Description
No need to feel grief on this occasion.
On this day in 1922, Charles Monroe Schulz, the famed cartoonist who created Peanuts, was born. I'm not the biggest fan of Peanuts myself (because in a way, many of the characters are jerks to each other on a constant basis), but I can't underestimate just how impactful this comic has been on the entire entertainment industry, with the biggest factor being its numerous TV specials that are still being aired to this day, and the countless amounts of merchandise featuring the characters. When it comes to me, my favorite thing that is Peanuts related is the 2015 computer-animated film from Blue Sky Studios, literally titled The Peanuts Movie.
To me, the most interesting thing about Charles Schulz is that he actually hated the title of his comic. Originally, he wanted the comic to be called Li'l Folks, but he was forced to drop it when the company who published his comic discovered that the title was already trademarked by another comic artist named Tack Knight, who created a comic called Little Folks back in the 30s. The title of Peanuts came from the children's television show Howdy Doody, which featured an audience of children sitting in an area referred to as the "Peanut Gallery" (where the children sitting in it were referred to as "Peanuts"). Schulz did not like the "Peanuts" title at all, but to his dismay, the publishing company forced him to use it. As a result, throughout his career, Schulz would never refer to his comic with the title that was forced upon him, where he would instead refer to it with a vague description like "that comic with Snoopy in it."
Ever since Peanuts first went into syndication, Schulz would create new comics starring Charlie Brown and the gang up until his death on February 12, 2000 at the age of 77. The day after his passing, the final Peanuts strip was published, and it had a note that read the following:
Dear Friends,
I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost 50 years. It has been the fulfillment of my childhood ambition.
Unfortunately, I am no longer able to maintain the schedule demanded by a daily comic strip. My family does not wish "Peanuts" to be continued by anyone else , therefore I am announcing my retirement.
I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip.
Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, …how can I ever forget them…
— Charles M. Schulz
Okay, enough talking about Schulz's life story. Now to get onto the artwork.
Originally, I was going to include more characters than just Charlie Brown. I was going to include Snoopy, Woodstock, and maybe Lucy. However, I decided to have just the bald kid be in the artwork because I thought of a joke that would only make sense if Charlie Brown was in it. I was also planning on having Charles Schulz's caricature be represented as a real person standing alongside Charlie Brown, but considering that he passed away 22 years ago, I thought a more respectable thing to do was have him depicted in a portrait, and just for good measure, I added in his birth year (1922) and year of passing (2000).
One thing I noticed when it comes to Peanuts is how the art style doesn't have uniform outlines; they're almost always wiggly and jagged like on the veins of Ed, Edd n Eddy. Having drawn artworks of that show several times in the past, I'm no stranger to artworks with outlines like those. When it comes to the outlines in this artwork, I used a brush titled "Classic Cartoonist", which emulates a runny pen whose ink can easily bleed onto the other side, making it a perfect candidate for the rough outlines. When it comes to Charles' caricature, I got it from a sketch he did where he was being drawn by Snoopy. One last thing I want to mention is the paper texture. Since the comic is most famous for being, well, a comic, I thought it would make sense to include it.
That's all there is to say here. Hope you liked this artwork, and here's to more memories with the Peanuts gang.