Jim Davis (cartoonist)

James Robert Davis (born July 28, 1945) is an American cartoonist, television writer, television producer, screenwriter, and movie producer. He is best known as the creator of the comic strips Garfield and U.S. Acres. Davis's other comics work includes Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, and Mr. Potato Head.

Jim Davis
Davis in 2011
Born	James Robert Davis (1945-07-28) July 28, 1945 Marion, Indiana, U.S.
Education	Ball State University
Occupation(s)	Cartoonist, television writer, television producer, screenwriter, film producer
Years active	1969–present
Notable work	Garfield (1978–present) U.S. Acres (1986–1989)
Signature

He also produced Garfield & Friends, a series which also aired on CBS from 1988 to 1994.

Early life

Davis was born in Marion, Indiana. He spent his time at a Black Angus cow farm in Fairmount, Indiana with his parents. His farm chores inspired the creation of Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle. Just like the author, Jon's birthday is on July 28. His education came from the Ball State University studying art and business.

In Fairmount High School, Davis took part of the newspaper known as The Breeze. His first comics appeared here.

Today, most of his older comics are safely kept in a room. Davis uses a graphics tablet to draw his comics.

Career

Before his job as a cartoonist, Davis worked for an advertising agency. In 1969, he worked with Tom Ryan's comic strip Tumbleweeds. His first independent comic strip called Gnorm Gnat ran for two years in The Pendleton Times. He believed that a cat should be the main character, and that cats were needed more than dogs.

The comic strip Jon was created, and was eventually renamed to Garfield. The idea spread across 41 newspapers on June 19, 1978.

A lesser known comic Davis produced was U.S. Acres. With Brett Koth, they made a strip inspired by the Mr. Potato Head toy.

The Professor Garfield Foundation was founded by Davis. It was to support the growth of children by reading.

In 2019, Davis gave permissions to ViacomCBS for a television show.