# Does Gary Trudeau actually draw "Doonesbury" anymore or just do the dialog? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248 "2012-09-09T22:52:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/1 "2012-09-09T22:52:56Z")
A while ago someone told me that these days Gary Trudeau mainly just scripts the [Doonesbury comic](http://doonesbury.slate.com/strip)and draws only the vaguest outlines of how the characters should be positioned and colored and another artist and colorist take over from there and actually draw the comic. Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/2 "2012-09-09T23:31:19Z")
I’ve heard the same thing about Jim Davies and Garfield. I’m pretty sure he stopped drawing his comic at least 15 yrs ago. 50 artists to draw one comic strip??? > [@](#): > > Davis resides in Albany, Indiana, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his Paws, Inc. company, launched in 1981. Paws, Inc. employs nearly 50 artists and licensing administrators, who work with agents around the world managing Garfield’s vast licensing, syndication and entertainment empire. > **[Jim Davis (cartoonist)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Davis_%28cartoonist%29)** > > James Robert Davis (born July 28, 1945) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known as the creator of the comic strips Garfield and U.S. Acres. Published since 1978, Garfield is one of the world's most widely syndicated comic strips. Davis's other comics work includes Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, and Mr. Potato Head. > Davis wrote or co-wrote all of the Garfield TV specials for CBS, originally broadcast between 1982 and 1991. He also produced Garfield and Friends, a seri... ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/3 "2012-09-09T23:36:39Z")
His pencil drawings (syndicate employees do the inking and lettering) look pretty tight on the rare occasions that the public gets to see them. Trudeau has stated that he submits rough sketches to the syndicate and that, to his knowledge, this is the standard procedure for most newspaper cartoonists. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/4 "2012-09-09T23:40:03Z")
For some reason I was told this about a month ago, apropos of nothing. It could be true, or it could just be a right-wing meme. Either way, there is a very long tradition of established cartoonists hiring struggling ones to draw their strips. [E. C. Segar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._C._Segar) who drew _Popeye_ was particularly notorious for this. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/5 "2012-09-09T23:45:46Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve heard the same thing about Jim Davies and Garfield. I’m pretty sure he stopped drawing his comic at least 15 yrs ago. > > 50 artists to draw one comic strip??? > > [Jim Davis (cartoonist) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Davis_%28cartoonist%29) Yeah, I mentioned this earlier, but I went to Indiana to install a 3D modeling and animation system for PAWS. Never met Davis, as I was just working for the guy I was training. Later, I was working for Hallmark Cards, and they had a deal with Charles Schultz, and as far as I know, he never drew a single one of the _Peanuts_ cards. I wish I had gotten a copy of their Schultz fonts, which were the most complicated fonts I have ever seen, with something like a dozen variations of the lower-case e, and very complex rules about which one followed which letter. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/6 "2012-09-09T23:59:53Z")
I don’t know specifically about Trudeau but my understanding is it’s very common for the creators of regular comic strips to have assistants who do part of the work of producing the strip. > [@gaffa](#): > > Later, I was working for Hallmark Cards, and they had a deal with Charles Schultz, and as far as I know, he never drew a single one of the _Peanuts_ cards. That may be true for Hallmark cards. But I’ve read that Schulz (no t) was unusual in not using any assistants to make his comic strip. He wrote all the dialogue himself and did all the art single-handed. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/7 "2012-09-10T00:04:47Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > 50 artists to draw one comic strip??? It actually said nearly fifty artist and licensing administrators. So it might only be eighteen artists and thirty licensing administrators. And of the artists, maybe only four work on the comic strip and the other fourteen do the art for things like Garfield coffee mugs and t-shirts. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/8 "2012-09-10T00:20:46Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > For some reason I was told this about a month ago, apropos of nothing. It could be true, or it could just be a right-wing meme. Either way, there is a very long tradition of established cartoonists hiring struggling ones to draw their strips. [E. C. Segar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._C._Segar) who drew _Popeye_ was particularly notorious for this. Even more notorious was [Ham Fisher](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_Fisher#Feud_with_Al_Capp)with _Joe Palooka_. Read how the feud with Al Capp played out, especially the “Retaliation” section. But many comic strips artists have used assistants (Charles Schulz was notable in that he did everything himself). ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/9 "2012-09-10T02:05:01Z")
According to wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Doonesbury is written and pencilled by Garry Trudeau, then inked and lettered by his assistant Don Carlton In fact there’s [a whole book on the topic](http://www.amazon.com/Doonesbury-G-B-Trudeau-Brian-Walker/dp/0300154275): > [@](#): > > Walker’s historical text is complemented by insightful commentary by Trudeau and his collaborators, Don Carleton, George Corsillo, and David Stanford ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/10 "2012-09-10T19:11:50Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Later, I was working for Hallmark Cards, and they had a deal with Charles Schultz, and as far as I know, he never drew a single one of the _Peanuts_ cards. I wish I had gotten a copy of their Schultz fonts, which were the most complicated fonts I have ever seen, with something like a dozen variations of the lower-case e, and very complex rules about which one followed which letter. They may have had a font to typeset the lettering on cards, but I have read that Schulz required all licensed Peanuts products to use his own art. His drawings got noticeably shakier as he aged and that unique line quality is quite obvious on reproduced images that were enlarged from original drawings. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/11 "2012-09-10T23:07:22Z")
Wow. So being a cartoonist is an even bigger skive than it seems. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/12 "2012-09-10T23:56:07Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Wow. So being a cartoonist is an even bigger skive than it seems. For some maybe. “Charles M. Schulz created a total of 17,897 Peanuts strips of which there are 15,391 daily strips and 2,506 Sunday strips.” --From here: [Charles Schulz Museum](https://www.schulzmuseum.org/) Mort Walker and Dik Browne worked together creating a number of different strips that their children have carried on. Things were written and drawn in collaboration, but they produced one heck of a lot of work. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gary-trudeau-actually-draw-doonesbury-anymore-or-just-do-the-dialog/634248/13 "2012-09-11T01:20:34Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > For some reason I was told this about a month ago, apropos of nothing. It could be true, or it could just be a right-wing meme. Either way, there is a very long tradition of established cartoonists hiring struggling ones to draw their strips. [E. C. Segar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._C._Segar) who drew _Popeye_ was particularly notorious for this. I didn’t know Segar used anyone but Bud Sagendorf. A little OT: the Wiki page in your link includes the following sentence: “The screenplay by Jules Feiffer was based directly on Gelman’s Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye the Sailor, a hardcover reprint collection of 1936-37 Segar strips published in 1971 by Nostalgia Press.” Now I’ve got the entire run of Segar’s Popeye in reprint form, and there is nothing resembling Feiffer’s abortion in it.:dubious: