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 might have done it, I would have done it.” I failed there, but my whole being seems suited to be a cartoonist. ”
never give up
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. ”
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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 last 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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