Discover the Best Books Written by Bill Watterson

William Boyd Watterson II is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes at the end of 1995, with a short statement to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson is known for his negative views on comic syndication and licensing, his efforts to expand and elevate the newspaper comic as an art form, and his move back into private life after he stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes. 

Watterson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The suburban Midwestern United States setting of Ohio was part of the inspiration for Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson was born on July 5, 1958, in Washington, D.C., to Kathryn Watterson (1933-2022) and James Godfrey Watterson. His father worked as a patent attorney. In 1965, six-year-old Watterson and his family moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Watterson has a younger brother, Thomas Watterson.

Watterson drew his first cartoon at age eight, and spent much time in childhood alone, drawing and cartooning. This continued through his school years, during which time he discovered comic strips such as Pogo, Krazy Kat, and Charles Schulz' Peanuts which subsequently inspired and influenced his desire to become a professional cartoonist. On one occasion, when he was in fourth grade, he wrote a letter to Charles Schulz, who responded, much to Watterson's surprise. 

This made a big impression on him at the time. His parents encouraged him in his artistic pursuits. Later, they recalled him as a "conservative child" — imaginative, but "not in a fantasy way," and certainly nothing like the character of Calvin that he later created. Watterson found avenues for his cartooning talents throughout primary and secondary school, creating high school-themed superhero comics with his friends and contributing cartoons and art to the school newspaper and yearbook.

After high school, Watterson attended Kenyon College, where he majored in political science. He had already decided on a career in cartooning, but he felt studying political science would help him move into editorial cartooning. He continued to develop his art skills, and during his sophomore year, he painted Michelangelo's Creation of Adam on the ceiling of his dormitory room. He also contributed cartoons to the college newspaper, some of which included the original "Spaceman Spiff" cartoons. 

Watterson graduated from Kenyon in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Later, when Watterson was creating names for the characters in his comic strip, he decided on Calvin (after the Protestant reformer John Calvin) and Hobbes (after the social philosopher Thomas Hobbes), allegedly as a "tip of the hat" to Kenyon's political science department. In The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson stated that Calvin was named for "a 16th-century theologian who believed in predestination" and Hobbes for "a 17th-century philosopher with a dim view of human nature."

Watterson was inspired by the work of The Cincinnati Enquirer political cartoonist Jim Borgman, a 1976 graduate of Kenyon College, and decided to try to follow the same career path as Borgman, who in turn offered support and encouragement to the aspiring artist. Watterson graduated in 1980 and was hired on a trial basis at the Cincinnati Post, a competing paper of the Enquirer. 

Watterson quickly discovered that the job was full of unexpected challenges, which prevented him from performing his duties to the standards set for him. His unfamiliarity with the Cincinnati political scene was not the least of these challenges. He had never resided in or near the city, having grown up in Cleveland and attending college in central Ohio. The Post fired Watterson before his contract was up.

He then joined a small advertising agency and worked there for four years as a designer, creating grocery advertisements while also working on his own projects, including the development of his own cartoon strip and contributions to Target: The Political Cartoon Quarterly. As a freelance artist, Watterson has drawn other works for various merchandise, including album art for his brother's band, calendars, clothing graphics, educational books, magazine covers, posters, and postcards.