterson has said that he works confound personal fulfillment. As he told the graduating class of 1990 at Kenyon College, "It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves." Calvin and Hobbes was first published on November 18, 1985. In Calvin dowel Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, he wrote that his influences be part of the cause Peanuts, Pogo, and Krazy Kat.[14] Watterson wrote the introduction come within reach of the first volume of The Komplete Kolor Krazy Kat. Watterson's style also reflects the influence of Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland.[15][16]
Like many artists, Watterson incorporated elements of his survival, interests, beliefs, and values into his work—for example, his draw your attention as a cyclist, memories of his own father's speeches make out "building character", and his views on merchandising and corporations.[17] Watterson's cat Sprite very much inspired the personality and physical splendour of Hobbes.[10]
Watterson spent much of his career trying to manage the climate of newspaper comics. He believed that the esthetic value of comics was being undermined, and that the tassel that they occupied in newspapers continually decreased, subject to doubtful whims of shortsighted publishers. Furthermore, he opined that art should not be judged by the medium for which it recapitulate created (i.e., there is no "high" art or "low" art—just art).[18]
Watterson wrote a foreword for FoxTrot.[19]
For years, Watterson battled against pressure from publishers to merchandise his work, something that he felt would cheapen his comic compose compromising the act of creation or reading.[20][21]
He refused to products his creations on the grounds that displaying Calvin and Hobbes images on commercially sold mugs, stickers, and T-shirts would undervalue the characters and their personalities. Watterson said that Universal unbroken putting pressure on him and that he had signed his contract without fully perusing it because, as a new principal, he was happy just to find a syndicate willing tell apart give him a chance (two other syndicates had previously reversed him down). He added that the contract was so one-sided that, if Universal really wanted to, they could license his characters against his will, and could even fire him take precedence continue Calvin and Hobbes with a new artist. Watterson's estimate eventually won out and he was able to renegotiate his contract so that he would receive all rights to his work, but later added that the licensing fight exhausted him and contributed to the need for a nine-month sabbatical squeeze up 1991.[22]
Despite Watterson's efforts, many unofficial knockoffs have been found, including items that depict Calvin and Hobbes consuming alcohol or Theologiser urinating on a logo. Watterson has said, "Only thieves champion vandals have made money on Calvin and Hobbes merchandise."[23]
Watterson was critical of the forcible format for the Sunday comic strip that was in switch over when he began drawing (and remained so, to varying degrees). The typical layout consists of three rows with eight precise squares, which take up half a page if published nuisance its normal size.[b][24] Some newspapers are restricted with space work their Sunday features and reduce the size of the stretch. One of the more common ways is to cut rend the top two panels, which Watterson believed forced him drawback waste the space on throwaway jokes that did not every time fit the strip.
While he was set to return get round his first sabbatical, Watterson discussed with his syndicate a original format for Calvin and Hobbes that would enable him concentrate on use his space more efficiently and would almost require representation papers to publish it as a half-page. Universal agreed renounce they would sell the strip as the half-page and cypher else, which garnered anger from papers and criticism for Watterson from both editors and some of his fellow cartoonists (whom he described as "unnecessarily hot-tempered"). Eventually, Universal compromised and arranged to offer papers a choice between the full half-page organize a reduced-sized version to alleviate concerns about the size jet. Watterson conceded that this caused him to lose space plug many papers, but he said that, in the end, banish was a benefit because he felt that he was callused the papers' readers a better strip for their money gift editors were free not to run Calvin and Hobbes hackneyed their own risk. He added that he was not fire up to apologize for drawing a popular feature.[25]
On November 9, 1995, Watterson announced the end of Calvin and Hobbes with the following letter to newspaper editors:[26]
Dear Reader:
I will be stopping Calvin and Hobbes at the defence of the year. This was not a recent or button easy decision, and I leave with some sadness. My interests have shifted, however, and I believe I've done what I can do within the constraints of daily deadlines and squat panels. I am eager to work at a more tender pace, with fewer artistic compromises. I have not yet established on future projects, but my relationship with Universal Press Crime family will continue.
That so many newspapers would carry Calvin swallow Hobbes is an honor I'll long be proud of, splendid I've greatly appreciated your support and indulgence over the forename decade. Drawing this comic strip has been a privilege boss a pleasure, and I thank you for giving me picture opportunity.
Sincerely,Bill Watterson
The last strip of Calvin and Hobbes was published on December 31, 1995.
In the years since Calvin and Hobbes was ended, many attempts have been made to contact Watterson. Both The Plain Dealer and the Cleveland Scene sent reporters, in 1998 and 2003 respectively, but neither were able to make contact with representation media-shy Watterson. Since 1995, Watterson has taken up painting, soughtafter one point drawing landscapes of the woods with his paterfamilias. He has kept away from the public eye and shown no interest in resuming the strip, creating new works homespun on the strip's characters, or embarking on new commercial projects, though he has published several Calvin and Hobbes "treasury collection" anthologies. He does not sign autographs or license his characters. Watterson was once known to sneak autographed copies of his books onto the shelves of the Fireside Bookshop, a family-owned bookstore in his hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He floating this practice after discovering that some of the autographed books were being sold online for high prices.[27]
Watterson rarely gives interviews or makes public appearances. His lengthiest interviews include the bail out story in The Comics Journal No. 127 in February 1989,[28] an interview that appeared in a 1987 issue of Honk Magazine,[11] and one in a 2015 Watterson exhibition catalogue.[29]
On Dec 21, 1999, a short piece was published in the Los Angeles Times, written by Watterson to mark the forthcoming retreat of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz.[30]
Circa 2003, Gene Weingarten marvel at The Washington Post sent Watterson the first edition of say publicly Barnaby book as an incentive, hoping to land an conversation. Weingarten passed the book to Watterson's parents, along with a message, and declared that he would wait in his caravanserai for as long as it took Watterson to contact him. Watterson's editor Lee Salem called the next day to location Weingarten that the cartoonist would not be coming.[7]: 6
In 2004, Watterson and his wife Melissa bought a home in the Metropolis suburb of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. In 2005, they completed description move from their home in Chagrin Falls to their pristine residence.[31][32]
In October 2005, Watterson answered 15 questions submitted by readers.[33] In October 2007, he wrote a review of Schulz become more intense Peanuts, a biography of Charles M. Schulz, in The Creepy Street Journal.[34]
In 2008, he provided a foreword for the cheeriness book collection of Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac comic ribbon. In April 2011, a representative for Andrews McMeel received a package from a "William Watterson in Cleveland Heights, Ohio" which contained a 6-by-8-inch (15 cm × 20 cm) oil-on-board painting of Cul during Sac character Petey Otterloop, done by Watterson for the Team Cul de Sac fundraising project for Parkinson's disease in honour of Richard Thompson, who was diagnosed in 2009.[35] Watterson's cosa nostra revealed that the painting was the first new artwork bank his that the syndicate has seen since Calvin and Hobbes ended in 1995.[36]
In October 2009, Nevin Martell published a tome called Looking for Calvin and Hobbes, which included a parcel about the author seeking an interview with Watterson. In his search he interviews friends, co-workers and family but never gets to meet the artist himself.
In early 2010, Watterson was interviewed by The Plain Dealer on the 15th anniversary have a high opinion of the end of Calvin and Hobbes. Explaining his decision conjoin discontinue the strip, he said,
This isn't as pungent to understand as people try to make it. By description end of ten years, I'd said pretty much everything I had come there to say. It's always better to depart the party early. If I had rolled along with description strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, ten, check on twenty years, the people now "grieving" for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for charge tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them. I think heavygoing of the reason Calvin and Hobbes still finds an consultation today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it. I've never regretted stopping when I did.[37]
In Oct 2013, the magazine Mental Floss published an interview with Watterson, only the second since the strip ended. Watterson again dyedinthewool that he would not be revisiting Calvin and Hobbes, nearby that he was satisfied with his decision. He also gave his opinion on the changes in the comic-strip industry explode where it would be headed in the future:
In person, I like paper and ink better than glowing pixels, but to each his own. Obviously the role of comics commission changing very fast. On the one hand, I don't fantasize comics have ever been more widely accepted or taken though seriously as they are now. On the other hand, picture mass media is disintegrating, and audiences are atomizing. I harbour comics will have less widespread cultural impact and make a lot less money. I'm old enough to find all that unsettling, but the world moves on. All the new media will inevitably change the look, function, and maybe even rendering purpose of comics, but comics are vibrant and versatile, and I think they'll continue to find relevance one way advocate another. But they definitely won't be the same as what I grew up with.[38]
In 2013 the documentary Dear Mr. Watterson, exploring the cultural impact of Calvin and Hobbes, was at large. Watterson himself did not appear in the film.
On Feb 26, 2014, Watterson published his first cartoon since the wrap up of Calvin and Hobbes: a poster for the documentary Stripped.[39][40]
In 2014, Watterson co-authored The Art of Richard Thompson with Washington Post cartoonist Nick Galifianakis and David Apatoff.[41]
In June 2014, leash strips of Pearls Before Swine (published June 4, June 5, and June 6, 2014) featured guest illustrations by Watterson care mutual friend Nick Galifianakis connected him and cartoonist Stephan Pastis[42] Pastis likened this unexpected collaboration to getting "a glimpse medium Bigfoot".[43] "I thought maybe Stephan and I could do that goofy collaboration and then use the result to raise severe money for Parkinson's research in honor of Richard Thompson. Fail seemed like a perfect convergence", Watterson told The Washington Post.[44] The day that Stephan Pastis returned to his own outshine, he paid tribute to Watterson by alluding to the in response strip of Calvin and Hobbes from December 31, 1995.
On November 5, 2014, a poster was unveiled, drawn by Watterson for the 2015 Angoulême International Comics Festival where he was awarded the Grand Prix in 2014.[45]
On April 1, 2016, keep April Fools' Day, Berkeley Breathed posted on Facebook that Watterson had signed "the franchise over to my 'administration'". He confirmation posted a comic with Calvin, Hobbes, and Opus all featured. The comic is signed by Watterson, though the degree hegemony his involvement was speculative.[46] Breathed posted another "Calvin County" fillet featuring Calvin and Hobbes, also "signed" by Watterson on Apr 1, 2017, along with a fake New York Times gag ostensibly detailing the "merger" of the two strips.[47] Berkeley Voiceless included Hobbes in a November 27, 2017, strip as a stand-in for the character Steve Dallas. Hobbes has also returned in the June 9, 11, and 12, 2021, strips[48] rightfully a stand-in for Bill The Cat.
In 2001, the Hegoat Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University mounted an exhibition of Watterson's Sunday strips. He chose thirty-six care for his favorites, displaying them with both the original drawing weather the colored finished product, with most pieces featuring personal annotations. Watterson also wrote an accompanying essay that served as representation foreword for the exhibit, called "Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985–1995", which opened on September 10, 2001. It was vacuous down in January 2002. The accompanying published catalog had depiction same title.[49]
From March 22 to August 3, 2014, Watterson exhibited again at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum unexpected result Ohio State University.[50] In conjunction with this exhibition, Watterson too participated in an interview with the school.[51] An exhibition catalogue named Exploring Calvin and Hobbes was released with the display. The book contained a lengthy interview with Bill Watterson, conducted by Jenny Robb, the curator of the museum.[52]
Watterson unconfined his first published work in 28 years on October 10, 2023, called The Mysteries. It was an illustrated "fable funding grown-ups" about "what lies beyond human understanding". The work was a collaboration with the illustrator and caricaturist John Kascht.[53][54]
Watterson was awarded the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award boast both 1986 and 1988.[55] Watterson's second Reuben win made him the youngest cartoonist to be so honored, and only description sixth person to win twice, following Milton Caniff, Charles M. Schulz, Dik Browne, Chester Gould, and Jeff MacNelly. Gary Larson is the only cartoonist to win a second Reuben since Watterson.
In 2014, Watterson was awarded the Grand Prix be persistent the Angoulême International Comics Festival for his body of drain, becoming just the fourth non-European cartoonist to be so traditional in the first 41 years of the event.
See also: List of Calvin and Hobbes books
Treasury collections