How Charles M Schulz created Charlie Brown and Snoopy

Charles M. Schulz continued to draw his beloved Peanuts for 50 years until announcing on December 14, 1999 that poor health forced him to retire. In History tells the story of how an unassuming cartoonist built a billion-dollar empire from the lives of a child, a dog, and a bird.

Charles M. Schulz’s timeless work Charlie Brown may have been as popular as any literary character, but the cartoonist was modest about the scope of his miniature fable. In a 1977 BBC interview, he said, “I only talk about the small problems of everyday life. Leo Tolstoy deals with the major problems of the world. It’s just why we all feel like people aren’t doing a good job of themselves.” They don’t like us. ”

That doesn’t mean I felt like I was dealing with a trivial problem. He said, “I always get very angry when someone asks me, ‘Have you ever satirized social conditions?'” Well, I do it almost every day, and they say, “So, have you ever done anything political?” I said, “I’m dealing with love and hate and distrust and fear and anxiety, and I’m doing something more important than politics.”

Charlie Brown may have been an eternal failure, but Schulz conveyed a universal sentiment that peanuts worldwide success. Born in 1922, Schulz drew all of his Peanuts paintings himself from 1950 until his death in February 2000. It was so popular that NASA named the two modules in May 1969. Apollo 10 moon mission Following Charlie Brown and Snoopy. The strip appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers around the world and inspired movies, music, and countless merchandise.

Part of its success, according to author Umberto Eco, was that it worked on many different levels. he wrote: “Peanuts attracts both sophisticated adults and children with equal intensity. Each reader seems to have found something for himself, and it is always the same thing, which can be enjoyed in two different keys. In this way, Peanuts is a little human comedy for the innocent and the sophisticated.

Schulz’s initial reason for focusing on children in the strip was entirely commercial. In 1990 he told the BBC: “I hate to say it all the time, but I used to draw little kids because this is what sells. I wanted to draw something, but I didn’t know what it was, but when I draw kids, It always seemed like these were cartoons.” That seemed to be what the editors liked best, so in 1950 he mailed them to United Features Syndicate in New York City, and they said they liked them. Since then, I have continued to draw small children. ”

Regarding Snoopy and Charlie Brown, he said: “I’ve always been a little intrigued by the fact that dogs apparently condone the behavior of the children they play with. It’s almost like dogs are smarter than children. I think it’s the characters who are able to express the ideas that I have right.”

Mr. Schulz created the strip based on his early experiences as a shy child. As a teenager, he was too reticent to attend art school in person, so he learned drawing through correspondence courses. In a 1977 lecture he said: “I couldn’t imagine myself sitting in a room where everyone else in the room could draw so much better than me. Now I could just draw at home and receive my drawings in the mail. I’ve been criticized for saying I wish I had had a better education, but I think my overall background suits me well for my job.

“If I could write better than me, I probably would have tried to be a novelist, and I might have failed. If I could draw better than me, I would probably have tried to be an illustrator or an artist. I could have, I would have.” I failed there, but my whole being seems suited to be a manga artist. ”

Peanuts has remained surprisingly consistent despite its unrelenting publishing schedule, and Schulz hasn’t let anything get in the way of the expectations of his millions of fans. he said: “You have to bend your drawing board, shut out the world, and only draw what you think is interesting. Cartoons, even if they’re just silly little things, are political cartoons that have a lot of meaning. No matter what happens, it’s still an interesting drawing. But I’m still drawing something interesting, so at that time, just think about that and keep it light.

“I think when a composer is composing well, the music comes faster than he thinks. And even if he comes up with a good idea, he can hardly get the words down fast enough. “I’m afraid they’ll leave me before I can compose.” Sometimes my hands shake with excitement because I’m having a good time. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen every day. ”

Despite his humility, Schulz maintained that he was always confident that Peanuts would be a hit. “I mean, when you sign up to play at Wimbledon, you expect to win. Of course there are a lot of things I didn’t expect, like Snoopy going to the moon, but I always think that I expected it to be big.”

Mr. Schultz typically worked five weeks in advance. On December 14, 1999, fans were disappointed to learn that this would happen to him. put down the pen Because he had cancer. He said the January 3, 2000 cartoon would be the last daily release. it will continue February 13th and final strip For Sunday newspapers. he died The day before the last strip was shown.

In it, Schulz wrote, “I have been grateful for the loyalty of my editors and the incredible support and love that comic book fans have expressed to me over the years. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy… How Can I Do It?” I wonder,” he wrote. Never forget them…”

Although Schulz argued in 1977 that a cartoonist’s role is primarily to point out problems rather than try to solve them, there was one lesson people could take from his work: “I think one of the solutions is to just keep trying, like Charlie Brown. He never gives up. And if anyone should give up, he should.” he said.

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