COMICS – Garfield the Cat Got me Into Drawing.

Simpsons Quote:

(Fat Tony drives the school carpool home.)
Fat Tony: Milhouse, may I borrow your three-ring binder?
(Milhouse holds up two binders.)
Milhouse: Garfield or Love Is…?”
Fat Tony: Uh, I prefer the cat. He hates Mondays. We can all relate.

As a little kid, I was pretty obsessed with Garfield the cat.  I used to read comic strips all the time but the one I liked the most where Garfield comics strips.

I bring this up because somehow, the whole Garfield thing came full circle when I started working in the animation industry.

Today I’m going to tell you how that happened.

You can either watch the video or simply read what I have to say in the video below:

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Obsessions of a Little Kid

Garfield really got me into drawing.  I was really into comic strips when I was little. Specifically Garfield. I was really obsessed with Garfield.

I had the comic strip books,

I had Garfield story books:

When I was little I also drew comic strips. The comic strips I drew are actually kept in Garfield scrapbooks.  I’ve got two of them:

I looked in my drawing folders to see if I could find old Garfield drawings I did from when I was a kid. I managed to find one. I drew this when I was in junior high:

You can see from the drawings, especially on the eyes that I was influenced by Jim Davis eyes. And of course, there’s a drawing of Garfield in the bottom. I think it’s a copy, although I used to be able to draw Garfield pretty good without needing to copy.  It might have just been a memory drawing.

You gotta understand that I was pretty obsessed, I was drawing him, all the time.

Then There’s the Documentary

But above all else, what really influence me the most growing up, was a Garfield documentary.  I don’t know what it’s called or where to find it.   I used to have a copy of it on VHS that I recorded off the television.

I looked for it online and I can’t find it.  I don’t even know what it’s called.

The documentary was about Jim Davis, the origins of Garfield and where it came from.    It had behind the scenes footage of how a comic strip was made. It had footage of other artisst that worked on art for the Garfield merchandise.  They talked about the Garfield TV show and the specials.

It even had Phil Roman of Film Roman studios talking about the production of the animated cartoon.  He walks you through the process.

I wish I could find it.  If you can find it online or you know what I’m talking about, please let me know so could put a link to it so every could benefit from it.

It’s a fantastic documentary. It talks about cartooning  and all kinds of great things.

I used to watch it so much because is inspired me. I was pretty obsessed with it.

Well, I bring all this stuff up because it all came full circle for me. From elementary school drawing Garfield, to Junior High drawing Garfield, then soon after abandoning that and starting to draw cartoons and comics on my own.

My love affair with Garfield eventually faded away.

It All Came Full Circle

BUT then I get my first job in the animation industry, and low and behold, it’s in Film Roman where they were producing the Garfield cartoon.

That’s crazy.  That was just crazy.  I was more than aware of this coming full circle with the character. Somehow I ended up working in the studio that produced Garfield cartoons.  I didn’t work on Garfield but I saw them produce it.

It’s one of those weird things.

Has This Happened to You?

Had you even had anything like that ever happen to you? Something that has ever come full circle for you? I’m sure it has and I’d love to hear about it.  What inspired you to do what you do?

Oh, and I almost forgot, I also still have Pooky, Garfield’s teddy bear.  Yeah, I was just this obsessed little kid.

Alright, that’s all from me today.

EDIT:

Dave Roman to the Rescue

Turns out, I’m not the only one with this “art entry point.” Dave Roman of Astronaut Academy, Teen Boat and many other comics, was also influenced by Garfield comics.  As you can see by in this post:

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=1499#m12534

He was kind enough tell me what the name of the special was (Garfield 10th Anniversary Special) and gave me a link so here you go:

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