Panels & Peanuts

You have an amazing skill that you use dozens of times every day, and you probably never even think about it. When you see pictures and words together—as you do in an advertisement or on a cereal box—you put them together to create meaning. You “read” the pictures along with the words.

Cartoonists make special use of this skill. In a cartoon or comic, each panel contains words and images that stand for one moment in time. When read in sequence, the panels tell a story. This kind of artwork is called sequential art.

One of the most influential cartoonists in history is Charles M. Schulz. He created the comic strip “Peanuts,” featuring Charlie Brown and his dog, Snoopy. For 50 years, Schulz drew a daily “Peanuts” strip that appeared in newspapers worldwide—and he never missed a day!

“Peanuts” was first published on October 2, 1950. At first it appeared in only a few papers, but it quickly became popular and expanded to many more. Soon, Schulz’s lovable characters were also featured in TV specials, as toys, and in books. The strip is still reprinted today.

Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 26, 1922. As a child, Schulz loved his dog Spike, comic strips, and drawing. These three things later inspired him to create “Peanuts.”

In the strip above, Schulz fills the first panel with a simple image of Charlie Brown sitting on a chair, with his dog Snoopy nearby. The speech balloons tell us that he is inviting Snoopy to go for a walk.

In the second panel, the chair is gone. In the space between panels, or gutter, time has passed and the characters have moved. Schulz shows Snoopy’s excitement by drawing him in a vertical position, with upright ears and movement lines that indicate he is jumping up and down.

In the third panel, Schulz sets up the punch line that will come in the fourth panel. Charlie Brown thinks of Snoopy as a regular dog, but Snoopy has other ideas. Much of Schulz’s humor comes from taking a familiar situation and twisting it into an unexpected one. Snoopy is a humorous character because he is a dog that acts like a human being.

Schulz drew comic strips every day, even before he was hired to publish them. He believed that the only way to become a good cartoonist was to practice. He once said, “A cartoonist has to draw the same thing every day without repeating himself.”
What do you think he meant?

Schulz began each strip by drawing a very simple layout in pencil to block out the character’s height and placement. Then he used an ink pen to write the dialogue and draw the speech balloons. Last, he drew the objects, characters, and background freehand in ink. This didn’t leave room for mistakes, but Schulz thought that this method made his strips appear spontaneous and exciting.  

Charles M. Schulz died on February 12, 2000. His very last “Peanuts” strip was printed in newspapers the next day.