Brian crane cartoonist biography of donald

The first comic I remember making was about a kind of gangster insect, named Billy the Big Black Bug. He wore a trench coat and fedora and went around shooting holes in everybody. Sounds kind of violent but it was inspired by comics I read in the paper, like Dick Tracy and Li'l Abner. I was about 12 years old at the time. I used to show my cartoons to my friends in elementary school to get laughs.

Once in the lunchroom I made my friend Lloyd laugh so hard at something I drew that the milk he was drinking came out his nose. That's probably the best compliment a cartoonist can get.

Brian crane cartoonist biography of donald

Describe some of the real-life family and friends that have inspired Opal, Earl, Muffin and Roscoe. I drew heavily pardon the pun on my own grandparents. I also found inspiration in my mother- and father-in-law. They were funny without trying to be. I got a lot stories from them. Once my father-in-law was showing me a magnetic bracelet he had bought.

It was supposed to help the arthritis in his hands. But as he was showing it to me we were at the dinner table and the silverware kept sticking to the magnetic bracelet. It was hilarious and I used it in a strip. They had kind of an interesting way of bickering back and forth and getting on each other's nerves, but it was also obvious that they really loved each other underneath it all.

I named Opal after one of my wife's aunts by that name. She kind of looked like Opal too, and I thought it was an interesting name. For the next 17 years he worked as an illustrator, designer and art director in advertising and publishing, but yearned to develop his own comic strip. While creating greeting cards for a company he worked for, Crane decided he had a talent for funny ideas.

He began to learn the process of getting syndicated by reading the autobiography of Mort Walker, known for the strip "Beetle Bailey. The idea came from a Facebook commenter who saw a video of me and my family floating down the river in Island Park. The person said I should turn the tables and interview my dad Nate Eaton — so I did and the rest is history!

It became syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group in and today appears in 1, newspapers around the world. In andhe was a nominee for Cartoonist of the Year by the same group. Who would win in a cage match, Heathcliff or Garfield? My money would be on Heathcliff. I think he's probably pretty ticked off at all the attention Garfield gets.

How do you develop ideas? Which comes first, words or pictures? The words always come first for me. Do you ever worry about running out of ideas? I have run out of ideas so many times that I would be worried if I stopped running out of ideas. He's dead, so it would be a long shot. What kind of editor do you prefer, hands-on or laissez-faire?

I have a great editor, Amy Lago, and she gives me a pretty long leash, which I appreciate. What are your favorite books, TV shows, songs and films? Yes, that counts as one question. I read mostly non-fiction history books, but lately I have been hooked reading the The No.