Jim Davis (cartoonist)

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Jim Davis (cartoonist)

James Robert "Jim" Davis (born July 28, 1945), is an American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
cartoonist

Cartoonist

A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. Traditionally much of this work was, and still is, humorous, and is intended primarily for entertainment purposes....
who created the popular comic strip Garfield
Garfield

Garfield is a daily-syndicated comic strip created by Jim Davis . Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and the dog, Odie....
. Other comics that he has worked on include Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat
Gnorm Gnat

Gnorm Gnat was a comic strip by Jim Davis based on fictional insects, especially a gnat named Gnorm. The strip appeared in The Pendleton Times in Pendleton, Indiana in the 1970s, but failures to take the character to more mainstream success led Davis to create the popular comic strip Garfield....
, U.S. Acres
U.S. Acres

U.S. Acres is a comic strip that ran from 1986 to 1989 created by Jim Davis , author of the popular comic strip Garfield. The comic was launched on March 3, 1986 in a then-unprecedented 505 newspapers by United Feature Syndicate....
a.k.a. Orson's Farm, and a strip about Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head is an American toy consisting of a plastic model of a potato which can be decorated with a variety of attachable plastic parts such as ears and eyes to make a face....
. He has written Emmy-award winning TV specials and was also one of the producers behind the Garfield & Friends TV show which aired on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American radio network and television network. The name is derived from the initials of Columbia Broadcasting System, its former legal name....
from 1988 to 1995.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Jim Davis (cartoonist)'

Start a new discussion about 'Jim Davis (cartoonist)'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

James Robert "Jim" Davis (born July 28, 1945), is an American

United States

Cartoonist

Mr. Potato Head

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American radio network and television network. The name is derived from the initials of Columbia Broadcasting System, its former legal name....
from 1988 to 1995. In addition, he is currently the writer and co-producer of a trilogy of CGI

CGI

CGI may mean:* Computer-generated imagery, application of computer graphics to special effects in films, television programs, etc* Common Gateway Interface, a protocol for calling external software via a web server to deliver dynamic content....
-direct-to-video feature films about Garfield; the first one, Garfield Gets Real
Garfield Gets Real

Garfield Gets Real is a computer-generated animated, direct-to-video movie starring Garfield the Cat, produced by Paws, Inc. in cooperation with Wonderworld Studios and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment....
, was released in 2007.

Biography

Personal

Jim Davis was born in Fairmount, Indiana

Fairmount, Indiana

Fairmount is a town in Fairmount Township, Grant County, Indiana, Grant County, Indiana in east central Indiana. The population was 2,866 at the 2006 census....
, near Marion

Marion, Indiana

Marion is a city in Grant County, Indiana, Indiana, United States. The population was 30,830 at the 2006 census. The city is the county seat of Grant County, Indiana....
, where he grew up on a small farm with his father James William Davis, mother Anna Catherine (Carter) Davis, brother Dave, and 25 cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the Domestication cat or house cat to distinguish it from other Felinae and Felidae, is a small predationy carnivore species of crepuscular mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin, snakes, scorpions, and other unwanted household pests....
s. Davis' childhood on a farm parallels the life of his cartoon character Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle

List of Garfield characters

This is a list of characters in the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis , as well as the animated cartoon series Garfield and Friends....
, who was also raised on a farm with his parents and a brother, Doc Boy. Jon, too, is a cartoonist, and also celebrates his birthday on July 28. Davis attended Ball State University

Ball State University

Ball State University is a state university research university located in Muncie, Indiana, Indiana, United States Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans more than 1,000 acres ....
. While attending Ball State, he became a member of the Theta Xi

Theta Xi

Theta Xi was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York on 29 April 1864. Theta Xi Fraternity was originally founded as an engineering fraternity, the first professional fraternity....
fraternity.

Ironically, considering his fame as a cartoonist who draws a cat, his first wife Carolyn (Altekruse) was allergic to cats although they owned a dog named Molly. They have a son, James Alexander Davis On July 16, 2000, Davis married his current wife Jill. They have three children: James, Ashley, and Christopher.

Davis as of 2007 resides in Albany, Indiana

Albany, Indiana

Albany is a town in Delaware County, Indiana and Randolph County, Indiana counties in the U.S. state of Indiana, along the Mississinewa River. The population was 2,368 at the 2000 census....
, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his company, Paws, Inc., begun in 1981. Paws, Inc. employs nearly 50 artists and licensing administrators, who work with agents around the world managing Garfield's vast licensing, syndication, and entertainment empire.

Davis is a former President of the Fairfax, Indiana Future Farmers of America chapter, as noted .

Professional

Prior to creating Garfield, Davis worked for a local advertising agency and in 1969 began assisting Tom Ryan's comic strip, Tumbleweeds. He then created a comic strip, Gnorm Gnat
Gnorm Gnat

Gnorm Gnat was a comic strip by Jim Davis based on fictional insects, especially a gnat named Gnorm. The strip appeared in The Pendleton Times in Pendleton, Indiana in the 1970s, but failures to take the character to more mainstream success led Davis to create the popular comic strip Garfield....
, that ran for five years in The Pendleton Times, an Indiana

Indiana

The State of Indiana was the 19th U.S. state admitted into the union. It is located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America....
newspaper. Davis tried to sell it to a national comic strip syndicate

Syndicate

Syndicate comes from the French language word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek language word s??d???? which means caretaker of an issue, compare to ombudsman or Representation ....
, but an editor told him, "Your art is good, your gags are great, but bugs — nobody can relate to bugs!"

On June 19, 1978, Garfield started syndication in 41 newspapers. Things were going well until the Chicago Sun-Times cancelled the strip, prompting an outcry from 1300 readers. Garfield was reinstated and the strip quickly became the fastest selling comic strip in the world. Today it is syndicated in 2400 newspapers and is read by approximately 200 million readers each day.

In the 1988-1994 cartoon series Garfield and Friends

Garfield and Friends

Garfield and Friends is an United States animated television series based on comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis . This show was produced by Film Roman, and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from 1988 to 1994 and Nickelodeon from 1997 to 2000....
, one episode ("Mystic Manor") has a scene where Garfield slid down a fireman's pole in a haunted house, and Davis has a brief cameo

Cameo appearance

A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television....
as himself drawing a cartoon.

In the 1980s, Davis also created the barnyard-slapstick

Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated extreme physical violence or activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense, such as a character being hit in the face with a heavy frying pan or running into a brick wall....
comic strip U.S. Acres
U.S. Acres

U.S. Acres is a comic strip that ran from 1986 to 1989 created by Jim Davis , author of the popular comic strip Garfield. The comic was launched on March 3, 1986 in a then-unprecedented 505 newspapers by United Feature Syndicate....
, featuring Orson the Pig. Outside the U.S., the strip was known as Orson's Farm. Davis also created a 2000-2003 strip based on the toy Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head is an American toy consisting of a plastic model of a potato which can be decorated with a variety of attachable plastic parts such as ears and eyes to make a face....
with Brett Koth.

In 2005, Davis appeared in the music video

Music video

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a pop music or rock music song with lyrics. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings....
"", a parody of the Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show filmed in New York City. It made its debut on October 11, 1975....
video "Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sunday, the second SNL Digital Shorts, aired on the December 17, 2005 episode of Saturday Night Live. It features cast members Chris Parnell, an eight-year veteran of SNL, and Andy Samberg a first-year featured player with little previous screen time....
".

Most recently, Jim Davis founded The Professor Garfield Foundation, to support children’s literacy.

Awards

Year	Award	Presenting Organization
1982	Best Humor Strip Cartoonist	National Cartoonist Society
1983-84	Emmy Award Emmy Award The Emmy Award, also known as the 'Emmy', is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards.... , Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield on the Town Garfield on the Town *Garfield on the Town* is the second half-hour animated special based on the Garfield comic strip. It features the voice and music talent common in Garfield animated specials including Lorenzo Music and Lou Rawls .... TV special, CBS	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
1984-85	Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield in the Rough Garfield in the Rough *Garfield in the Rough* is the third half hour animated special based on the Garfield comic strip. It features the voice and music talent common in Garfield animated specials including Lorenzo Music and Lou Rawls .... TV special, CBS	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
1985	Elzie Segar Award for Outstanding Contributions to Cartooning	National Cartoonist Society
1985-86	Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield's Halloween Adventure Garfield's Halloween Adventure *Garfield's Halloween Adventure* is a Halloween animated television special, first broadcast on CBS on October 30, 1985, and was reran on the network annually until 2000.... TV special, CBS	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
1986	Best Humor Strip Cartoonist	National Cartoonist Society
1988-89	Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield's Babes and Bullets Garfield's Babes and Bullets *Garfield's Babes and Bullets* is a half-hour animated special based on a segment of the same name from the book Garfield: His 9 Lives. It features the voice of Lorenzo Music as Garfield, and premiered in 1989 as the final Garfield special winning an Emmy for outstanding animated program.... , TV special, CBS	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
1988	Sagamore of the Wabash Sagamore of the Wabash The Sagamore of the Wabash award was created during the term of List of Governors of Indiana Ralph F. Gates, who served from 1945 to 1949. Governor Gates was to attend a tri-state meeting in Louisville, Kentucky with officials from the states of Ohio and Kentucky....	State of Indiana Indiana The State of Indiana was the 19th U.S. state admitted into the union. It is located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America....
1989	Reuben Award for Overall Excellence in Cartooning	National Cartoonist Society
1989	Indiana Arbor Day Spokesman Award (Presented to Jim Davis and Garfield)	Indiana Division of Natural Resources and Forestry
1990	Good Steward Award, (Presented to Jim Davis and Garfield)	National Arbor Day Foundation National Arbor Day Foundation The Arbor Day Foundation is the world's oldest and largest tree-planting organization. Its million members plant millions of trees every year. New members receive 10 free trees....
1991	Indiana Journalism Award (Presented to Jim Davis and Garfield)	Ball State University Ball State University Ball State University is a state university research university located in Muncie, Indiana, Indiana, United States Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans more than 1,000 acres .... Department of Journalism
1992	Distinguished Hoosier Award	State of Indiana
1995	Project Award	National Arbor Day Foundation
1997	LVA Leadership Award (Presented to Paws)	Literacy Volunteers of America