Featured famous artist

    The greatest cartoonist of all-time, the creator of Peanuts, nicknamed Sparky by his uncle, but most people know him as Charles Schulz.
     He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 26, 1922. Schulz was raised in St. Paul as the only child of German and Norwegian parents. His mother died in February 1943 after he had graduated from high school. Not long after that, he was drafted into the U.S. army and served in World War 2. He became a staff sergeant and was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge.
   
    It wasn’t until the war was over in 1945 that Schulz began a career in art. He returned to his hometown of Minneapolis to teach art at Art Instruction, Inc. His experiences in art prior to his teaching job at Art Instruction, Inc were being enrolled in correspondence courses and creating works for a Catholic comic magazine called Timeless Topix.
   
    Schulz did not immediately invent the idea for Peanuts; he created many similar series that were not as successful. Some of his first drawings were published in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. One cartoon he designed was called Lil’ Folks. It had many similar features and characters to Peanuts. He also sold several of his cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post, although it was not until 1950 that Charles Schulz became well known and his Peanuts comic became popular.
   
    Peanuts consists of twelve characters and the main character is Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown is personified by his yellow shirt with a black zig-zag line, a boy who, no matter how hard he tries, usually fails, but can easily relate to many readers. He has a younger sister named Lucy and a dog named Snoopy. His sister has a crush on his friend Linus, whose older sister constantly teases Charlie. The comic is filled with humor, friendships, youthfulness and everyday woes.
   
    Schulz incorporated many aspects of his personal life into Peanuts. For example, both of their fathers were barbers and their mothers were housewives. Their shy and withdrawn personalities were similar as was the fact that they both had pet dogs. Schulz made some of his characters resemble people he knew in real life. Lucy was inspired by his first wife, Joyce Halverson and the little red head girl was inspired by the woman who had rejected his marriage proposal, Donna Johnson.
   
    His comic shared many of his qualities because it was such a huge part of his life. Peanuts has been published for over fifty years. Schulz never wanted to stop drawing for the Peanuts comic strip, but he could no longer keep up with his demanding schedule and battle against colon cancer. He died on February 12, 2000 at the age of 77. His last original comic was published the day after his death.
In his lifetime, Schulz was awarded the National Cartoonists Society’s Elzie Segar Award in 1980, the Reuben Award in 1955 and 1964, and the Milton Caniff Achievement Award in 1999. Additionally, he was once named Cartoonist of the year by Yale University. Also Peanuts was named the Best Humor Strip of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society. Charles Schulz was a gifted man and provided inspiration to many with his art, and through his legacy, Schulz will live on.