The Art of Bill Watterson

2-D Artist: Bill Watterson
One of the finest professional cartoonists to ever do a syndicated comic strip is Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson’s 2-D artwork was composed of ink drawings and watercolors to supply depth and beauty to his pieces. Watterson prided himself on his artistic values and took efforts to create dazzling Sunday strips that were larger than life, full of color and imagination. For this reason, Watterson became one of the most beloved artists in the history of syndicated illustrations (Hulsizer).
Watterson is my favorite 2-D artist of all time because he packs so much into his artwork and really brings his characters to life through the use of color, line, perspective, and expression. His characters, particularly the six-year-old boy named Calvin is so expressive in his body language that simply looking at the drawings can cause laughter, empathy, and compassion. Watterson is not a one-trick pony: he can do it all with the pen and paint brush. He puts pathos, bathos and ethos into his work because he takes the time to look at nature and see what there is to see and then he tries to reflect the fine details and subtleties in his artwork.
Just simply admiring the work for its formal elements is part of the joy that Watterson gives. His technique is so refined that he must rank among the all-time greats. His pen strokes are made with precision and confidence, and his use of water colors is always perfect, giving the right mixture of depth and shading. His ability to create spacing by redefining the restrictions of the Sunday layout also made his work unique and helped to turn the Sunday comics section into a veritable canvas for his works of art. Since he quit drawing in the 1990s, the Sunday comics have not been the same, as no artist has yet come close to doing what Watterson has done.
Watterson’s subject matter has also always been appealing. He tells of the adventures of an imaginative boy and his stuffed tiger Hobbes, who comes to life for Calvin but for no one else. Together they become space travelers, wild scientists, superheroes and more, always wreaking havoc wherever they go with a great deal of rambunctiousness and innocence that is truly delightful to behold. Watterson never allowed any cynicism to invade his strip and towards the end of his career he lingered more and more on melancholy notes and images of beauty in nature, such as a snowy wood or a bird.
One strip in particular is known as the “Dead Bird” strip. In this Sunday strip, Watterson drew a dead bird in black ink in the first panel. It is exquisitely and realistically depicted. In the next panel, Calvin and Hobbes are shown looking at the dead bird lying on the ground. Calvin considers the fragility and beauty of life and the fact that one’s daily duties make it impossible to reflect on the meaning of existence. He says to Hobbes that it will probably all make sense when they are older. Hobbes confirms, “No doubt.” The concluding panel stretches across the bottom half of the page and shows Calvin and Hobbes leaning against a tree trunk watching the birds fly in the sky (Reddit). The piece uses black and white ink to portray the dead bird and water color with black ink to show the main characters pondering life. This gives the strip a great deal of emotional appeal. The intention of the piece is create sympathy and a sense of wonder in the viewer, and it is successful in doing just that. The viewer wants to sit with the two characters and gaze at nature and reflect on the meaning of life. Watterson accomplishes his intention well in this strip because he captures the beauty in art that he wants the viewer to stop and think about.
Works Cited
Hulsizer, Tim. “A Short Biography of Bill Watterson.” Archive, 2002.
https://web.archive.org/web/20090416091717/http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cbillbio.html
Reddit. “Dead bird…profound.” Reddit, 2014.
https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/1bxc4m/dead_bird_profound/