Tuesday 17 May 2011

Famous Cartoonists

If you think cartoons are only for kids, then you are wrong. Some of the cartoons created by some famous cartoonists are ageless. Most of the homes you go, you will just notice the kids, sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons and laughing away to glory. But what you don't notice is the adults of the house who keep finding some lame excuses so that even they can watch the cartoons. I am a big time fan of Tom and Jerry and Johnny Bravo, and even though I am 'legally an adult', I never miss a single episode of it. Hats off to the cartoonists who had spend hours behind these cartoons. That people watch the same episode over and over again, irrespective of how old they are, is (I suppose) one of the best rewards for all the hard work and efforts put in it by these famous cartoonists.

Famous Cartoons and Cartoonists

David Remnick (American journalist, writer and magazine editor) has correctly pointed out that "98% of the people who get the magazine say they read the cartoons first - and the other 2% are lying." Reading something funny, something that tingles our funny bone early in the morning, is better than reading about murders and kidnappings and thefts etc. Let us meet those people who are responsible for making us laugh every single day. Let us meet some of these famous cartoonists in the famous cartoonist list given below.

Walter Elias Disney or Walt Disney
No list of famous cartoonists names can be complete without this one particular name, 'Walt Disney'. The magic that he created in the 40's has still not lost its uniqueness. He was an American film producer, a voice actor, an animator, an entertainer and a director. He, along with his brother, Roy O. Disney, founded the Walt Disney Production and created the famous Mickey Mouse character, with the help of his team. The first success of this famous cartoonist was not Mickey, but Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. But he had to let go of it due to some problems with the contracts. Mickey, as we all know, is a timeless and one of the most famous characters.

William Denby "Bill" Hanna
Tom and Jerry, The Flinstones, The Jetsons, Scooby Doo, The Smurfs, Yogi Bear, The Huckelberry Hound Show are some of the famous cartoons created by William Denby "Bill" Hanna. In the year 1937, while he was working with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, he met Joseph Barbera and these two men produced the evergreen animated cartoon (and my all time favorite) Tom and Jerry. The famous Hanna-Barbera TV animation studio was founded by them in the year 1957 and it was from this house that both of them produced cartoons like The Flinstones, The Jetsons etc. Their cartoons have won them 7 Academy Awards and 8 Emmy Awards.

Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones
"Ehhhhh...What's up Doc?" Don't you just love this famous quote of Bugs Bunny? This fictional character was created by none other than Chuck Jones, the director of famous animated movies like "The Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies". Some of the other famous cartoon characters created by this famous cartoonist are Daffy Duck, Road Runner, Sylvester, Wile E to name a few. He had also produced some new series of Tom and Jerry. Later, he started his own studio called Chuck Jones Productions.

Daniel S. DeCarlo
Daniel Decarlo, was the creator of the famous teenage boy from Riverdale, Archie Andrews and his friends Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie and others. He also created Sabrina, the teenage witch, Josie and the Pussycats and the real hot girl, Cheryl Blossom. All these characters were created in the year 1950 but this comic book is read even today.

Pran Kumar Sharma
Pran Kumar Sharma or Pran (as he is popularly called), is a famous Indian cartoonist, known for his creation of Chacha Choudhury (a small white mustached, red turbaned, intelligent, old man) and his side kick and best friend Sabu (a tall and powerful man, who was said to have come from a different planet). Kids loved reading about Chacha and Sabu's adventures and how they uncovered various crimes and thefts.

Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
They are the ones who had created the famous and widely known Vikings, Asterix and Obelix and the famous, invincible Gaulish village. His creation has also been converted into movies and both are still read and watched widely by kids and adults across the world. Children loves to hear about the famous and funny adventures of these two Gauls and their dog, Dogamatix and the magic potion.

George Remi or Herge
"Aaaaah! My beauty, past compared, these jewels bright I wear", this song by the famous Milanese singer, Bianca Castafiore, is a song that we will never forget when we read the creation by this famous cartoonist, Tintin. People love to listen to the adventures of Tintin, Captain Haddock, Prof Calculus, the funny Thompson and Thomson and the rest of the crew.

Some Other Famous Cartoonists List
  • Henry King "Hank" Ketcham (Dennis the Menace)
  • Ronald "Carl" Giles
  • Judy Horacek
  • Robert Crumb
  • Matt Groening
  • R.K. Laxman
  • John Leech
  • Walt Kelly
  • Osamu Tezuka
  • Ralph Bakshi
  • Jules Bass
  • Arthur Davis
  • Eric Goldberg
  • Bud Fisher
  • Mike Petters
  • Bill Watterson
  • Ben Caldwell
  • Adolf Hitler (I know you must be surprised by this name, but it's true. He was a great cartoonist)
Now to have the names of famous cartoonists and also their creations. These cartoonist have done a a lot more than one can imagine; they have made so many laugh. Some people say that it's a good deed if you make at least three people laugh everyday. If that is the case, then these cartoonists are half angels as the make not three but three thousand people laugh everyday.

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