Meet Bill Watterson

William B. Watterson II was born on July 5, 1958, in Washington, D.C. He moved at age 6 to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He was educated at Kenyon College in Gambier (1976-1980), where he received a B.A. in Political Science. Watterson is married, with Melissa, but he doesn't have any children of his own.

When Watterson read his first comic, he knew that he wanted to be a cartoonist. 'Calvin and Hobbes' was not his first strip; he has been drawing comics almost his whole life. At high-school he drew comics for the school newspaper and when he attended college, he drew for the 'Kenyon Collegian'. After college he got a job as political cartoonist by the Cincinnati Post, but was fired within a couple of months. After that he made several comics, but they were all rejected by the newspaper syndicates. Finally he struck gold with the mischievous six-year-old Calvin and his pal Hobbes, the stuffed tiger who comes alive in the little boy's imagination. To Calvin, Hobbes is everything a child could ask for in a friend. Launched in 1985, the strip now appears in 2,300 publications worldwide. And there are now more than 18 million Calvin books in print. But success can hardly be said to have gone to Watterson's head. He lives quietly in Hudson, Ohio. He declines fabulous wealth by refusing to merchandise his characters.

"Besides being well drawn and well written, 'Calvin and Hobbes' is unusual," says NCS president Mell Lazerus. "It captured everybody's interest overnight."

In a letter to newspaper editors announcing his retirement, Watterson stated: "This is not a recent or 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 small panels. I am eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises. I have not yet decided on future projects, but my relationship with Universal Press Syndicate will continue."

Watterson was nominated for the 1992 Reuben Award for "Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year" by the National Cartoonists Society, and won the 1986 and 1988 Reuben Awards. In 1986, he was the youngest recipient to ever win the award.

The image is a self-portrait from Bill Watterson and his cats (with Sprite ;-).

 

Here are some things I took out of "The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book", in which Bill Watterson gives his opinion on drawing 'Calvin and Hobbes'.

An interview from "Honk" magazine with Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes on cartooning, syndicates, Garfield, Charles Schulz, and editors. Click here to read it.

Here are two speeches Bill Watterson gave:

History:

  • Born: July 5, 1958, in Washington, D.C. Moved at age 6 to Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

  • Has a younger brother.

  • His father was an attorney.

  • His mother served on the city council. They claim their son was *nothing* like Calvin.

  • As a kid, he did spend hours drawing cartoons.

  • After attending Kenyon College he worked for six months at The Cincinnati Post as an editorial cartoonist. Staffers at the Post remember Watterson as "That little guy with the round glasses, who was really strange."

  • He kept trying to sell comic strips, but failed. "I don't regret the years of effort and disappointment," Watterson once recalled.

  • After trying six other strips, he finally hit on "Calvin and Hobbes", in 1985.

  • In 1986, he won a "Reuben", the top award of the National Cartoonists Society (NCS). He did it again in 1988.

  • Education: Graduated from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, in 1980 with a degree in political science, but says: "I always wanted to draw a comic strip."

  • Home life: Lives with wife, Melissa, their adopted children and several cats in Hudson, Ohio.

  • Address: c/o Universal Press Syndicate, 4900 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64119

Here is Watterson's own biographical account, as supplied by the man himself:

  • Bill Watterson squandered a rather unremarkable childhood reading the comics in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. By the time he graduated from high school, his own primitive cartoons had appeared in the school newspaper and yearbook, and not a few stall doors of various boys' rooms.

  • At Kenyon College, fellow delinquents encouraged Watterson to pursue political cartooning. Watterson's chronicles of the Carter years proved to be amongst his most humorous work ever, the insights into foreign policy being especially laughable. In an effort to remedy this, Watterson majored in political science and, thanks to a friend with access to the school's computer, Watterson earned a degree in 1980.

  • A major Cincinnati daily immediately offered him a job as editorial cartoonist, but within a matter of months, the editor returned from the sanitarium and Watterson was fired.

  • Disillusioned, Watterson turned to comic strips. The next few years were not proud ones, and only a well-tuned, used Fiat kept Watterson from the law's grasp. Rejection slips and debts piled up, and eventually his parents sold him into slavery as a lay-out artist for a sleazy tabloid shopper. There, in the dank and windowless basement of a convenience store, submitting to the idiot whims of a maniacal tyrant, Watterson developed that carefree, happy-go-lucky view of life that so permeates all his cartoons.

Tidbits:

  • He looks somewhat like the father character, judging from the few photos of him available.

  • His favorite strips: Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He also likes old-time strips "Krazy Kat" and "Pogo."

  • He rarely appears in public.

  • He almost never gives interviews. --"Privacy is very important to him," says Lazerus. "He doesn't belong to the National Cartoonists Society. I've met him only once - briefly."

  • "Calvin's energy is unhindered by common sense," he once said. "His parents sometimes wish they'd gotten a dog instead."

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