Influential Cartoonists
Dr. Seuss
American cartoonist Theodor Seuss Giesel better known as Dr. Seuss is an influential cartoonist who is most known for creating characters such as The Cat in the hat. He is credited for creating and illustrating many well-known children's books such as “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Grinch”. Dr. Seuss’s cartoony style is very unique and he originally debuted as a political cartoonist with his whimsical characters and distorted body proportion within his drawings. During his career and after his death many film and television adaptations were created of his work due to its popularity.
Hugh Harman
Hugh Harman was the creator of the Oscar-winning cartoon The Looney Toons as well as many other infamous characters such as Tom and Jerry, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, and Tweetie. He first began his career as a cartoonist in 1922 in Disney’s studio located in Kansas City, then moved on to become an independent producer at Warner Bros, and eventually moved to M-C-M Cartoons in collaboration with Rudolf Ising. As they both attempted to create their own studio, it was deemed unsuccessful. Both Ising and Harman went through many struggles in terms of money and funding throughout their career which was what led them to M-G-M. As many of his creations played a major part in many childhoods it was sad to see him pass at the age of 79.
Hajime Isayama
Hajime Isayama is a Japanese manga artist/mangaka, who is an author and an illustrator for the series Attack on Titan. An inspiration behind Attack on Titan was a video game called MUV LUV ALTERNATIVE that was about aliens taking over the earth and the human race reaching extinction. Attack on Titan became one of the best-selling manga series of all time with 100 million copies in circulation as of December 2019. In 2006, he applied for the Magazine Grand Prix, also known as MGP, which is promoted by Kodansha Ltd., and his work, Attack on Titan, was given the Fine Work Award. The series also won the Shōnen category of the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in 2011 and was nominated for both the 4th annual Manga Taishō award and the 16th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, and many more awards. today, the manga has been adapted into an anime adaptation in 2013 which is ongoing, and its last season is set to air at the end of 2021.
Stephen Hillenburg
Stephen Hillenburg was the creator of the much-beloved SpongeBob Squarepants. He started out as a marine science educator and later started a career in the art industry. Hillenberg did a few projects before producing Spongebob, which combines both of his majors. SpongeBob Squarepants first aired on Nickelodeon on May 1, 1999, and it is still running to this day. The show won many awards such as the U.S and British Emmy Awards and has been translated into more than 60 languages. Hillenburg directed The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie and was executive producer for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Stephen Hillenberg passed away on November 26, 2018, due to his battle with ALS.