The One, The Only... Bill Watterson

As an artist, I have learned my fair share of all the other greats that have come before. So many have contributed to my inspiration to be an artist. For this Art Discovery Contest, started by @awispa, I wanted to share one of my all-time favorite Illustrators from my childhood and even adulthood - Bill Watterson.

Who is Bill Watterson?

American artist, Bill Watterson, born in Washington DC, has become a national legend for his paramount comic series, "Calvin and Hobbes." Not a huge fan of syndication - Bill helped to bring art back to the comic strip for 10 years over the span of 1985-1995. His comic strip was published in every major newspaper in the US creating a huge cult following and passion for his stories about a young boy and his stuffed best friend who have zainy and witty commentary, along with cunning, daring and death defying adventures - his series is hard NOT to fall in love with.

Throughout Watterson's youth he showed an interest in the art of comic illustration, publishing many comics co-created with friends for his High-school and further into College where he attended Kenyan University and majored in Political Science. He knew at this point that he wanted to pursue a career in Comics, but thought his proper education would aid in his ability to create work for editorials to support himself financially.

The Beautiful Beginning

After he graduated, he worked with various editors submitting political illustrations, many of which were not impressed with his work, and led to him moving back home and refocusing on his passion - Comic Illustration. Unfortunately the beginnings were difficult, regardless of the countless number of submissions, he was not getting any traction in the industry - he constantly faced rejection. He attributes his early struggles as an ability to see and find his true calling - creating meaningless work like advertisements, political illustrations and the like would not be fulfilling and any means to a paycheck wasn't enough to make him happy. When speaking to graduates from his alma mater, he declared that to "endure 5 years of rejection to get a job requires either a faith in oneself that borders on delusion, or a love of the work...I love the work." His drive for what he loved made the comics so many of us here in the US have held dear to our childhoods, much like "The Peanuts" and other notable strips that have graced newsprint.

Sweet, Sweet Success

At the age of 27, after developing a few different characters, Bill landed on a young 5 year old named "Calvin" and his stuffed tiger "Hobbes." Calvin is a spunky ball of fire - one minute he's a philosophical genius and the next a spastic child full of fantasies and imaginative journey's with his best friend who magically comes to life - but only for Calvin, and only when they are completely alone. The Universal Press Syndicate purchased the Calvin & Hobbes Stip in 1985 launching Watterson into the national view - from here his career burst into one of stardom and Calvin & Hobbes filled our homes every Sunday with their hilarious antics.

Many of our childhoods were filled with the thrilling and quirky adventures with Calvin - many we had only experienced in our own imaginations - now we were re-experiencing them with a new found friend and his playful tiger. Calvin was a child that we could all relate to - girls/boys are icky, we refuse to eat our broccoli and make sure we make our retort as dramatic as possible, no - we will NOT go to bed yet, and yes - we will get into as much mischief as possible!

A Man of Integrity

Sadly you won't see any Calvin & Hobbes official merchandise like toys, hats, shirts, lunchboxes and more that flood our shelves commercially each year with the advent of any new trend. Watterson has always valued his privacy and maintaining the value of his strip and his characters - he didn't sell out. Universal pressured him with a deal so sided against Watterson that any person in their right mind would have made the same decision to decline. Their offer would have given them permission to fire Watterson at any time and continue to use Calvin & Hobbes any way they so wanted.

While there is something wonderfully amazing about this concept and absolutely would have made the same decision in the moment - I have to admit, I am still a bit sad that I never was able to get my own Hobbes stuffed tiger, 'cause I so would have been first in line to get one. Watterson stated himself, in response to a lot of the knock-off creations fans have made over the last 20-30 years, that he "Clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo." I would say, yes, absolutely - never underestimate - that seems to be key when looking back through decisions made over time.

Resculpting the Face of the Comic Strip

Watterson played an intrepid role in the comic industry and the prevailing format that we have all grown accustomed to over the years of its evolution. He wanted to take better efficiency of the space and constructed a format that would force editors to print his strip as a half page. A lot of editors were displeased with this concept, as various publications had a wide array of budget limitations and may not be able to print his work if that was the only size format they were provided. It was finally decided that he would supply the Half Page and a Condensed version that would go out to all editors, providing them a choice. Those who chose the larger formatted strip provided their users with a better, more enjoyable strip for their money - at least that is what Watterson hoped the perception would be.

Everything Must Come to and End

I regret to say that on December 31, 1995, the strip so many of us had grown to love and look forward to had announced its discontinuation and published the last Calvin & Hobbes strip any of us would ever read. Many, myself included, were heartbroken to hear that our beloved Calvin would no longer entertain us every Sunday morning while we enjoyed our bowl of cereal and/or coffee.

The last, and final strip in the 10 year Calvin & Hobbes series

Around 2014 Watterson teamed up with a fellow cartoonist in the aid of Parkinson's Disease with a strip called "Pearls Before Swine" in support of the Michael J. Fox Foundation and Team Cul de Sac

Fun Facts About Bill Watterson

- While living in his university dorm room, he painted Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" on his ceiling!

(I don't know about y'all, but this would have gotten you into some BIG BIG trouble when I was attending East Carolina University! He had some big kahunas lol!)

- Some of the first "Spaceman Spiff" illustrations seen in his Calvin & Hobbes books were submitted during his time at Kenyan College for the Universities' Newspaper.

(Spaceman Spiff was some of my favorite comics he did in his books! He is one of Calvin's imaginative alter egos in the comic strip.)

- Watterson has stated his influences included The Peanuts" by Charles Schulz, Walt Kelly's Pogo and George Harryman's "Krazy Kat". Some of his work also strongly suggests that he was heavily influenced by Windsor McKay's "Little Nemo in Slumberland"

- While he did not allow major merchandising efforts, he did allow for Calvin to appear on certain items with special approval. Calvin appeared on a Museum of Modern Art t-shirt, two calendars, a book "Teaching with Calvin & Hobbes", and a postage stamp from 2010./

Below I have selected some awesome strips I could find on searching in google that he has done from his Calvin & Hobbes series- I think these really help to give a great view into some of the amazing stories, humor, satire and adventrues Bill Watterson imagined through the playful Calvin and trusty side kick hobbes:

So what do you guys think? I hope I have been able to introduce you to a new favorite artist! Below are links to the resources that I used to help provide you some backstory into the life of Mr. Watterson. They all go into some great detail and provide a lot of additional links with further resources to learn even more about him.

Biography.com: "Bill Watterson Biography"
Wikipedia.com: "Bill Watterson"
The Guardian: "Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson returns to cartooning"

Some of the great strips I was able to find and share was found on this blog post along with others found from just a simple google search:

"Why Bill Watterson is our hero."

I found a few fun facts from reading this cool blog post:

"7 Things You Might Not Know About Calvin and Hobbes"

As always, thank you so much for stopping by and reading! If you enjoyed the post please upvote, re-steem if you think others would enjoy, and please comment and tell me what you thought! Most importantly, thank you for your support :)

@j-vo

Interested in seeing more posts from me? Here are a few I made over this past week:

Le Chant Chaton - Illustrated Wine Labels by J-VO

Happy Fourth of July - An Independence Day Painting by J-VO

Steem Wars - Day 4: Color Challenge - Tuesday Orange - Original Photos by J-VO - TeamUSA

Steem Wars - Day 5: Color Challenge - Wednesday Yellow - Original Photos by J-VO - TeamUSA

Six Sad Stories: See Illustration 5: "It's Behind You - Hurry Before it" - Rockne S. O’Bannon

Steem Wars - Day 6: Color Challenge - Thursday Green - Photos by J-VO - Team USA

Painting with Sparklers - Long-Exposure Photography (Original Photos by JVO)

All photography and creative artwork displayed in this post were created by @j-vo.

Thank you for reading & for your support <3