Charles M Schulz And Peanuts
The short video below melds the educational ease of a YouTube how-to with the self-directed, perhaps more artistically pure aspects of the pre-digital experience, as Charles Schulz himself pencils Charlie Brown seated at Schroeder’s toy piano in well under a minute.
You’ll have to watch closely if you want to pick up Sparky’s step-by-step technique. There are no geometric pointers, only a spiritual disclosure that “poor old Charlie Brown” was a scapegoat whose suffering was commensurate with that of his creator.
His voiceover downgrades the psychic pain to the level of lost golf and bridge games, but as cartoonist and former Peanuts copyist Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes, pointed out in a 2007 review of David Michaelis’ Schulz biography, Schulz’s unhappiness was deep seated:
Schulz always held his parents in high regard, but they were emotionally remote and strangely inattentive to their only child. Schulz was shy and alienated during his school years, retreating from nearly every opportunity to reveal himself or his gifts. Teachers and students consequently ignored him, and Schulz nursed a lifelong grudge that so few attempted to draw him out or recognized his talent… Once he finally achieved his childhood dream of drawing a comic strip, however, he was able to expose and confront his inner torments through his creative work, making insecurity, failure and rejection the central themes of his humor. Knowing that his miseries fueled his work, he resisted help or change, apparently preferring professional success over personal happiness. Desperately lonely and sad throughout his life, he saw himself as “a nothing,” yet he was also convinced that his artistic ability made him special.
Good grief. I have a hunch none of this found its way into the lifelong workaholic’s own guide to drawing Peanuts characters. It’s not a secret, however, that a dark side often comes with the territory as a slew of recent autobiographical graphic novels from those drawn to the profession will attest.
For those that wish to know a bit about Charles M Schulz and the birth of Peanuts, Read on!
Charles M. Schulz was born on 26 November 1922 in Minnesota, United States, and died of colon cancer on 12 February 2000 in California, United States.
All Charles M. Schulz wanted to do was draw funny pictures. The comic pages appeared for nearly 50 years which included Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang.
His father was of German heritage and his mother from a Norwegian family. He grew up reading the funnies which included Skippy, Mickey Mouse, and Popeye with his dad and it became ritual over time. Schulz's childhood nickname was Sparky which was based on a comic strip, 'Barney Google'. He attended a correspondence cartoon course with the Federal School Of Applied Cartooning. Newspapers editors in the late 1940s and 1950s promoted a post-war minimalist model pushing cartoonists to shrink strip size. His early published cartoons focused on concise drawings of precocious children with large heads who interacted with words and actions beyond their years. Charles M. Schulz announced his retirement in December 1999. The 'Peanuts' was syndicated in over 2,600 newspapers and in some cases even translated to different languages. He received an Emmy Award and had NASA projects named after his character. In this article, i've listed some of the most inspiring Charles M. Schulz quotes.
Did you know that Schulz did not name his famous work? In 1950 Charles M. Schulz approached the United Feature syndicate with his comic strip name 'Li'l Folks' but it was too close to the names of the two other comics of the time: 'Li'l Abner' and 'Little folks'. To avoid confusion the United Feature Syndicate settled on the name 'Peanuts'. Schulz never liked the name and thought it was confusing and had no meaning. Here are some quotes from Charles M. Schulz.
"I love mankind...It's people I can't stand."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate."
-Charles M. Schulz
"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt."
-Charles M. Schulz
"I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time."
-Charles M. Schulz
A whole stack of memories never equal one little hope."
-Charles M. Schulz
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For, after all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."
-Charles M. Schulz
"I don't think God wants to be worshipped. I think the only pure worship of God is by loving one another, and I think all other forms of worship became a substitute for the love that we should show one another."
-Charles M. Schulz
"That's the secret to life...replace one worry with another."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Happiness is anyone and anything that’s loved by you."
- Charles Schulz.
"In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back."
- Charles Schulz.
"Sometimes I lie awake at night and ask ‘Where have I gone wrong’, then a voice says to me ‘This is going to take more than one night.’"
- Charles Schulz.
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it sure makes the rest of you lonely."
- Charles Schulz
"I’ve developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time."
- Charles Schulz.
"I think I’m afraid to be happy because whenever I get too happy, something bad always happens."
- Charles Schulz.
"To live is to dance… to dance is to live."
- Charles Schulz.
"Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia."
- Charles Schulz.
"Keep looking up… that’s the secret of life."
- Charles Schulz.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, look to tomorrow, rest this afternoon."
- Charles Schulz.
"Nothing spoils the taste of peanut butter like unrequited love."
- Charles Schulz.
"There must be millions of people all over the world who never get any love letters... I could be their leader."
- Charles Schulz.
"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt."
- Charles Schulz.
"I love mankind ... it's people I can't stand!!"
- Charles Schulz.
"Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone."
- Charles Schulz.
"There is nothing more attractive than a nice smile."
- Charles Schulz.
"Dear Valentine, I love you. Whoever you are."
- Charles Schulz.
"A beep on the nose is a sign of great affection."
- Charles Schulz.
"It's either the flu or love... The symptoms are the same."
- Charles Schulz.
"Dearest darling, how I love you. Words cannot tell how much I love you. So forget it."
- Charles Schulz.
"No problem is so big or so complicated that it can’t be run away from!"
- Linus Van Pelt, 'Peanuts'.
"I never made a mistake in my life. I thought I did once, but I was wrong."
- Lucy Van Pelt, 'Peanuts'.
"Dear IRS, Please remove me from your mailing list."
- Snoopy, 'Peanuts'.
"Try not to have a good time… This is supposed to be educational."
- Lucy Van Pelt, 'Peanuts'.
"Yesterday I was a dog. Today I’m a dog. Tomorrow I’ll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There’s so little hope for advancement."
- Snoopy, 'Peanuts'.
"I think I’m allergic to morning."
- Snoopy, 'Peanuts'.
"I think I’ve discovered the secret of life – you just hang around until you get used to it."
- Sally Brown, 'Peanuts'.
"Ugh! I’ve been kissed by a dog! I have dog germs! Get hot water! Get some disinfectant! Get some Iodine!"
- Lucy Van Pelt, 'Peanuts'.
"My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?"
-Charles M. Schulz
"Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, look to tomorrow, rest this afternoon."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Life is like an ice cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use."
-Charles M. Schulz
"In the book of life, The answers aren't in the back."
-Charles M. Schulz
"I think I've discovered the secret of life --you just hang around until you get used to it."
-Charles M. Schulz
20."Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Happiness is a warm puppy."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Happiness is waking up, looking at the clock, and finding that you still have two hours left to sleep."
-Charles M. Schulz
“Sometimes I lie awake at night and I ask, 'Is life a multiple choice test or is it a true or false test?' ...Then a voice comes to me out of the dark and says, 'We hate to tell you this but life is a thousand word essay'.”
-Charles M. Schulz
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it sure makes the rest of you lonely."
-Charles M. Schulz
"Be yourself. No one can say you're doing it wrong."
-Charles M. Schulz
"There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people...Religion, Politics, and The Great Pumpkin."
-Charles M. Schulz
27."If I were given the opportunity to present a gift to the next generation, it would be the ability for each individual to learn to laugh at himself."
-Charles M. Schulz
"No problem is so formidable that you can't walk away from it."
-Charles M. Schulz
"The way I see it, it doesn't matter what you believe just so you're sincere."
-Charles M. Schulz