Bill Watterson

William B. "Bill" Watterson II ( born July 5, 1958 in Washington, DC ) is an American comic book artist, best known by his published from 1985 to 1995 comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.

Career

At the age of six, he moved with his parents to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. From 1976 to 1980 he attended Kenyon College in Gambier.

He studied political science, he joined supposedly thanks to a friend who had access to the central computer of the colleges, with a bachelor's degree. Even in his high school days he started with the comic drawing. He learned German in school. Many of his high-school comics were in German and were drawn by him for his German teacher. In college he drew some cartoons for the college newspaper.

After his studies he found at the newspaper Cincinnati a job as a cartoonist, but he lost after a few months.

Trying to accommodate their own comic strips at press syndicates failed. Calvin and Hobbes were at the beginning purely secondary characters who appeared in the comic strips. One of the syndicates suggested to draw a comic about these figures. Ironically, leaning the same syndicate from the Calvin and Hobbes - strip. Only the Universal Press Syndicate took the risk and published his comic strips.

The Calvin and Hobbes - era

In the period 1985-1995 Calvin and Hobbes appeared in 2,300 newspapers. Calvin's father looks very similar to Bill Watterson's father of the appropriate age. There have been sold to date more than 23 million Calvin -and- Hobbes books.

The last comic strip was published on 31 December 1995 In his farewell letter to the newspaper editorial he wrote the following. :

"It's a decision I have not made it easy for me and I announce my resignation not without pain, but recently I've started to wonder more and more interested in other things. In view of the constraints that have been placed upon me the tight deadlines and the small character fields, I think I 've done my best. I would like to in the future have more time for myself and have received less artistic compromises. I have not had any thoughts about future projects, but I will continue to work with Universal Press Syndicate. "

Contrary to the usual marketing policy in comic strips Watterson is always struggled against the marketing of his characters (eg on mugs, t -shirts etc. ). The marketing of a TV series he prevented.

In November 2012 one of his Calvin & Hobbes cartoons, achieved revenues of 203 150 U.S. dollars at an auction at Heritage Auctions ( Dallas ). This hand-painted original from 1986 the size of an A4 - sheet of the most expensive ever, is at an auction auctioned cartoon.

Today

Today, Bill Watterson lives with his wife and daughter retired in Cleveland Heights (Ohio ). He has given no interviews since the late 80s to early 2010. His favorite comics are Charles M. Schulz's " Peanuts " strips and " Krazy Kat" ( published 1913-1944 ) and " Pogo " ( published 1948-1975 ).

Honors / Awards (selection)

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