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Jim Davis - Comic Creatures from Discovering Great Artists
Jim Davis(1946 - ) - Jim Davis is an American cartoonist famous for his amusing comic strip characters Garfield, Odie, and John, characters in the strip "Garfield". Davis draws round-eyed characters with strong personalities who are always finding something to do or say that is funny or silly. Davis' characters seem to always surprise each other, which adds to the humor of the strip. When Davis was young, working on the family farm, he developed asthma and was confined to the house at times. He discovered that drawing helped him pass the time and found that he enjoyed drawing funny animals who talked - especially cows. When his teachers recognized his new talent, they encouraged him to take art classes. When Davis grew up, he landed a job working for cartoonist, Tom Ryan, creator of "Tumbleweeds." Here Davis learned how to produce a daily comic strip. Later on, when his own comic strip idea "Gnom Gnat" was rejected over and over, Davis focused on a storyline about a young cartoonist named Jon Arbuckle and his lazy cat, Garfield, and the rest is history, as they say. Young artists create new cartoon characters using pen and paper, just like Jim Davis and Garfield the Cat! Materials:
Process: 1. Practice drawing different types of animal or imaginary characters on a large sheet of white paper. They can have large eyes like Garfield or an original characteristic like funny teeth or crazy hair. Look at the sketches and drawings and choose one character that is fun to draw and has funny possibilities. This will be the star of the new cartoon comic strip. Think of a name for the new character, too. 2. Imagine something funny that could happen to this character in three steps. For example, if the character is a spider who likes to spin webs that make pictures instead of catching bugs, maybe his name could be van Gogh, like the famous artist. In the first box he could be spinning his web natural as you please, in the second box he could be drawn with a very wild design forming, and in the third box he could be drawn wrapped up and tangled in his own design. Words could be added or left out. 3. Tape 3 sheets of white paper together in a row. Each sheet will be a box. Draw the cartoon character story into the three boxes. Color them if desired. Word balloons for talking can be added, but are not required. Talking can also be written without balloons. 4. Think up a name for the comic strip and write it on the strip like a title. Put the cartoonist's name too, just like Jim Davis and other cartoonists do. Look at some newspaper comics to see how different cartoonists do this in different ways. Create a Sunday Funnies by assembling copies of comic strips by different cartoonist children on one large sheet of newsprint for all to read. Color in, if desired. 5. Make as many comic strips as desired. Save all the comics to share with family and friends. See if they laugh and understand the humor.
copyright © 2010 MaryAnn Kohl
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