Comic Artists

Jim Davis was born July 28, 1945 in Marion, Indiana and grew up on a farm with his mother, father, and brother. For education, he attended Ball State University where he studied art and business. Before working in the comic industry he used his knowledge from college by working for an advertising agency. After that, in 1969 he assisted Tom Clancy on a comic called Tumbleweeds. He then created his own comic called Gnorm Gnat which ran for 3 years in a newspaper in Pendleton, Indiana. 

 

He then tried to sell his comic to a national comic strip but the editor denied his request due to his characters being bugs and the editor believing nobody would relate to his characters. Once being denied his comic he studied extensively on comics and what makes them popular, with the mindset that animals can be a great comic character. Through his studies he used Snoopy as a focus point finding that he was a good example of an animal stealing the spotlight in a comic. With this new research he then created a comic titled Jon, which would later result in one of the most famous comics called Garfield.

 

Jim Davis embodies the theme of comics due to his love for comics. A comic is defined as a magazine or book that contains a set of stories told in pictures with a small amount of writing. Davis fits this theme because he has contributed so many great comics such as Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat and Mr. Potato Head. He is passionate about what he does and even today he says that he is still trying to create the perfect comic. 

 

Throughout Davis’ long career, he had one comic that was definitely his most famous and iconic, Garfield. Originally named Jon after the owner, he created a comic that would focus mostly on the animal characters. He based the life of Jon, the owner, on his own life growing up on a farm. His character Otis is a dog that is also owned by Jon that is always happy and full of energy. Jon never typically gets mad at Otis, but he does usually get on Garfield’s nerves. Davis’ title and his most famous character Garfield is a lazy cat that loves lasagna. Snoopy was probably the first cartoon that had a famous animal character but Garfield was the one who arguably showed editors that an animal can carry their own comic.