My Life with Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz

Author:Charles M. Schulz
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2010-03-24T04:00:00+00:00

Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts Jubilee: My Life and Art with Charlie Brown and Others (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1975), 157–80.

A Career in Cartooning

There is no form of entertainment that comes close to the sustaining power of the comic strip. Some of our most successful features have been running for as long as thirty to fifty years. This means that generations of people have grown up with the characters in the comic strip, and have learned to know them as well as their own friends. Readers demand the daily episodes with a fanaticism that is unbelievable until it is demonstrated or forced into the open by an editor who makes the dreadful mistake of leaving a comic strip out of his paper for one day only to find his switchboard deluged with calls, and as has happened, pickets walking back and forth in front of his building demanding justice. The terrible mortality rate of even some very good television shows has emphasized the staying power of the average comic strip. One reason for the comic strip’s success in this area is, of course, the briefness of the episodes. Where television sets up contributors who try to turn out half hour and hour shows weekly, the comic feature requires only a moment each day. Beyond this, however, lies one of the great truths of artistic endeavor, the value of a single creative mind turning out a piece of work. Although many cartoonists employ assistants to help them with the various tasks of getting the drawings done, these are relatively mechanical, and invariably there is one creative mind responsible for each successful comic strip. Even the cases where we may have an artist-writer collaboration, we still are far away from the complicated team efforts that are necessary in other entertainment endeavors.

The establishment of a unique character seems to be the most important element in creating a successful comic strip. Even when the reader is unable to recollect humorous episodes that have amused him, he can still tell you all about the lead character in a comic strip, and if it is the sort that has a large cast of characters, he can tell you about each of them, and he will usually do so with real delight. A cartoonist’s drawing style must be pleasing to the majority of readers, but one has only to glance through today’s comic pages to discover that there is no formula for what is a pleasing style. Even what might be called good drawing is not necessary. The only quality that is really necessary is “effectiveness.” The cartoonist must have a style that works. He must have a style that communicates. He can be literate, but he does not have to be a creator of great literature. In fact, if he can mirror the language of the man on the street, and match it with drawings that are compatible, he is bound to succeed. The best cartoonists are also those who recognize the importance of giving the reader a little something each day.

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